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Loggings => Peskies => Topic started by: Looking-Glass on June 27, 2017, 0819 UTC

Title: 6.990MHz LSB / 6990 kHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: Looking-Glass on June 27, 2017, 0819 UTC
The last two evenings at 0900z there have been some Indonesians appearing on 6.990MHz LSB with "chanting" similar to that heard by VC01 Chinese Robots.  The transmission stops around 0920z.  

On Sunday night I heard "Kilo Papa Lima" mentioned in English and "Australia, Indonesia and Mr Robert".

Maybe it's some village radio pirates playing about but then again, it could be something else.  I have heard drunken Indonesians singing and other carry-on but not two chanting very similar to VC01 Chinese Robot stations.

Part of the "chant" on Sunday night was "Lima Dua" which is the numbers five and two in Bahasa Indonesian language, also "Jandi Gandi" repeated over and over. "Gandi" means "over" in Indonesian.

Amazing what you hear just tuning about the 4-10MHz bands in this region... ::)
Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: R4002 on June 27, 2017, 2014 UTC
Maybe not too far off from drunken Portuguese speaking fishermen on 6925 LSB and dozens of other frequencies. 

Then again, if its similar to the Chinese VC01 stations...is somebody spoofing these transmissions and just playing around or have they moved to a different frequency? 
Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: Looking-Glass on July 02, 2017, 0502 UTC
I think it's the Indonesians making a mockery of the VC01 Chinese, then again, we never know what they are up to... ::)
Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: skeezix on July 03, 2017, 0226 UTC
On Sunday night I heard "Kilo Papa Lima" mentioned in English and "Australia, Indonesia and Mr Robert".

I'd like to know more about Mr. Robert.  This is intriguing.

"Australia, Indonesia and Mr Robert" would make a good movie title.
Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: R4002 on July 03, 2017, 0618 UTC
^Seconded (on both points).

KPL (Kilo Papa Lima) and AIM / AIMR (Australia, Indonesia and Mr. Robert) - well, the KPL part sounds like a callsign, or maybe part of a callsign...but who would use "Mr. Robert" as part of a phonetic alphabet?  I know using place names is popular but yeah, what?

Hopefully further monitoring of these guys on 6990 kHz LSB / 6.990 MHz LSB will clear at let some of this stuff up.  Have you heard anything else in English on this frequency? 
Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: Looking-Glass on July 04, 2017, 0432 UTC
Seemed strange that a jammer appeared on their original frequency of 6.995MHz LSB, thus they have been on 6.990MHz LSB the last few nights.  

"Kilo Papa Lima" was said in English prior to the chanting, there were two stations detected doing the chanting as one would stop before the other.

The Ring Leader is very strong signal wise here, often 10dB over most nights, the two chanters are between 5X5 and 5X7.

The "chanting session" usually runs between 0900-1000z, sometimes 1030z, last night (Monday) it abruptly ended at exactly 0930z and not a sound was to be heard from any of them.

"Lima Dua" means 52 in Bhasa Indonesian language too, I know the numbers from 1-10 plus a smattering of other words.  

"Selamabatan" was heard last night, translates to "greetings" and "Batam" heard also which means "Island".

Nothing else in English noted so far.  Would like to know what the Ring Leader is running, great signal and tremendous audio, also spot on frequency every night.

OK on Mr Robert, I remember an American movie made with Jimmy Cagney in it "Mr Roberts" an old navy supply ship in the Pacific during WW-II... ;D
Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: R4002 on July 04, 2017, 1858 UTC
Somebody needs to call them back when they're on frequency and give them a signal report, especially if this Ring Leader station is putting such a powerful signal out there.  10db over S9 consistently is impressive by anybody's standard.

Wouldn't surprise me if these guys were running re-purposed military gear - that, or just higher-end amateur radio equipment and The Ring Leader has a good antenna setup. 
Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: Looking-Glass on July 05, 2017, 0654 UTC
Didn't hear them chant last night as the propagation was shot, although snippets from the leader running his "power house" came through. 

Literally hundreds of Asian voices on SSB and AM between 4 and 16MHz this way, main ones are Indonesian, Philippines, China and Burma etc.

Even hear them on the aviation channels on 8MHz, nothing is sacred to these parasites.

You have the Spanish/Latino gang, we have them...and before you ask...no I don't want to do a swap! ;D
Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: Looking-Glass on July 05, 2017, 1029 UTC
Big chanting session tonight on 6.990MHz LSB kicking off from 0925z through to 1015z.  Big power station or the Ring Leader was there plus around three or four chanters.

I seem to be of the opinion it's just a bunch of locals who get together and have a bit of fun? 

Maybe they have had too much fermented coconut milk to drink or off their faces from smoking zipped up Gudang Garam's?

