Bob Ferrero, W6RJ, of Ham Radio Outlet and Paul Middleton of Kenwood arranged for the donation of the original sixteen TS-50S transceivers by Kenwood. We are deeply grateful to Kenwood for their generous endorsement of the beacon project. This magnificent gift was presented by Kenwood in memory of Jim Rafferty, N6RJ, the former Vice President of Ham Radio Outlet.
Several companies provided merchandise needed by the beacon project at significantly reduced prices and we appreciate this very much: Trimble Navigation for the Acutime™ GPS receivers, Cushcraft for the R-5 antennas and Al Lasher's Electronics for various electronic components.
Some years ago, The J. C. Downing Foundation made a generous donation to the general fund of NCDXF. Part of that donation was used to fund the prototype of the present beacon unit. More recently, the Downing Foundation provided funds to finance six more beacons. We are most grateful for this support from the Downing Foundation.
The Northern California DX Foundation and the International Amateur Radio Union have provided guidance, encouragement and money to the International Beacon Project over many years. The International Beacon Project could not have been successful without the support of these organizations, their officers and their members.
Some beacons have been adopted by individuals with a close connection to a particular country. Jim Henderson, KF7E, (ex 5X1XX, 7Q7JH, ZM7AH) spent two years at the US Embassy in Kenya, working in 18 countries; upon his return, he adopted the 5Z4B beacon and has paid for replacement hardware when the beacon has failed in the difficult environment of rural Kenya. If you or your organization would like to adopt a beacon, please contact us. There would be no obligation, but if a problem occurs, we will contact you to see if you would like to help defray the costs of getting the beacon back on the air.
Doug Faunt, N6TQS, donated a brand-new TS-50 transceiver and a SO-2 temperature-controlled crystal oscillator to the NCDXF beacon project.
In November, 2014, new TS-50s was donated to the Israel Amateur Radio Club for use by the Beacon Project at 4X6TU in memory of Omeri Serlin AA6TA/4X1TA.
Much of the work involved in developing the Beacon Controller 2.0 was performed by Kevin Rowett, K6TD. He was assisted in the development and testing by WA5ZNU, Leigh Klotz, Jr; W6NL, Dave Leeson; K6UM, Steve Lund; K6AW, Steve Merchant; N1DG, Don Greenbaum; VE3SUN/AB6WM, Peter Jennings; K6GSF, Lance Ginner; VE3NEA, Alex Shovkoplyas; K6TU, Stu Phillips; N6TV, Bob Wilson, and Tom Berson, ND2T.
Funding for the engineering effort was provided by generous grants from the Northern California DX Foundation, the YASME Foundation, the International Amateur Radio Union and by numerous individuals who earmarked their donations to the NCDXF for the beacon project. In addition, materials and labour were donated by N6LXA, Geoff Bahr, who donated three of the GPS timing antennas; N6PSE, Paul Ewing, who donated two ICOM IC-7200 radios; N6BT, Tom Schiller who donated a new antenna to replace the MA5Vs that are failing; and K6TD who donated materials and labor to build the first two prototypes.
Ray Novak, N9JA at ICOM America, has done an outstanding job of supporting the v2.0 beacon project with discounted IC-7200s, free repairs and great technical support.
The Southeastern DX Club made a generous donation in February, 2016, specifically to support the development and implementation of the new IBP 2.0 hardware.
If you have contributed to the beacon project and haven't been mentioned, please let the webmaster know, so we can bring this page up to date.
Last but not least, we want to thank the 18 clubs and individuals around the world who operate the beacons on a day-to-day basis. Some have had responsibility for their beacon since 1982!
