Messages

676

Peskies / 7752 kHz USB UNID Language 2045 UTC 19 July 2019

« on: July 19, 2019, 2048 UTC »

7752 kHz USB 7.752 MHz USB (there seems to be another set of stations underneath them, maybe on 7750 kHz)

At first I thought it was Italian, but this might be Portuguese.  Heard via Westminster, MD KiwiSDR.  I'm going to go 50/50 on Italian or Portuguese?  Not sure.  Notable background noise. 

677

VHF/UHF Logs, including satellites and radiosondes / Re: UHF mil air

« on: July 19, 2019, 1553 UTC »

The multiband vertical probably resonates pretty well in many sections of the 225-400 MHz band, presuming its designed for 2 meters in addition to 1.25 meters.  146 MHz x2 = 292 MHz. 

Discone = win.  That 30 foot increase in elevation will make a real difference too.  I expect your receive capabilities to be significantly increased.  I bet you'll be able to hear a low more VHF/UHF activity in general (30-512 MHz).  Maybe lowband isn't used very often in your area for public safety/business radio stuff, but its still used for military comms.  Presuming the disconey you're putting up is the 25-1300 MHz type, you might be able to hear FM milcom stuff in addition to 225-400 MHz, 137-144 MHz and 148-150.775 MHz. 

Also the SDRs will help a lot.  The VHF low/VHF mid band military activity seems to center around the following bands:

30.000 to 30.600
32.000 to 33.000
34.000 to 35.000 - including 34.900, the National Guard disaster relief common freq
36.000 to 37.000
38.000 to 39.000
40.000 to 42.000 - including 40.500, the VHF-FM version of 121.5/243.0
46.600 to 47.000
49.600 to 50.000

More frequencies to check, although I'm sure most milair comms are in the 225-400 UHF band, with the 137-144/148-150.8 VHF bands coming in second. 


https://www.ntia.doc.gov/files/ntia/publications/section3a.pdf

678

10/11 meters / Truckers outside CB band - 27.665 MHz 27665 kHz 2110 UTC 18 July 2019

« on: July 18, 2019, 2117 UTC »

Via Westminster, MD KiwiSDR.  Two truckers talking about trucking-related topics, buying fuel, several mentions of "rollbacks".  "I'm going back to Waynesboro." "Tell nobody" at 2115 UTC.  "95 bucks".  Both have roger beeps and have good modulation.  Noted fading but readable.  The band might be waking up a bit....now (at 2116 UTC) I'm seeing and hearing AM voice traffic on 27.505 MHz, 27.565 MHz, 27.575 MHz, 27.755 MHz...with some SSB popping up too around 27.5 MHz to 27.6 MHz. 

679

10/11 meters / 11 meters is active 2100 UTC 18 July 2019

« on: July 18, 2019, 2114 UTC »

26715 AM - 26.715 MHz AM is very busy at the moment (2110 UTC) as I type this, hearing OMs on top of each other...ONE TWO ONE TWO ONE TWO and a couple other English words, but mostly Spanish, as to be expected on 26.715 AM.

At 2112 UTC, hearing an OM talking about buying gas on 27.665 MHz AM.  Now, another station replying to him.  Both stations have roger beeps.  Mention of "rollback" as well.  I'm pretty sure these stations are truckers talking on 27.665 MHz AM.  At 2113 UTC, AM voice (also truckers) noted on 27.575 MHz. 

The two stations on 27665 AM are on 27664.9 and 27664.4.  Good thing they're running AM and not SSB! 

26.905 MHz and 26.915 MHz have some activity on them as well.  The legal 40 CB channels have lots of activity as well.  All appear to be domestic US stations.  As to be expected, 27.025 MHz, 27.085 MHz, 27.265 MHz and 27.285 MHz are all wall-to-wall with AM voice DX activity.  27.385 MHz LSB are also active.

680

Peskies / Re: Gloucester angry bahstad fishermen 6212 USB 2325 UTC 16 Jul 2019

« on: July 18, 2019, 2104 UTC »

Maybe there's a loose connection between when they're on the radio and which frequency they're using.

There's gotta be some method to this madness...

681

VHF/UHF Logs, including satellites and radiosondes / Re: UHF mil air

« on: July 18, 2019, 2103 UTC »

If you don't mind me asking, what receiver(s) and antenna setup do you use for monitoring 225-400 MHz? 

682

Peskies / Re: Gloucester angry bahstad fishermen 6212 USB 2325 UTC 16 Jul 2019

« on: July 18, 2019, 1045 UTC »

I have a feeling they’re within groundwave range of each other too, considering the time of day they’ve been heard.  Maybe they’re right outside of regular old VHF marine band range, or maybe they don’t want their conversations on the regular VHF marine band. 

Interesting about the selcall use on 6925 kHz....I wonder where those guys are now!  Maybe they’re up above 40 meters.  There’s a lot of Spanish speaking traffic (in both USB and LSB) in the 7300 kHz to 8000 kHz range, peppered in-between broadcast signals and other stuff...then up into the legit 8 MHz marine band. 

So we know they use 6212, 6095, 6870 and a couple frequencies in the 69xx range too, right?  I remember hearing fishermen with New England accents on 6953 kHz and 6959 kHz...not sure if they were the same guys though.  Considering the sheer number of antennas you can see in Gloucester harbor alone...there’s gotta be other users on HF. 

