Messages

2716

North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID 6950 USB 0445 UTC 16 FEB 2017

« on: February 16, 2017, 0450 UTC »

6950 kHz USB 0445 UTC - February 16th, 2017.

Listening on a California-based remote SDR late this evening.  Hearing a OM and YL talking, with bits and pieces of music at points.  Weak signal, but there's certainly something there.  S5-S6 level as per the WebSDR's S-meter, but looks to be somewhat noisy at the receive location.  While the OM's voice is hard to make out, but it sounds vaguely familiar...

Dramatic music at 0447 UTC, still very weak..signal seems to have faded away around 0450 UTC.

Unfortunately I have to go to sleep pretty soon so I won't be able to listen very much longer.

2717

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Unid 6929 USB 1855z 2/12/2017

« on: February 12, 2017, 1859 UTC »

Seems to be in AM mode.  Talking about mobs, Chicago, "Bugs" Morgan, Al Capone, Chicago mob wars 6929 kHz AM - possibly St. Valentine's Day Massacre

Talking about the Thompson Submachine Gun/Tommy Gun, aka "The Chicago Typewriter" at 1908 UTC, discussion of Al Capone's childhood in New York at 1915 UTC, "Al Capone probably left New York somewhere around 1919" (at 1919 UTC!)

1945 UTC - talking about Al Capone's $20,000 custom Cadillac, complete with bulletproof glass, steel armor plating, police siren and police radio receiver
2012 UTC - discussion of coroner's investigation of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre

2718

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID 6925 USB 1754 UTC 12 Feb 2017

« on: February 12, 2017, 1816 UTC »

Not Amphetamine Radio, they went QRT about a minute before this station came on.  These guys are transmitting a considerably wider signal than AR was transmitting (~3kHz wide vs. ~5kHz wide)

2719

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID 6925 USB 1754 UTC 12 Feb 2017

« on: February 12, 2017, 1813 UTC »

Tuned in to hear the tail end of Weezer's "Buddy Holly" nice wide signal and loud audio!

2720

North American Shortwave Pirate / Radio Ga-Ga 6925 USB 1628 UTC 12 Feb 2017

« on: February 12, 2017, 1630 UTC »

Radio Ga-Ga "waterfall ID" heard (well, seen) at 1628/1629 UTC, then off the air for about 4 minutes.

Music came back on at 1634 UTC.  Listening locally and watching it on a remote SDR waterfall.  WIDE audio on the USB, looks to be 5-6 kHz wide.  Sounds great with the bandwidth opened to 4480 Hz (this remote's max bandwidth for SSB mode).  ZZ Top at 1636.  Carrier sitting on frequency (6925.0 kHz) as well.  Bandwidth appears to have dropped a little bit (with ZZ Top's "Tush" compared to the first music clip).

Station ID by OM at 1627, then into The Eagles "Life In The Fast Lane" signal jumped up considerably at 1638-1639, now a strong S7.  A bit of splatter to the LSB at peaks.  Switched to AM mode and it actually sounds good.  Not sure if Ga-Ga is transmitting the carrier or if its another station. Carrier gone at 1644 UTC.

CCR's "Run Through The Jungle" being played at 1644 UTC.  Strong audio sounds good in USB.  CSN (and Y??) - Teach Your Children with audio cutting out a couple times at the start of the song and intermittent adjacent-channel utility QRM but still sounding good

"Radio Ga-Ga broadcasting live from Zipper Lake" at 1650 UTC, some clips - then AC/DC's venereal classic "The Jack" (possibly a live/bootleg recording).  Signal getting even stronger now (1652 UTC), peaked at S9, then back down to S7.  Audio cutting out a couple times during "The Jack" - sounds like audience sounds in the background. Thanks for the show!

Signed off at 1706, followed by "and remember, fish on!" and then GA GA GA GA sent several times, followed by FISH FISH FISH (all in "waterfall ID" mode)

2721

North American Shortwave Pirate / Old Time Radio 6770 AM 1425 UTC 2/7/17

« on: February 07, 2017, 1426 UTC »

Hearing bits and pieces of a discussion between an OM and YL on 6770 kHz with a very tiny carrier.  Lots of noise this morning, only getting bits and pieces but there is something there.

