ZL6QH BEACON TESTING 23 MARCH
ZL6QH will be transmitting on 23 March for all hours of local darkness. ZL2 sunset is nominally 0628 UTC, and sunrise nominally 1831 UTC (more sunrise and sunset details in the list at the end of the notice). The date was selected to be close to an equinox. Dual frequency keying will be used, with 120 second dots, 0.4 Hz shift and sending QQQQQQ... as hi, hi, lo, hi, gap. One Q takes 10 minutes. hi = 137.7890 kHz lo = 137.7886 kHz Each Q will start on the hour and be maintained close to 10 minute multiples throughout each hour, so absolute timing may be useful for analysis of difficult reception situations. SUNRISE AND SUNSET TIMES (UTC) DX stations can decide on their best times for monitoring. The following list is a sequence of sunrise and sunset nominal times for 23 March, for various countries, by call sign prefix :
I sunrise 0508 UTC
DL sunrise 0530 UTC
F sunrise 0548 UTC
G sunrise 0601 UTC
EA sunrise 0613 UTC
GM sunrise 0614 UTC
EI sunrise 0623 UTC
ZL2 sunset 0628 UTC
VE1 sunrise 1012 UTC
W4 sunrise 1136 UTC
W6 sunrise 1359 UTC
VE7 sunrise 1410 UTC
KH6 sunrise 1630 UTC
I sunset 1711 UTC
DL sunset 1733 UTC
F sunset 1752 UTC
G sunset 1806 UTC
EA sunset 1816 UTC
GM sunset 1819 UTC
EI sunset 1827 UTC
ZL2 sunrise 1831 UTC
It would seem that European listeners miss out on dark paths with ZL before their Saturday morning sunrise, but there are dark paths at and after European dusk. Thus early Saturday evening could be the best time for European listeners. Reception reports can be emailed to vernall@xtra.co.nz or posted to the reflector. Note that there is no online email at ZL6QH. There is also a booking for all-band HF activity, so on this occasion an HF liaison frequency can not be offered for advising LF reports as it could clash with contest activity. Good luck to all prospective listeners.

73!
Bob ZL2CA