In Part 1 available HERE I gave a short overview of the Next Generation Amateur Radio Beacon (s) for the Southern Cape. You can read more HERE about the ZS1I 6 Meter Magic Band Project in the Southern Cape Area of South Africa. This past few days I have been working on the 6m CW Beacon Amplifier. As I said before this is not an elaborate beacon but more of a modular / practical beacon. The amplifier for the beacon was damaged. More on this available HERE. Although the 6 meter " magic band season" is diminishing work must continue on the "Simple Simon" Beacons. After all the hobby is about having fun .... aint it?
Today it was time to see if the magic smoke will come out of the amplifier. Well I soldered the power cables to the unit and ensure that the polarity is correct. The buck converter power supply was installed in a 3d printed enclosure. A word of warning. Although the "manual" indicated that this amplifier is rated for 12 v DC power, I found several sources that indicate that the unit must be powered by 9 v DC. Rather safe than sorry I set the DC power output to 9 volts.
I connected the amplifier and switched the buck converter on. LEDS came on both on the buck converter as well as the amplifier and thankfully no magic smoke escaped from both units. I switched off and connected the rest of the beacon modules except the low pass filter. Switched on again and again no smoke, just the harmonious tones of CW filled the Shack. I setup the SDR Receiver and a simple dipole antenna to receive the signals. Well all went well and the beacon chimed on for more than an hour. The amplifier was not hot to the touch and the CW was also picked up from an adjacent room without any antenna connected to the beacon. See images and video. Unfortunately I do not have a QRP / ORPP Watt Meter but the signal strength reflected via the computer and SDR Receiver was more than enough to satisfy my "taste-buds".
So far so good. I now need a project cabinet and will install the modules which will include the low pass filter. Once every module is installed I will test the 6m CW Beacon to the full. So far I am quite impressed but the proof lies in the pudding!! Stay tuned!!
