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Messages - l0ngwire

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1
HF Beacons / Re: "F" Beacon On 7056
« on: March 14, 2024, 2244 UTC »
Last night I was listening around 0945 UTC and I again heard a similar signal, this time much more raspy with the letter "F" and a couple of other choppy CW characters.  It was slightly higher in frequency around 7056.8 and drifted slightly over the course of a few minutes.

Here's a SDR recording of it:  https://whyp.it/tracks/163884/kb6cproxykiwisdrcom-2024-03-14t09-42-37z-705683-cw?token=wusV7

2
HF Beacons / "F" Beacon On 7056
« on: March 13, 2024, 0109 UTC »
Last night at 10000 UTC while using a Kiwi SDR about 40 miles from me in central California I heard a "F" CW beacon on 7056.  It was being sent at about one second intervals at about 13wpm, somewhat faster than the longtime Russian "K" beacon around 7039.4.

I Googled single-letter beacons but could not find any listing for a "F" beacon on 7056.  Russian or other spook?  Pirate or bored ham?

3
HF Beacons / Re: 4108 "...dit dit dah..." Signal
« on: July 02, 2023, 2240 UTC »
Never mind... not a pirate.  After I posted this I remembered I'd heard a nearly identical signal in March of 2022.  For several days it had "5 dits and a dah", then an unknown digital signal appeared on 4108.  So what I heard is evidently connected to some non-pirate utility use.

4
HF Beacons / 4108 "...dit dit dah..." Signal
« on: July 02, 2023, 0805 UTC »
Here in Central California I'm listening to 4108 in the CW mode around 0800z.  I am hearing a transmitter that sends about nine dits followed by a tenth dah.  Speed is around 18wpm.  A pirate beacon or a utility signal?


5
HF Mystery Signals / Re: Mystery "Pips" On 3549.6, 3899.6 and 7049.6 at 0820z
« on: April 15, 2023, 0812 UTC »
A few weeks later, the mystery signals continue to be heard here in central California.  I've observed it as strong as S8 and on for as long as 40 minutes. I've heard them several times between 0700z and 0900z. The frequencies have shifted slightly higher and are on 3550, 3900 and 7050 simultaneously.

There is a thread on QRZ.COM about them. The 40 and 75/80m signals appear to be even stronger in the eastern US.  One member has heard the same signal on 14050, but thus far I've not heard it there.  The same poster got some detailed photos of the 14050 signal on a SDR. (https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/whats-that-beeping-on-7-047-and-3-547.856555/page-3)

(From QRZ posting of beep seen on 14050) "The bright trace to the left is foreign broadcast, just above the band edge. Note that at the bottom there are two strings of pulses close together, this double pulses occurs every 9 single pulses."


(From QRZ posting of beep seen on 14050) "Here is is with the waterfall sped up to max. Each burst looks like a group of pulses:
The span of these bursts is about 300 kHz. The bursts are about 2.5 - 3 seconds apart."


From a California SDR of 3550 signal:

6
HF Mystery Signals / Mystery "Pips" On 3549.6, 3899.6 and 7049.6 at 0820z
« on: March 27, 2023, 0854 UTC »
Tonight from 0820z to 0830z I am hearing a "pip" signal on 3549.6, 3899.6 and 7049.6. When listening in the CW mode it sounds like a CW carrier with a bit of modulation. Tonight it is about a half-second beep with about a three second interval.

There was no ID when it stopped.

Signal was about S7 here in central California and about the same strength on the KFS omni SDR up north.

Several hams on the QRZ forum have heard it also in the central US, also around the same time.

Any cluess?

7
HF Beacons / Re: Rapid Ditter On 4097.3 & FT8 (?) On 4095
« on: December 13, 2022, 0254 UTC »
I can't hear either signal at 0240 UTC on the KB6C SDR.  The next time I hear the FT8-like signal, I'll time its transmissions, as it may be FT4.

