W8RKO Eclipse Beacon Station

The W8RKO station located in Dayton, OH will transmit three frequencies simultaneously during the beacon period, generated as described below.

An HP 5071A Primary Frequency Standard with "high performance" option provides the reference frequency from which all the signals are derived.  This signal has an absolute accuracy of better than 1 part in 1e13 and short-term noise of less than 5 parts in 1e12.

A TAPR TADD-1 RF distribution amplifier routes the reference frequency to three PTS-250/SX51 low-noise synthesizers, each generating one of the 80M, 40M, or 30M operating frequencies with 0.1 Hz resolution.  The PTS synthesizers are analog designs that introduce no frequency truncation and have very low phase noise.

The synthesizer outputs go into a PC-controlled switch matrix designed and built by W8RKO that provides keying and CW ID.

Following the keyer, the signals are amplified and filtered, then fed into power amplifiers that consist of the driver and final stages of some old Kenwood TS-520S transceivers.  These typically provide about 50W output, and a KW-level amp is available for one band.  The antennas are wires supported from a tower.