556
North American Shortwave Pirate / LeeRoy Don't Surf 6925 USB 0108 UTC 20 FEB 2023
« on: February 20, 2023, 0109 UTC »
S5 with the Concord, NH KiwiSDR.
0108 UTC-Electronic music
0108 UTC-Electronic music
Shortwave Pirate Radio In North America And Around The World, And Other Signals That Go Bump In The Night
We seek to understand and document all radio transmissions, legal and otherwise, as part of the radio listening hobby. We do not encourage any radio operations contrary to regulations.
Always consult with the appropriate authorities if you have questions concerning what is permissible in your locale.
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557
North American Shortwave Pirate / Radio Mushroom 6935 USB 0058 UTC 20 FEB 2023
« on: February 20, 2023, 0059 UTC »
S7 with the AB1KW KiwiSDR.
0058 UTC-Op talking, announcing this is a test from Radio Mushroom
0059 UTC-Memory by Barbra Streisand
0102 UTC-Op talking, announcing this is a test from Radio Mushroom and giving email address
0102 UTC-Lucia di Lammermoor by Inva Mulla Tchako
0105 UTC-Op talking, announcing this is a test from Radio Mushroom and giving email address
0106 UTC-OFF
0058 UTC-Op talking, announcing this is a test from Radio Mushroom
0059 UTC-Memory by Barbra Streisand
0102 UTC-Op talking, announcing this is a test from Radio Mushroom and giving email address
0102 UTC-Lucia di Lammermoor by Inva Mulla Tchako
0105 UTC-Op talking, announcing this is a test from Radio Mushroom and giving email address
0106 UTC-OFF
558
North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID 6925 USB 1827 UTC 19 FEB 2023
« on: February 19, 2023, 1828 UTC »
S5 with the KX4AZ KiwiSDR.
1827 UTC-Weak music
1827 UTC-Weak music
559
European Pirates and Private Stations / MOVED: Echo of Hope 6250 AM 1620 UTC 19 FEB 2023
« on: February 19, 2023, 1819 UTC »
This topic has been moved to Shortwave Broadcast.
https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php?topic=110053.0
https://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php?topic=110053.0
560
North American Shortwave Pirate / Wasteland Radio 6950 USB 0012 UTC 19 FEB 2023
« on: February 19, 2023, 0012 UTC »
S9+10 with the K3FEF KiwiSDR. QRM from Radio Free Whatever splatter.
0012 UTC-Scottie 2 SSTV
0012 UTC-Unknown Music
0018 UTC-Again Again by Superchanger
0028 UTC-Scottie 2 SSTV
0028 UTC-“You are listening to Wasteland Radio”
0028 UTC-Unknown Music
0012 UTC-Scottie 2 SSTV
0012 UTC-Unknown Music
0018 UTC-Again Again by Superchanger
0028 UTC-Scottie 2 SSTV
0028 UTC-“You are listening to Wasteland Radio”
0028 UTC-Unknown Music
561
North American Shortwave Pirate / Outhouse Radio 6925 USB 0407 UTC 18 FEB 2023
« on: February 18, 2023, 0408 UTC »
Visible on the waterfall of the Masset KiwiSDR in the sideband of B Side Radio. S5 with the Raleigh, NC KiwiSDR.
0408 UTC-Music
Listening back to my recording the Outhouse Radio op spoke at the end of the broadcast.
0408 UTC-Music
Listening back to my recording the Outhouse Radio op spoke at the end of the broadcast.
562
North American Shortwave Pirate / Not Two Dog Radio 6950 USB 0228 UTC 18 FEB 2023
« on: February 18, 2023, 0228 UTC »
Very weak audio direct under the horrible local noise on this frequency.
0228 UTC-Metal music
0228 UTC-Metal music
563
Latin American Pirate / Radio Compañía Worldwide (tent) 6925 AM 0000 UTC 18 FEB 2023
« on: February 18, 2023, 0004 UTC »
S9 with the LU1HCW KiwiSDR in Argentina.
0000 UTC-Relay of a professional station
0000 UTC-Relay of a professional station
564
Latin American Pirate / AD149 Radio 6934.9 AM 0000 UTC 18 FEB 2023
« on: February 18, 2023, 0002 UTC »
Exact frequency is 6934.89 kHz. S9+20 with the LU1HCW KiwiSDR in Argentina.
