There are several states and countries in IARU Region 2 that could use a 10 meter beacon (or beacons) for propagation indicators.  Currently Arkansas, Wyoming, New Mexico, South Dakota, Mississippi, Delaware, and Vermont have no beacons (as far as we know).  Are there any hams interested in setting up a simple 10 meter beacon, or know someone who would?  Many people in the USA and worldwide operate 10 meter beacons and also listen for them, and many send in daily reports. It is very interesting and helpful to see where propagation is open by listening for these beacons. People are hearing beacons every day even at this bottom of the solar cycle.  Most beacons only run from 1 watt to 10 watts and many are simply old 23-channel CB radios that have been converted to 10 meters, with an inexpensive keyer connected. The keyers can be found for around $15.  There are many places in Region 2 which do not have a beacon, and it would be good to see these areas with a 10 meter propagation indicator.  Again, if you would like to operate one, or know someone who would, please contact Bill Hays WJ5O at wj5o "at" troycable.net . Mr. Hays is the IARU Region 2 HF Beacon Coordinator.

For a map of USA and World 10-meter beacons, please see the following site:
http://userpages.troycable.net/~wj5o/YourBCN.htm

Here's a link to general information about 10 meters and simple 10 meter beacon projects:

http://userpages.troycable.net/~wj5o/

The following is a good article called "Exploring the World of Ten Meter Beacons" that recently appeared in The Monitoring Times:

http://monitoringtimes.com/MT-10meters.pdf

These are links to lists of the known 10 meter beacons worldwide:

http://www.mydarc.de/dl8wx/baken_kw.htm
http://userpages.troycable.net/~wj5o/bcn.htm

This is a link to a 10 meter beacon-spotter website and other information:

http://10mbeacons.com/beaconspot/spot90.php

There is also a beacon spotter email reflector with daily logs here:

http://www.explore.force9.co.uk/beacons/hfbeacons.htm

It would be very good to see some beacons in blank areas. There are many places in Central America, the Caribbean, and South America that need beacons: Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Belize, Jamaica, Cuba, Dominican Repuclic, Haiti, Chile, Bolivia, Ecuador, Columbia, Uruguay, Suriname, Falkland Islands, and the Galapagos Islands.  We have received responses from a few of these countries already.

Thanks and 73!
Jeff KP3FT  (KP3FT/B 28.222.5 Mhz)
Ponce, Puerto Rico

Hi all,
     I want to make a loading coil for a 40-meter mono-band vertical, and was wondering if there is any disadvantage to using insulated stranded-copper electrical wire, as opposed to insulated solid-copper wire?  The coil dimensions call for 14 AWG, and I'm pretty sure my local hardware does not carry solid electrical wire, only stranded.  I'm just wondering if the stranded stuff will somehow affect the inductance in any way.
     Also, can anyone point me to an online resource for calculating an L-network?  This 40m vertical will have a theoretical feedpoint impedenace of 18.5 Ohms, so I think it needs an L-network.  If not, then any other suggestions for matching it to 50-ohm coax would be much appreciated.  
Thanks and 73...
Jeff KP3FT

I forgot to add, that this is for a base setup, not mobile, and am looking for specs for all or some of the following bands: 20, 40, 80, and 160 meters.
Thanks!
Jeff KP3FT (KP3FT/B 28.222 MHZ beacon)

Hi all,
I have very limited space here, and would like to try homebrewing a "Texas Bugcatcher"-style baseloaded antenna using the common 8' CB whip antenna.  Does anyone know of any reference material where I can find the specs for the coil design?  
I realize that these antenna are not as efficient as a big wire antenna, but they are better than nothing and I also want to experiment.
Thanks for any help!
Jeff KP3FT (KP3FT/B 28.222 MHZ beacon)

I'm in agreement with KB6ZOP.  There's nothing wrong with these rigs as ham radios.  I don't know about the entire collection of these radios, but I do know that the AR3500, RCI2950, HR2510, and TS5010 rigs (and clones) are amateur radios. They operate all modes and have split operation for the FM repeaters.  Many of them are on the air today as 10 meter beacons.

My very first ham radio was actually a Uniden PC122 SSB CB.  I had just gotten my Novice license, had no money to spend, and converted my CB using a spare crystal and a "freeband" kit I already had.  My first contact, other than the other local guys in our group who also got their ham license, was a guy from Texas and we had a great QSO for about 20 minutes.  It was a very exciting time for me and the rest of us.  After that, I got one of the Ranger AR3500 rigs and I sure wish I still had it now.  We all had come from the "freeband" and all owned one type of these 10 meter rigs as our only rig.  We all eventually upgraded our licenses and bought HF/VHF rigs.  We all practiced CW and made many CW contacts on these 10 meter rigs so we could upgrade our licenses.  If I could get another AR3500, I wouldn't hesitate.  Now, I have a converted CB on the air 24/7 as a 10 meter beacon (28.222 Mhz).

73!
Jeff KP3FT

Hi all,
    Name here is Jeff and call is KP3FT.  I recently put together the SSTRAN AM transmitter kit (FCC Part 15 legal) for the AM broadcast band. The antenna is an outdoor base-loaded 9' (approximately) vertical at 1600 KHz.  The FCC only allows that maximum length including transmission line, so the transmitter is mounted directly under the loading coil.  I have a single 8' ground rod and the transmitting coverage is terrible.  The transmitter is fine and sounds excellent, so the problem is simply a bad ground.  I have read a lot about how to acquire better grounding with buried wires, multiple ground rods, etc, etc.  Unfortunately, I have little money to try experimenting, to only find that it didn't work either.  I realize one ground rod is rarely enough, but at 16 dollars per rod, it could get expensive to keep adding more if it won't work anyway.  Is the "artificial ground" an alternative to use between my existing ground and the transmitter?  It is more money, but at least I would know it would work (if indeed it would). The documentation with the transmitter states that if the grounding is not adequate, then the RF is being absorbed to ground by the high resistance of the grounding.  Is this accurate?  It's critical I have a good ground because it is only 1/10th of a watt output.  There are other people getting solid copy anywhere from 1/4 mile to 2 miles with this transmitter because of their good ground.  I'm lucky if it gets down the block!  I live in Ponce, PR about 15 minutes from the beach, and I believe the soil is somewhat sandy.  The transmitter has test points to show when full output is acheived while tuning the antenna; I'm getting about 60% output maximum.  Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Sincerely,
Jeffrey Mein  KP3FT