Messages

1

Shortwave Broadcast / Re: BBC Clashes with itself on 12096.68 kHz? Twente WebSDR Receiver

« on: December 16, 2013, 2143 UTC »

glimmer twin:

     I must apologize for my lack of precision for which I could kick myself now as this is interesting or so it seems to me. The frequency should be 12095 kHz. I was reading off the display and did not want to budge the tuning!

     When I was using the Twente Receiver I did not find propagation on the higher frequencies particularly good. I did not observe any beacons on 14100 kHz the International beacon project. I thought 20m which I have some familiarity with was rather poor; not so 40m and below. Just my general impression I'm going by memory.

     The Two English Broadcasts were mirror images of one another until the Signature Interval signal at the top of the hour which left one Broadcast standing. I believe the BBC uses remote automated technical monitoring. Perhaps this apparent scheduling error makes the case for greater human involvement, or so it seems to me.

     You obviously are more familiar with the BBC than I am, therefore I defer to your expertise. I looked at two BBC schedules and could not even clearly decipher some of the abbreviations etc. I did note 12095 kHz Broadcasts from several locations. I did not note any evidence of an Aurora Flutter. I suppose I could print out one of those Azimuth Projection maps when I get around to it and reverse engineer this process.

     I believe thanks to your info it was a scheduling conflict at the beginning of the new period.     

2

Spy Numbers / Re: HM01 on 9330 kHz 29NOV13

« on: December 12, 2013, 0329 UTC »

     I am trying to come up to speed in so far as possible regarding these digital modes.

      I assume most people have seen the article: "Cuban Numbers Station in HM01 mode" by: PY4ZBZ the Author of DIGTRX . I found it interesting and insightful. Seems to me the emphasis on error correction and the Authors conclusion that each file is transmitted 10 times in less than an hour is suggestive of Cypher Text, the need for accuracy, and genuine traffic as opposed to bogus? Seems like a awful lot of error correction just to compensate for radio propagation conditions.

     These RDFT modes consist basicly of 8 PSK carriers. Some may want to read: "DIGTRX  What you see is what you get! Review by Bruce Jones VK4EHT". It occurs to me the adjustable "redundancy" feature inherent in RDFT is what is designed primarily to deal with propagation noise, distortion etc.

     Finally, one last bit of background information I found interesting was the relatively recent Washington Post article: "Ana Montes did much harm spying for Cuba. Chances are, you haven't heard of her." It can be found as a reference on Wikipedia's Ana Montes article. Montes Sister and brother etc. worked for the FBI and still do.

3

Shortwave Broadcast / BBC Clashes with itself on 12096.68 kHz? Twente WebSDR Receiver

« on: December 12, 2013, 0243 UTC »

     Giving credit where credit is due, the work of RW observer and his number stations observation using the Twente WebSDR Receiver motivated me to go tinker with this site again. Presently there are over 60 receiver sites available at WebSDR.org.

     Of particular interest is the Twente general coverage Receiver of from 0-29.6 kHZ Not only do you get a high performance receiver, the chat box feature also enhances the experience (so far).

     At about 00:30 utc the BBC was observed on 12096.68 kHZ with a strong echo. This echo stimulated considerable speculation and comment given the propagation conditions which were poor for DX at the time. At about 01:00 BBC Signature Interval Signal was observed co-channel with male presenter. Promptly at sign off, interference Echo and interval signal vanished and the typical broadcast continued. Apparently some sort of BBC scheduling difficulty? I was a Deutsche Welle Technical Monitor back in the day and don't recall DW ever causing interference to itself? This may be a first, at least it is for me. It should be noted that my times are for illustration purposes as my comments scrolled off the Chat box feature and I am working from memory

     In addition, it should be noted that there are several interesting novelty receivers at this site such as K6FRC's 10 meter beacon Receiver and the receiver in Dresden designed to observe Cube SAT's as the tumble around in low orbit. I did not have any such luck picking up a Cube Sat (Shoe boxes in space program) but I had fun anyway.
 
     I really like the waterfall displays a lot more than analog or digital. Have fun with that.

4

MW Loggings / Re: AM 530 kHz Morse Beacon RWE

« on: June 12, 2013, 1549 UTC »

 I was born in Ladysmith Wisconsin, ironically that is also the hometown of our local Congresswoman: Lois Capps and hometown of the Vietnam Vet who provided the inspiratation for Spielbergs movie: "Born on the 4th of July" and evidently Bruce Springsteens :"Born in the USA".
 Moved to Owatonna while was quite young, both parents worked for Jostens. I go back to the days of Harman Kilabrew and Tony Olivia of the Twins.
 I'm having second thoughts about following the: "other stuff" to disconcerting and at my age I should care. Eat, drink, and be merry...these are the good old days?
 Cheers.

