As a service to amateurs far and wide ERG maintains and operates GB3CMS, a beacon on the 10GHz microwave band. Originally based in Danbury, it has been substantially re-engineered for its Chelmsford location.
Please make beacon keeping a more rewarding activity, by giving us signal reports from afar, via BeaconSpot.
Status: On Air - testing
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Frequency | 10.368960 GHz |
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Keyer Mode | A1A CW + 30s Carrier |
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Equipment | Kuhne MKU LO 8-13 Oscillator, KU EDPU Display, Minicircuits ZVA-183-S Driver, KU 8-14 PA and Leo Bodnar GPS reference |
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Antenna | Horizontally Polarised Omnidirectional Slotted Waveguide (10-slot winged K5SXK/WA5VJB based design) |
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Location | JO01GQ09 - Chelmsford, Essex - NGR TL 730 039 |
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Spots/Reports | www.BeaconSpot.uk |
Beacon Photos:-
Slotted Waveguide Antenna:-
More About Microwaves...
If you are interested in microwave operation and want to know more,
visit the UK Microwave Group.
Some earlier history...
GB3CMS was the third system ERG put on air in Feb 1990 after DA/ER following an
application made in Oct-1988. Original construction was largely by Keith Naylor G4FUF.
- An application to raise its output power by 10dB was made in RMC Submission Batch 117 in July 1999.
- A replacement application was submitted in Sept-2006 to Ofcom and approved on 30-May-2007
- In 2023/4 completely new synthesised and GPS-locked electronics were used to replace an earlier upgrade to a G8ACE Source/Multiplier.
- Historically it used G4DDK004/G3WDG001 multiplier modules that were fed by a 108.04MHz source in its former indoor drive/PSU unit built by Keith G4FUF. At the masthead this was multiplied first by x24 to give ~2.6GHz and then finally by x4 to 10.368GHz
6-Jan-2025