Update: To take advantage of the 6 meter propagation we’re having, the beacon is temporarily back on the air at 2200z on 3 June using a substitute transmitter set for an output of 8 watts. I also replaced the quarter wave groundplane antenna with a Cushcraft Ringo which hasn’t noticeably changed the effective-radiated power.
The NF8M beacon at 50.0763 MHz is off the air as of 2000z on 24 January 2019 for an unknown period of time. The output seems to be quite dirty and is full of chirpy spurious emissions up and down the band and into non-amateur spectrum below 50 MHz. Also, the antenna sustained some damage in the last week or so, which is probably not the cause of the issue.
The beacon transmitter will be re-examined and repaired if possible; however, there’s a chance that the beacon could be shut down for an extended time period. Further updates will be posted here.