Messages

2566

Peskies / UNID Portuguese Language 6919 kHz LSB 2215 UTC 9 April 2017

« on: April 09, 2017, 2216 UTC »

Very difficult copy due to strong data carrier on 6915 kHz or thereabouts, but I was able to dig through that by dropping the receive bandwidth passband down.  Sounds a lot like the usual traffic heard on 6919 LSB, 6925 LSB, etc. 

2567

Peskies / UNID Spanish Langauge 6888 kHz USB 2210 UTC+ 9 April 2017

« on: April 09, 2017, 2214 UTC »

Another freebander two-way radio pirate bootlegger on HF.  6.888 MHz 6888 kHz USB.  

Very Strong signals this evening (US East Coast time).  Tuned in at 2211 UTC to hear several Spanish-speaking OMs chatting away.  Decent signal strength and nice audio.  Possibly pescadores, likely freebanders or outbanders.

2568

Utility / Re: Ground wave propagation at WWV's transmitter site

« on: April 09, 2017, 1719 UTC »

Wish they would bring back 30000 and 35000.  Having the 25000 25 MHz signal is handy for 11 meter and 10 meter band openings as well as indicating a possible VHF low 30-50 MHz band opening.

2569

MW Loggings / Re: Baseball 50,000 watt clear channel stations

« on: April 09, 2017, 1525 UTC »

Thanks for this list, Ct Yankee

I usually use XM Satellite Radio to listen to MLB games while in the car, and most of their audio seems to be relays of local AM stations that are carrying the game in question (for example, last night's game was a relay of WTMJ 620 kHz, a class B station doing 10,000 watts nighttime power) but its nice to have a "real" radio station to listen to in addition to the line of sight satellite signals.

Tried listening to the Cubs/Brewers game late last night [2200-0300 local time, east coast USA] on WSCR 670 kHz AM...this is on a Chevrolet car radio.  Unfortunately I heard nothing but a heterodyne. WFAN on 660 kHz was, of course, coming in loud and clear.  I generally don't have trouble receiving NYC clear channel AM stations (660, 770, 880, etc) but for whatever reason Chicago wasn't coming in.

WLW was basically nil as well, and its usually similar signal strength to WFAN, WCBS, etc. 

2570

Utility / USAF HF-GCS Busy 4724 kHz USB 6739 kHz USB 8992 kHz USB 11175 kHz USB

« on: April 09, 2017, 1507 UTC »

While tuning through the bands last night and this morning looking for freebanders, peskies, etc, I noticed 6739 USB is a lot busier than it has been in recent memory.  No doubt this has to do with the activity in the Mediterranean Sea.  Heard "Guidepost" and "Andrews" making long alphanumeric broadcasts, mostly with the prefix "All Stations All Stations" and the ominous "Skyking Skyking Do Not Answer"  After a several minute long string, heard "disregard this transmission, this is Guidepost out" followed by 5 or so seconds of silence and then another alphanumeric string. 

2571

Peskies / UNID Spanish Language 6999 kHz USB 0530 UTC+ 9 April 2017

« on: April 09, 2017, 0552 UTC »

Strong Spanish language traffic has been going on and off for nearly an hour (started listening around 0500 UTC) on 6999 kHz USB.  Some CW QRM from 7002 kHz and 7002.5 kHz (possibly intentional QRM/hams jamming the voice traffic that's most definitely intruding on 40 meters). 

Interesting frequency choice.  I listed 6999 kHz USB in my previous logging thread that contains a bunch of frequencies but 6999 is, well, I suppose I shouldn't be surprised

2572

Other / HF Marine Net 4149 kHz USB 0500+ UTC 10 April 2017

« on: April 09, 2017, 0525 UTC »

Several English-speaking stations talking to each other about boating, unemployment in Florida, crews from Cuba, working in Lake Charles, Louisiana, etc.  Callsigns are either numerical or simply the other stations' first name (Cicil, 7508, Janine, etc).  Talking trash about other boaters, crews etc ("any of y'all been sailing with Andrews lately?")  Several instances of stations talking over each other.  

I'm calling this a net but there's no net control station.  No actual callsigns heard after ~15 minutes of listening.  Very informal conversation, likely a regular net.  4149 kHz USB is one of the 4 MHz marine HF-SSB simplex frequencies, designated "channel 4B".  

