WQ6X Wonders Aloud about Russian Military Beacons - Part 3

While I have posted several Blogs regarding the subject of Russian Military Beacons (and the ones on ~7.039 in particular) every radiosport event with an Asian component to it brings about NEW questions regarding what these beacons are REALLY about and how we 40-meter radiosport operators can take advantage of the propagation information they provide.

Most 40-meter Cw operators have no
idea their band has been invaded for over 50 years with these Russian beacons. 
At first, I was somewhat incensed by the invasion.  After having thought it through,
it occurred to me these beacons are actually doing us a favor in a way; the hijack of one lone frequency is hardly anything to get worked up about.

The following WQ6X Contest Blogs have been written about Military Beacons. 
Included in these posts are:

• [X] - Beacon Tracking saves WQ6X from drowning in 2018 SEA NET
• [X] - WQ6X operations: the Weekend of BEACONS and RTTY
• [X] - Russian Letter Beacons Rescue 40 meters
• [X] - Wassup with Those Mysterious Russian Letter Beacons?
• [X] - Wassup with Those Mysterious Russian Letter Beacons? - Part 2

I wrote the last Blog in May (2021) after having noticed a number on anomalies with the "K" beacon. 
Since then, I have been monitoring the 7.039 beacons during virtually every contest weekend,
whether I run the events from Anza OR from Concord.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recently, I took off on another SDR receiver search for letter beacons, partially motivated by the seemingly lengthy disappearance of the "K" (Kamchatsky) beacon in far-east Asia on ~7.039.

It occurred to me that while the rest of the amateur bands sport no Russian beacons inside their boundaries (I've never heard the alleged beacons on 3.594), some of the other beacons are close enough in proximity to amateur bands that they can serve as reasonable propagation predictors. 
For Example:

•   4.557~ ===> 75m Ssb
•   7.508~ ===> 40m Ssb
• 10.871~ ===> 30m
  
• 13.527~ ===> 20m Cw
• 16.331~ ===> 17m
• 20.047~ ===> 15m
  

Because the Russian beacons transmit every second of every day, we don't need a beacon tracking program per se' (like the WQ6X Beacon Tracker).  All we need is to put a receiver on one-or-more of those frequencies to get an idea of what areas in Europe are open to the area of the receiving station.

During the week prior to 2021 Field Day, I spent some hours going through the WEB SDR list looking for receivers that can help to locate the various letter beacons around Europe.  Also useful is the ENIGMA 2000 Website.  While some beacons have NoT changed over the years, others have continued to "evolve" (if that's the correct descriptor) and are often heard doing "strange" things
from time to time.

 As of January 2022, some interesting developments have occurred in the Russian Beacon world; at least, on the Eastern Asian front.  Listening several evenings from the West coast (WA6TQT's QTH and WQ6X @W7AYT), it would seem that the "F" and "M" beacons have not been active for several weeks.  

The long-AWOL "K" is the only one of the three eastern beacons that is active.  Instead of a "- . -" ("K") every 1 - 2 seconds, currently it sends "- . -  - . -  - . -  - . -" ("K" "K" "K" "K") and then pauses briefly before repeating the sequence.  Why the difference in transmit sequence?  I have no clue.
I simply observe what is.

An interesting way to flush out the TRUTH about Russian beacon activity is by making use of Software Defined Receivers (SDR's) around the world.  I am about to embark on just such an experiment and will report my findings in an upcoming Blog.

Do you make use of the Russian military beacons?

IF so, what have YOU Discovered?