119 lines
6.8 KiB
Plaintext
119 lines
6.8 KiB
Plaintext
Episode: 4502
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Title: HPR4502: Cheap Yellow Display Project Part 3: Reverse beacon network
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Source: https://hub.hackerpublicradio.org/ccdn.php?filename=/eps/hpr4502/hpr4502.mp3
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Transcribed: 2025-11-22 15:07:29
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---
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This is Hacker Public Radio Episode 4,502 for Tuesday 4 November 2025.
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Today's show is entitled, GPLO Display Project Part 3, Reverse Beacon Network.
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It is hosted by Trey and is about 8 minutes long.
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It carries a clean flag.
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The summary is, learn about the Reverse Beacon Network and how it might be used with
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the GPLO Display.
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Hello again, this is Trey.
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Welcome to Part 3 in my GPLO Display Project series.
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You can find Part 1 in Episode 4472 and Part 2 in Episode 4488.
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We previously left our handy hero searching for a solution to an amateur radio signal propagation
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dilemma while he is trying to become proficient with Morse code.
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The GPLO Display technology is simmering in the back of his brain and the answer in search
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of a problem.
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I love trying to create the feel of a vintage radio or television series with the intro
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and outro of these episodes.
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But I am by no means the hero.
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I am simply Trey, a grumpy old man and a tinkerer.
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Instead the real hero in this episode is Keith, V-E-S-V-Q, the shaky key on YouTube.
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There's a link in the show notes.
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So let's see, where were we?
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Oh yes, I have been trying to learn Morse code.
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That was me, tapping out CQ, CQ, and Morse code using the practice set I keep on my desk.
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This consists of a set of code paddles connected to an Arduino Nano, which I built several
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years ago based on what I learned watching Code Practice Oscillator, aka the three Arduino's.
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On J.M. Harvey1947's YouTube channel.
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And based on the code from his GitHub repository, and I'll post a link to that in the show notes.
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I did need to make modifications both to support the Arduino Nano on which I chose to run
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it and for my own sanity as the way that I learned to write code for Arduino is very different.
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I focus on readability and flexibility.
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You can see these changes on my own GitHub repository, and I'll post a link to that also
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in the show notes.
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Anyway, I have been studying, and I have been watching videos.
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I have been practicing Morse code.
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I might actually be learning some of this stuff.
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If you are interested in more details about the resources I'm using, leave a comment for
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this episode or drop me an email using the address in my profile, and I may record
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an episode about it.
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The result is that I have been learning, but also the Google and YouTube algorithms
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have been learning about me.
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They have started to feed me more videos about Morse code.
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It is both helpful and super creepy at the same time.
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So one day, when I opened YouTube, a title in my feed caught my eye.
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News, CWop, use the reverse beacon network to improve your code.
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A link is in the show notes.
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I said to myself, self, this could be interesting.
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I watched Keith's video and learned about the reverse beacon network.
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Again, there's a link in the show notes.
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According to their website, the reverse beacon network is a revolutionary new idea.
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Instead of beacons actively transmitting signals, the reverse beacon network is a network
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of stations listening to the bands and reporting what stations they hear, when, and how
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well.
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Let's pause for a second and discuss amateur radio beacons.
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These are stations which repeatedly broadcast their identity on dedicated frequencies.
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Other operators around the world who hear a beacon can evaluate the signal propagation
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between their stations and the beacon location.
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The reverse beacon network is just the opposite.
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Here the station operator can transmit a test signal with their own call sign using
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CW or other digital modes.
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Then they can look at the reverse beacon network website to see which reverse beacon network
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listening stations received their transmission and even get a signal report.
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On the main page of the reverse beacon network, one can observe a world map with paths showing
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where signals are received, where they originated based on the registered grid square of the
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originating call sign.
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The table displayed below the map reveals the sending and receiving call signs, their distance
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apart in miles or kilometers, the frequency, the mode, the type of transmission, the signal
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to noise ratio, the speed of the transmission, and the date and time using UTC.
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I'm posting a picture of that page in the show notes.
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This information is collected by a network of volunteer reverse beacon receiving stations
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all over the world, which monitor various radio bands, decode transmissions of CW,
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Morse code, RTTY, that's radio teletype, and PSK31 or PSK63.
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These are digital modes.
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These are digital modes of operation that use phase shift keying.
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These receiving stations report what they receive as well as the signal strength back
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into the reverse beacon network to be recorded and published over the internet.
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Dave Kassler discussed the reverse beacon network back in 2016 on his YouTube video, the
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ham radio reverse beacon network, an Ask Dave episode number 32, a link is in the show
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notes.
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This gives very good detail of how the network works.
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This sounds like exactly what I've been looking for.
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All I need to do is come up with a way to reliably, accurately, and consistently transmit
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CQ, CQ, CQ, test, DE, followed by my call sign, three times at a consistent 20 words
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per minute.
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If I can do this a few times, I can then check the reverse beacon network to see where
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I was received.
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By including the test string, recipients know that I do not wish to start a conversation.
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I can get accurate reporting of where my signal is going and how strong it is.
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But remember, my Morris code skills are still inadequate.
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And my radios do not have keyer memories like those which can be found in higher end transceivers
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like the ICOM 7300.
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to be programmed to be sent at the touch of a button.
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But there is a fairly inexpensive solution to this problem, one which has been nagging
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at the back of my mind for weeks.
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Maybe, just maybe, I could use the cheap yellow display to effectively add keyer memory
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to any of my radios by simply plugging it into the code key input port.
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These stored messages could be transmitted by simply touching their specific ICOM on
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the touch screen.
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Now we have a plan.
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But how will we do it?
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What else will we need to learn?
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Will it even work?
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Well, tune in to the next episode in the series to find out the answers to some of these
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questions and more.
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Bye now.
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You have been listening to Hacker Public Radio at HackerPublicRadio.org.
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Today's show was contributed by a HPR listener like yourself.
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If you ever thought of recording a podcast, then click on our contribute link to find
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out how easy it really is.
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Hosting for HPR has been kindly provided by an onsthost.com, the internet archive and
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our syncs.net.
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On this advice status, today's show is released on our Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
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License.
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