[BC] Digital TV dispatches UK coastguard

[Gary Peterson]

"    And the military uses 243.0 (121.5 x 2) as their emergency frequency. I
think the marine EPIRBs use something like 406Mhz, but it's somewhere in the
UHF band.
Dave Dunsmoor "

About a month after 9/11, FCC, Denver called me about an EPIRB signal that
was picked up by satellite that appeared to be emanating from the Mt.
Rushmore area.  Obviously, this was not a likely location for a ship in
distress.  They asked me if I would mind looking into it.  I drove to the
area in question and using a VX-5 HT, tuned to ~406 MHz, and a 70 cm Yagi, a
carrier was heard and I was able to spiral in toward the source.  It
abruptly terminated.  Several more trips to the area were fruitless, as the
carrier was never heard again.  NOAA continued to report the signal at
oddball times (always when I wasn't in the area).

I had noticed several "stream monitors" in the area.  Their purpose is to
report flood conditions.  These consist of a small equipment shelter, solar
panel and a cross-pol Yagi aimed up at a ~45 degree angle.  The element size
on these antennas seemed to me to be about the right size for ~400 MHz.  I
asked FCC for a listing of locations for all known similar sites in the
area.  It turns out that more than one government agency deploys these
things.  There was one, belonging to USGS, that appeared to be a good
prospect, based on my incomplete DFing.  Our ham club has a spectrum
analyzer and we went to the suspected site with USGS personnel.  The USGS
tech keyed up the transmitter and, along with the desired carrier, there
were many spurs.  The site was disabled and the satellite reception of the
EPIRB signals from the Black Hills stopped.  I think the USGS folks were
somewhat embarrassed.

Gary, K?CX
CE KFXS - KOUT - KKMK - KRCS - KKLS - KBHB - KIMM
Rapid City / Sturgis, SD