The International Beacon Project (IBP) is a worldwide network of
radio propagation beacons. It consists of 18
continuous wave (CW) beacons operating on five designated frequencies in the
high frequency band.
The IBP beacons provide a means of assessing the prevailing ionospheric signal propagation characteristics to both
amateur and commercial high frequency radio users.
The project is coordinated by the Northern California DX Foundation (NCDXF) and the
International Amateur Radio Union
The International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) is an international confederation of national organisations that allows a forum for common matters of concern to amateur radio operators worldwide, and collectively represents matters to the Internatio ...
(IARU). The first beacon of the IBP started operations from Northern California in 1979. The network was expanded to include 8 and subsequently 18 international transmission sites.
History
The first beacon was put into operation in 1979 using the call sign WB6ZNL. It transmitted a 1 minute long beacon every 10 minutes on 14.1 MHz using custom built transmitter and controller hardware. The beacon consisted of the
call sign
In broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign (also known as a call name or call letters—and historically as a call signal—or abbreviated as a call) is a unique identifier for a transmitter station. A call sign can be formally assig ...
transmitted at 100 watts, four 9 second long dashes each at 100 watts, 10 watts, 1 watt and 0.1 watt, followed by sign out at 100 watts.
NCDXF and seven partnering organizations from United States, Finland, Portugal, Israel, Japan, Honolulu and Argentina operated the first iteration of the beacon network. Due to difficulties encountered in building beacon hardware, each site used a
Kenwood TS-120 transceiver keyed and controlled by a custom built beacon controller unit. The network operated on 14.1 MHz and the beacon format remained unchanged.
In 1995, work began to improve the existing beacon network, so it could operate on five designated frequencies on the high frequency band. The new beacon network used Kenwood TS-50 transceivers keyed and controlled by an upgraded beacon controller unit. The number of partner organizations were expanded to 18 and the new 10 second beacon format was adopted.
Notable Projects
Beyond helping
amateur radio operators better understand
HF radio propagation the project has aided scientists in better understanding the earths
ionosphere, improved prediction models, and aided in radio direction finding.
Frequencies and transmission schedule
The beacons are transmitted on the frequencies 14.100 MHz, 18.110 MHz, 21.150 MHz, 24.930 MHz and 28.200 MHz.
Each beacon transmission site operates around the clock. Beacon is transmitted once on each frequency, from low (14.100 MHz) to high (28.200 MHz), followed by a 130-second pause after which the cycle is repeated.
Each transmission is 10 second long, and consists of the call sign of the beacon transmitted at 22
words per minute (WPM) followed by four dashes. The call sign and the first dash is transmitted at 100 watts of power. Subsequent three dashes are transmitted at 10 watts, 1 watt and 0.1 watt respectively.
All beacon transmissions are coordinated using GPS time. As such, at a given frequency, all 18 beacons are transmitted once every three minutes.
Hardware
As of today, beacons are transmitted using commercial HF transceivers (
Kenwood TS-50 or
Icom IC-7200) keyed and coordinated by a purpose built Beacon Controller unit.
Beacons
IBP operates the following beacons as of March 2017.
Notes and references
{{reflist
Radio frequency propagation
Beacons