The DX Beacons are an interesting way to see how "DX" is doing in your area. There are 18 stations located around the globe which send their call signs at 100 watts on 10, 12, 15, 17 and 20 meters, followed by a one second dash at 10 watts, then a one second dash at 1 watt, and finally a one second dash at 100 milliwatts. Then that particular station "jumps" to the next band and repeats the same sequence until it has transmitted its "beacon" on all 5 bands. Immediately following that particular station, the "next" station begins its beacon transmissions following the same sequence, but only ONE station is actually transmitting at a time on any one frequency. It takes 3 minutes for all stations to complete their "sequence" and then they start all over again.
To do this, all stations use the same equipment, and are syncronized using GPS information. The sequence of each station is fixed. By "listening" to a particular frequency you might hear certain stations, and the you would know by their call sign their location, and that would tell you that particular "path" is open. Call signs are given at 22 wpm in CW. The transmitter is a Kenwood model TS-50, and the antenna is a vertical Cushcraft R5. The controller was made by the organization itself.
The chart below shows the 18 stations, their call signs, and their locations.
The frequencies are shown at the top of the chart.
MFJ manufactures a model 890 which consists of a display of the globe with with LED's placed at the position of each of the 18 sites. The unit is syncronized to the same time sequence using a built-in WWVB 60 KHz clock, so that at the correct time, ONE of the LEDs will be lit indicating where that signal is originating. By "listening" to your receiver on one of the frequencies, you would then know "where" that signal is coming from by the lit LED, and you do not need to know CW to see it. The MFJ unit sells for about $100.
You can find additional information about these beacons at the following site:
http://www.iaru.org/articles/