2573

Peskies / Peskies / Pescadores / Freebanders Loggings 9 April 2017 0400 - 0730 UTC

« on: April 09, 2017, 0431 UTC »

Starting at 0400 UTC April 9th 2017

6 MHz marine band 6200 kHz to 6525 kHz
6 MHz aeronautical band 6525 kHz to 6765 kHz
6 MHz super fun do whatever you want pirate military government pescadore band aka "fixed and mobile" 6765 kHz to 7000 kHz

Only a couple of these in the legal HF marine bands.  WLO marine broadcast at 0700 UTC 6519 kHz USB shows that the Spanish traffic on 6521 USB wasn't on a one of the channelized marine frequencies (channels), 6200 kHz, 6203 kHz....6519 kHz, 6522 kHz, 6525 kHz [3 kHz steps].  6521 and 6524 kHz are 3 kHz away from each other but don't follow the ITU HF SSB marine channel plan.  I tried listening to 6519 kHz and the Spanish language traffic on 6521 was making it impossible.

Lots of stations using the aircraft frequencies

Frequencies/remarks:

6412 kHz USB - Asian language, very busy after 0500 UTC
6521 kHz USB - Spanish - very strong signals 0655+ UTC - at 0700 UTC, WLO marine broadcast started up on 6519 kHz USB, causing severe QRM
6524 kHz USB - Spanish
6544.4 kHz LSB - Portuguese
6546 kHz USB - Portuguese, active around 0700-0720+ UTC
6556 kHz USB - Portuguese (??) - with adjacent channel QRM from strong HFDL data bursts on 6560
6564 kHz USB - Unknown language, active after 0700 UTC
6568 kHz USB - Unknown language, very difficult copy due to heavy QRM form 6569 USB
6569 kHz USB - Unknown language possibly Portuguese, QRMing traffic on 6568 USB terribly
6646 kHz USB - Spanish, active around 0710-0720 UTC
6706 kHz LSB - Spanish, active after 0440 UTC
6720 kHz USB - weak, Spanish
6722 kHz USB - Unknown language, possibly Portuguese comms (on after 6720 USB went quiet)
6727 kHz USB - Spanish (sporadic traffic)
6728 kHz LSB - Unknown Language, weak traffic after 0705 UTC
6729 kHz USB - Unknown Language (active after 0540 UTC and after 0700 UTC) - Portuguese???
6737.5 kHz USB - possibly Portuguese (very poor frequency choice due to USAF using 6739 kHz USB)
6745 kHz USB - Unknown language, possibly Asian comms (active around 0451+ UTC)
6753 kHz LSB - Spanish, getting obliterated by data bursts and OTH Radar
6755.5 kHz USB - Spanish
6757.7 kHz USB - Spanish
6760.5 kHz USB - Spanish (very strong signals, very busy after 0425 UTC)
6766 kHz USB - Spanish, sounds like a OM and YL talking, heavy fading so difficult to tell for sure
6770 kHz USB - Portuguese, active after 6771.5 USB went quiet
6771.5 kHz USB - Spanish
6776 kHz USB - Spanish (different from group using 6776.5 USB as far as I can tell)
6776.5 kHz USB - Spanish (active after 0645 UTC)
6790 kHz USB - Portuguese (active after 0725-0730 UTC)
6794 kHz USB - Unknown language, possibly Portuguese (distorted audio - stations appear to be off-frequency from each other)
6808 kHz LSB - Unknown language
6838 kHz USB - Spanish, active after 0545-0555 UTC
6840 kHz USB - Spanish, active after 6838 went quiet
6876 kHz LSB - Unknown language
6885 kHz LSB - Spanish, active after 0440 UTC
6899 kHz LSB - Spanish, then QSYed back up to 6900 LSB
6900 kHz AM carrier  - Station tuning up, then switched to 6900 LSB and said "Hola! Hola! Hola!" several times S9+30 signal!
6900 kHz LSB - Spanish
6900 kHz USB - Spanish (strong)
6907.5 kHz USB - Spanish (I think) with extremely strong QRM from data signal on 6909 USB
6910 kHz LSB - Portuguese (QRMing 6907.5 USB and getting QRM from 6909 USB)
6919 kHz LSB - Portuguese
6923 kHz USB - Spanish - active after 0645 UTC
6930 kHz LSB - Portuguese (very strong and busy)
6930 kHz USB - Spanish
6940 kHz LSB - Portuguese (busy after 0500 UTC)
6950 kHz USB - Spanish, sporadic signal
6957 kHz USB - Portuguese
6966 kHz LSB - Portuguese, weak signals but readable
6985 kHz USB - Portuguese, followed by Spanish traffic at ~0430 UTC
6988 kHz USB - Spanish
6999 kHz USB - Spanish, active at 0530-0545 UTC and 0705-0710 UTC with [possibly intentional] QRM from CW on 7002 kHz.

