OpenBeacon Mini Status – Early June 2018

It’s time for a brief update on how things are going with OpenBeacon Mini, the successor to the OpenBeacon MEPT that’s been a long time in the making. For those who are unfamiliar with the new project, allow me to give a very brief overview of its capabilities. The OpenBeacon Mini is an automated transmitter for amateur radio operators that allows for automated transmission of messages using propagation study modes such as WSPR and QRSS, along with many of the other JT modes and CW as well. The carrier is generated by a Si5351A clock generator IC which is fed with a TCXO reference clock for frequency stability. Low-pass filter plug-in band modules allow operation on any single band from 630 meters to 2 meters. The OpenBeacon Mini detects which band module is inserted and sets the frequency accordingly, making band changes as easy was swapping out a plug-in module. The power and a data connection is provided from a USB micro B connection to any PC. Accurate time synchronization is accomplished through this connection, as long as the PC has time set through NTP. The user interface is a 128 x 32 px OLED display and 7 pushbuttons. As always with Etherkit products, all firmware, hardware design files, and and software is open source. Extra pins from the microcontroller and extra clock ports from the Si5351 are broken out for use in experimentation and expansion.

Something like this project has been on the back burner for a long time, and is finally now able to see the light. I intend to launch this as a crowdfunded product at the same time as my Empyrean microcontroller, which is at the heart of the OpenBeacon Mini. The Empyrean is an Arduino Zero derivative in the form factor of small DIP module perfect for breadboarding. I’ll have more about this initiative to post on the blog in the near future.

My first beta tester, LA3PNA, recently received his OpenBeacon Mini and had a chance to put it on a NVIS antenna for a few hours on 60 and 20 meters. As you can see from below, he received plentiful WSPR spots in that short amount of on-the-air testing.

I have another early beta tester working on getting his OpenBeacon Mini on the air soon as well. I am looking at getting one more early beta tester going with this PCB spin, just so that I can be very sure that the next PCB spin will iron out all of the kinks. If you are familiar with MEPTs, using the Arduino environment to compile and load firmware, and don’t mind a little bit of firmware roughness, I’d love to have you on board. Send me an email to milldrum at gmail dot com to let me know you’re interested.

This weekend, I plan to get OpenBeacon Mini going on 6 meters in order to see how it performs there. It should be a perfect time, since it’s also the weekend for the ARRL VHF Contest. Keep an eye on my Twitter account and this blog for further updates on this project.

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