VK3RMH 6M Beacon

[VK3JWZ]

VK3RMH Melbourne 6M Bcn activated about 1/04/07.

VK3RMH 50.29510 10W CW ant: 2 X driven delta loops

TX text: VK3RMH MELB QF22OH HORZ VK3RMH ----------
VK3RMH http://www.nerg.asn.au ---------
QTH: Wattle Glen / Kangaroo Ground (35km NE Melb)
Manager: NERG (North Eastern Radio Group) - Mark Harrison VK3BYY

[VK7HDX]

Well done to Everyone @ NERG.
For getting another 6m beacon up and running.

We need to add all the information into the "logger" beacon database to keep it up to date.

One question. I may of miss the spec's @ NERG site but... is it FSK or CW mode.....

73..Karl
VK7HDX

[VK4GHZ]

Added to beacon database, although antenna polarity & direction not mentioned above. Somebody in the know can update the beacon database directly with this info.

[VK3BYY]

The VK3RMH 6 meter beacon on 50.295MHz CW has been operating intermittently over the past few weeks.
Appologies for the unreliable service.

Occasionally power failures in the area cause the beacon to reset to standby mode, requiring a restart command to be sent remotely when I become aware that it's off the air.

Also, the recent warmer weather seems to be shutting down the beacon when the temperature rises above 25C degrees.

Both problems will hopefully be fixed on the next site visit (yet to be scheduled).

The 10 meter beacon on 28.2565MHz (CW, Vertical) appears to operate very reliably, only dropping out during power outages caused by severe weather events and temporary short circuits caused by wayward possums.

73,
Mark VK3BYY

[VK3BYY]

The VK3RMH 6meter beacon on 50.2950MHz will be off air for an indeterminate period for repair.
The beacon has been sending incomplete ID and it's time I changed the software to automatically resume operation after power glitches (which are frequent in it's rural location).

73,
Mark vk3byy

[VK3BYY]

The VK3RMH six metre beacon on 50.2950 MHz was put back on air at about 0600UTC 14/12/2008.

The beacon should now be more immune to mains power glitches and be on air continuously.
The crystal oven has been rebuilt, with the frequency measured as being about 20Hz high just prior to reinstallation today.
Dried up capacitors in the power supply have been replaced.
A faulty microprocessor chip was replaced.

The two CW ID messages have been shortened and have a period of 35 seconds per message with a complete cycle time of 70 seconds.
The messages are:
VK3RMH MELB QF22OH (followed by 5 seconds of carrier), and
VK3RMH WWW.NERG.ASN.AU (followed by 5 seconds of carrier).
The longest silent period between messages is 6 seconds.

Output power remains unchanged at 10 Watts into a horizontal omni-directional antenna on the north side of the tower.

Apologies for being off air for the past 7 weeks.

73, Mark VK3BYY for the North East Radio Group inc (NERG)