Messages

2836

10/11 meters / 11 meters 26-28 MHz Open and Active 6 October 2015

« on: October 06, 2015, 2150 UTC »

Did a quick band scan from 26-28MHz:

26215 kHz USB - Spanish language
26225 kHz USB - Spanish language - much louder and more active than 26215, S9+ signals
26405 kHz AM - Spanish language - sounds like a taxicab dispatcher
26535 kHz AM - Spanish language, heavy QSB
26555 kHz LSB - Spanish language - mention of Dominican Republic
26585 kHz AM - Very busy, likely Mexican calling channel (activity on this freq is usually indicative of some sort of opening I've noticed)
26605 kHz AM - Spanish language with roger beeps and noise toys, music, etc
26705 kHz AM - Puerto Rico very loud S9 +++ with splatter from 26715
26715 kHz AM - Puerto Rico mentioned, very strong signals
26885 kHz AM - English language, Southern US accents
27015 kHz AM - CB channel 5 - Spanish language
27025 kHz AM - CB channel 6 - you know what's on this frequency when the band is open
27045 kHz AM - CB channel 7A (not a legal CB freq) - Spanish language QSO,
27065 kHz AM - CB channel 9 - similar to 26705 and 26715, strong signals
27265 kHz AM - CB channel 26 - English language, Southern US accents
27285 kHz AM - CB channel 28 - Same as channel 26
27385 kHz LSB - CB channel 38 - Very busy, heard Mississippi, Indiana, several QSOs at once
27395 kHz LSB - CB channel 39 - SSB activity, likely stations QSYed from 27385
27455 kHz USB - Spanish language calling channel, active with several stations at once
27465 kHz USB - QSO in Spanish between two stations, one is S9 +30, good quality audio
27470 kHz USB - Similar to 27465, strong signals, roger beeps
27665 kHz USB - Busy, S2-S4 signals, Spanish and possibly Portuguese QSOs
27715 kHz LSB - Spanish language QSO
 
Given that most of the traffic heard was in Spanish and the STL frequencies of 25910 and 25990 were quiet, best bet is another Latin American opening.  When these things get really crazy I can hear taxicab dispatchers every 10 kHz from 25615 up to 27995 and sometimes activity up into the CW portion of the bottom of 10 meters!

Update at 2240 UTC 10/06/2015:

26565 AM - Similar traffic to 26585
26665 AM - Spanish language, heavy QSB
26675 AM - Puerto Rico mentioned, roger beeps, music
26735 AM - Sounds like Truckers (this is CB channel 19 "down one band" on export radios so that makes sense)
26915 AM - Southern US QSOs, loud radios, some QSB
27255 AM - CB channel 23 - Data Bursts/Paging (paging is legal on this frequency under Part 95, up to 25w allowed!)
27445 AM - Taxicab Dispatch (Spanish language)
27515 LSB - Jamaican station very loud, some well over S9
27555 USB - voice traffic way down in the noise
27695 LSB - Spanish language traffic, Cali mentioned (possible Columbia traffic??)
27705 LSB - Similar to 27695 LSB
27765 LSB - Spanish language QSO, with OTH radar QRM
 

2837

Other / UNID CW 6920 2300 UTC 16 Sept 2015

« on: September 16, 2015, 2302 UTC »

Hearing a "dot" beep every 3 seconds or so on 6920.00 kHz (in CW mode).  Originally tuned it in on 6919 kHz USB. 

Confirmed the same on the WebSDR (http://k2sdr.dyndns.org:8902/) so this isn't local.

2838

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Unid 6938 AM 9/7/2015 2243z

« on: September 07, 2015, 2249 UTC »

Hearing it here on 6938 with UTE QRM on 6941.  Noisy conditions here (local QRN).  S7 signal.  Unable to actually discern what is being played but I can hear something there.  Unable to copy at all in USB due to strong UTE signal near frequency.  S6-S7 as well on the NJ WebSDR (WebSDR is showing carrier frequency slightly lower at 6937.7 kHz).

at 2251, signal on my local radio is now strong enough to hear The Temptations - Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch and British accented announcer.  

Re-tuned my radio to 6937.7 and it does sound a bit better.  Still hearing faint UTE QRM from the signal on 6941.

2310 UTC - signal even stronger now.  UTE QRM is gone.  Nice wide audio.  Hearing it on the Grundig G3 portable nicely.  
2311 UTC - Cypress Hill - Insane In The Brain  

Voiceover the rest of Cypress Hill into House of Pain - Jump Around

2318 UTC - Announcer: "KICK IT!" into Beastie Boys - Fight For Your Right

Killer tunes tonight CWR  

2340 UTC - operator chatter about Absolut vodka
2350 UTC - mild UTE QRM returning during the fades, Faith No More - Epic punching through on the peaks
2358 UTC - Judas Priest - Breaking The Law - kickass tune
2359 UTC - operator voice over Judas Priest, fading getting a bit worse
0000 UTC - now hearing Spanish language (I think) chatter on 6935 LSB causing some QRM

2839

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: 18145 usb again 9/6/15 1425 utc

« on: September 06, 2015, 1437 UTC »

They're operating within the 17 meter ham band.  

