DK0WCY Transmission Schedule effective from 01-JUL-2006 1800 UTC

Frequencies and Transmission Hours

DK0WCY transmits 24 hours per day on 10144 kHz in the 30 meter amateur radio band.

On 3579 kHz in the 80 meter amateur radio band transmissions run from 0720 to 0900 and 1600 to 1900 local time (i.e. CET = UTC+1 resp. CEST = UTC+2).

Program Schedule

Data transmissions (datagrams) start every 10 minutes:

Minute Mode
0 CW
20 CW
30 CW
40 CW
50 PSK31 (BPSK)

Between datagrams a beacon identification is transmitted in CW mode.

For internal purposes DRA5 (5195 kHz) is transmitting  5 minutes behind the 30 meters schedule.
There are no digimode broadcasts on 80 meters; instead the CW datagram is transmitted.

CW Identification

The CW Id is
    DK0WCY BEACON 4/19/A/N _________________

Contained is a data group consisting of four information elements transmitted in this sequence:

The K-Index is valid for the beacon's location, data which determine the MUF originate in Juliusruh (Island of Ruegen).

Events are symbolised by these letters:

Letter Meaning
A aurora
F shortwave fadeout (SWF, sudden ionospheric disturbance)
I solar shockwave (disturbes the geomagnetic field and increases the K Index)
M geomagnetic storm (longer lasting strong disturbance of the geomagnetic field)
N no event
P polar cap absorption (PCA, attenuation of radio paths touching the polar regions, usually lasts several days)
Z beacon is on maintenance, expect reduced output power and/or interupted operation

During an aurora event the carrier at the end of the CW id changes to a series of dots.

Missing information is denoted by na (not available).

CW Datagram

Here is an example for a CW datagram:

CONDS 07 JUN 1948 UT =
MAG KIEL K 4 4 KCUR 3.1 3.1 =
IONO RUEGEN FOF2 6.2 6.2 MUF 19 19 MAXHOP 2367 2367 MUF1K 10 10 =
SUN WIND 635 635 BZ P1 P1 XRAY B8 B8 FLARE 1M 2C
R 36 36 REQ 17 17 FLUX 78 78 BOULDER A 18 18 KIEL A 25 25

Meaning of abbreviations used in the CW datagram:

A A Index (diurnial geomagnetic disturbance)
BZ field strength of Z-component of the interplanetary magnetic field in nT (P=positive, N=negative)
CONDS current conditions
DENSITY solar wind density in protons per cm3
FLARE number of x-ray flares during last 24 hours
FLUX solar flux (intensity of 10,7 cm emission)
INDEX consolidated figures of previous day
IONO data on the state of the ionosphere
K K Index (most recent 3 hour standard interval)
KCUR current K-Index (most recent 180 minutes)
MAG data on the state of the geomagnetic field
MAXHOP maximum hop distance via F-layer in km
MUF maximum frequency for a MAXHOP hop in MHz
MUF1K maximum frequency for a 1000 km hop in MHz
R relative sunspot number (SSN)
REQ equivalent sunspot number (a more accurate measure for solar activity compared to)
SUN data on the Sun's state
WIND solar wind speed in km/s
XRAY intensity of x-ray background radiation

Digimode Datagram

These datagrams are currently broadcast in modes RTTY and PSK31 (BPSK). They are mostly self explaining, see the following example:


  events:   none
  warnings: none

  Solar and Geomagnetic Indices observed on 20 Apr:
     sunspot number        12    12    12
     solar flux            71    71    71
     SSNe                   1     1     1
     Boulder A              5     5     5
     Kiel A                 9     9     9
     mean SSN for Mar       9     9     9

  Solar Conditions:
     solar wind speed     381   381   381 km/s
     solar wind density     1     1     1 cm-3
     solar wind temp       46    46    46 kK
     IMF Bz component      +1    +1    +1 nT
     x-ray flux           low   low   low
     24h x-ray maximum     na    na    na
     24h flare activity   none

  Geomagnetic Conditions:
     3-hour Kiel K          3     3     3 at 1800UT
     current Kiel K       3.1   3.1   3.1 at 2039UT

  Ionospheric Conditions:
     Ruegen foF2         3.90  3.90  3.90 MHz
     hf2                   na    na    na km
     hf                   235   235   235 km
     max hop at 5 deg    2467  2467  2467 km
     MUF(max hop)F       12.0  12.0  12.0 MHz
     MUF(1000)F           6.3   6.3   6.3 MHz
     current SSNe        -1.4  -1.4  -1.4

  Forecast valid for 21 Apr:
     solar activity      quiet
     magnetic field      quiet


Digimode datagrams contain some information which is missing from the CW datagram due to timing issues.

Data Sources

Transmitted data are determined at the beacon's location or are kindly made available by these institutions:
The DK0WCY-team very much appreciates your opinions and ideas about the transmission schedule and transmitted data.

last changed on 20061105