Beacon Ident Board

[VK4BZ]

Hi ladies and gents.

I am in the process of putting together a 10m beacon, based on an old Realistic HTX-100, but what I need to locate is a kit for the CW ident. There seem to be a few around, but I want to know what I can get that's reliable, reasonably priced and easily sourced.

Any suggestions?

[VK4GHZ]

Any suggestions?

Hi John

As someone who likes to learn new things, I'd suggest rolling your own!
This is an ideal application for a PICAXE.
If you haven't experimented with micro controllers before, it opens up the door to a fascinating world of custom DIY projects.

If you're interested, the schematic and code for the VK4RTT controller can be found on page 2 of Peter's VK4RTT advisory topic: viewtopic.php?f=47&t=11181
You'll get an idea of what's involved, if you want to go down that path.
This particular project can be simplified down to a basic keyer very easily by removing the routines that monitor reflected power, voltage and temperature.
Which also means you can use a smaller (cheaper) micro, such as the 08M2.
If you want to take the easy way out, I can program a PICAXE for you, and you can drop it into your own controller (which would be all of 10 components., including the 5V regulator and open collector keying transistor)

[VK5TM]

What about the construction project in the May 2013 AR mag?

Uses a Picaxe and can be built as a simple version. Easily modified to program the info you want to transmit.

[ZL2WHO]

I will be shunned for suggesting a ready made keyer but the no brainier option is at http://www.hamgadgets.com. Model is ID-O-matic II kit. Complete kit unassembled was $25 USD and $5 for post.
As far as micros go I have missed the boat ( that and cw ). I look forward to making a led blink with a micro..
One of these keyers controls all three Waipuna beacons.

Can any suggest a Micros for dummies starter kit ??

Checking the web site I see there is a MK 3 now.... http://www.hamgadgets.com/index.php?mai ... 78t58fukm5

73
Mark.

[VK2OMD]

Hi ladies and gents.

I am in the process of putting together a 10m beacon, based on an old Realistic HTX-100, but what I need to locate is a kit for the CW ident. There seem to be a few around, but I want to know what I can get that's reliable, reasonably priced and easily sourced.

Any suggestions?

There are a huge number of beacon keyers around on all manner of platforms, and being a simple project, lots of people develop their own.

The Brits have been playing with multiple mode beacons, but they seem a bit rarer here.

A question you should ask yourself is whether you want an 'ordinary' CW beacon as you state, or whether you want to extend it to enable identification at levels below that which would allow identification of 'ordinary' CW. There are lots of schemes.

Some HF beacons share a frequency on an accurate time roster and must be GPS time syncronised. You didn't mention it, presumably yours isn't.

Here is a beacon keyer that keys a cluster of VK1 beacons: http://vk1od.net/module/smbk/cluster.htm , including a QRSS ident for weak signal detection as an 'early warning' path indicator.

Owen

[VK4BZ]

Thanks for the ideas.

I'm nowhere near as competent as I ought to be with "rolling my own", so the kit idea is where I probably will head. Yes, the hamgadgets site is already on my list to follow-up. As far as the frequency-sharing and GPS, I haven't gone that far yet, I just want to get it running and then get a freq allocation, etc.

What amazes me is that we don't have a 10m beacon here in Brisvegas, hence my interest. When a HTX-100 appeared at the club recently (Redcliffe Club) I snaffled it up with the intent of getting a Brissy beacon on the air.

Keep the ideas flowing in and it will give me something to do over Christmas...except of course what the "Boss" has planned..."Yes dear..."

[VK5RC]

Having used (ultimately successfully) PIC, PICAXE and Arduino, I have found Arduino the most interesting to use. They cost a bit more than the others but connect very easily to both PC and Mac environments, have a programming language that to me was reasonably intuitive and there are a wide variety of easily added on options e.g. LCD, GPS, clock chips, magnetic/angle sensors.
As I don't particularly enjoy the programming part, I found with Arduino I got more results a lot quicker. Whilst I like the idea of PIC, the potential simplicity and cost, the hassle of getting a programmer to talk to your PC, then the PIC, I ended up knowing some compiler, some basic and quite a bit of frustration.

There are also large online Arduino sites often containing code examples that you can cut and paste for your advantage. I posted a beacon controller a while back (used for a microwave portable station when set up as a beacon for others to listen to)
viewtopic.php?f=40&t=11377&p=33550#p33550
Hope my experience may help a little.
73 Rob Culver

[VK2XSO]

A 70 cent PIC chip (8 pin DIL) can do the job. I posted the source code for a repeater controller here, but a few small modifications and it can be made to beacon any pattern you like.
Give it 5 or 12 volts and wire the PTT to the key or microphone PTT and it'll almost run forever.

If you really like it can be programed onto an 8 pin SMD chip and you can solder the three wires required on the inside of the radio.

[ZL1RS]

... Which also means you can use a smaller (cheaper) micro, such as the 08M2 ...

Inspired by this comment, after a little Internet searching I found what I needed at:

http://members.westnet.com.au/page3/pic ... beacon.htm

... and built one (less the 10m oscillator section) for handsome price of $4 being the cost of the PICAXE 08M2+ chip. The rest of the bits were from my junque box. Thought I had vero board but it turned out not, so hastily drew up a very rough PCB with a marker pen (with hind sight, should have just done it "dead bug").

Rather than splash out on a USB port interface to program the PICAXE, I used the direct connection from an older laptop's DB-9 RS-232 port to load the program. It was easier to do than I thought After a few program modifications to suit my intended purpose, I now have the rudiments of a beacon merrily ticking away:

. . . . . . . . . . . . de ZL1RS RF64VS

PICAXE 08M2+ beacon keyer

73,