0000 UTC-Music
0135 UTC-Martin 1 SSTV
0137 UTC-Next Martin 1 SSTV
0139 UTC-Next Martin 1 SSTV
0000 UTC-Music
0135 UTC-Martin 1 SSTV
0137 UTC-Next Martin 1 SSTV
0139 UTC-Next Martin 1 SSTV
565
10/11 meters / UNID Music 26685 FM 1756 UTC 17 FEB 2023
« on: February 17, 2023, 1759 UTC »
S9 with the K3FEF KiwiSDR. Good sound quality.
1756 UTC-The fist few seconds of lots of songs
1758 UTC-OFF
1758 UTC-Someone else speaking in an unknown language
1756 UTC-The fist few seconds of lots of songs
1758 UTC-OFF
1758 UTC-Someone else speaking in an unknown language
566
Latin American Pirate / AD149 Radio 6934.9 AM 0109 UTC 17 FEB 2023
« on: February 17, 2023, 0111 UTC »
S9+20 with the LU1HCW KiwiSDR in Argentina.
0109 UTC-Dance Monkey by Tones and I
0110 UTC-Señorita by Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello
0113 UTC-Dusk Till Dawn by ZAYN Feat. Sia
0117 UTC-Unstoppable by Sia
0120 UTC-Memories by Maroon 5
0201 UTC-Martin 1 SSTV
0203 UTC-Next Martin 1 SSTV
0205 UTC-Next Martin 1 SSTV
0207 UTC-Next Martin 1 SSTV
0209 UTC-Next Martin 1 SSTV
0109 UTC-Dance Monkey by Tones and I
0110 UTC-Señorita by Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello
0113 UTC-Dusk Till Dawn by ZAYN Feat. Sia
0117 UTC-Unstoppable by Sia
0120 UTC-Memories by Maroon 5
0201 UTC-Martin 1 SSTV
0203 UTC-Next Martin 1 SSTV
0205 UTC-Next Martin 1 SSTV
0207 UTC-Next Martin 1 SSTV
0209 UTC-Next Martin 1 SSTV
567
General Radio Discussion / THE US AIRFORCE MAY HAVE SHOT DOWN AN AMATEUR RADIO PICO BALLOON OVER CANADA
« on: February 16, 2023, 2015 UTC »
https://www.rtl-sdr.com/the-us-airforce-may-have-shot-down-an-amateur-radio-pico-balloon-over-canada/
Since the famous takedown of a suspected Chinese spy balloon, US jets have shot down a total of three more unidentified balloon objects, now confirmed to have been 'commercial or benign'. There is speculation that at least one these three objects may have been an amateur radio 'pico' balloon.
One part of the amateur radio hobby is launching high altitude balloons with various radio and other payloads. Larger amateur radio balloons launched in the USA require FAA clearance, need a radar reflector attached, and usually continually transmit APRS telemetry before naturally popping and falling back to earth after a few hours, just like a weather balloon.
However there is also the simpler 'pico' ballooning hobby, which involves the use of mylar helium party balloons to launch small solar powered payloads that are only a few grams in weight. They typically transmit low power WSPR at HF frequencies and can only transmit whenever there is sufficient solar power available. Amateur radio or SDR hobbyist stations around the world can pick up these transmissions, and report them on amateur.sondehub.org and/or wsprnet.org. Well built balloons can totally circumnavigate the globe several times over several months before degrading.
While termed 'pico', the party balloons used can still be roughly a meter in diameter on the ground, with some latex balloons potentially expanding further at high altitudes due to the low atmospheric pressure. These balloons can be legally launched from almost anywhere in the world. In particular in the USA there is no FAA clearance required to launch them due to their payload being much less than the limit of 4 lbs (1.8kg).
32" Silver Orb Shaped Mylar Balloon used for Pico Ballooning
32" Silver Orb Shaped Mylar Balloon used for Pico Ballooning
There is speculation that at least one of the objects shot down over Canada, Yukon by a US Air Force jet may have been amateur radio pico balloon K9YO-15 which was launched from Illinois on October 10 2022. It was on it's seventh circumnavigation of the globe after being aloft for 123 days.
The launch blog post indicates that the K9YO-15 balloon was flying a silver mylar 32" sphere SAG balloon which appears to be this one from balloons.online. Unlike latex or rubber weather balloons which inflate and stretch as they rise into lower atmospheric pressures, these mylar balloons can't stretch, so their fully inflated ground size will be the same as their size at high altitudes, meaning the pico balloon won't get much bigger than 32". The payload was a GPS module, Arduino, SI5351 used as a WSPR and APRS transmitter and a solar panel, all together weighing 16.4 grams. A pentagon memo notes that the object shot down over Canada was a "small metallic balloon with a tethered payload" which fits the description of the pico balloon exactly.
