Topband: receiving beacon on 1832.10 kHz

[Eric Scace K3NA]

Here is a little experiment for the next couple of days (at 
least until the ARRL contest): a receiving beacon on 160m.

What's a receiving beacon?

Conventional beacons transmit, of course.  On 160m that 
concept has a few disadvantages:
    -- It is expensive to maintain a full-time, transmitting 
beacon.
    -- To study the more interesting openings, high power is 
often needed.
    -- Frequencies are scarce on 160m.  Even with a shared 
frequency like the NCDXF beacon network on other bands, only 
a handful of locations can provide a signal for study.

So I thought: "Why not have a receiving beacon?"  A 
receiving beacon parks on a frequency and just listens.  You 
can listen to the K3NA receiving beacon by placing a Skype 
call to:
    K3NA160m
The call is automatically answered.  You will be listening 
to an Orion receiver on 1832.10 kHz, uCW, 1000 kHz 
bandwidth.  The antenna is a 4-square in the "northeast" 
position, which favors Europe, North Africa, east and 
central Asia.

This receiver is located at:
     41° 37’ 31.377”N     70° 51’ 57.378”W,
about 100 km south of Boston near New Bedford, Massachusetts 
USA.  This is the contesting site owned by Greg W1KM, and 
maintained & operated together with Al W1FJ, Paul K1XM, 
Dennis NB1B and me.

I chose 1832.10 kHz because:
    -- most countries allow transmission on this frequency. 
  (Sorry, Japan!)
    -- it's easy to remember: three two one zero...

You can test propagation from your location.  Place a Skype 
call to the beacon.  After being connected, just transmit 
your call on 1832.10 kHz ... and listen for your signal on 
the beacon's receiver.  You can see how when and how well 
the band opens, or compare transmitting antennas, or compare 
your signal with someone else.

Please keep your call short.  This is an experiment to 
examine "proof of utility", and I used a quick and simple 
solution.  The beacon can only accept one call at a time... 
so when you are listening, no one else can get in.  (Of 
course, since this is the gentlemen's band, this shouldn't 
be a problem!)

Of course we can imagine a more capable solution with 
multi-casting over the internet, selection of various 
antennas, or even stereo reception with a beverage in one 
ear and the 4-square in the other.  But let's start with 
something simple.

And I encourage anyone else to park an unused receiver on 
1832.10 and connect it to Skype.  The frequency can hold an 
unlimited number of receivers.

Let me know if this experiment was useful to you.

73,
    -- Eric K3NA

P.S.:  I apologize that the QTH has a bit of local QRN which 
I haven't tracked down yet, so reception is not always as 
good as it should be.  But, even so, many European signals 
can be heard begining 1-2 hours before local sunset.