21/11/22: G4NSJ Worthing 70cm CW Beacon. 432.491MHz. Locator IO 90 TT.
My RS41 Radiosonde has been reprogrammed, by my good friend Roy, to operate as a low power beacon on the 70cms amateur band.
CW frequency: 432.491MHz.
Ident: G4NSJ Worthing IO90TT.
Power: 100mW.
Time interval: 40 seconds.
Antenna: Sirio CX-425 at 30 feet.
I’d really appreciate signal reports, even if you only live down the road from me. Signal reports please to: [email protected]
Beacon status:
What is a Radio Sonde?
If you’re not sure what a Radiosonde is, there’s a load of information here.
The Beacon:
The RS41 Radiosonde is operating as a beacon on 432.491MHz. I’ll be mounting the unit in the box shown below. I’m running the beacon from a 12 Volt supply via a buck converter down to 3 Volts. I aim to mount the converter in the box along with the beacon.
RSGB band plan 432.400 – 432.500MHz Propagation Beacons:
A small segment for Personal Weak Signal MGM Beacons at the top edge is available in the guard band. The idea of a beacon is to give some indication of propagation. At UHF, the beacon will be a useful bench mark for comparing receiving aerials.
Beacon running on a Sirio CX-425 antenna at 30 feet:
Thanks to Roy for the antenna installation (see photo below). Scaffolding gone, the antenna is shown on the right, this is now the permanent antenna for the beacon.
Below is a short video of the beacon received two miles away. Thanks to Roy for the video clip. The beacon antenna was a Watson W50 at 40 feet. The CW speed is rather fast so I’ll be slowing it down at some stage.
11/1/23: Beacon heard 13 miles away:
The beacon was received today in Woodingdean, Brighton, at a distance of 13.5 miles. Below is the view from Woodingdean looking across to Worthing. For once, it’s not raining!
Video of the beacon signal received on a mobile rig whip antenna on the hill at Woodingdean, Brighton. Thanks to Roy for the video clip and above photo.
Thanks to Rusty Rocket for allowing me to use his video clip. Copyright C 2022 Rusty Rocket: You can find Rusty’s YouTube channel here.