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1441

Peskies / UNID Spanish Language 11702 kHz USB 1425 UTC 13 April 2017

« on: April 13, 2017, 1428 UTC »

Spanish speaking OMs chatting away.  Several uses of...colorful...language (in Spanish), people screaming at each other in the background, operators whistling into microphones, etc.

Interesting frequency choice.  Right in the middle of the 25 meter shortwave broadcasting band!

1442

Peskies / UNID Spanish Language 6977 kHz USB 1345 UTC 13 April 2017

« on: April 13, 2017, 1348 UTC »

Very weak signals right above the noise floor 6977 kHz USB this morning.  Heavy QRM from data bursts.  Hearing bits and pieces including "esta bien" and "el numero" which leads me to believe its Spanish.  These guys don't always pick the best frequencies considering the heavy amount of QRM around 6977.  Of course, they could be very close to each other and not notice (or care) about QRM.

1443

Peskies / Spanish Speaking Freebanders 6900 kHz LSB 1300 UTC+ 13 April 2017

« on: April 13, 2017, 1345 UTC »

The 43 meter watering hole (for Spanish speakers, anyway) is lively this morning.  One op is making a long-winded conversation about his cell phone service and other non-pescadore topics. 

SIO 222 or so with some fading.  I can only hear one side of the conversation but I imagine propagation will improve as time goes on.  6900 kHz is where I start when looking for pescadores/freebanders now.

1444

Peskies / UNID Asian Fishermen ? 6878 kHz USB 0700+ 13 April 2017

« on: April 13, 2017, 0706 UTC »

Very similar to traffic heard on 6789 kHz USB at the same time.  Now I know what the Australians are dealing with.  The Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking stations start to go quiet and these new groups of "peskies" start to pop up 

1445

Peskies / UNID Asian Fishermen ? 6789 kHz USB 0700+ 13 April 2017

« on: April 13, 2017, 0703 UTC »

Busy frequency 6.789 MHz 6789 USB - another easy to remember frequency...I'm starting to notice a pattern here

Several OMs talking, one of them sounds quite angry.  Some transmissions begin with two sequential beeps, possibly a sort of selective calling system?

Strong signals with better-than-usual-for-peskies audio makes for a good copy.  Too bad I don't understand whatever language these ops are speaking...

1446

Peskies / UNID Portuguese Language 6666.6 kHz USB 0600+ UTC 13 April 2017

« on: April 13, 2017, 0658 UTC »

SIO 122 overall.  Weak signals but relatively quiet band at the moment.  Pescadores for sure (typical peskie behavior, stations talking over each other, people singing etc

...and, of course, an easy-to-remember frequency  

1447

Peskies / UNID Portuguese Language 6985 kHz USB 0630+ UTC 13 April 2017

« on: April 13, 2017, 0632 UTC »

Very heavy fading making confirmation of language difficult.  Sounds like Portuguese but could be Spanish.  Several stations talking over each other at once with rapid QSB. 

at 0632, signal faded up nicely to confirm that it is in fact Portuguese. 

1448

Peskies / UNID Spanish Speaking Pescadores 6999 kHz USB 0600+ UTC 13 April 2017

« on: April 13, 2017, 0628 UTC »

The 6999 kHz crowd is back and much stronger than they were last time I heard them. 

OM talking about his Honda engine on his boat.  SIO 444 at peaks.  Both stations peaking nicely at S5-S6.  Frequent references to "barca" (boat).  One of the two stations has large amounts of wind noise and background engine noise in his mic.  Sounds like fishermen - pescadores!  But instead of half a dozen stations talking at once a la 6925 kHz LSB...there are only two stations on this frequency (at least right now). 

Since they're using 6999 USB, the peaks of their SSB signals easily make it past 7000 kHz to 7002 kHz...making them official intruders on 40 meters [dramatic music] lucky for them the closest CW signal (at least during the time the fishing boats were chatting on 6999 kHz) was at 7006 kHz.