2722

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID 6925 AM 2220 UTC 2 Feb 2017

« on: February 02, 2017, 2248 UTC »

Decent strength carrier on 6925 kHz AM, but the spur from the "bubble" wub wub wub jammer is on the USB and there's our friends on 6925 LSB chatting away....  I can't make out any audio or modulation right now, just the carrier, S3 or so signal level, slightly stronger than the pescadore two-way chatter on 6925 kHz LSB.  At 2247 I heard what I thought was music underneath the QRM but it was very hard to make it out.  Somebody tuned up on top of the carrier at 2249 then dropped down to 6923 or so and did some VFO swooshing all over the peskies.

Tuned back in at 2308 UTC..there now appears to be a QSO on 6928 kHz LSB as well.  The familiar "HOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLAAAAAA" and et cetera.  Right on the edge of the passband when I'm tuned to 6925 kHz USB. 

2723

North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID 6927 USB 1528 UTC 2 Feb 2017

« on: February 02, 2017, 1529 UTC »

Southern accented OMs talking about pumps and roads?  With squelch crashes.  Two-way radio relay?  

Seems a carrier on 6927 kHz is being transmitted when there's no audio on the frequency, not sure if this is a low-frequency power supply hum or another signal underneath it.  Talk at 1533 UTC about a "new hire" and "loading these trucks".

1535 UTC - "26.27" with sirens blaring in background.  Sounds like construction site workers talking to each other on the radio
1540 UTC - OMs with Hispanic accent talking on radio with some noise in background
1542 UTC - "Naw, Billy, you're on channel 1"
1544 UTC - Data bursts overwhelming voice comms for a 1-2 seconds
1550 UTC - Off? 

2724

North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID 6925 USB 1500 UTC 2 Feb 2017

« on: February 02, 2017, 1501 UTC »

Sounds like audio from The Boondocks, nice S7 signal.  S4 on the Ohio remote.  OMs talking about cross-dressing Christian theatre cults and Ice Cube with background music and sound effects.  

1517 UTC: "I do bad things.  I don't listen to my grandmother, and I hurt people.  And I smoke wit cigaawettes" - probably the "Smoking With Cigarettes" episode
1519 UTC: Signal up to S7 on the remote, considerably louder than it was at tune-in.
1523 UTC: "Your computer has been infected with a virus, please call our toll-free hotline" fake virus scam ad

2725

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID Pescadores/Freebanders 6925 LSB 2330 UTC

« on: February 02, 2017, 1402 UTC »

If the Nicaraguan Coast Guard is talking to them then that makes the frequencies somewhat "official" right?  Even if they're outside the ITU authorized maritime bands, they are operating in what's called "fixed/mobile" (doesn't that apply to, well, every single type of radio transmission?) bands, of which 6765-7000 kHz is one.

43 meters isn't their only playground, that's for sure.  I've heard them above 75 meters (40xx kHz area) and, of course, the whole 25-30 MHz region is up for grabs when the band conditions are right.  Out of the box, most HF-SSB marine radios do 1.6-30 MHz (or 1.6-27.5 MHz appears to be another common one), so pick a frequency for you and your pescadore buddies and go!  

I imagine its a combination of land-based and marine transmissions that we've been hearing on these frequencies, the big one being 6925 kHz LSB.  I think 6900 kHz - USB and LSB, is, at least when I've listened to it, Mexican in origin (going by the accented Spanish language heard).  Doesn't stop Brazilian fishermen from using that frequency though!

I'm sure that drug traffickers are using HF radios as well, but I doubt they're what we've been hearing.  A smart drug smuggler wouldn't use the same frequency over and over again and be so chatty (danger of being DFed, etc).  I have seen documentaries about narco-submarines and they were shown to be equipped with Icom IC-M710 HF-SSB radios for communication with whichever fishing boat they meet to make the mid-ocean transfers of their cargo.  I imagine its a predetermined time and frequency and the communications are short and to the point, probably using terminology that would sound like usual fishery communications if some DXer (or some law enforcement agency) were to stumble upon their QSO.  

