March 22nd, 2017

The other day I had a look on Dominiques QRZ.COM page and saw, he claimed to have a beacon on 13 cm as well. The frequency seemed to be quite strange: 2308.037 MHz

It´s because the situation in Switzerland is different, than in other european countries:

• 2300 – 2308 MHz  with special permission only
• 2308 – 2312 MHz  License classes 1, 2 and CEPT
• 2312 – 2400 MHz  with special permission only

My new Kuhne MKU 23 G4 transverter covers certain segements of the band. so I switched to 2304 – 2306 MHz and tried to listen on an IF around 148.037 MHz and was disappointed: nil. I expected a strong signal as the same beacon on 1296.050 MHz ist up to 40 dB above noise under normal conditions.

A weak trace can be seen at the IF of 1392.032 MHz (LO 916 MHz)

I contacted Dominique and he assured, the beacon should be on air. So I tried with the setup, I received ISEE-3 quite a time ago and monitored the path for airplanes. So after a short while, there was a trace to be seen on 2308.032 MHz. Even the keyed carrier could be heard deep in the noise, when larger aircrafts crossed or flew along the path.

Characteristic “hook” at the begin of the carrier after keying the call

So I proudly added beacon #23 to my 13 cm list.

HB9BBD/B: 2308.032 MHz, JN47GA, 1662 m. asl, PWR 8W, ERP 100W beaming north

 

March 23rd, 2017, Update

I had a second try with the MKU 23 G4 this morning and was able to receive the beacon with this gear as well on 2308.032 MHz.