Messages

1966

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Undercover Radio 15.490? I think

« on: January 16, 2012, 1556 UTC »

Undercover had a fair signal inot the Mojave Desert in California, at times very good at times not so good.  Video of sign on here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4t_mxdJsYI

Undercover called for Borderhunter to come up and talk near the end of his broadcast, and allowed several periods of no carrier for Borderhunter to respond.  In the end Undercover and Borderhunter did QSO on Undercovers frequency.  They first tried AM but BOrderhunter had a little problem with a transmitter.  They switched to LSB (and presumabaly Borderhunter on a different rig) and made contact.  Part of that QSO here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_Jrbx6FzM4

T!
Mojave Desert, California, USA

1967

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Turtle Head Radio 6930 LSB 00:18z

« on: January 16, 2012, 0046 UTC »

Turtlehead is booming in here in the Mojave Desert of California.

Yeah, that California Hot tub rectal issue is something to be avoided.  Nice PSA.

T!

1968

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Radio Ronin Shortwave 6925 AM 2123 UTC

« on: January 15, 2012, 2248 UTC »

Caught the last song, Alices Resteraunt, and sign off at 2241 UTC.

T!

1969

Utility / Re: What RTTY Station Is That on 4905 KHz?

« on: January 08, 2012, 2015 UTC »

Can you determine the shift of the FSK?  This might help narrow the possibles.

But, I can tell you, I hear the Dixon CA, USN facility on that frequency just the way you are describing, and that is 500 kM away from me, it would be closer to 1000 kM for you I think.

T!

1970

Spy Numbers / V24 and M94 observations for Nov and Dec of 2011, and new schedule chart

« on: January 01, 2012, 0528 UTC »

V24 and M94 have once again undergone some fairly substantial changes in frequencies and schedule.

Starting November 6, 2011, I noticed a new frequency in use by V24, 6310 kHz.  Since a couple weeks before that date I have not seen 6730 or 6330 kHz in use.  My assumption is that about November 1, 2011, the frequencies of 6730 kHz and 6330 kHz were discontinued and the new frequency of 6310 kHz was added.

The total number of messages each month have not reduced by any appreciable number, so it appears the activity that was on 6730 and 6330 kHz has shifted to the still active freqs.  For the most part the 6730 kHz activity appears to have shifted to 6310 kHz and the former 6330 kHz activity has shifted to the remaining freqs, for example the 6330 kHz M94 slots have moved to 5715 kHz, but on the same days and at the same times as when on 6330 kHz.

Fewer and fewer 4f format messages are being sent, the vast majority are now 5f.

The latest schedule of V24 and M94 transmissions can be found here:
http://token_radio.home.mchsi.com/V24_M94_latest_sched.JPG

This schedule is still somewhat tentative and in work, but should be fairly accurate.  But notice I am no longer including the version number or date in the URL, the intent is to keep the most current version at that URL from now on.

Note that the schedule contains a time column not seen on previous schedules I made, in this case 1240 UTC.  There have been a couple of transmissions in this time slot so I have included it on the schedule, but I will remove that column if these transmission do not repeat in the future.  In the past V24 has used XX20 and XX40 time slots, but never for very long other than the 1620 time slot, which was used for over a year.  In fact a few times it has used the XX20 and XX40 before the normal 1200 UTC start time.

T!
Mojave Desert, California, USA

Logs:

November receptions of V24:

11/04/2011, 1430 UTC, 5715 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
11/04/2011, 1500 UTC, 4900 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
11/05/2011, 1400 UTC, 5115 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
11/06/2011, 1400 UTC, 5115 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
11/06/2011, 1530 UTC, 6310 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
11/06/2011, 1630 UTC, 6310 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
11/07/2011, 1300 UTC, 6310 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
11/09/2011, 1330 UTC, 6310 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f

11/10/2011, 1430 UTC, 5715 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
11/10/2011, 1500 UTC, 6215 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
11/11/2011, 1430 UTC, 5715 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
11/11/2011, 1500 UTC, 6215 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
11/11/2011, 1530 UTC, 5715 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
11/11/2011, 1600 UTC, 6215 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 4f
11/11/2011, 1630 UTC, 5715 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 4f
11/19/2011, 1500 UTC, 6215 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
11/19/2011, 1630 UTC, 6310 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f

11/20/2011, 1430 UTC, 5715 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
11/20/2011, 1500 UTC, 5115 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
11/20/2011, 1630 UTC, 6310 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
11/24/2011, 1300 UTC, 5715 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
11/24/2011, 1330 UTC, 6310 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
11/24/2011, 1530 UTC, 4600 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
11/25/2011, 1530 UTC, 4600 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
11/26/2011, 1500 UTC, 6215 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
11/27/2011, 1500 UTC, 6215 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
11/28/2011, 1300 UTC, 6310 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f

