New beacon/translator was built by Chuck WA6EXV and Sam K6VLM (SK). It was installed on November 24th 2002 and is now fully operational. The beacon frequency is 2304.300 MHz. It has a 1296 input and 2304 output translator in addition to the 2304 beacon. Antennas are horizontally polarized.

Passband frequencies:

The input frequency for the translator is 1296.0 MHz to 1296.2MHz and the output is 2304.6MHz to 2304.8MHz. The net is on 1296.1MHz so the output will be 2304.7MHz.

       "Getting ready for "the climb"

        Glenn KE6HPZ likes doing this......

        Climbing....climbing....climbing

        Rumor has it, Glenn once fell asleep while climbing a tower

        The 1296 omni antenna

        Both 1296 and 2304 antennas

        The complete translator

        Inside the box

        Input /Output filters and feedlines

more info/specs to follow

The SBMS beacon at Heaps Peak (DM14KF, 34 deg 14 min. 2.4 sec N lat., 117 deg 8 min. 25.2 sec W long, 8000 ft ASL) operates on 2304.110 Mhz plus or minus temperature variations. The frequency has been seen between 2304.080 and 2304.120 Mhz depending upon the building temperature and that of the transmitter base plate. The carrier operates all the time with vertical polarization. An MCW Identifier has a 2 minute message very 12 minutes. Following the ID there is a minute of tone whose frequency is relative to the transmitter base plate temperature. The tone is about 200 Hz for -20 degrees C to about 1500 Hz for 60 degrees. The frequency modulation is about 6 KHz deviation which easily monitored by slope detection on SSB or FM detection on multimode radios.

The 2304 beacon and it's trustee Dick, WB6DNX.

The transmitter consists of a crystal controlled oscillator, a five stage 12 times multiplier/amplifier and 2 step recovery diode triplers. FM is provided by applying audio to a balanced varactor diode modulator tied to the crystal oscillator. The five stage multiplier/ amplifier raises oscillator frequency to 255.66 at a power level of about 15 watts. The first SRD tripler output is 766.88 Mhz followed by the second SRD output at 2304 Mhz at a power level of at least 2.5 w. A 3 pole interdigital filter is used on the output to reduce harmonics. In order to protect the transmitter from antenna faults, a ferrite isolator is on the output of the transmitter.

The antenna just above the building is an omnidirectional vertically polarized collinear array housed in a PVC tube for protection. The antenna has a gain of about 6.7 dBd. There is about 10 ft of heliax connecting the transmitter to the antenna. The IDer uses an EPROM and the bit rate is adjustable. It is set to about 18 wpm.

AC mains power the beacon transmitter, 450 Mhz control receiver, touch tone decoder, message generator and keyer. Power consumption is about 40 watts.

One hundred percent copy of the message sent to WA6EXV will get you a certificate. Just a signal report will get you a QSL from Chuck.

Chuck's address: WA6EXV PO Box 605 Ridgecrest, CA 93556.