Good signals too, up to 20dB over at times.

Tonights chants were, in order of appearance: 

*  Double Man Double Man Double Man Double Man etc...

*  Copy Robbie Copy Robbie Copy Robbie etc...

*  Eewa Eewa Eewa Eewa etc...

*  Bango You Bango You Bango You etc...

*  Walu Why You Walu Why You Walu Why You etc...

Just the Village Idiots off their fruit boxes, gone troppo in the Indonesian tropical sun... ;D
Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: R4002 on July 05, 2017, 1927 UTC
Sounds like the Portuguese speaking stations often heard on 6925 kHz LSB and dozens of other frequencies....the chanting may be just them messing around and not realizing that they're "getting out" (reminds me of local freehand CB nets that I've logged hundreds of miles away) - lots of inside jokes, etc. I have a feeling "The Leader" station knows he's getting out but probably doesn't care - another CB-like characteristic (see: people having long-winded QSOs on 27.385 LSB / channel 38 LSB, etc).  If they're in remote areas and, like you say, there's an endless stream of these stations all over the bands...chances are they're not going to get busted.

If the stations talking on the 8MHz aircraft HF-SSB frequencies can operate with impunity, I know stations using 6990 kHz don't have anything to worry about.

In a way, this reminds me of the European "Echo Charlie" freebanders that use the 6 MHz aircraft channels in LSB mode.

They're all over the place, I would like to set up a SDR or a scanner in one of the bigger Asian cities and see how crazy the VHF/UHF and FM broadcast spectrum is.

I know Thailand has a VHF CB allocation at 245.0000 to 245.9875 MHz, and Indonesia has a VHF CB allocation at 142 MHz IIRC...then there's places that use the same band plan as 476 / 477 MHz Australian UHF CB. I bet the frequencies around those bands are heavily used too. Apparently the 245MHz VHF CB band is extremely popular with heavy use of repeaters, high power radios, etc.
Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: Looking-Glass on July 06, 2017, 0824 UTC
R4002:  I think we can close the case of the Indonesian Chanters, but as Doctor Sidney Friedman often says on MASH: "I will call in from time to time and see how things are..."  ::)

Maybe you can tune in and see for yourself and pass a comment?  

There are two SDR's in the region, the best bet would be the Manly Warringah Amateur Radio Society VK2MB SDR down in Sydney at grid square QF56oh which was active a while back.  

Another popular one the folks in EU use is the VR2HF Hong Kong DX SDR.  I think there is also an SDR in Japan that the Egnima2000 people use to monitor M89 etc.

I personally don't use SDR's but stick to my old fashioned station and methods.

The mystery of "Mr Robert" remains unsolved, maybe the "Copy Robbie" chant last night was directed at him?

UHF CB in Australia runs 80 channels, with 1 to 8 reserved for repeaters.  Not many people use it, easy to find a clear channel even down in Sydney. Truckers, bush walkers, road works companies and virtually any one who wants to use it, no licence required.  Truckers sit on channel 40, road works contractors 27 & 28, bush walkers 11 and any where else you like... ;D

Let me know how you get on.  Jack VK2XQ.
Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: Looking-Glass on July 07, 2017, 1025 UTC
Chanters are on 6.980MHz LSB tonight, big signals and plenty of chanting... 8)
Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: R4002 on July 08, 2017, 2003 UTC
I'll check out those SDRs,  I'm on the other side of the world (almost literally, I'm located on the East Coast of the USA) - so maybe grayline I'd be able to reach all the way around to Indonesia  ;D  The GMRS/FRS service at 462 MHz and 467 MHz here is the functional equivalent of UHF CB, and most everywhere has repeaters (which have to be licensed - as do the users of the repeaters).  The FCC is in the process of deregulating simplex FRS/GMRS use - since the vast majority of traffic on these frequencies is simplex.  Lots of adoption by businesses, I hear everything from bar/nightclub security to schools to road flaggers to drug dealers using the channels, with heavy use of CTCSS/DCS.

Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: Looking-Glass on July 09, 2017, 0802 UTC
Indonesian chanters were back on 6.990MHz LSB last night with a huge chanting session, jammer has also gone from 6.995MHz where they originally were.

Last night "Kilo Lima", "Jakarta" and "Timor" were mentioned.

Around six chanters last night, weekend special I guess... 8)
Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: Rob. on July 09, 2017, 1351 UTC
They are all over the band including 11 MHz. Old RR thread here: https://forums.radioreference.com/utility-listening/223429-weirdness-7000-khz.html
Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: Looking-Glass on July 10, 2017, 0645 UTC
Yes, that's exactly what I am hearing Omega, maybe a cultural thing or inter-Indonesian competition? 

