HFU HF Underground
Loggings => Utility => Topic started by: alleycat on May 01, 2021, 0132 UTC
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I am hearing "Net Control" exchanging traffic with various stations such as "Desert Eagle", "Sunspot 05" and "Highcard Sierra". One lengthy exchange involved an "unclassified request for information" to "Send a highway sit rep for the following areas of interest" after which locations on Interstate and State highways in 13 states were identified.
Some of the stations exhibit strong signals (S7 and higher, with low noise & no fading) in Binghamton, NY. The chatter sounds like MARS, but the callsigns don't. Can someone tell me what I'm actually listening to? Sample at https://www.lutins.org/temp/radio/6986.5_2021-05-01_0115z.mp3 (https://www.lutins.org/temp/radio/6986.5_2021-05-01_0115z.mp3)
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Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS). This is generally a training net for members passing message and data traffic.
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So MARS stations are using military-style callsigns now instead of the familiar more-like-amateur-callsigns (like AA2S) that I used to hear years ago?
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Tonight, 06 May 2021 at 0116z; the callsigns are "Highcard" with a single letter (spoken in NATO phonetics). Such as: "Highcard Alpha", "Highcard Sierra".
I assume Highcard to be one word for this usage.
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19 Oct 2022
6986.5 USB
0100 UTC -- same heard via PA SDR, presumably MARS net. "Highcard Alpha, this is Highcard Sierra" etc.
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They've used that frequency for years. It's a good reason for pirates to stay well away from it.
People sometimes forget how high up those planes are. They could be close or a couple of thousand miles away.
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On again tonight 0102z. Hearing standard MARS callsigns
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The frequency and network is pretty much active daily with voice, ALE and data.