9cm microwave band Test Beacon from VK1

 

Dimitrios Tsifakis via groups.io <dtsifakis=gmail.com@groups.io>	Jun 14, 2026, 11:12 AM
to VK-Microwave

Hi all,

This beacon is mainly of interest to the ACT members.

The 9 cm beacon is finally on air! The nominal frequency is 3398.8 MHz, the beacon power output was measured to be +15 dBm past the final filter. Out of this power I expect about +10 dBm to make it to the HPOL antenna. The beacon transmits 12 WPM morse code that includes the callsign (VK1SV/B) and the approximate location (QF44).

Its stability should be superior to previous beacons I have put on air, however there might be a small offset from the nominal 3398.8 MHz operating frequency. Using an (uncalibrated) SDR, I see it at 3398.80045 MHz (450 Hz higher than the nominal freq). YMMV.

This may be a beacon that can only be heard from mountaintops, but in any case, reception reports, positive or negative, are always welcome.

73, Dimitris

PS, I have obtained a 10 W 3.4 GHz amplifier from aliexpress but haven't powered it up yet. It cost me about $40 from memory. This could be used to bring the beacon to a watt or so of output power in the future. A discussion including some measured data about this amplifier can be found here: https://www.eevblog.com/forum/rf-microwave/10w-rf-amplifier-3400-3800-mhz-from-aliexpress-reverse-engineering/