Messages

1996

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!

1997

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!

1998

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!

1999

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!

2000

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!

2001

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)

2002

Shortwave Broadcast / Re: firedrake wiki page

« on: November 17, 2011, 0150 UTC »

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!

2003

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Two presumed parody numbers stations logged

« on: November 15, 2011, 2001 UTC »

I listened to the recording of the numbers broadcast. I don't think I have heard this before, but beyond that, why is it presumed to be a parody? Perhaps if you could decode a funny message out of the numbers, that would be a give away, but as far as I could hear it seemed rather representative of real broadcasts.

My main reason for leaning towards spoof is the fact that it kind of includes too many features of a numbers station, like it was built from a check list.

- Odd, distinctive, music for lead in?  Check.  Digital readouts on receivers and digital watches/phones, the need for such distinctive music is long past.

- Some kind of identifier at the start, for recipient and source?  Check.  The music itself did not identify the source?  Sure, maybe the recipient needs to be IDed assuming more than one possible recipient.

- None-English/American accent but message in English?  Check.  If this voice is synthesized why not just use an English/American accent voice if the message is in English.  If the recipient is not a native English speaker then why not send it in his native tongue?

- 5 figure groups?  Check.  Well, this one is kind of standard and hard to argue.

- Including something to define the group edges?  Check.  Most stations just allow a pause to identify group edges, this one goes overboard with a stroke between each.  Sure, the stroke (or “oblique”) is used in other stations, but not between each 5f, it seems overkill.

- Repeat the numbers group as a body twice?  Check.  Smart, but again VERY numbers stationy.

- Saying "I'll repeat" or something like that between the two message bodies?  Check.  Again, smart, but very “exemplary” of how a numbers station might sound.

- Include a group size someplace in the message?  Check.

- End message by saying end?  Check.

It just seems like too much for one station in my opinion.  I can think of no other station today that combines all of these features so glaringly.  Most have several, maybe even most in some form, but not all of them exactly like this.  I guess they could have added one more just to make sure, zero’s after the “ende” or something like that.

Yeah, I am not 100% sure either, but I did log it as “probable spoof”.  I also, however, put a copy of the recording in my unidentified numbers station storage folder.

For that matter, did we ever decide for sure that the AH7 station from last year was a spoof?  I don’t remember ever hearing about anyone owning up to it, and there was half a dozen or more messages total sent.  That one could have been real I suppose, but again it just did not feel right.

T!

2004

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Two presumed parody numbers stations logged

« on: November 15, 2011, 1514 UTC »

I missed any usable recording of the first transmission on 6930 at 0328, it was just too weak here to really make anything out and I also started listening a bit late.  However, for the 6935 transmission at 0345 I was on a remote Perseus in Washington state and noticed the transmitter hum come up just before the audio started, so I got a complete recording of that transmission both locally and at the remote.  The remote was much more clear.

From Chris's recordings it sounds to me like both messages are identical.  Also, from my recording I am pretty sure there are no letters in the groups, it sounds like all numbers to me.  However, the number 5 has an odd pronunciation, kind of like it is being said "fife-eh".

My recording here (from the Washington state remote): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s6aUWchUo6k

I have thrown this one in my logbook as "probable spoof/pirate", but in my opinion it is less sure as a spoof than last year’s "AH7" transmissions.  I was kind of hoping for more of those signals

T!

2005

Utility / Re: 500ms tick on 23856u

« on: October 31, 2011, 2121 UTC »

I don't believe that it is local noise. It doesn't fade. I'm able to receive it well day and night. It doesn't seem to be an image or birdie or something like that.

Here is what I analyzed from my recording of about 18 hours (first continuous tone captured ~0858z Oct 28th UTC).

Several clues there.

"It doesn't fade"  Propagation and fading are normal for a signal on HF that travels any distance at all, this means that at the farthest you are still in ground wave.  Pointing towards local.

"I'm able to receive it well day and night"  At that frequency you should absolutely tell a difference between day and night if it is any distance at all.  At night that frequency should shut down to all but direct path.  Again, pointing towards local.

First capture at about 0857z and watched for the next 18 hours.  It kind of depends on your location, but in the US that means you picked it up on almost 24 MHz at between 0200 and 0500 local, before sunrise, definitely a bad time for that freq and any propagation.  You kept it through the daylight hours and until about midnight, definitely uncharacteristic of any distance again.  If in Europe you picked it up in daytime and kept it through the entire next night, again not likely for anything not local.

I would have to say it is something local.  And by local I would say to the visual horizon or a tad more.  It could be local in the neighborhood or it might be 25 – 30+ miles away.

T!

2006

Spy Numbers / Re: Possible V13 Logging 13200 USB

« on: October 31, 2011, 2106 UTC »

Yep, V13, I think you got it on the first or second day of its new frequency.

One has to wonder how long it will stay on that freq, the US and Taiwan have pretty good relations, I bet the AF will be talking to State, and State will be talking to Taiwan.

T!

2007

Spy Numbers / Re: OM #s in EE 6797kHz 033+ 10/30/2011

« on: October 31, 2011, 2104 UTC »

Yes, this is the station that carries the Enigma 2000 designator E06, nicknamed "the English Man".  It has been on for the past two nights on that freq, but I do not think it will be on tonight inn that time/freq slot.

T!

2008

Spy Numbers / Re: V02a on 5883 kHz, 12 Sep 2011

« on: October 31, 2011, 2059 UTC »

As a general rule, all things HF and radio are UTC.  This means UTC time and UTC date.  In fact all of my radio related PCs are on UTC, none on local time.

T!

2009

Spy Numbers / Re: 7077 kHz

« on: October 14, 2011, 1940 UTC »

The ID is in the digital stream, they are indeed IDing but you will not hear and identify the ID by ear.  And those modes and frequencies are in use by hams someplace in the World around the clock, so signals are pretty much always there, even if you are not receiving any at your specific location.

You might try MultiPSK or FLDGI, both of those pieces of software can be used with your sound card to decode digital information, depending on the mode.  There are literally thousands of possible digital modes, hundreds that are common, and no one software will decode them all but between those two softwares you can cover most of the more common modes.

By the way, the digital signal sounding like any specific song is accidental, it is just a data stream.

You might check into the #wunclub IRC chat for real time help identifying signals (the link to the Java access can be found at the bottom of the front page of this site, http://www.hfunderground.com/wiki/Main_Page but if you have an IRC client it is a bit better).  Quite often there will be people in there who can give you some direction on what a signal might be, and it being a real time chat they can tune to the signal to make sure.  But, if you do go there, be aware that just because you see names of people in there it does not mean anyone is actually at the monitor.  Many people leave that window open 24 hours a day to log other peoples reports, but might only be present a few hours a day at most.  And the activity tends to swell and ebb as different people get off work or go to work.

T!

2010

Spy Numbers / Re: 7077 kHz

« on: October 14, 2011, 0241 UTC »

This is the ham 40 meter band, and specificaly the section used by digital modes, right now I am watching 10+ signals in that range (7077 +/- 3 kHz), I see Olivia, WSPR, and JST65, any one of those might be what you are describing, without more data or a recording that is as good an ID as it is going to get.

T!