Transcribed from this
livestream[note 1];
111621Z MAR 2024 11175.0 kHz USB16:21 ROMAN LAD requests radio check from NEON LAMP; I didn't hear response.
16:23Z NEON LAMP requests radio check from ROMAN LAD; L/C. ROMAN LAD requests NEON LAMP meet on
CE WINDOW.
111624Z MAR 2024 9031.0 kHz USB [CE WINDOW]16:24 ROMAN LAD requests radio check from NEON LAMP; L/C.
16:24 ROMAN LAD; "at this time we're gonna try to coordinate some HF data, if you guys are able to, at this moment."
16:24 NEON LAMP; "[...] let us get set up for that."
16:25 ROMAN LAD; "[...] while we're at it, would you guys be able to set up [point to point?]?"
16:26 ROMAN LAD; "were gonna be ahead with
Harrises."
16:29 NEON LAMP; "are you guys setting up the point to point?"
16:29 ROMAN LAD; "uh yeah, we should be setting up the point to point. I believe they already did."
16:29 NEON LAMP; "okay, copy. We're doing HF data right now. We had a minor [tasking?] to handle and now we're moving along."
16:35 ROMAN LAD; "at this time my station is ready to transmit. just keep [...] how everything's going on your end."
16:36 NEON LAMP; "we are almost there. we have recently been tasked with a lot of stuff to do so, uh, we're almost there."
16:36 ROMAN LAD; "take your time."
16:39 NEON LAMP; "we are ready for your data, if you guys wanna transmit first."
16:40 ROMAN LAD; "yeah, just give us two seconds."
16:41 ROMAN LAD; "as far as transmission goes, would you guys like to keep 90310 open for communications, and use Z150 as the actual transmit and receive data frequency?"
16:41 NEON LAMP; "copy,
Z150. let me dial it in real quick."
16:42 ROMAN LAD; "if everything's set up on your end, we will transmit."
16:42 NEON LAMP; "we are ready to receive."
[Sound can be heard on
9016 kHz USB, probably confirming a list of Z freqs someone provided to me a few months ago. Recording not on livestream.]
111643Z MAR 2024 9031.0 kHz USB16:44 ROMAN LAD; "we should be done with the transmission. I thought [.. receive?]"
16:44 NEON LAMP; "I did not hear data tones. Are you guys sure you were on Z150?"
16:46 NEON LAMP; "we did not hear any data tones over Z150. request you move to Z120."
16:46 ROMAN LAD; "moving to Z120."
16:46 NEON LAMP; "we are on
Z120. ready to receive again."
[Sound can be heard on
13245 kHz USB.]
111647Z MAR 2024 9031.0 kHz USB [Z120]16:48 NEON LAMP; "are you guys sending data, or what?"
16:48 ROMAN LAD; "give us three more seconds. I'm gonna swap radio and see if everything will come up."
[Sound can be heard on 13245 kHz USB. As described by NEON LAMP momentarily, "one solid tone".]
(Livestream does swap over to this frequency and sound is recorded.)111651Z MAR 2024 9031.0 kHz USB16:51 NEON LAMP; "be advised we did receive sound from you, but it only sounded like one solid tone. it did not sound like data."
16:52 ROMAN LAD; "alright. I'm gonna have my other panel operators recheck all their [...] clear up anything that may have [...]
16:52 NEON LAMP; "okay, sounds good. we're chilling."
16:56 ROMAN LAD; "at this time, if you guys don't mind, we would like to switch over to secure to see if we can work out some of the [...]"
16:56 NEON LAMP; "let me get loaded up here. should I stay on the CE?"
16:57 NEON LAMP; "request we move HF secure to Z155."
16:57 ROMAN LAD; "copy all, we will go secure to 155. it's gonna take a couple more minutes on our side to just get set up [...] we'll let you know."
16:57 NEON LAMP; "uh, let's go ahead and move to Z155 and do a radio check first."
[note 2] 16:57 ROMAN LAD; "copy all. moving to
Z155."
111658Z MAR 2023 18387 kHz USB [Z155]16:58 ROMAN LAD requests radio check; NEON LAMP has ROMAN LAD L/C, but NEON LAMP's audio sounds distorted.
16:59 ROMAN LAD requests radio check again.
16:59 NEON LAMP's audio still sounds distorted; "request you move to Z210, Z210."
(I do not know which frequency is Z210. Returned to 9031 kHz in case they returned to CE Window and waited.)111705Z MAR 2023 9031 kHz USB17:05Z NEON LAMP; "request we move to Z100."
17:05 ROMAN LAD: "moving to
Z100."
111705Z MAR 2023 13907 kHz USB [Z100]17:05 NEON LAMP and ROMAN LAD request radio check at the same time, broadcasting over each other.
17:06 NEON LAMP requests radio check; L/C.
17:06 NEON LAMP; "I'm gonna go ahead and finish setting up for secure, and then I will let you know when I'm ready to go."
17:13
(Signal can be heard on 13907 kHz; lasts under a minute, not sure if related to comms between NEON LAMP and ROMAN LAD.)17:15 ROMAN LAD; "let me know whenever you're ready."
17:15 NEON LAMP; "stand by, I'm having trouble loading this real quick, I'm trying to find the right setting."