November receptions of M94

11/10/2011, 1400 UTC, 5715 kHz, MCW, M94, ID 935
11/27/2011, 1400 UTC, 5715 kHz, MCW, M94, ID 935



December receptions of V24

12/02/2011, 1500 UTC, 6215 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/02/2011, 1530 UTC, 5115 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/03/2011, 1430 UTC, 5715 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/03/2011, 1500 UTC, 6215 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/03/2011, 1530 UTC, 5115 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/04/2011, 1430 UTC, 5715 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/04/2011, 1500 UTC, 4900 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/09/2011, 1330 UTC, 6310 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/09/2011, 1530 UTC, 4600 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 4f

12/10/2011, 1330 UTC, 6310 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/10/2011, 1430 UTC, 5715 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/10/2011, 1500 UTC, 6215 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/10/2011, 1630 UTC, 5115 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 4f
12/11/2011, 1430 UTC, 5715 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/11/2011, 1500 UTC, 6215 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/11/2011, 1530 UTC, 5715 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/11/2011, 1630 UTC, 5115 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 4f
12/15/2011, 1430 UTC, 6310 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/16/2011, 1430 UTC, 6310 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/16/2011, 1500 UTC, 4900 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/17/2011, 1500 UTC, 4900 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/17/2011, 1530 UTC, 5115 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/18/2011, 1500 UTC, 6215 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/18/2011, 1530 UTC, 5115 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/19/2011, 1300 UTC, 5715 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/19/2011, 1330 UTC, 6310 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 4f

12/23/2011, 1330 UTC, 6310 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/23/2011, 1630 UTC, 5115 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 4f
12/24/2011, 1330 UTC, 6310 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/24/2011, 1530 UTC, 4600 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 4f
12/25/2011, 1240 UTC, 5715 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/25/2011, 1300 UTC, 5715 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/25/2011, 1530 UTC, 4600 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 4f
12/31/2011, 1500 UTC, 5115 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f
12/18/2011, 1530 UTC, 4900 kHz, AM, V24, YL KK 5f


December receptions of M94

12/10/2011, 1400 UTC, 5715 kHz, MCW, M94, ID 935
12/11/2011, 1400 UTC, 5715 kHz, MCW, M94, ID 935

1971

Spy Numbers / V07 logs Nov and Dec, 2012, and schedule table to date.

« on: January 01, 2012, 0527 UTC »

V07 remains active and well heard on the west coast of the US in its Sunday morning schedule.  It is still in the 0100/0120/0140 time period for the 3rd month in a row, however the frequencies for December are different from the ones used in October and November.  If the pattern holds true the station might continue using 0100/0120/0140 for January, February, and March of 2012, moving to the 0300/0320/0340 slot in April.

The chart of trends, times, and frequencies used for 2011 is here:
http://token_radio.home.mchsi.com/V07_latest_sched.JPG

Note that on November 20 in the 0100 and 0120 time slots a CW station was sent instead of V07.  In this case I believe it is M12.  The same ID was sent, 883, as should have been sent for V07 in that time slot.  This was a null msg so the 0140 time slot was not populated.  Based on this reception I have been assuming there might be an M12 related to this V07 schedule, but looking in the hours before and after the V07 times I have not yet found one.

T!
Mojave Desert, California USA

Logs:

The CW msg for November 20, 2011 was as follows:
883  883  883  T T T  883  883  883  T T T  883  883  883  T T T  883  883  883  T T T
883  883  883  T T T  883  883  883  T T T  883  883  883  T T T  883  883  883  T T T 

November 2011 receptions:

11/06/2011, 0100 UTC, 18074 kHz, USB, V07, YL SS 5f, Callup 883, ID 522, 67 grps
11/06/2011, 0120 UTC, 15874 kHz, USB, V07, YL SS 5f, Callup 883, ID 522, 67 grps
11/06/2011, 0140 UTC, 14374 kHz, USB, V07, YL SS 5f, Callup 883, ID 522, 67 grps
11/13/2011, 0100 UTC, 18074 kHz, USB, V07, YL SS 5f, Callup 883, null msg
11/13/2011, 0100 UTC, 15874 kHz, USB, V07, YL SS 5f, Callup 883, null msg
11/20/2011, 0100 UTC, 18074 kHz, CW, M12, Callup 883, null msg
11/20/2011, 0120 UTC, 15874 kHz, CW, M12, Callup 883, null msg
11/27/2011, 0100 UTC, 18074 kHz, USB, V07, YL SS 5f, Callup 883, ID 957, 93 grps
11/27/2011, 0120 UTC, 15874 kHz, USB, V07, YL SS 5f, Callup 883, ID 957, 93 grps
11/27/2011, 0140 UTC, 14374 kHz, USB, V07, YL SS 5f, Callup 883, ID 957, 93 grps


December 2011 receptions:
The first Sunday of the month (Dec 4, 2011) I was not home and only recorded the frequencies that had been in use the last 2 months, no activity recorded as the station had shifted frequencies.

