Topband: Re: Fish Net Beacons

[Thómas Bevenheim]

> Out here in the middle of the Pacific Ocean we hear a lot of beacon
> transmitters on 160 meters. I used to hear them in California too,
> though not as much. These things have three or four character callsigns
> which repeat a couple of times and then they send a really long
> dahhhhhhh. I have heard (somewhere, I cannot remember where) that they
> are beacons attached to drift nets, used to find the net by DFing. I
> wonder if anyone out there has any good information about these things?
> Are they legal? Who else hears them? Do people in Europe or on the East
> Coast of North America hear them? Are they in the Atlantic too? Has
> anyone actually seen one of these devices? How much power do they put
> out? What is their power source? What kind of antenna do they use?

This subject have been covered several times before here on [TopBand].
In the Philippines we hear them all the time - all over the band [160 m].
I've also heard something similar in Scandinavia too. . .

Check this site:
http://www.taiyomusen.co.jp/ehomepage/Radiobuoysystem.html

Thomas Giella wrote in April 1999:

They come in several output power levels; 100 milliWatts, 1 Watt and 10 Watts,
are powered by batteries and solar panels, use a 10 ft loaded whip antenna
and a strobe light attached for visual observation, as they get mowed down
by commercial shipping on a regular basis.
The 1 and 10 Watts power output models must be licensed. Of course some
fisherman bother with the licensing procedure and some don't, just like VHF
marine transciever operation. They have primary operations status
between 1900 and 2000 KHz and coprimary with amateurs between
1800 and 1900 KHz.
Basically Uncle Sam slipped these beacons into our spectrum,
right under our noses, after LORAN A was decommissioned.
In reality most of the driftnet beacons are probably unlicensed and
illegal, once again like VHF and 2 MHz marine operations. Like T.I.S.
stations, the driftnet buoys can have a suprisingly long transmission
range, wish I had their grounplane!

73, Thom

P.S.  One thing I forgot to mention in my message above...
Beacons operating in international waters don't require licensing and
many of the beacons belong to foreign commercial fishing interests. I do
find these beacons annoying, especially below 1840 KHz.

73 ...thomas, SM6CNS [DU7CC]
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