17:31 NEON LAMP; "we are ready to go secure. over."
17:31 ROMAN LAD; "alright, perfect. moving to secure."
17:32
(Digital modem signal can be heard on 13907 kHz. Sounds similar to what I have heard in previous contexts – ANDVT and/or "ANDVT-like". Three additional instances from 17:33 to 17:36.)17:37 ROMAN LAD; "NEON LAMP, NEON LAMP, this is ROMAN LAD, ROMAN LAD, on 13907 in the clear."
17:39
(Three additional instances of ANDVT/ANDVT-like digital sound from 17:39 to 17:41.)17:42 ROMAN LAD requests radio check from NEON LAMP; L/C.
17:42 ROMAN LAD; "alright, perfect. we were going out, we believe we heard a garbled transmission coming from you. can you confirm it was coming through and/or if you could hear the status of our voice coming through in the green?"
17:42 NEON LAMP; "I can confirm that - it sounded like you guys were trying to go out as well but for some reason it's not taking up."
17:43 ROMAN LAD; "please say again your last."
17:43 NEON LAMP; "yeah, we could hear you too. sounded like it was garbled. I'm not 100% sure what's going on."
17:45 ROMAN LAD; "can you guys ensure that your [...] net HF is displayed, that you're using HF net secure crypto?"
17:45 NEON LAMP; "it is displayed and I am using the crypto designated in the [cog?]"
17:46 ROMAN LAD; "I could switch to a different radio and hopefully that will play out a little different. not very optimistic in that approach but, you know, [...]"
17:46 NEON LAMP; "repeat your last on that one. I got [stepped on?]"
17:46 ROMAN LAD; "I could go ahead and switch radios using the same frequencies and hopefully it might clear up something. not very optimistic that it will but, you know, anything's worth a shot at this point."
17:46 NEON LAMP; "ok yeah go ahead change radios. I know I had to change a radio because the [..] wasn't working. if you wanna go ahead and do that, let me know, we could try it again."
17:47 ROMAN LAD requests 2 radio checks; L/C.
17:48 ROMAN LAD; "we're gonna go ahead and retry HF secure again using this new radio configuration. I'm gonna say if you don't hear anything coming through by 1751Z if you'd wanna just meet back up on the [clear-fi?]"
17:51 NEON LAMP; "moving to secure now."
17:51
(ANDVT/ANDVT-like digital sound on 13907 kHz; followed by 3 more.)17:51 NEON LAMP; "hey, does your first line read
1TTB2.4?"
[note 3]17:52 ROMAN LAD; "your last transmission came in a little weak [...] volume. can you please say again your last?"
17:52 NEON LAMP; "does the first line on your display show
1TTB2.4?"
17:53 ROMAN LAD; "that is a negative. mine is reading
1 TTA and then
2.4K."
17:53 NEON LAMP; "say again. I got [stepped on by the PA?]"
17:53 ROMAN LAD; "it is a negative. ours is showing
1 TTA and then
2.4K."
17:53 NEON LAMP; "okay, stand by. let me see if I can get that
B to an
A. that might be our problem."
(Unrelated comms on 13907 kHz at 18:20. Not familiar, may in fact have also been US military, but at any rate not a part of comms between NEON LAMP and ROMAN LAD.)18:21 NEON LAMP; "ROMAN LAD, NEON LAMP, onnnn [..] are you there?"
[note 4]18:21 ROMAN LAD; "NEON LAMP, this is ROMAN LAD, on the uh, same. yeah."
18:21 NEON LAMP; "we're having equipment issues with another system so we're gonna go ahead and shift our focus to that. we're about to start [descending?] anyways. whenever we make contact [person?] we'll go over everything."
18:22 ROMAN LAD; "alright, yeah, absolutely. we'll have a debrief then. till then, ROMAN LAD out, bye."
18:23 NEON LAMP; "thank you."
[note 1] Any ALE signals – a staple on 13907 kHz – are omitted from this transcription. Some radio checks are also omitted.
[note 2] I do not normally comment on operator tone of voice because I think this train of thought can lend to wild speculation, so please take this with a grain of salt. Save for this point, he entire conversation between NEON LAMP and ROMAN LAD is very casual – both are happy to take cues from each other insofar as the progress of this data transmission attempt, with no apparent problem on either side if there are interruptions due to workload, technical difficulties, etc. on either end and even the apparent lack of success at the end is taken in stride on both sides. However, here, NEON LAMP is rather stern – "let go ahead and move to Z155 and do a radio check
first." These frequency changes are apparently important. This strikes me as odd, though, as there's no readily obvious reason they switched away from 9031 kHz, and after they did jump frequencies several times ended up on a frequency with regular ALE bursts, other potential US comms, and by the end even forgot what frequency it was that they had ended up on anyways.
[note 3] NEON LAMP and ROMAN LAD both describe how their display reads a little differently. ROMAN LAD mentions spaces between "1" and "TT" and "2.4K" and NEON LAMP does not. I have transcribed this bit according to how they describe it - spaces omitted if not mentioned.
[note 4] NEON LAMP has forgotten which frequency they are on, as has ROMAN LAD. This is still on 13907 kHz.
