22Meters.Com

There is a group of folks (most are non amateur radio operators) who have taken to experiment with beacons on 22 meters (around 13.560 Mhz). This is an unlicensed area of the bands that the FCC allows you to experiment with different modes (QRSS, WSPR etc.), transmitters etc. It’s only authorized for extremely QRP power… we are talking about 5mw or so. There are 3 or so bands for this kind of experimentation and the bands are commonly referred as LowFer, MedFer and Hifer depending on what part of the HF spectrum band you are operating. You can go to my other site, 22meters.com to see the actual Part 15 rules. I just started the page so there is only one page at the moment. I’ll have more to post shortly.

Currently I’m building my “HiFer” station. I’m using an Icom IC-703 as the transmitter and currently building an attenuator to bring the power level down to less than 10mw. Starting off I’ll be using WSPR since this mode is an excellent QRP mode. I’ll be feeding this to a dipole about 34 1/2 feet in total length, around 40 feet up. Still deciding on how to feed it, ladder line or coax. Will be interesting to see exactly how much power will radiate.

…DOUG
KD4MOJ