Recently I sent Dennis/KB6C an email thanking him for the use of his excellent SDR in northern Ventura county and got back a pleasant reply.  He also sent a photo of its antenna, a large home-brew 6 to 30mHz discone.

I can't get the [img] feature to load the Imgur.com link of his antenna, so here is the direct link:  https://imgur.com/a/UljqfSi

Here is the link to the KB6C SDR: http://kb6c.proxy.kiwisdr.com:8073/

8
HF Beacons / Rapid Ditter On 4097.3 & FT8 (?) On 4095
« on: December 12, 2022, 2301 UTC »
This afternoon around 2245z I was using the KB6C Kiwi SDR in Ventura county, which has far better "ears" than my long wire antenna in Santa Barbara. 

The Desert Whooper was coming in fairly well.  On 4097.3 I heard a weak rapid "ditter", which I could also just barely hear on my home station.  Listening also while in the CW mode I heard what sounded like amateur FT8 on 4095, which I could not hear at all on my own station. It was sending a short burst about every 30 seconds. I am set up for FT8 and know that sometimes nearly inaudible FT8 will sometimes decode, so I turned on WSJTX and tried both USB and LSB near that frequency, but could hear or decode nothing.

Both signals are still there on the KB6C SDR at 2300z.

9
HF Beacons / Re: Letter "F" Beacon on 4100.4 @ 0715z
« on: December 06, 2022, 0826 UTC »
Teotwaki, my Icom 7200 read 4100.4.  And... I"ve finally realized its display is about four-tenths of a KC off in the CW mode, thanks to your correction.  Curiously, on SSB it still is correct in its read-out.

No F beacon tonight here in SB...


10
HF Beacons / Letter "F" Beacon on 4100.4 @ 0715z
« on: December 03, 2022, 0724 UTC »
Here in central California I am hearing the letter "F" at about 12wpm CW at 0715z.  Also some Asian langauge QRM on 4100 USB.

Anybody else hearing it?  Evidently it has been on before--last heard about ten months ago.

FWIW, the Desert Whooper is currently weak and I can't here the Coastal Slider at all.


11
Spy Numbers / 6989.2 CW Letter & Number Groups-- 0755 UTC-- 16 SEP 2022
« on: September 16, 2022, 0815 UTC »
Here in central coastal California at 0755 UTC I heard several minutes of a CW transmission that I believe is spy-related.  It was around 20wpm, a little faster than I can reliably copy.  Appeared to be number and letter groups--letters did not seem to be words or usual ham abbreviations, but my fast CW copy is marginal.  Off at 0800 UTC.

12
North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Ballsmacker Radio 6960 LSB 0200 UTC 11 Sept 2022
« on: September 11, 2022, 0236 UTC »
S9 in Santa Barbara, in central California.

13
HF Beacons / Coastal Slider Back On 4109.5
« on: April 26, 2022, 0658 UTC »
The Coastal Slider on 4109.5 is back, about S3 here in central California at 0650z.  Wonder what repairs were needed to get it back on the air again?

14
HF Mystery Signals / Re: Carrier on 7033 kHz
« on: April 21, 2022, 0730 UTC »
The 7033 carrier went off two days ago.  According to the above thread on the QRZ forum, the FCC tracked it to a summer cabin owned by a ham in Alma, Colorado.  The carrier was on constantly for about a month.

15
HF Mystery Signals / Re: Carrier on 7033 kHz
« on: April 18, 2022, 0733 UTC »
It's been over a month now, and the 7033 carrier is still there.  Tonight at 0730z I can only hear two signals in the 40 meter CW band here in central California:  the "K" Russian beacon on 7039.2 and the mystery 7033 carrier, which is currently S4.

There's a 25 page discussion about it on the QRZ forum.  Utah or Colorado continues to be the suspected origin.

https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/carrier-on-7033-khz-for-3-weeks.808535/

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