In this article, I'll introduce to you the radio propagation beacons. Have you ever wondered why one day you have listened to a distant station from several thousand miles with good signal and the other day there has been almost no sign of it. In almost all cases, this depends on the HF propagation conditions. And the best way to check the propagation is the world wide beacon system. It is a system of amateur operated beacons that do transmit in CW (telegraphy). Each beacon transmits its callsign every three minutes, no matter if it's day or night. It is sent at 22 words per minute and is followed by four one second dashes. The callsign and the first dash are sent at 100 watts, followed by 3 dashes: 1 at 10 watts, 1 at 1 watt and 1 at 100 milliwats. If you are able to hear all the dashes then the band is really open and the conditions are excellent (and your antenna is working well too
).
).| Call | Location | 14.100 | 18.110 | 21.150 | 24.930 | 28.200 | Operator | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4U1UN |  | United Nations | 00:00 | 00:10 | 00:20 | 00:30 | 00:40 | UNRC | OFF3 |
| VE8AT | | Canada | 00:10 | 00:20 | 00:30 | 00:40 | 00:50 | RAC/NARC | OK1 |
| W6WX | | United States | 00:20 | 00:30 | 00:40 | 00:50 | 01:00 | NCDXF | OK |
| KH6WO | | Hawaii | 00:30 | 00:40 | 00:50 | 01:00 | 01:10 | KH6BYU | OK |
| ZL6B | | New Zealand | 00:40 | 00:50 | 01:00 | 01:10 | 01:20 | NZART | OK |
| VK6RBP | | Australia | 00:50 | 01:00 | 01:10 | 01:20 | 01:30 | WIA | OK |
| JA2IGY | | Japan | 01:00 | 01:10 | 01:20 | 01:30 | 01:40 | JARL | OK |
| RR9O | | Russia | 01:10 | 01:20 | 01:30 | 01:40 | 01:50 | SRR | OK |
| VR2B | | Hong Kong | 01:20 | 01:30 | 01:40 | 01:50 | 02:00 | HARTS | OK |
| 4S7B | | Sri Lanka | 01:30 | 01:40 | 01:50 | 02:00 | 02:10 | RSSL | OK |
| ZS6DN | | South Africa | 01:40 | 01:50 | 02:00 | 02:10 | 02:20 | ZS6DN | OK |
| 5Z4B | | Kenya | 01:50 | 02:00 | 02:10 | 02:20 | 02:30 | ARSK | OK |
| 4X6TU | | Israel | 02:00 | 02:10 | 02:20 | 02:30 | 02:40 | IARC | ON8 |
| OH2B | | Finland | 02:10 | 02:20 | 02:30 | 02:40 | 02:50 | SRAL | OK |
| CS3B | | Madeira | 02:20 | 02:30 | 02:40 | 02:50 | 00:00 | ARRM | OK |
| LU4AA | | Argentina | 02:30 | 02:40 | 02:50 | 00:00 | 00:10 | RCA | OFF?6 |
| OA4B | | Peru | 02:40 | 02:50 | 00:00 | 00:10 | 00:20 | RCP | OK |
| YV5B | | Venezuela | 02:50 | 00:00 | 00:10 | 00:20 | 00:30 | RCV | OFF4 |
Thanks to NCDXF/IARU for the transmission schedule.
The callsign and the first dash are sent at 100 watts, followed by 3 dashes: 1 at 10 watts, 1 at 1 watt and 1 at 100 milliwats. Event Furniture Rentals Dubai | Tent Rental Riyadh | Tent Manufacture Africa| Tent Supplier Africa
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