HF CW Beacon with ATMega328 and si5351

An amateur radio band beacon using the ATMega328 and si5351 for use as a signal source for testing receivers, antennas, or station operation. It provides a reliable off-air signal that can be attenuated by moving the beacon further away or by placing it in a screened box or location. Targets an Arduino Nano, Uno or bare ATMega328, and an si5351 breakout board. No display is necessary. You can add one, and controls, if you like.
Transmits a hard-coded message in morse code on any frequency supported by the si5351 (10kHz to 160MHz). Any number of frequencies in the HF and VHF range can be specified by adding them to an array. The beacon iterates over the array and transmits the message on each frequency in sequence.
Github:
github.com/prt459/Nano_Beacon
Blog:
vk3hn.wordpress.com/2021/10/0...

[@joeblow8593]

Excellent, watching from the U.S.

[@Paul_VK3HN]

Thanks for watching! 72 and 73 Joe!

[@R2AUK]

Excellent project, Paul. Keep the great videos coming! 🔥

[@Paul_VK3HN]

Thanks, will do! And I expect you do do the same!

[@qrpontheair508]

tks fr posting your hf beacon project Paul...excellent ...73 Dinos

[@Paul_VK3HN]

Thanks Dinos.

[@Catswhiskerdetector]

Cool project! Brings back memories of pirate HF beacons ;)

[@Paul_VK3HN]

Thanks, yes pirate beacons, there have been a few of those. I've heard a few micro power ham beacons from around Melbourne, you have to listen very carefully under the right conditions to catch them. If you like digging out beacons, there are plenty of fishnet beacons around 1.7 to 2.8MHz.

[@aetry]

im going to be completely honest i have no idea what any of this means or any of your other content but i sometimes watch your videos while i eat. whatever this is though its pretty interesting

[@Paul_VK3HN]

Well thanks for being honest, and I hope I don't give you indigestion 🤓

[@indrajitR]

wow. Atmega arduino and si5351 chips have changed the way we made VFO . From analogue it has become digital.

[@Paul_VK3HN]

The advantages of digital VFOs are enormous. However you do need to add some filtering if you want to approximate the kind of pure sine wave you would expect from an analogue VFO.

[@hersanw]

Dear Paul, the sketch upload process still fails, I have tried several times. si5351.h no such file or directory. Please advise. Tks

[@Paul_VK3HN]

Your si5351 library is not being found by the Arduino compiler.
1. install the lib by jason NT7S;
2. Upload and run his test script or alignment script to your Arduino with si5351 wired up and verify all is working.
3. If your compiler still cannot see library .h files check you paths in Arduino IDE settings;
4. Then reload my sketch and try again.
Let me know if you continue to have problems.
All the Arduino help is online from mutiple reputable sources.
Good luck! SK . .

[@juststeve7665]

Hopefully anyone making this and actually putting the signal on the air uses output filters. SI5351 are very rich in harmonics and trash.

[@Paul_VK3HN]

You are correct Steven. If this were anything more than a local test signal source or if you planned to run it continuously you would need to add LPFs. With a 6 inch wire the signal got weak and under the noise on my station receiver (with resonant dipole) a few hundred meters away. Thanks for commenting!