5

MW Loggings / Re: AM 530 kHz Morse Beacon RWE

« on: June 11, 2013, 1559 UTC »

 Thank you so much for your information and enthusiasm.
 In my haste I misread your earlier comment, plus I'm in the middle of my seasonal allergy attachs, plus I'm commenting else where about these latest NSA developments and not feeling completely comfortable doing so...nothing on the Internet is secure and it is recorded forever. Therefore, if I came across as a bit of a jerk, I apologise. I'll try to pay closer attention next time.
 I grew up in Owatonna, Minesota.
 TNX VY DE KG6QNK ..

6

MW Loggings / Re: AM 530 kHz Morse Beacon RWE

« on: June 10, 2013, 1603 UTC »

Thank you so much for the photos.
 No I did not know a damn thing about it. I'm primarily interested in the HF Bands and propagation and don't know that much about that either.
 All I am using is a tired old DX-396 compact portable and noticed Morse "RWE" being admitted past my excessively wide and blown out passband. Since than it has been a periodic education process.
 Best of my knowledge, based on my observations and not from any first hand knowledge as I am not in the chain of command "RWE" evidently was turned off for some time than put back on line. I'm not to sure that I would descibe this as Random as their does appear to be some purpose behind it and RWE sounds better than before. Judging by your photos "RWE" was long overdue a good scrubbing, facelift, and tuneup, that could explain it.
 If in fact RWE had actually been transmitting during this "blank" period of well over a year and I had just some how missed it while standing  atop of some of the highest peaks around here I could only offer up that I'm certifiably "crackers". Oh I get it, you think I have been randomly turning the thing on and off? There you go.
 At any rate it makes a darn good propagation Beacon.

7

MW Loggings / Re: AM 530 kHz Morse Beacon RWE

« on: June 08, 2013, 1810 UTC »

 Evidently RWE runs 50 watts to a Marconi "T" Antenna. I think the Goverment can handle the electric bill Wikipedia does have a good article about these NDB Aeronautical Beacons.
 It occurs to me since my Extra Class Amateur License is in the 2 year renewal grace period (Free to renew online) that I could technically run 1500 watts (once license is renewed) that would be quite an electric bill. Local AM Broadcasters run 1,000 watts max. So far, I have operated strictly QRP. Throw those spent batteries out, works for me.
 RWE is sounding better than it ever has. Evidently there is an active Radio Community on Camp Roberts. Recently the : Military Radio Collectors Group and our beloved KSM (KPH) held an interesting event which involved Encryption using WW 2 vintage M-209 Encryption devices. This is strictly illegal for Amateurs, since these are commercial operators they can do this. I repaired the KW-7 Orestes and KG-13 Pontus Crypto Machines back in the day; as well as various Teletype Machines. Those start showing up count me in!
 P.S. Yes I did pass that 5 wpm code test and have subsequently surpassed every License requirement by far and operate Strictly by the rules. Although no longer a requirement, I would encourage some level of code expertise as it is encountered all the time...it's part of this Radio Legacy, as is Radio Cryptology in a wider non-amateur sense.
 I'm like thoroughly excited about these rare Radio Cryptology events just starting to show-up. What category it belongs in escapes me? I did not notice any observations of this event on the message board which was held this past April 26 and May 5th Camp Roberts (San Luis Obispo) and KSM (Port Reyes). I could think of all kinds of new, Unique, and interesting possibilities with this?. One could download various crypto machine simulators (I'm waiting for the KW-7!) and decipher. I assume one could decipher with one-time encryption and eat the pad! What fun!
 At any rate, most of you are way ahead of me with those fancy computer radios of yours, but  what a hobby this is!
 

8

MW Loggings / Re: AM 530 kHz Morse Beacon RWE

« on: June 05, 2013, 2017 UTC »

This is to much.

 From: "Radio Reference.com" I found the following and there is more where this came from: Morse Beacon RWE was decommissioned in 2007 but never turned off.

Furthermore: " Gentlemen its so funny That you know so much about this NDB than the personnel here at Roberts (Camp Roberts National Guard Base) LOL. I have been given the task to find out who this damn thing belongs to as we need to take it down. If anybody knows please email me at...."

Mr. Juan Ortiz please keep it operational, we will miss it!

