Johnstone Peak

The design and construction phase of the Johnstone Peak beacon is complete and the unit is presently being tested at Mel’s Swanberg WA6JBD’s QTH (DM14ed). The final location is near the base of Mt. Baldy, specifically (DM12cd) - 2.5 miles NNE of the 210 and 79 freeway interchange.

The beacon consists of a HamGadgets ID-O-Matic controller, a synthesized Motorola VHF commercial radio exciter operating on 144.320 MHz. The exciter output is keyed by a pin diode switch, modified to properly shape the keyed CW for minimum key clicks. The keyed VHF signal is then up-converted by a DB6NT 2304 transverter. The output is fed to a commercial 6 dB gain horizontally polarized omni-directional antenna. Beacon ERP is estimated to be 1 watt.

There is an "Easter Egg" buried in the CW ID message, placed there in honor of Chuck Swedblom, WA6EXV. The "easter egg" first appeared in the now-defunct Heaps Peak beacon built by Chuck in the 1980's. It's a tough egg to crack, and only one operator has ever successfully completely decoded it. Good Luck.

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(Additional beacon information can be found in Feb/March, 2011 SBMS Newsletter)