China vs Taiwan spy station V13 (Xing Xing BS)

[Ron - Calif.]

TAIWAN[non-log]. 7502.0-AM, StarStar Broadcasting Station
(Xing Xing BS) (V13). For some time now I have been almost
daily monitoring their 1200-1230 & 1300-1330 schedule here;
normally with fair or better, un-jammed reception of their Chinese
numbers.

A major surprise on April 19 to tune in at 1206 to find program
jamming of CNR1 (// 6125) on 7501.5 for the very first time,
totally blocking any chance to tell if Xing Xing BS was even
on the air today. CNR1 jamming still on at 1326.

If these segments of Xing Xing BS are vital to the Taiwan
intelligence community, then we can look for them to move this
station to an un-jammed frequency in the near future.

Ron, listening at Asilomar State Beach (near Monterey), Calif.

[Token]

Despite the fact I typically hear V13 very well it is not a station I follow much, a few times a year I make sure I have the current schedule and make a recording just to confirm the format is still the same.  So I was not monitoring the morning of the 19 April when you saw the issue.  However since you posted I have been recording the 1200 and 1300 time slots, just to see what is happening.

How sure are you that the carrier on 7501.5 is CNR1?  I ask for several reasons, but foremost is that I cannot hear much audio on the 7501.5 kHz signal so I myself can’t tell what it is, I know only that something is there, however it does not really appear typical of CNR1 operation.

What I am seeing at my location is that there is definitely a station on 7501.5 kHz, in AM mode.  However, it is very weak by comparison to the V13 on 7502 kHz, V13 being S8 or more in these time slots, often up to 20 over S9.  7501.5 kHz is so weak in fact that I cannot really tell the language and CNR1 is typically strong on most of the other freqs I can find it on, for example in the same time period the CNR1 on 7445 kHz is S9 or better.  Yes, I can tell there is something on 7501.5 kHz, but it is very weak here in southern California, and not really affecting reception of V13, for me, at all.

The carrier on 7501.5 kHz is present when V13 is not on the air.  For example, right now, 1415 UTC and more than 45 minutes since the end of the last possible V13 transmission, the 7501.5 kHz station is still present.

Also, CNR1 does not typically shift off frequency of the station it is jamming.  It is atypical for CNR1 to jam a station on 7502 kHz with CNR1 service 500 Hz off on 7501.5 kHz.  Normally CNR1 sets right on the same freq and hammers whatever its target station is.

T!

[Ron - Calif.]

Despite the fact I typically hear V13 very well it is not a station I follow much, a few times a year I make sure I have the current schedule and make a recording just to confirm the format is still the same.  So I was not monitoring the morning of the 19 April when you saw the issue.  However since you posted I have been recording the 1200 and 1300 time slots, just to see what is happening.

How sure are you that the carrier on 7501.5 is CNR1?  I ask for several reasons, but foremost is that I cannot hear much audio on the 7501.5 kHz signal so I myself can’t tell what it is, I know only that something is there, however it does not really appear typical of CNR1 operation.

What I am seeing at my location is that there is definitely a station on 7501.5 kHz, in AM mode.  However, it is very weak by comparison to the V13 on 7502 kHz, V13 being S8 or more in these time slots, often up to 20 over S9.  7501.5 kHz is so weak in fact that I cannot really tell the language and CNR1 is typically strong on most of the other freqs I can find it on, for example in the same time period the CNR1 on 7445 kHz is S9 or better.  Yes, I can tell there is something on 7501.5 kHz, but it is very weak here in southern California, and not really affecting reception of V13, for me, at all.

The carrier on 7501.5 kHz is present when V13 is not on the air.  For example, right now, 1415 UTC and more than 45 minutes since the end of the last possible V13 transmission, the 7501.5 kHz station is still present.

Also, CNR1 does not typically shift off frequency of the station it is jamming.  It is atypical for CNR1 to jam a station on 7502 kHz with CNR1 service 500 Hz off on 7501.5 kHz.  Normally CNR1 sets right on the same freq and hammers whatever its target station is.

T!

Thanks T for your feedback!

Noted V13 (Xing Xing BS) (Taiwan) on 7502-AM at
*1200 with one minute of the usual flute music, them
numbers in Chinese; fair-good on April 21.

No CNR1 jamming. What I recently heard on April 19,
with what I thought was jamming of V13, was in fact a
CNR1 spur on about 7501.5. Just happened to hear the
spur on a day of super strong CNR1 reception! Today the
spur was heard very poorly! V13 off at 1231*.

Thanks to Hiroyuki Komatsubara's (Japan) for explaining
to me what was going on!

[Token]

That makes sense.  And by the way, I still see the weak carrier there on 7501.5 kHz, at 1229z on April 22 it is still present.

T!

[MDK2]

If I may interject with a question... is the V13 transmission at this time in AM or USB? I've had trouble tracking that bit of information down when searching online (priyom reports that their mode is "USB + carrier (H3E), AM," which makes little sense to me, and the schedule provided by Ary doesn't say what's used when). My meager equipment can pick it up, but just barely, and so it would probably help if I knew whether or not I needed to fine tune the BFO knob or not.

Thanks!

[Ron - Calif.]

If I may interject with a question... is the V13 transmission at this time in AM or USB? I've had trouble tracking that bit of information down when searching online (priyom reports that their mode is "USB + carrier (H3E), AM," which makes little sense to me, and the schedule provided by Ary doesn't say what's used when). My meager equipment can pick it up, but just barely, and so it would probably help if I knew whether or not I needed to fine tune the BFO knob or not.

Thanks!

I hear V13 almost daily on 7502, in the AM mode. In the past I have sometimes reported it in
AM mode and slightly stronger in USB, but always AM.

Also reported as in the AM mode by Hiroyuki Komatsubara (Japan).

[Token]

If I may interject with a question... is the V13 transmission at this time in AM or USB? I've had trouble tracking that bit of information down when searching online (priyom reports that their mode is "USB + carrier (H3E), AM," which makes little sense to me, and the schedule provided by Ary doesn't say what's used when). My meager equipment can pick it up, but just barely, and so it would probably help if I knew whether or not I needed to fine tune the BFO knob or not.

Yes, full AM is DSB (double sideband) + full carrier (A3E), but USB + carrier (H3E) is still AM and can be received with the receiver in AM mode.  In the case of V13 it has used both modes.  Recently it has typically been using A3E, but it has used both A3E and H3E often.

Here is an example of V13 in H3E (USB+carrier), notice you can see a little bit of the LSB component (to the left of the carrier) but the USB (to the right of the carrier) is much stronger:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvpSLbiJrDU

Here is an example of V13 in A3E, normal full DSB + carrier.  Note that the audio on both sides of the carrier are the same amplitutde:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyK6kKpX9IE

Remember you can receive an AM station, either A3E or H3E, just fine with the receiver set to either AM or SSB.

T!

[MDK2]

Thanks for the great info Ron and T!

[JCMaxwell]

This is a great thread for learning. 

Thank you all.