12/11/2011, 0100 UTC, 16037 kHz, USB, V07, YL SS 5f, Callup 661, ID 567, 79 grps
12/11/2011, 0120 UTC, 14637 kHz, USB, V07, YL SS 5f, Callup 661, ID 567, 79 grps
12/11/2011, 0140 UTC, 12137 kHz, USB, V07, YL SS 5f, Callup 661, ID 567, 79 grps
12/18/2011, 0100 UTC, 16037 kHz, USB, V07, YL SS 5f, Callup 661, null msg
12/18/2011, 0120 UTC, 14637 kHz, USB, V07, YL SS 5f, Callup 661, null msg
12/25/2011, 0100 UTC, 16037 kHz, USB, V07, YL SS 5f, Callup 661, ID 676, 65 grps
12/25/2011, 0120 UTC, 14637 kHz, USB, V07, YL SS 5f, Callup 661, ID 676, 65 grps
12/25/2011, 0140 UTC, 12137 kHz, USB, V07, YL SS 5f, Callup 661, ID 676, 65 grps

1972

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Turtle Head Radio 6930 LSB

« on: December 16, 2011, 0015 UTC »

Turtlehead Radio was also up at about 0130z to 0154z on Dec 15, 2011 on 6925 LSB.  It announced an email address several times, turtleheadradio@gmail.com  The announce most of the time was "you are listening to Turtlehead Radio" but at the end went to a longer announce that started with "This is your host Colonel Turtlehead, thank you for listening to Turtlehead Radio" and included the gmail address.  

The station peaked up for me about S9 at 0140 and the noise level was less than S3, so was a good signal.  The audio is a little pinched and tinny though.  It looks like it is only 2200 Hz wide and starts at 400 Hz, so only covering 400 Hz to 2600 Hz.  Have recorded this station several times in the past, and the audio is immediately identifiable each time because of this.  Unfortunately it can also be hard to understand at times for the same reason.

The station also came up for a couple minutes around 0156 in AM mode, with 2 or 3 IDs, but nothing more.

T!
Mojave Desert, California, USA

1973

Other / Re: 15.721 UNID

« on: December 01, 2011, 1507 UTC »

The station you heard was Russian language numbers station S06.  It has a schedule on that frequency starting at 0400 every Thursday and Friday morning (UTC).  The "words" at the beginning were numbers, in Russian, and it was probably only three numbers, although you may have heard 4 sounds.  I did not listen to it last night so I do not know what it said, but generaly it starts with a 3 figure ID.

A video here of the station http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V10b33u0ykE

If you tune in to that freq again tonight starting at 0400 UTC you should hear a repeat of the same transmission.

T!

1974

Shortwave Broadcast / Re: firedrake wiki page

« on: November 28, 2011, 0030 UTC »

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

0000 hour

12980
13050
15900
16100
16700
17170
17250
18200


T!

1975

Other / Re: Not sure what this is....

« on: November 22, 2011, 1948 UTC »

Some kind of propagation sounder maybe?

I rather doubt a sounder of some kind.  In general there needs to be some kind of modulation on a sounder or a swept rate that is known.  A dead carrier jumping in 3 kHz steps would not be able to be distinguished from CW (honest CW here, not talking code) noise on the frequency, so there would be too much likelihood of false data.

I see you have the Chinese OTHR at the lower half of the waterfall, a sounder on about 6971 or so, but what is that on 6980?  It looks too narrow to be a Chinese 4+4 modem.

T!

1976

Spy Numbers / Re: UNID (M08?)

« on: November 21, 2011, 2046 UTC »

Yes, this was most likely M08, the time is correct and the frequency is close.  However, the real frequency should have been 5898 kHz.  Did you tune this in AM mode or was it in USB/LSB/CW?

T!

1977

Shortwave Broadcast / Re: firedrake wiki page

« on: November 20, 2011, 1459 UTC »

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!

1978

HF Beacons / Re: 6934 Dasher

« on: November 19, 2011, 1456 UTC »

This Dasher was heard here in California under the very strong Chinese OTHR.  OTHR was 20 over S9, no way to tell what the dasher was.  Also heard using a web SDR in Washington State, again under the OTHR.  Heard in MA with a web RX very loud.

Nothing heard Japanese RXs or European.

T!

1979

Shortwave Broadcast / Re: firedrake wiki page

« on: November 19, 2011, 1451 UTC »

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!

1980

Shortwave Broadcast / Re: firedrake wiki page

« on: November 17, 2011, 1358 UTC »

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)