The K9YO Pico Balloon Payload
The K9YO-15 Pico Balloon Payload
An (unrelated) Example Amateur Radio Pico Balloon Launched by a Naval Academy
An (unrelated to this story) example Amateur Radio Pico Balloon launched by a Naval Academy (Source: http://www.aprs.org/balloons.html)
The K9YO-15 balloon ceased all WSPR telemetry transmissions while flying just below Alaska since Feb 11 00:18 UTC (just before sunset in Alaska when the solar panels would stop working).
By using NOAA wind models and the last known location by Alaska, K9YO-15 was projected to have been over Yukon when the US Air Force shot down the unknown balloon object at Feb 11 20:41 UTC (3:41 PM EST / 1:41 PM Yukon time according to Canadian Defense Minister Anand). Reports put the altitude of the shot down object at approximately 40,000ft (~12000 meters), which matches the projected ~11500 meters of K9YO-15. Based on the previous days transmission times, it is suspected that if it were operational, the balloon would have begun transmitting again sometime later in the Yukon afternoon when the sun was stronger, but no transmissions have been seen.
On February 14th the balloon was declared as missing in action by the launch group.
K9YO projected location at the time the object was shot down.
K9YO projected location at the time the object was shot down.
The search area for the fallen balloon debris is reported to be in difficult to access terrain between Dawson City and Mayo. If we do a rough overlay of the predicted trajectory over a Google map, we can see that the predicted location of KY9O-15 at the reported time of the missile impact matches this description very well.
Rough trajectory overlay
Rough trajectory overlay
Over on Twitter @ikluft (KO6YQ) has been reporting on this speculation, and has been keeping an eye on K9YO-15, awaiting telemetry transmission. We recommend following his account for further updates.
Twitter user and ex project Google Loon engineer @BalloonSciDan has also speculated that the objects shot down may have been pico balloons.
Over on Reddit @ikluft (KO6YQ) has also written some insightful information:
I see you're all talking about my tweet. Yes, we are still watching to see if K9YO-15 transmits any telemetry today.
So far K9YO-15 has not sent any new telemetry since Friday before sunset over Alaska. Some have misread confusing data presentation on Sondehub which lists last known telemetry as covering a time range from then to now. Currently the last we've heard from K9YO-15 was Friday Feb 10 before sunset over Alaska (00:48 GMT Feb 11). But the map on Sondehub does show the last reported position.
These floater balloons often use only solar panels, no batteries. Batteries were dropped from the projects early on because they have limited charging cycles before they stop accepting a charge, especially in the harsh temps at altitude, -40F/-40C or worse. When the battery stops accepting a charge, it ends telemetry from the mission. So they only report telemetry during daylight, when the sun is at a high enough angle to illuminate the tiny solar panels. In the Arctic winter, the days are short and the sun might not get high enough to wake up the electronics. So it stays dormant for one or more days until it drifts back down to lower latitudes where there's more sunlight. So K9YO-15 was in a period where watchers didn't expect to hear from it for a few days. But we expected it today. So far nothing. As I write this, daylight is almost done way up there for Tuesday, Feb 14.
We (the Amateur Radio balloon community) only expect any telemetry from it today would be via WSPR, none via APRS. WSPR uses HF and can be received at long distances, where it's relayed to Internet map sites. APRS is (usually) on VHF and UHF, only received by line of sight. There are no relay stations in range of today's projected flight course in northern Ontario and James Bay, Canada. So APRS-fed sites wouldn't show updates today anyway.
The club in Illinois that built the balloon has tracking links at https://nibbb.org/links-to-locate-and-track/ - you'll have to scroll down to find K9YO-15.
For an introduction, I'm Ian KO6YQ. I was involved in the first Ham Radio balloons that circumnavigated the globe starting in 2016, launched from San Jose, California. I had roles on them including tracking analyst and social media spokesman. I also organized and led the Ham Radio tracking teams which recovered the Civilian Space eXploration Team (CSXT) first amateur rocket to (suborbital) space in 2004.
