[VHFcontesting] Sable Island Beacons QRT !!!

[R Johnson]

Hi Guys:
Sorry about the delay in getting this posted. I had intended
to bring it up at the meetings I never got to !!!

The Sable Island Beacons are LONG GONE !!!
ALL BEACONS, ALL BANDS !!!

Also it appears that the W2IK 2M Beacon on Long Island, NY
on 144.287 Mhz gone. W2IK moved to Texas a few years back.

Ron, WZ1V: Since your Beacon List has the widest circulation,
I CC'd you just to make sure you saw this in case you want to
update your list.

Below is a copy of my exchanges with Fr. Bill Lonc.

73
Bob, K1VU
FN42ma

******* Correspondence with Fr. W. Lonc **********

Date: Mon, 04 Oct 2004 10:17:02 -0300
From: W Lonc <william.lonc at SMU.CA>
Subject: Re: Sable Island Beacons
To: R Johnson <k1vu at tmlp.com>
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OK Thanks for the interest. The SI beacons were shut down and removed
several years ago -- partly because of health problems, one of which is
carpal tunnel synd, which makes typing somewhat painful. So, for the
full story on everything, please phone at my off 902-420-5829 anytime
between 8 and 11:30 and 1 to 3:30 EDT. I am away from Oct.5 to Oct 20.
73's
Bill

R Johnson wrote:
> 
> Hi Bill:
> 
> Glad to find you are still at SMU, hope you are in good health
> and enjoying your semi-retirement.
> 
> I was wondering about the status of the Sable Is. beacons.
> 
> My friend, K1GVM (SK),used to monitor the 2M SI beacon most all
> of the time he wasn't actively using his 2M radio. When he would
> hear the SI 2M beacon he would notify the local hams of a potential
> opening to the NE. All of this was before the changes to the VE1SMU
> beacons took place in 1998 or 1999.
> 
> I can no longer hear the SI 2M beacon and checking the DX-SUMMIT Spot
> Database http://oh2w.kolumbus.com/dxs/qin.html , I find only one "Spot"
> in 2001 and none since then.
> 
> So my Sable Island questions are:
> 1- Are there still Propagation Beacons on Sable Island ?
> 
> 2- If so are they still the same configuration, Power, and direction ?
> 
> 3- What other Beacons are on SI (Freq. and Configuration) ?
> 
> 4- Do you still monitor them and have you noted any signal degradation ?
> 
> 5- Do know the EXACT location of your tower, 6 digit Grid or GPS coordinates ?
>     (WGS-84 Datum and Decimal Degrees if you have them, but I can convert)
> 
> The reason I ask about the tower location is that the beacon location has been
> widely published as GN03. My research has indicated the your tower is on the
> west end of the island. From interpolation of the maps I have found and a lot
> of guessing, it looks like the tower is closer to FN93wx than GN03 (out in the
> water).
> 
> I also have questions on your Halifax and Lake George beacons, but that's for
> another email.
> 
> TNX es 73
> Bob, K1VU (ex:WA1OFR)
> FN42ma