The documentary in question also discussed upon the use of driftnet radio buoys attached to containers trailed behind normal fishing boats.  If law enforcement shows up, the container is released, the buoy floats to the surface, turns its transmitter on, and is later retrieved.  Since this is the same technology used for regular fishing activities, nothing seems out of the ordinary.  The buoys operate in the 1600-4000 and 26000-28000 kHz ranges, before you ask  

I'm sure they're using other frequencies besides 75, 43 and 11 meters.  

2726

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID Pescadores/Freebanders 6925 LSB 2330 UTC

« on: February 01, 2017, 0431 UTC »

Don't worry.  Soon we'll have a wall around the ionosphere.  That Mexico will pay for.

I have a, uh, well, we'll say "working" or maybe "passable" knowledge of Spanish.  Seems like the traffic on 6925 LSB and the dozen or so other frequencies (6900 USB and 6900 LSB being the one that comes to mind) is a combination of land-based transmissions and actual pescadores (that is, fishing fleets operating outside the legal marine bands, which I find interesting because whenever I scan through the nearest marine allocations [6200-6525 kHz and 8195-8815 kHz] when the 43 meter "fixed" band is full of "pescadores" the marine frequencies are usually pretty empty save for a digital transmission here or there and weather/marine information broadcasts.

I think more often than not, the "pescadores" are actually freebanders.  The transmission I heard for this log sounded so much like Latin American CB freebanders (complete with noise toys, clips from songs, people jamming each other, the "HOLA! HOLA! HOOOOLLLAAAAAA!", etc) that I thought for a minute somebody was re-transmitting an 11 meter frequency on 6925 kHz LSB  

2727

North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID Pescadores/Freebanders 6925 LSB 2330 UTC 30 Jan 2017

« on: January 30, 2017, 2332 UTC »

Hearing music and lots of sound effects on 6925 LSB.  Much stronger signals than usual.  Reminds me of Mexican CB, that is, Pesky Party Radio?

2728

North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID 6925 LSB 1600 UTC 30 Jan 2017

« on: January 30, 2017, 1607 UTC »

S3 level signal, but readable.  Seems to be a loop of "f*ck Donald Trump" on repeat with a beat in the background.  

Signal went up considerably, then off at 1630 UTC. 

2729

North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID 6925 USB 1300 UTC 30 Jan 2017

« on: January 30, 2017, 1320 UTC »

via Elida, OH remote web SDR (KiwiSDR).  S3 signal peaking to S5.  Some minor radar and ute burst QRM but otherwise great audio.  Pink Floyd sounds awesome in SSB as usual

Sounds like somebody is playing the soundtrack to Pink Floyd Live At Pompeii

Pink Floyd - Echoes Part I
Pink Floyd - Careful With That Axe, Eugene

a slight pause/dead air for a bit at 1321 UTC, then into:

Pink Floyd - A Saucerful of Secrets   Signal is now a S5 peaking at S6.  Signal is now also readable on Concord, NH remote KiwiSDR (S3 signal jumped up rapidly to S5 at 1325 UTC!)

another slight pause/dead air for a bit at 1331 UTC, then into:

Pink Floyd - One Of These Days (I'm Going To Cut You Into Pieces) [excellent track!]

sound FX at end of track then, at 1338 UTC into one of my favorite PF songs:

Pink Floyd - Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun
Pink Floyd - Mademosille Nobs

at 1349 UTC, bird calls and other FX (the start of)

Pink Floyd - Echoes Part II

Off at 1401 UTC

2730

Peskies / UNID Spanish Freebanders 6900 LSB 1300 UTC 30 Jan 2017

« on: January 30, 2017, 1305 UTC »

Woke up, turned on the radio, and the usual traffic on 6900 kHz LSB is even stronger than usual.  Solid S9 signal locally and on several remotes up and down the East Coast