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  Beacons
transmit a beep followed by a period of silence. The receiving beacon uses the strength
of the "beep-beep-beep" signal to locate the buried transceiver. The period between the
beeps should be silent.
However, most older analog beacons (e.g.,
the Ortovox F1 and
F2) and some of
the newer digital beacons (e.g., the
Ortovox X1 and
Ortovox D3) transmit a weak signal during
what should be the
"silent" period. This continuous background tone is sometimes referred to as "continuous
carrier." The red line in the following picture illustrates this continuous background
signal.
Of course, the receiving beacon always
hears some background "noise," but the continuous signal described here is actually
transmitted by the transceiver.
You can test if a beacon is transmitting
a continuous background signal as follows:
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Set the beacon in question to Transmit.
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| 2 |
Set an analog beacon to Search.
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| 3 |
Move the beacons two or three meters apart.
You should hear the beep-beep-beep of the transmitting beacon.
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| 4 |
Now move the beacons closer together. Listen for either
silence between the beeps (a good thing) or for a faint-but-continuous
tone in the background (a not-so-good thing).
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The background signal is not a big deal,
but it can cause minor problems for digital beacons. The digital beacon may interpret
this as another beacon in the distance and may report "ghost" beacons (i.e., report
multiple burials when there is only one).
The Pieps DSP has a feature where it blinks the little man icon ( ) when it
senses a background signal.
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