"Chanter of the Year"

I guess they are having fun... 8)
Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: R4002 on July 10, 2017, 1637 UTC
Fits in line with every-village-has-a-HF-radio.  7000 kHz, 6995 kHz, 6990 kHz, and various frequencies around 11 MHz according to the RadioReference forums tread linked.

L-G is probably right.  These guys are all over the place. 
Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: Looking-Glass on July 10, 2017, 2253 UTC
As posted before either here or elsewhere, Indonesian plus Philippines etc are saturated from around the top of 5MHz up to at least 12MHz.  We in Australia put up with them every time the bands are open that way... ::)

Last night there was a huge Chanting session on exactly 7.000MHz LSB with some huge signals here, one of the Team Leaders played back a recording of one session to the participants with ample comment:

"Hey you losers, you can chant better than that, put your hearts into it and give me 110%..."

Above is just a guess, have no idea what he said... ;D

Last night heard mention of Kalimatan, Borneo and Labuan, all districts of Indonesia.  Someone tried jamming them with a carrier for around 15 to 20 minutes with zero effect.
Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: Rob. on July 10, 2017, 2303 UTC
Seems no one is really sure:

http://www.vklogger.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=13524&sid=f9647613f4454682020b6b6d6f12b7a2
Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: R4002 on July 11, 2017, 0014 UTC
Looking-Glass and Σ,

Sounds like these guys have been logged by just about everyone....as L-G mentioned, its sort of the same situation with the Americas / ITU Region 2 and the Latin American / Spanish language stations when the bands are open for those areas.  Another similar situation (at least with the 25-30 MHz portion, but I'm sure it also applies to the rest of HF) is European stations having to deal with Russia and CIS sourced stations all over the place.  Russian taxicabs all over 10 meters are a major intruder just like fishing fleets in Oceania all over 10 meters (and the frequencies above and below 10 meters - including the 11 meter freeband) are a serious issue. 
Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB / 6990 kHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: Looking-Glass on July 11, 2017, 0208 UTC
R4002 & others:

In essence when all is taken into account and given the due consideration it deserves it's just Indonesian pirate operators mucking about in a form of "Claytons CB Radio" in a world of Play Wireless etc.

Someone mentioned awhile back, it may have been you R4002 or Token, due to poor propagation on 25-30MHz a lot of "Freeband" style operators have made the migration south frequency wise (6MHz for example).  More evident in Latin America and parts of EU.

Spectrum Anarchy is alive and well it seems with authorities in all countries concerned doing sweet FA about it.  It amazes me how the Indonesians get away with it on the upper 8MHz aviation section.  There is a group every opening on 8.831MHz yakking away with Flight Watch in Brisbane working traffic on same.  >:(

The Indonesian version of the FCC would take years to clean them up, hundreds of isolated islands make up Indonesia, many don't have air services and rely on sporadic shipping services.  Then again, with bribery and corruption part of the Indonesian culture in government many would be protected by way of financial back handers. ::)

I guess if an aircraft crashes and kills scores of passengers due to the pilot experiencing interference on the channel from the Indo's etc they may get off the clackers and actually do something?

What transceivers are they running?  Converted amateur gear or cheap junk box 0-30MHz transceivers from China?  Some of the Indonesian signals here are very strong and have excellent audio (ideal for chanting) suggesting good quality equipment. Very little bleed over/splatter noticed on many so quality gear?

Guess we can close the book on the Indonesian chanters, thanks all for your investigating, especially Omega who found info via the VKlogger, good research!   8)
Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB / 6990 kHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: R4002 on July 11, 2017, 0403 UTC
R4002 & others:

In essence when all is taken into account and given the due consideration it deserves it's just Indonesian pirate operators mucking about in a form of "Claytons CB Radio" in a world of Play Wireless etc.

Someone mentioned awhile back, it may have been you R4002 or Token, due to poor propagation on 25-30MHz a lot of "Freeband" style operators have made the migration south frequency wise (6MHz for example).  More evident in Latin America and parts of EU.

Spectrum Anarchy is alive and well it seems with authorities in all countries concerned doing sweet FA about it.  It amazes me how the Indonesians get away with it on the upper 8MHz aviation section.  There is a group every opening on 8.831MHz yakking away with Flight Watch in Brisbane working traffic on same.  >:(

The Indonesian version of the FCC would take years to clean them up, hundreds of isolated islands make up Indonesia, many don't have air services and rely on sporadic shipping services.  Then again, with bribery and corruption part of the Indonesian culture in government many would be protected by way of financial back handers. ::)

I guess if an aircraft crashes and kills scores of passengers due to the pilot experiencing interference on the channel from the Indo's etc they may get off the clackers and actually do something?

What transceivers are they running?  Converted amateur gear or cheap junk box 0-30MHz transceivers from China?  Some of the Indonesian signals here are very strong and have excellent audio (ideal for chanting) suggesting good quality equipment. Very little bleed over/splatter noticed on many so quality gear?

