G7VJR Reverse Beacon · 9 May 2009 by Michael Wells
Hi all,
I have just finished putting together the (numerous) parts of a full CW Skimmer station. This is working very well and I thought it might perhaps interest a few people. In short;
- The IF output of my Elecraft K3 is converted to I/Q signals in an LP-PAN, and then decoded in the PC at 192kHz (using a special sound card)
- CW Skimmer listens to the entire audio range and sorts out what’s on the band, then spits it out in DX cluster format (you can telnet to it)
- The DX cluster feed is sent to the Reverse Beacon Network and aggregated with other people’s info.
As a result you can see what my radio is hearing (with a map if you click the right button) here:
http://www.reversebeacon.net/dxsd1.php?f=0&c=G7VJR&t=de
While I’m sure it gets used as a crutch by some, I do see this as a fascinating and quite dazzling piece of technology. What I really like is that I can connect while I’m at work and have a think about whether to head to the shack!
73
Michael G7VJR
