[Milsurplus] Non Directional Beacons and change

[Hubert Miller]

Newport Oregon had at property of Yaquina Lighthouse an LF beacon for mariners. This i only learned from a book on Pacific Coast lighthouses; it was gone by the time i came here in 2003, and there's not a trace remaining.
Newport also had 2 TIS type stations right above 1600 kHz. One was NOAA weather and one was USCG with bay channel "bar conditions". These both quietly disappeared in the last 3 years. I could see from the road the small shed with the USCG station and see the ground plane netting on the roof. I have wondered if and how and when the transmitter would be surplused. Interesting thing, the operation only interested me; no boat owner i talked with knew anything about it - there are regular coast bar ( harbor exit to ocean ) broadcasts on VHF 16 - but many small rec vessel owners couldn't even deal with that complexity - better to call the Coast Guard base on the phone.
This area used to be a lot more "DC bands" active. "Ocean Beach Radio", a private hobby project, used to be on 1570 kHz and got 2 - 3 miles range, but he dropped the radio and stayed only on internet. Perhaps Fear of the Lord inspired dropping the AM, since was clearly bending the antenna rules.
There was a 100 mW continuous broadcast from the Performing Arts Center on 1610, but its range was only one block. This ended about 5 years ago. When i noticed it stopped, i wrote the center offering to buy the disused transmitter - just kind of a keepsake. No answer, zero.



Sent from my Galaxy


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