1449

Peskies / UNID French or Portuguese 6683 kHz USB 0611 UTC 13 April 2017

« on: April 13, 2017, 0617 UTC »

Weak signal on 6683 USB heard around 0610-0612 UTC 13 APR 2017

Too weak to tell language for sure but sounded like French to me.  Possibly Portuguese with some minor QRM from a nearby digital signal. 

1450

Peskies / 6728 USB vs 6731.5 LSB vs. 6731.6 AM Messy 0600 UTC 13 April 2017

« on: April 13, 2017, 0607 UTC »

Two QSOs going on at once and causing terrible QRM, both appear to be in Portuguese but its hard to tell for sure. One on 6728 USB is slightly stronger. Another QSO going on at the same time on 6731.5 LSB, and further complicating matters is a carrier sitting on 6731.57 kHz (rounding up to 6731.6 kHz).  The carrier has very weak modulation, with progressively weaker tones showing up on the waterfall at 200 Hz intervals.  That is, a strong carrier with 5 weaker "carriers" on either side of it.  Going up from center, 6731.8 kHz, 6732.0 kHz, 6732.2 kHz, etc.  Going down from center, 6731.4 kHz, 6731.2 kHz, 6731.0 kHz, etc.  The lower side band of this odd AM signal is making listening to this already very messy frequency that much more, well, messy.

1451

Peskies / UNID Spanish Language 6705 kHz LSB 0550 UTC 13 April 2017

« on: April 13, 2017, 0555 UTC »

Spanish language traffic with some very deep fading/QSB.  S2-S3 signal strength, speaking to S4 at some points but clear frequency so easy copy. 

1452

Peskies / UNID Spanish Language 6887 kHz USB 0530+ UTC 13 April 2017

« on: April 13, 2017, 0553 UTC »

Two OMs chatting away, strong signals with nice audio...SIO 444 (which is rare for these types of stations).  Strong data signal 2-3 kHz down on 6885 or so.  Good frequency choice on the part of the pescadores/freebanders (for a change).

1453

Peskies / UNID Spanish Language 6543.2 kHz LSB 0640++ UTC 12 April 2017

« on: April 12, 2017, 0647 UTC »

Strong Spanish language traffic on another interesting frequency.  6 5 4 3 2...now that's easy to remember.  Just like 6777.7 kHz or 6888 kHz, etc.  6543.2 kHz is another case of fishing fleets using HF aircraft bands (in this case, the 6 MHz aeronautical band 6525-6765 kHz), not to mention their use of LSB instead of USB. 

Two OMs talking rapidly with long breaks of silence.  Appears to only be two stations (as opposed to many peskie loggings, where there's 3+ stations, often with several stations transmitting at once. 

I tuned away at 0647 UTC and the frequency was clear when I tuned away.

1454

Peskies / UNID Portuguese Language 5540 kHz USB 0635+ UTC 12 April 2017

« on: April 12, 2017, 0639 UTC »

Yet another 5 MHz aeronautical band pirate/peskie/who knows logging.  This time its 5540 kHz (compare to previous logs for 5510 kHz USB and 5534 kHz USB).  Googled 5540 kHz and 5540 USB and found nothing but information on shortwave broadcasters who use (or have used) 5540 kHz.  Nothing about aircraft or military users of this frequency. 

The 136th edition of the Spooks Newsletter NSNL 136 lists the frequency 5540 kHz as being used by station S30.

Peskie-like chatter in Portuguese with some sort of faint data signal underneath the voice traffic.  Very long winded transmissions (also typical for peskies) with very little to no radio discipline, which leads me to believe that its not aircraft stations using a different language or military/government/diplomatic traffic.

1455

Peskies / UNID Spanish Language 5510 kHz USB 0630+ UTC 12 April 2017

« on: April 12, 2017, 0634 UTC »

Two romance language stations (I put Spanish in the title but after listening for a bit I think it may actually be Italian) chatting away.  Another unlisted HF aircraft frequency being pirated by non-aircraft users.  SIO 333 at best with static crashing and very minor fading.  One of the stations has some sort of background chatter, possibility indicating it being a marine-based transmitter. 

Falls within the 5450 kHz - 5730 kHz 5MHz HF aircraft band.  Quite close to the 5505 kHz USB MWARA frequency for New York Radio.