GB3RMK Beacon-Keeper Chris GM3WOJ with GB3BI Beacon-Keeper Kenny MM0GKB.
The 50MHz beacon GB3RMK, located on a hilltop near Muir of Ord, is back on the air on 50.002MHz and 50.460MHz. The reason for the two frequencies is that it is a synchronous beacon. The keying cycle is over a 5-minute period starting 0, 5, 10, 15…. minutes past the hour. It transmits PI4 code for the first two minutes of the period and then hops to 50.460MHz for the remaining three minutes. It uses the callsigns GB3RMK/S on the lower frequency and GB3RMK on the higher frequency. The signal is audible in Edinburgh at BJF’s location there and Brian gets pretty consistent decodes of the PI4 data. It currently runs about 20 Watts but there are plans to increase the power to about 50 Watts which should make it easier to hear in Edinburgh.
Chris Tran GM3WOJ is the beacon-keeper and Brian Flynn GM8BJF built the hardware and did the coding of the software to do all the frequency-generation, keying and hopping using an AD ADF5335 synthesiser chip.