Amateur Radio Beacons

In amateur radio beacons are used to for radio propagation observations. Rather than attempting to determine a bearing from a received signal, just receiving the signal is the goal. When a beacon signal is received at a station, it says that there is a viable radio propagation path between the two stations.

These beacons can be found in the HF, VHF, UHF and even microwave bands.

Lists of radio beacons (and links to lists) can be found here

DXZone Beacon Lists  🔗 Beacon Lists for Propagation Monitoring and Research

Other Radio Beacons

There are a number of beacons used for air and sea navigation and other location services.

• LOng RAnge Navigation (LORAN)
  LORAN (now LORAN-C) is a worldwide radio navigation system. The original system used 1.85MHz to 1.95MHz. LORAN-C uses 90KHz to 110KHz.
• Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon
  EPIRBs are used primarily on boats as emergency locator beacons. They transmit on 406MHz and can be picked up by satellites and search teams.
• Aircraft use VHF Omnidirectional Range (VOR) stations. A VOR station transmits a combination of a stationary reference signal and a variable rotating signal allowing aircraft to determine an exact bearing to the beacon called a "radial".
• Radio beacons are often used on driftnet buoys. These transmit between 1.6MHz to 4MHz and 26MHz to 30MHz.