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 weeks I have been working on the 6m CW Beacon. As I said before this is not an elaborate beacon but more of a modular / practical beacon.
Update: ZS1I 6 Meter CW Beacon Project (Part 2) available HERE
This past few weeks I have been working on the 6m CW Beacon building it into a project box. As I said before this is not an elaborate beacon but more of a modular / practical beacon.
The beacon is now built into the project box and ready to be installed to the antenna and power supply.
Particulars of the beacon:
General:
Owner: ZS1I
Beacon Type: 6 Meter CW Beacon
Beacon Message: VVV de ZS1I KF15BT /B
Mode: CW (Unmodulated telegraphy)
Frequency: 50.010 Mhz Software:
Current final output power: +- 2 watt
Morse Code Speed: 14 wpm
Hardware:
OLED display = SSD1306 (128 x 64 pixels)
Si5351 Clock Generator (RF Generator) Quartz crystal value = 25 Mhz
2 x Power Modules (1 x 9 vdc and 1 x 5 vdc)
7 Pole Chebyshev Low Pass Filter (LPF) 50 Mhz
Arduino Nano 328P Micro Controller
Broadband 2 w Driver Power Amplifier
Delta Loop Antenna for 50 Mhz
Small audio speaker to listen to the morse code
Morse Code function LED (Red)
Power LED's and Switches
Software:
zs1i-beacon.ino
si5351.cpp
si5351.h
Adafruit GFX
Adafruit SSD1306
wire.h
spi.h
Adafruit OLED Library for text scrolling
Installation of the Beacon:
Site: ZS1I Station Shack, Heiderand, Mossel Bay
License: ZS1I Amateur Radio License
Note: This beacon is NOT located on a remote site which requires a separate license. The current location allows the owner to monitor and control the beacon while it is on the air.
License: ZS1I Amateur Radio License
Note: This beacon is NOT located on a remote site which requires a separate license. The current location allows the owner to monitor and control the beacon while it is on the air.
I still need a solar power supply for the beacon upon final installation. The Delta Loop antenna needs to be lifted higher in the air. It appears that we are now on the home run to get this beacon on the air and ready for the "magic band" season in South Africa. An update article will follow once the final installation has been done and the beacon is up and running.
Images: (Click on images for larger view.)
Videos:
Notes:
1. The broken face-plate was replaced with 2 x PVC Pipe plates that I made out of 80 mm PVC gutter down pipe. It works great and I will in a future article explain how I turned the round gutter pipe into a flat piece of PVC. I used a very old pipe that needed to be sprayed with either white or black spray paint. Personally I think it did not turn out that bad.
2. The angle at which the second video was taken did not show the complete message on the OLED. If I lifted the project box then you would be able to see the full message. Apology for the bad photography.
