CW Beacon kit by Expanded Spectrum Systems

FB 2 in the Hammond box. Serial port is on the back.

When ordering some 10.140 MHz crystals from Rich, N4ESS, I noticed his company Expanded Spectrum Systems had a beacon kit. The “Freakin’ Beacon” comes in two forms, the FB1 which is the smaller of the two and has no connector sockets or switch; and the FB2 which does have the sockets as well as a serial port.  As I was wondering how to key my future QRSS transmitter (still to be built), I could see that here was a nice solution, especially as Rich had provided support for QRSS. So I ordered an FB2.

The FB2 board.

The FB2 is a nice simple kit with the beacon ‘intelligence’ provided by a PIC.  The board is plated through and good quality and there was no missing parts.  By pure luck I had a Hammond aluminium box in the junk box that the board fit inside perfectly.  So a little careful drilling and filing and I now have a nicely housed beacon controller.  The programming is straight forward through the serial port.

Thanks to Rich, N4ESS, for a nice kit!  So nice I think I will be ordering a FB1 for a future project – perhaps a portable transmitter.

Now, to get the QRSS transmitter designed and built.