Explaining a discrepancy with time reporting on Sondehub, KO6YQ notes:
Time has run out for solar power to provide any telemetry on Wednesday, February 15. So far, no new data. For those who were confused by it, remember that Sondehub has problematic data presentation so don't use it for anything other than mapping the last known position. A reliable place to check for K9YO on WSPR is the WSPR Spots: https://www.wsprnet.org/olddb?mode=html&band=all&limit=200&findcall=k9yo&findreporter=&sort=date
Since the famous takedown of a suspected Chinese spy balloon, US jets have shot down a total of three more unidentified balloon objects, now confirmed to have been 'commercial or benign'. There is speculation that at least one these three objects may have been an amateur radio 'pico' balloon.
One part of the amateur radio hobby is launching high altitude balloons with various radio and other payloads. Larger amateur radio balloons launched in the USA require FAA clearance, need a radar reflector attached, and usually continually transmit APRS telemetry before naturally popping and falling back to earth after a few hours, just like a weather balloon.
However there is also the simpler 'pico' ballooning hobby, which involves the use of mylar helium party balloons to launch small solar powered payloads that are only a few grams in weight. They typically transmit low power WSPR at HF frequencies and can only transmit whenever there is sufficient solar power available. Amateur radio or SDR hobbyist stations around the world can pick up these transmissions, and report them on amateur.sondehub.org and/or wsprnet.org. Well built balloons can totally circumnavigate the globe several times over several months before degrading.
While termed 'pico', the party balloons used can still be roughly a meter in diameter on the ground, with some latex balloons potentially expanding further at high altitudes due to the low atmospheric pressure. These balloons can be legally launched from almost anywhere in the world. In particular in the USA there is no FAA clearance required to launch them due to their payload being much less than the limit of 4 lbs (1.8kg).
32" Silver Orb Shaped Mylar Balloon used for Pico Ballooning
32" Silver Orb Shaped Mylar Balloon used for Pico Ballooning
There is speculation that at least one of the objects shot down over Canada, Yukon by a US Air Force jet may have been amateur radio pico balloon K9YO-15 which was launched from Illinois on October 10 2022. It was on it's seventh circumnavigation of the globe after being aloft for 123 days.
The launch blog post indicates that the K9YO-15 balloon was flying a silver mylar 32" sphere SAG balloon which appears to be this one from balloons.online. Unlike latex or rubber weather balloons which inflate and stretch as they rise into lower atmospheric pressures, these mylar balloons can't stretch, so their fully inflated ground size will be the same as their size at high altitudes, meaning the pico balloon won't get much bigger than 32". The payload was a GPS module, Arduino, SI5351 used as a WSPR and APRS transmitter and a solar panel, all together weighing 16.4 grams. A pentagon memo notes that the object shot down over Canada was a "small metallic balloon with a tethered payload" which fits the description of the pico balloon exactly.
The K9YO Pico Balloon Payload
The K9YO-15 Pico Balloon Payload
An (unrelated) Example Amateur Radio Pico Balloon Launched by a Naval Academy
An (unrelated to this story) example Amateur Radio Pico Balloon launched by a Naval Academy (Source: http://www.aprs.org/balloons.html)
The K9YO-15 balloon ceased all WSPR telemetry transmissions while flying just below Alaska since Feb 11 00:18 UTC (just before sunset in Alaska when the solar panels would stop working).
By using NOAA wind models and the last known location by Alaska, K9YO-15 was projected to have been over Yukon when the US Air Force shot down the unknown balloon object at Feb 11 20:41 UTC (3:41 PM EST / 1:41 PM Yukon time according to Canadian Defense Minister Anand). Reports put the altitude of the shot down object at approximately 40,000ft (~12000 meters), which matches the projected ~11500 meters of K9YO-15. Based on the previous days transmission times, it is suspected that if it were operational, the balloon would have begun transmitting again sometime later in the Yukon afternoon when the sun was stronger, but no transmissions have been seen.
On February 14th the balloon was declared as missing in action by the launch group.
K9YO projected location at the time the object was shot down.
K9YO projected location at the time the object was shot down.
The search area for the fallen balloon debris is reported to be in difficult to access terrain between Dawson City and Mayo. If we do a rough overlay of the predicted trajectory over a Google map, we can see that the predicted location of KY9O-15 at the reported time of the missile impact matches this description very well.
Rough trajectory overlay
Rough trajectory overlay
Over on Twitter @ikluft (KO6YQ) has been reporting on this speculation, and has been keeping an eye on K9YO-15, awaiting telemetry transmission. We recommend following his account for further updates.
Twitter user and ex project Google Loon engineer @BalloonSciDan has also speculated that the objects shot down may have been pico balloons.
