This beacon was originally a WIA (VK6
Division) owned unit, run by the Northern Corridor Radio Group. In 2004, it was decided to
upgrade the unit to something more modern and more reliable as the old technology was
developing faults quicker than it could be repaired. Shown below is the old
10m beacon, which was originally built by John VK6ZN and then repaired by
VK6FJA many years later with an old 11m radio donated by Greg (now VK5JGW). It
used a diode matrix CW identifier, which has corroded somewhat over the last
15 years. It does still work though - with a repair to the Transmitter, it
could be put back in service if required.
|
The front of the old beacon. |
Inside the old beacon showing the radio (click on the image to see it full size!) |
The old beacon from the top. |
A better option was decided by the NCRG in 2004. A "Realistic" HTX 100 (Tandy-RadioShack) radio was bought from VK-HAM for the purpose of replacing the ageing beacon transmitter (an old CB radio). James VK6FJA set about the modification of the unit to perform the beacon task. On this page, you can find details of how the new beacon was constructed.
The radio to convert. These were being sold off by Tandy a while ago. It is based on the Uniden HR2510 design. In fact, inside - the radio IS a Uniden.
|
|
Inside the radio - the new CW ID board has been mounted on the top panel and a plastic insulator keeps the radio circuitry apart from the CW board.
|
|
A picture of the new CW ID board based on a 16F84A PIC IC. |
Here is the circuit diagram of the new CW ID board. |
|
The front of the new beacon radio (HTX100). The yellow glow behind the CW indicator is a LED indicating that the radio is being keyed. |
|
Download the PIC HEX code. Download the PIC asm file. Download the source code.
The beacon source code was re-written based on concepts in other freeware morse identification units. The program was written in Pascal and compiled using mikroPascal demo software for the 16F84A PIC micro. Parts available at Dick Smith Electronics stores.
Datasheet for PIC 16F84A Micro. ( pdf file 1.45Mb local )
The manual for the radio is available
from the www.mods.dk site.
Or a cached version is here :- Owners Manual
(1.2Mb) or Service Manual (5Mb).
Disclaimer: Software for beacon written with resources from the Internet. Code is original but code design concept is based on freeware programs. Manuals and datasheets are freely available from other websites on the Internet and a copy is provided as a cached version only and will be removed upon any request to do so. Photos (c) VK6FJA 2005. Details current as as July 2005.