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.
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