About a S3 here, noisy, but completely readable signal.  Not hearing anything else from 18068 - 18168 kHz

Completely gone by 1445 UTC (stepped away from the radio for a minute, came back and it was gone).

2840

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: 6950 USB 0020Z Wolverine Radio 6 Sept 2015

« on: September 06, 2015, 0028 UTC »

Hearing old time music nice and mellow.  Excellent audio and a solid S9

2841

Other / 6940 CW 0024 UTC

« on: September 06, 2015, 0024 UTC »

Hearing CW on 6940, peaking to S8

Gone

Back on at 0026

2842

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Radio Marlene 6935 USB 2350 05 SEP 2015

« on: September 05, 2015, 2359 UTC »

Blondie - Hanging On The Telephone  in progress at 2357

2843

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Cold Country Canada 6969 USB 2318- 09/03/15

« on: September 03, 2015, 2333 UTC »

Hearing "Crazy Train" nicely through the local QRN 6969.0 kHz USB

2844

North American Shortwave Pirate / Radio Free Whatever 6935 USB 0135 UTC 22 August 2015

« on: August 23, 2015, 0137 UTC »

Hearing what sounds like the Soviet National Anthem on 6935 USB.  Nice and loud tonight.  

Shoutout to R4002 (me!) and HFU 0140 UTC

2845

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Wolverine Radio 6950 USB 0037 UTC 23 Aug 2015

« on: August 23, 2015, 0103 UTC »

Solid S9.  Top notch signal, armchair copy of "Lucky Man" in progress at 0101 UTC

2846

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Burn It Down Radio 6962 USB/AM *0045-0117* UTC 17Aug15

« on: August 17, 2015, 0137 UTC »

Scorpions - Wind of Change at tune-in (0135 UTC)

2847

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: NOCALL SSTV 6925 USB 2342 UTC 16Aug15

« on: August 17, 2015, 0004 UTC »

Somebody forgot to turn the "template" feature off in MMSSTV 

2848

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: KHAT 6925 USB 0025 UTC 16 Jul 2015

« on: July 16, 2015, 0057 UTC »

John Couger - Jack and Diane here solid S9 signal through the local QRN.

Love the cat theme! 

2849

10/11 meters / Re: Different Language QSO'S on 25.845 LSB

« on: September 17, 2013, 2238 UTC »

The majority of "export" radios (also sold as "10-meter" radios but are switched "converted" down to 11-meters through a simple set of button pushes or another simple modification) cover considerably more frequencies below the 10 meter band allocation than they do above the 10-meter allocation.  The "standard" export radio frequency plan is six sets of 40 channels, 25.615-28.305 MHz.  I've heard of some of the newer radios going up to 30.105, 30.555 or even 31.005 MHz.  You'll notice each set of 40 channels is the same bandwidth as the legal CB band (450kHz).  Of course, some radios go below 25.615, usually down to 25.165 but some of them go down into 12 meters or even below, 24.715 or even 24.265 MHz.  

The two export radios I use, a Voyage VR9000 (a.k.a. Galaxy 88, Superstar 3900F/3900EFT, Super Jopix 2000, and a dozen others - of course they're all made by Ranger/RCI) covers 25.615-28.305 MHz.  My CRE 8900 covers up to 30.105MHz but I see no point in going above 10 meters when there's plenty of empty channels below 28.000 MHz.

So therefore, you're looking at people running exports on band "A" (assuming the legal CB band is band "D" - as it usually is), channel 19A - 27.195MHz "down three bands".  So that means the radios they're using have that lovely +10kHz switch, allowing you to get to the "A" channels (26.995, 27.045, 27.095, 27.145 and 27.195 MHz).  So each band really has 45 channels and not 40 channels.  I've heard truckers on 25.835 MHz plenty of times (band A, channel 19).  Makes sense don't it?  Just flip that band switch down to band A, I feel bad for these trucker's radios, I'm yet to hear of a CB antenna that can do 27.185MHz and 25.835MHz with a decent SWR.  You know these guys aren't adjusting their antennas when they move up and down the freeband.  

Hearing SSB transmissions below 27MHz is uncommon though.  Most of the stuff below CB channel 1 [26.965 MHz] I hear is in AM mode, and I'd say 3/4 of the transmissions I've heard above CB channel 40 [27.405 MHz] are in SSB mode.  Of course, there's some AM above channel 40, usually in the form of truckers flipping their bandswitches up to get away from the noise of the legal 40 channels.  Interesting to see SSB below channel 1.  I've noticed it on 26.500, 26.515, 26.540 and 26.555, all LSB..but below 26MHz is a new one for me.

It seems like there's a "gentleman's agreement" on the freeband, as much as hams (especially the QRZ or eHam forum types ) would hate to hear something like that.  

2850

10/11 meters / Re: 26.485 data signal

« on: May 20, 2013, 1523 UTC »

Could it have been some sort of jamming system? 

I could see IEDs and other remote-control bombs using the 26-28 MHz band, considering how many R/C frequency allocations there are there (and in the 29MHz, 30MHz, 31MHz, 35MHz and other "high-HF" and "low-VHF" bands).