firedrake wiki page

[weatherall]

There's a Firedrake page on the HFU wiki: http://www.hfunderground.com/wiki/Firedrake

We could add external links here, links to recordings, and perhaps frequencies that we log.

[weatherall]

I put all of my logged Firedrake frequencies on the page into a table.  But the mediawiki tables are difficult to maintain, so maybe this isn't the best format.  And maybe we only should have the past 3 years or so worth of frequencies listed there.  Any thoughts?

[ChrisSmolinski]

 How often do they change frequencies?

[Lex]

Well done.  But you're right about MediaWiki tables - what a chore.  Ideally it'd be nice to have tables updated via a simple database input, no worries about breaking the table format.

[weatherall]

How often do they change frequencies?

I didn't look for them at all over the past 3 years or so, until this month.  So I'm not sure.  But none of the frequencies I logged back then are active now.

The most useful information is probably:

* Look at recent DXLD issues for logged frequencies
* Listen to the recordings so you know how to identify it
* Scan 6000 - 16000 kHz
* Tune to frequencies used by Sound of Hope (and other broadcasters known to be targeted, although I don't have this info myself)

[weatherall]

I changed it to a simple bulleted list.  Anyone have logged frequencies to add?

[cmradio]

I heard the rarer 7970 one this morning at 1100 UT. 3-5 S-units on my E5 with the telescopic, near Vancouver, BC.

Peace!

[Swede P]

It took me a while to realise what Firedrake really was (i.e., a jammer). I quite enjoyed the traditional Chinese music and listened to it for its own sake. I began to find it odd that there was no moderation whatsoever nor any station identification. I was an avid listener for several weeks before I realised what it was.

Still, from time to time I do come across Firedrake and listen for the sake of the music. As far as jamming goes, this is by far the most pleasant kind.

[cmradio]

I heard Firedrake under WYFR 5970 a few nights ago. I had a big laugh

Peace!

[DavidB]

It took me a while to realise what Firedrake really was (i.e., a jammer). I quite enjoyed the traditional Chinese music and listened to it for its own sake. I began to find it odd that there was no moderation whatsoever nor any station identification. I was an avid listener for several weeks before I realised what it was.

Same here and I bet we're not the only two people who did.

[Token]

How often do they change frequencies?

Firedrake changes frequency as often as the stations they are jamming do.  Plus, through the day, they adjust frequency to stay on top of the jammed stations.  In general they seem to target external service broadcast that are in Chinese and aimed at China.

Another habit to be aware of, sometimes listeners go looking for Firedrake and do not find it, but know it was on just a few minutes ago.  At the top of each hour all Firedrake frequencies go off the air.  The time they come back on the air varies, but generally between 10 and 20 minutes after the hour they start to come back on.  So it is normal to not find any Firedrakes at all from top of the hour to about 10 minutes after the hour.

I assume the operators are using this time to line up the target frequencies and to make sure they (the target stations) are still on the air in their time slots.  In the jammer world this is sometimes called "look through time".

I have seen Firedrake up on 10 or more frequencies at one time.  As a general rule when the frequencies come back online after their look through at the top of the hour they come up one at a time, sometimes with up to 1 minute between each frequency, and starting low and bringing on the next higher frequency in sequence in the set, with one exception.  It is quite common, but not universal, to see the lowest frequency come up last after all the higher frequencies have been activated.

T!

[Token]

As I said, changes freq through the day.  Not great propagation into Asia this morning, but in the 1300 hour on 17 Nov, 2011 I have Firedrake on:

9200, 12300, 13130, 13920
(edit, all off at 1400)

And I am sure I missed some because of the poor conditions.

I will add to this over the next couple of days at various times, and eventually add to the wiki also.

T!

(edit, in the 1400 hour the only frequency I saw come up was 9200, and it came up at 1421, pretty late even by Firedrake standards)

[Token]

Conditions a little more normal inot Asia this morning, Novemebr 19, 2011.  In the 1400 hour found Firedrake on 6 frequencies and again they all came up after 1420, between 1421 and 1428 UTC.  Still a little short as I would expect 2 to 4 more freqs in this time frame.

1400 Hour (in kHz):

9200
12500
12600
12670
13920
14970

T!

[Token]

Different days, different frequencies in the same time slot.  This morning (SUnday, November 20, 2011) in the 1400 hour slot there were only 4 freqs I could find, all but one the same as used yesterday.

1400 hour (in kHz):

9200
12230  (departure from same time yesterday)
12600
12670

T!

[Token]

Monday morning, Novemebr 28, 2011, 0025 Firedrake is up these freqs:

0000 hour

12980
13050
15900
16100
16700
17170
17250
18200


T!