[Skimmertalk] beacons.csv and beacon spotting

[PY1NB - Felipe Ceglia]

Hello,

The beacons list is downloaded from the following online sources:

fetched 425 lines from: https://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/por/50.htm
fetched 769 lines from: https://www.keele.ac.uk/depts/por/28.htm
fetched 318 lines from:  http://www.newsvhf.com/beacons2.html
fetched 363 lines from: http://www.mmmonvhf.de/beacon/download/bcn_6m.csv
fetched 248 lines from: http://www.mmmonvhf.de/beacon/download/bcn_2m.csv
fetched 975 lines from: http://www.qsl.net/wj5o/bcn.htm

In the recent past the server who handles
http://www.newsvhf.com/beacons2.html started to refuse to talk to our
script, and we didnt notice. This is why some 2m beacons went missing.
I have just fixed that.

If you are aware of any other beacons list that we could use, please
let me know.

If you need to ignore any station you could use the "bad calls"
feature, in the "spot filters" tab on the aggregator.

73,

Felipe



Felipe Ceglia - PY1NB
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PR1T team member /// Rio DX Group member /// Araucaria DX Group member
http://dxwatch.com /// http://reversebeacon.net /// http://riodxgroup.com

On Fri, Jan 19, 2018 at 10:33 PM, Bob Wilson, N6TV <n6tv at arrl.net> wrote:

> The BEACONS.CSV file is used only by the RBN Aggregator; it's not part of
> the VE3NEA skimmer software.  This file is automatically and periodically
> downloaded from the Internet to the Aggregator installation directory from
> a server, but I don't know where the server copy is located, or who
> maintains it.  A number of VHF / UHF beacon callsigns are already listed
> there, but* many VHF/UHF beacon callsigns above 146 Mhz were deleted
> between my November 2017 copy and my January 2018 copy*.  Perhaps W3OA can
> explain.
>
> The format is just frequency (in whole kHz, no decimals) and callsign,
> comma-separated.
>
> 1810,YR2TOP
> 1853,OK0EV
> 1875,DL3KR
> ...
> 145415,R3MAV
>
> I don't see W6REK/B 28214.3 listed in the BEACONS.CSV file, yet this
> beacon is
> being spotted <http://reversebeacon.net/dxsd1/dxsd1.php?f=0&c=w6rek/b&t=dx
> >
> OK as
> a Beacon (BCN) by the RBN, perhaps because the Aggregator treats anything
> signing /B as a beacon even if it is not listed in BEACONS.CSV.
>
> 73,
> Bob, N6TV
>
> On Fri, Jan 19, 2018 at 4:55 AM, John Ackermann N8UR <jra at febo.com> wrote:
>
> > Our VHF/UHF Skimmer is going to mainly hear beacons, and that's the main
> > value of the project -- to use them as a sign of propagation enhancement.
> >
> > I found Pete's blog articles about optimizing for NCDXF beacons (
> > http://reversebeacon.blogspot.com/2014/02/ncdxf-beacon-
> spotting-redux.html
> > and http://reversebeacon.blogspot.com/2017/09/beacons-revisited-
> > checklist.html).  From that, I'm guessing that the Watch.lst file might
> > be helpful, though most of our beacons do send their call more than once.
> >
> > I also notice that there is a beacons.csv file, but I can't find any
> > documentation about it.  The only reference seems to be in a list posting
> > by W3OA (http://dayton.contesting.com/pipermail/skimmertalk/2013-Aug
> > ust/001214.html) but that doesn't indicate what the contents of the file
> > should be.
> >
> > Can anyone provide a pointer on how to populate and use that file?
> >
> > Thanks!
> >
> > 73,
> > John
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
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