HFU HF Underground
Loggings => VHF/UHF Logs, including satellites and radiosondes => Topic started by: N32117 on October 05, 2015, 2040 UTC
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Do any of our members have any non-public literature on the Thales/ Alenia Space Chinasat 6B payload? A friend intercepted the Chinese HF jammer, FIRE DRAKE, on 9560 KHz (AM, NSA signal type S1B, broadcast music) last week. As a former satellite payload designer myself, I was very interested in how the transmit antenna is designed -- I assume it is probably a giant, unfurlable LPDA.
Secondly, can we infer from the FIRE DRAKE frequencies that the purpose of the jammer is to deny access to HF agent communications, whether numbers stations or code phrases embedded in entertainment and news broadcasts, by foreign agents (such as Taiwanese, German and British) operating within the coverage area of Chinasat 6B?
Or, am I only stirring up wild speculation?
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Just saw this post and have to say the firedrakes are terrestrial, not orbiting.
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Nothing so dramatic. The Firedrake shows up on the same frequencies as unwanted foreign broadcasts aimed at China, most notably those of Radio Free Asia's Mandarin broadcasts. The PRC's preferred method of jamming is to overwhelm them with their own programming rather than white noise, so either the Firedrake or China National Radio 1 are used, broadcasting at high power transmissions on the same frequencies. Here in America you can often hear the RFA broadcast together with the jamming since it's transmitted from Pacific locations closer to us than China, but I'm sure people there have no chance to hear it. (I've checked a web SDR based in Hong Kong when I noted I could hear both, and confirmed that only the Firedrake is audible there.)
Josh, it's been reported that the Firedrake originates from Chinasat 6B, which beams it to the different transmitters that do the jamming. Apparently that controls the transmissions so that they're all in sync. Someone who copied the actual satellite beam has CD quality audio which is posted to youtube, but apparently you can buy a CD if you really wish to have your own hard copy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHsSyfj6uEg
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Lol thanks for the info, think I've heard it often enough to forgo the cd purchase. It'd be funny if someone replaced the feed to the sat with their own programming.
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Radio Free Whatever would be a great replacement. Those Chinese jammers lack imagination.
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More info here:
http://www.satdirectory.com/firedrake.html