"PYD" Radio Direction Beacon Near Groom Lake

From: campbell@ufomind.com (Glenn Campbell, Las Vegas)
Date: Thu, 17 Apr 1997 18:04:48 -0800
Subject: "PYD" Radio Direction Beacon Near Groom Lake

Date:  Sun, Apr 13, 1997 9:44 PM EDT
From:  [Withheld by request]
To:    campbell@ufomind.com

Something related to area 51 for a change... One hobby of mine is
listening for aviation beacons that are used by aircraft to navigate.
Several others with this hobby found a mystery beacon, that transmits
the letters PYD in morse code on 414 KHz. No FAA or military database
had an ID for this beacon, but since the things are designed to be
found by radio-direction finding radios on aircraft, they're not very
hard to track down.

The following message from a "lowfer" hobbyist page wraps things up.

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Subj: PYD Found!!!
Date: 97-03-15 18:45:44 EST
From: dxguy@earthlink.net (Don L. Davis)

Mystery of PYD solved! I just returned from a conference in Las Vegas,
where I was able to conclusively RDF the site of PYD 414. It is
located (as was briefly alluded to) near Groom Lake in Nellis AFB,
Nevada. This is the supposed site of UFOs in hangars, aliens, and the
usual bunch of brain-dead ideas about classified areas. I took 8
distinct bearings around the periphery of Nellis (about 300 miles of
driving!), and was able to pin-point the location to an area about 5
miles West of Groom Lake. My last two bearings were from about 20
miles from the site, and were quite loud, with distinct nulls.

I spoke with Don Tomkinson regarding his DFing to George AFB. He had a
high gain RX @ night, close to the car, and close to the fence. I
duplicated his measurements during the day, and found no trace of PYD.
I assume that he was coupling into the periphery fence, and had gain
pumping from the AGC. Also, the close proximity of many high-tension
lines gives a large noise floor, which makes nulls appear very
shallow.

It was a grand adventure - will write up more of what I found (maps,
techniques, equipment, etc.) in next month's LWCA Lowdown. In the
meanwhile.... 73's