N0YK 2 Meter Beacon 

Last Updated: 12/14/07

--Freq: 144.288 MHz--

--Power Out to Coax: 30 Watts--

--Power To Antenna Port: 20 Watts--

--Antenna: Stacked M2 Ho Loop's (8 dBd @ 9°)--

--Effective Radiated Power (ERP) = 126 Watts--

--Effective Isotropic Radiated Power (EIRP) = 207 Watts--

--Height: 100 feet--

--Location: DM98MG--Friend, Kansas--

--ID repeats every 10 seconds--

--VVV de N0YK/B DM98MG-------VVV de N0YK/B DM98MG--

Exciter-Amp

Here is a shot of the Transmitter Shelf in the Climate Controlled Building. The Exciter is an Icom IC-251a, purchased off eBay for a good price, had a few scratches, but electrically solid. The Icom 251a is capable of 10 watts on CW, the radio is set to 10 watts in cw mode, I wanted to turn it down to run it as low as possible to save wear and tear on the transmitter. So after some research, I found that you can remove the top lid of the radio and near the back left side is a POT labeled 129, you can adjust power out all the way down to 3/4 of a watt. The 3/4 of a watt is going into a Westcom 2 meter amp, found this older linear off qth.com. With 3/4 of a watt the amp is doing right around 30 watts out. I wedged the amps relay contacts closed and also adjusted the keying speed of the amps relay. Amp does run a little warm without a fan, so as seen in the picture are two fans (Wal-mart specials) which keeps it nice and cool to the touch. 

ID-O-Matic

Here is the keyer I found off eBay as a kit from N0XAS, he also has HamGadgets.com were you can find it.  Purchased it for $25 with shipping, took a few minutes to assemble and programming via the Hyper Terminal was a breeze. I'm using the straight key output to the Icom 251's straight key input. Works very well and very reasonably priced.

AK-1B DTMF Remote Relay Control

Here is the circuit I use to remotely turn off the Beacon, purchased it from Motron Electronics. Has a relay on board that is plenty big to switch the power on and off to the Ider. I'm using an older VHF Commercial rig as the receiver for the link and I have a 4 element yagi on the tower pointed towards my house. Using my Kenwood HT at 50 mW to send the dtmf codes to turn on and off, works flawlessly every time. I have a little desensing from the beacon, which is 3/4 of a mile from my house, on 2 meter ssb at certain azimuth headings. So if I need to, I'm able to turn it off while using the radio.

M2 Stacked Ho Loop's

Picture of the Stacked Ho Loop's mounted at the top of the tower, with a good 360 degree view. Ran some 9913 to it and have an Arrestor at the bottom before the radio for Lightning protection.

Looking East at the top of the tower by the Stacked Ho Loop's.