Over on Reddit @ikluft (KO6YQ) has also written some insightful information:
I see you're all talking about my tweet. Yes, we are still watching to see if K9YO-15 transmits any telemetry today.
So far K9YO-15 has not sent any new telemetry since Friday before sunset over Alaska. Some have misread confusing data presentation on Sondehub which lists last known telemetry as covering a time range from then to now. Currently the last we've heard from K9YO-15 was Friday Feb 10 before sunset over Alaska (00:48 GMT Feb 11). But the map on Sondehub does show the last reported position.
These floater balloons often use only solar panels, no batteries. Batteries were dropped from the projects early on because they have limited charging cycles before they stop accepting a charge, especially in the harsh temps at altitude, -40F/-40C or worse. When the battery stops accepting a charge, it ends telemetry from the mission. So they only report telemetry during daylight, when the sun is at a high enough angle to illuminate the tiny solar panels. In the Arctic winter, the days are short and the sun might not get high enough to wake up the electronics. So it stays dormant for one or more days until it drifts back down to lower latitudes where there's more sunlight. So K9YO-15 was in a period where watchers didn't expect to hear from it for a few days. But we expected it today. So far nothing. As I write this, daylight is almost done way up there for Tuesday, Feb 14.
We (the Amateur Radio balloon community) only expect any telemetry from it today would be via WSPR, none via APRS. WSPR uses HF and can be received at long distances, where it's relayed to Internet map sites. APRS is (usually) on VHF and UHF, only received by line of sight. There are no relay stations in range of today's projected flight course in northern Ontario and James Bay, Canada. So APRS-fed sites wouldn't show updates today anyway.
The club in Illinois that built the balloon has tracking links at https://nibbb.org/links-to-locate-and-track/ - you'll have to scroll down to find K9YO-15.
For an introduction, I'm Ian KO6YQ. I was involved in the first Ham Radio balloons that circumnavigated the globe starting in 2016, launched from San Jose, California. I had roles on them including tracking analyst and social media spokesman. I also organized and led the Ham Radio tracking teams which recovered the Civilian Space eXploration Team (CSXT) first amateur rocket to (suborbital) space in 2004.
Explaining a discrepancy with time reporting on Sondehub, KO6YQ notes:
Time has run out for solar power to provide any telemetry on Wednesday, February 15. So far, no new data. For those who were confused by it, remember that Sondehub has problematic data presentation so don't use it for anything other than mapping the last known position. A reliable place to check for K9YO on WSPR is the WSPR Spots: https://www.wsprnet.org/olddb?mode=html&band=all&limit=200&findcall=k9yo&findreporter=&sort=date
568
North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID Tones 4040 USB 0225 UTC 16 FEB 2023
« on: February 16, 2023, 0225 UTC »
S9+10 with the K3FEF KiwiSDR.
0225 UTC-Tone sweeps
0225 UTC-Robot YL “UNID Tones, code alpha 81 beta 43”
0226 UTC-Tone sweeps
0226 UTC-Robot YL “UNID Tones” and a new “code”
0226 UTC-Tone sweeps
0227 UTC-More tones, identifications, and “codes”
0240 UTC-OFF
Any idea what the codes are? They are all Alpha and Beta with a different number for each every time.
0225 UTC-Tone sweeps
0225 UTC-Robot YL “UNID Tones, code alpha 81 beta 43”
0226 UTC-Tone sweeps
0226 UTC-Robot YL “UNID Tones” and a new “code”
0226 UTC-Tone sweeps
0227 UTC-More tones, identifications, and “codes”
0240 UTC-OFF
Any idea what the codes are? They are all Alpha and Beta with a different number for each every time.
569
North American Shortwave Pirate / Voice of Alice 6955 USB 0148 UTC 16 FEB 2023
« on: February 16, 2023, 0149 UTC »
S5 with the KX4AZ KiwiSDR.
0148 UTC-Music
0156 UTC-Robot YL “Voice of Alice” ID
0156 UTC-I'm Eighteen by Alice Cooper
0159 UTC-OFF
0148 UTC-Music
0156 UTC-Robot YL “Voice of Alice” ID
0156 UTC-I'm Eighteen by Alice Cooper
0159 UTC-OFF
570
North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID 6950 USB 0148 UTC 16 FEB 2023
« on: February 16, 2023, 0149 UTC »
S7 with the KX4AZ KiwiSDR. A slight hum in the signal.
0148 UTC-Unknown Music
0153 UTC-OFF
0148 UTC-Unknown Music
0153 UTC-OFF