9

MW Loggings / Re: AM 530 kHz Morse Beacon RWE

« on: June 05, 2013, 1906 UTC »

I had not heard this beacon in well over a year here in San Luis Obispo, California. I had even climbed several of the local peaks so as to get an unobstructed signal path and could pick nothing up.

This past weekend I again noticed this beacon was evidently back on the air again and stronger than before. I no longer had to pick out sweet spots. Useable reception no matter what part of town I was in. Perhaps? it was just down for a tune up. Listened to it for awhile today. One can only hope this beacon transmits for many years to come. I'm not sure how many of them a left in the Country.

10

MW Loggings / Re: 1539 kHz AM Asian possibly Japanese or Korean

« on: October 25, 2012, 1846 UTC »

     Thank you for the link. I had visited the website; but, it was in Korean and not helpful.

     I'm using a compact portable, equiped with incremental stepped tuning. There is a switch for 9 kHz or standard American 10 kHz tuning increments. This transmission sounded much better in the 9 kHz posisition, therefore I thought it might have had Asian origins. Perhaps the passband was narrowed, therefore admitting and amplifying less noise? In addition, the heterodyne beat note may have been coming from the actual carrior frequency of 1540 kHz ( in 9 kHz posistion my readout read 1539 kHz). Whistle was high pitched perhaps 1000 HZ. Will tinker around with this some more when I have the time.

     My Radio Direction skills need some work, I have plenty of reference stations in L.A. for practice!

     TNX VY 73

11

MW Loggings / Re: 1539 kHz AM Asian possibly Japanese or Korean

« on: October 21, 2012, 1836 UTC »

It's to good to be true. It is most likely a domestic "Radio Korea" USA network.

A station I.D. was given this morning at 9:00 am in English. Unfortunately due to cold/Allergy my hearing is stuffed up and I could not catch all of it.

There is a Radio Korea AM 1540 listed, if that is the one it sounded better with my switch in the 9 kHz position on 1539. Didn't sound lower sideband to me. Latino station nearby may have been providing a beat note?

At any rate it's to deep for me, may have to adjust my allergy meds. Will keep listening

12

MW Loggings / 1539 kHz AM Asian possibly Japanese or Korean

« on: October 20, 2012, 1812 UTC »

Here San Luis Obispo, California I have:

Asian Language Broadcast, possibly Korean or Japanese heard mornings up to about 9:00 am, untill it becomes buried in noise.

My Radio Shack DX-396 has switch for 9 kHz or 10 kHz, transmission appears to be using 9 kHz.
In addition, bar antenna when oriented towards Asia (roughly) improves signal strength.

Male and female presenters.

Weak signal through noise and whistle in the mornings, unuseable by about 9:00 am PST local time.

There are Asian Language Stations up and down the West Coast of USA; however, I'm curious about this one. I'll keep monotoring from time to time. Asian Stations listed useing 1539 kHz seem to weak to reach here.

TNX VY 73

13

Spy Numbers / Re: V2a observation and propagation

« on: March 10, 2012, 1818 UTC »

Using the Enigma Chart again, I have V2a:

6768 Khz  00:59 - 01:41 UTC  Saturday (World Day) 03-10-2012
Good Signal

My Spanish is about as good as my Morse Code, I thought the last of the three alleged recipients was: 23451.

I also checked the slots at 02:00 (5417 Khz) and 03:00 (6855 Khz) for Saturday and no traffic was observed. So much for that propagation theory. Irregardless, the chart is very useful even when no traffic is observed for a given time slot.

TNX VY 73 ..

14

Spy Numbers / V2a observation and propagation

« on: March 09, 2012, 2059 UTC »

Here San Luis Obispo, California I have:

V2a  5417 Khz  in progress  02:03 - 02:41 UTC (at Dusk) Friday 03-09-2012 (World Day)

Compact portable Receiver: Poor to Fair through noise

I'm using the Enigma Chart and finding it very useful. For UTC Friday I did not observe the two transmissions listed at 01:00 (6768 & 4028 Khz). It was still daylight here for both.
Although; I need to refresh my memory and pay closer attention to propogation variables, Grey Line Enhancement may have been a factor for the 02:00 5417 Khz reception, assuming an intended target considerably to the east of this location.

TNX VY 73 ..

15

Spy Numbers / Re: Numbers on 6852 Khz

« on: March 03, 2012, 1849 UTC »

Excellent. Is not your listing on Feb. 9th: 6932 Khz 2115 UTC the first of two transmissions making this transmission the second repeat transmission?
Looks like it to me. Nice.