2574

Peskies / UNID Spanish Language 6699.5 kHz USB 2035 UTC+ 8 April 2017

« on: April 08, 2017, 2036 UTC »

More Spanish-speaking traffic popping up this afternoon.  Interesting frequency choice (appears to be closer to 6699.45 kHz USB), but 6699.5 USB is another easy to remember frequency to that checks.

Strong data carriers on 6700 and 6701.9 making listening to these guys very annoying.  Sounds similar to the traffic heard on 6905 LSB earlier.  Radio-related discussion, including one op whistling into their mic.  

2575

Peskies / Re: Asians 3-16MHz and beyond...

« on: April 08, 2017, 2031 UTC »

I imagine its a mixture of modern "modern" communications methods (such as the Internet, encrypted cellular/mobile devices, satphones, etc) and HF/VHF/UHF. 

I know drug runners (in the past) made extensive use of HF marine frequency bands (and the "traditional" freeband spectrum, that is, the areas above and below the regular ham bands) so I'm sure there's still some of that going on, especially in more remote areas where even a hopped up 10 meter export radio wouldn't be enough. 

When you think about the flood of open-banded Chinese VHF/UHF gear, its surprising that a lot of the comms you're talking about are for "local business" communications still.

2576

Peskies / UNID Spanish Language Freebanders 6905 kHz LSB 2020 UTC 8 April 2017

« on: April 08, 2017, 2023 UTC »

Two OMs talking about antenna tuning, radios and various other "ham-like" QSO stuff "el antena tuner AT-180" [assuming they're making reference to the Icom AT-180] "un Yaesu" and other recognizable equipment names/model numbers. Long-winded discussion regarding antenna tuners. One station is considerably stronger than the other (peaking at S6 with good audio).  No names or callsigns heard so far (at 2023 UTC).

The rest of the 6700-7000 kHz region looks quiet right now (afternoon on US East Coast).  Checked a couple remote SDRs and they're showing the same - that is, the guys talking on 6905 LSB are the only stations on 43 meters right now.  

Appear to have gone QRT at 2032 UTC.

2577

Peskies / Re: Peskie Potpourri 6 Apr 2017

« on: April 07, 2017, 2041 UTC »

6900 USB and 6919 LSB seemed to be the most active stations last night (US East Coast night time anyway).

6750 USB was also very very active (I know I made another thread about this logging, mainly because I haven't heard "peskie" traffic on 6750 kHz before).

2578

Peskies / UNID Spanish Language 6750 kHz USB 0300+ UTC 7 April 2017

« on: April 07, 2017, 0311 UTC »

New frequency logged.  Two OMs chatting away on 6750 kHz USB.  I've logged traffic on 6755.5 USB, but not 6750 USB.  Frequency is clear at this time (0310 UTC).  Perhaps this is the "net" that was previously on 6755.5 USB (Trenton VOLMET is going strong on 6754 USB but this frequency is far enough away to avoid QRM). Stronger station is peaking at S9 and weaker station is considerably weaker (S2-S3).  Stations are Spanish speaking with Mexican accents.  No location information clues or names/callsigns heard in ~10 minutes of listening.  

2579

European MW Pirate Radio / Re: 1760 kHz UNID presumed Greek EDM pirate

« on: April 07, 2017, 0238 UTC »

Thanks for this video, KK7.  Crazy 30 kHz wide signal and local FM station level audio quality. 

Interesting frequency choice as well.

2580

North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID 6925 USB 0210 UTC 7 April 2017

« on: April 07, 2017, 0232 UTC »

News broadcast relay talking about American airstrike on Syria with Donald Trump audio clips and pescadore QRM.  S4-S5 signal with some fading, sounds like a possible CNN relay?

Signal dropped significantly at 0245 UTC, but is still going at 0249 UTC