Guess we can close the book on the Indonesian chanters, thanks all for your investigating, especially Omega who found info via the VKlogger, good research!   8)

In regards to the interference with aeronautical HF communications, I remember reading somewhere about the Cuban numbers station HM01 causing interference to one of the Caribbean sector frequencies and the controller had to request that all aircraft QSY to an alternate frequency.  Although there's a difference between a 10 kHz wide AM signal transmitted at hundreds of kW and a SSB voice signal transmitted at the most maybe 1-2 kW (but probably more like 100 watts) but still.  

I can say with 99% certainty that several of the Latin American operators I've heard chatting in the 6-7 MHz region have also been heard (by me, and likely a bunch of other people) on various 11 meter freeband frequencies.  I've seen several YouTube videos of stations on some of these 11m free band frequencies, namely 26.225 MHz USB, 27.455 MHz USB and of course 27.555 MHz USB and they're using various higher-end HF amateur radio rigs, all the name brands can be found, Yaesu, Icom, Kenwood, Alinco, all the big ones.   I know the markets are flooded with cheap Chinese CB radios that do 25.615-30.105 MHz out of the box, with more expensive ones doing SSB in addition to AM/FM.  

Some of these guys are running HF equipment that would leave most ham operators jealous.  Others are using open-banded "10 meter" radios and others are likely using marine SSB equipment or maybe even old military gear.  I know there has to be at least some old HF military equipment floating around that part of the world, and most of the older-generation gear (for the US anyway) didn't even cover the whole 2-30 MHz band, some of it stopped at 12 MHz, others stopped at 18 MHz Vietnam War era HF military radios did have SSB (I think the more common ones only had USB/CW or USB/AM/CW, so that doesn't match with these guys using LSB).

Anyway, the AN/PRC-74, AN/PRC-74A (2-12 MHz) and the AN/PRC-74B as well as AN/PRC-74C (2-18 MHz) were USB/CW only, but can apparently be modified to transmit in LSB mode as well.  Bigger base station military radios like the Collins series and the AN/GRC-106 radios (which does cover 2-30 MHz, again only in USB/CW) transmit considerably higher power, up to 400 watts PEP SSB power for the GRC-106 HF radio.  The more modern HF military equipment does 2-30 MHz in 1 kHz steps, often with LSB included on the mode switch...I don't see it as being to far-fetched for a village to have re-purposed surplus or simply left-behind military radio equipment for use as their "village radio".

Of course, its a lot easier to get a full band 160-10 meter HF ham radio, do the "freeband" or MARS/CAP mod, and then use any frequency you want.  I think this is the most likely option.  That, and at least some of these stations are licensed amateurs who use the amateur frequencies when they want to, and bootleg in the freeband frequencies (or, you know, the safety of life radio service frequencies...) when they want.  As you mention, they're isolated and live in a world where cops are underpaid and corruption is common.  There are lots of cheap junk box transceivers from China, but I haven't come across too many full band HF ones.  "CB" equipment that covers roughly 25-30 MHz, and VHF/UHF equipment...well that's another story.  I've seen several listings for radios on Chinese vendor's websites - a lot of these guys think "HF" is the 66-88 MHz VHF mid band, and "CB" is 25615-30105.    Do a Google search for radios like the CRE 8900 (also known as the Alinco DR-135CB, Alinco DR-135UK, and Alinco DR-10), the Anytone AT-5555 series (known under about three dozen other brand names and model numbers), the Anytone AT-5555N (completely different radio from the AT-5555), Anytone AT-6666, Anytone Apollo II, the Nanfone radios, and dozens and dozens of other makes and models - all coming out of China.
Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB / 6990 kHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: jasmine on February 25, 2020, 1538 UTC
i just wanted to say they're back. loud and clear on 6990 LSB at an S6 from my Seattle location today at 15:39 UTC
Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB / 6990 kHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: ECHELON on March 03, 2020, 1050 UTC
Monitoring LSB voice comms on 6990 Khz @10:45 UTC.
Sounds like the chanters are talking to each other before the start of a chanting "session".

Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB / 6990 kHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: ECHELON on March 03, 2020, 1056 UTC
6995 Khz 10:55 UTC LSB music from chanter station tuning up and some voice.   
Title: Re: 6.990MHz LSB / 6990 kHz LSB Indonesian Chanters
Post by: R4002 on March 09, 2020, 1757 UTC
Massive network of village radio stations - the "chanting nets".  6990 kHz, 6995 kHz, and of course, 7000 kHz.

I'm sure some of them are using higher-end amateur and professional-grade HF-SSB gear.  Wouldn't surprise me if there were some stations using military HF radios too.