Before I visited Gloucester I visited Portland, Maine and took a tour on a lobster boat.  Being a coastal-only boat they were only VHF / VHF-DSC equipped.  I spoke with the captain about radio stuff, he remarked how his fleet’s bigger boat had a “long range SSB radio” (HF) in addition to VHF radios.  The Portland harbor had countless HF and VHF antennas on both the fishing vessels and fishery buildings on-shore.  VHF channel 16 was very active...the Coast Guard would often tell vessels to switch channels if they started actually having a QSO on VHF 16. 

Too bad the Glocestermen aren’t using SELCALL or another system that we could ID them with.  I bet they are using driftnet radio buoys or fishnet radiobuoys...maybe a listener closer could hear their low-power signals (assuming they’re using ones in the 1600 to 4000 kHz range and not the 26 to 30 MHz range or SATCOM based).

683

VHF/UHF Logs, including satellites and radiosondes / Re: UHF mil air

« on: July 17, 2019, 1931 UTC »

Just had some chatter on "Magnum 5", 357.050 MHz 1904Z 17JUL19

Awesome.  Glad those air-to-air or interplane frequencies are proving fruitful for you.  Similar informal CB-like chat? 

684

Peskies / Re: Gloucester angry bahstad fishermen 6212 USB 2325 UTC 16 Jul 2019

« on: July 17, 2019, 1309 UTC »

Interesting.  Have you noted any identifiers of any kind when hearing these guys?  I've only listened to them a handful of times and no callsigns have been heard.  FWIW, 6212 kHz is ITU 6 MHz marine channel 605.  It's listed as a duplex frequency (for ship-to-shore anyway, paired with 6513 kHz...with 6212.0 kHz being the "ship transmit" frequency).  With that in mind, it makes sense for them to use it as a simplex frequency for ship-to-ship comms.  Apparently this is pretty common practice.  Since their SSB radios likely came pre-programmed with all the ITU marine frequencies out of the box, that would also make sense. 

My bet is 6212 USB is their official or home channel, and the various other 6 MHz frequencies we've monitored them on are side channels, "secret channels", alternate frequencies, etc. etc.   As I mentioned in the other thread, during my recent visit to Gloucester, MA, I did notice many of the fishery buildings had HF antennas on their roofs.  Maybe 6212 is their "company channel" and the other frequencies are used so the boss-man and/or other ships in their fleet can't listen in? 

As an aside, the majority of ITU marine frequencies (channelized HF marine band plans for 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 6 MHz, 8 MHz, 12 MHz, 16/17 MHz, 18/19 MHz, 22 MHz and 25/26 MHz) involve duplex pairs.  Only the following frequencies are explicitly designated for simplex ship-to-ship or ship-to-shore use - specifically SSB voice:

2 MHz (2000 kHz - 2850 kHz) marine band:

2003.0 kHz
2065.0 kHz
2079.0 kHz
2082.5 kHz
2086.0 kHz
2093.0 kHz
2096.5 kHz
2142.0 kHz
2203.0 kHz
2214.0 kHz
2635.0 kHz
2638.0 kHz
2738.0 kHz
2782.0 kHz
2830.0 kHz

4 MHz (4000 kHz - 4438 kHz) marine band:

4146.0 kHz
4149.0 kHz
4417.0 kHz

4000 kHz to 4060 kHz are also designed for simplex maritime radio use, in 3 kHz steps (4000 kHz, 4003 kHz, 4006 kHz, etc.), shared with fixed/mobile service

6 MHz (6200 kHz - 6525 kHz) marine band:

6224.0 kHz
6227.0 kHz
6230.0 kHz
6516.0 kHz

8 MHz (8000 kHz - 8815 kHz) marine band:

8294.0 kHz
8297.0 kHz

8101 kHz to 8191 kHz are also designed for simplex maritime radio use, in 3 kHz steps (8101 kHz, 8104 kHz, 8107 kHz, etc.), shared with fixed/mobile service

12 MHz / 13 MHz (12330 kHz - 13200 kHz) marine band:

12353.0 kHz
12356.0 kHz
12359.0 kHz
12362.0 kHz
12365.0 kHz

16 MHz / 17 MHz (16460 kHz - 17360 kHz) marine band:

16528.0 kHz
16531.0 kHz
16534.0 kHz
16537.0 kHz
16540.0 kHz
16543.0 kHz
16546.0 kHz

18 MHz (18780 kHz - 18900 kHz) marine band:

18825.0 kHz
18828.0 kHz
18831.0 kHz
18834.0 kHz
18837.0 kHz
18840.0 kHz
18843.0 kHz

22 MHz (22000 kHz - 22855 kHz) marine band:

22159.0 kHz
22162.0 kHz
22165.0 kHz
22168.0 kHz
22171.0 kHz
22174.0 kHz
22177.0 kHz

25 MHz (25070 kHz - 25121 kHz)

25100.0 kHz
25103.0 kHz
25106.0 kHz
25109.0 kHz
25112.0 kHz
25115.0 kHz
25118.0 kHz

I put together the list above as these frequencies are also likely to be pre-programmed in MF / HF SSB marine radios, in addition to the dual-use duplex/simplex channeling (3 kHz steps for SSB voice, except odd steps on 2 MHz band).  It should also be noted that many older-generation SSB marine radios do not cover the higher bands.  Many radios only cover up to 12 MHz / 13 MHz or 16 MHz / 17 MHz. 

685

Peskies / Re: 5555 KHz LSB 16 July 2019 0210Z English

« on: July 17, 2019, 1304 UTC »

Any mention of fishing or boat-related matters?  Could be freebanders or out of band ham operators.  The frequency choice (5555 kHz) is popular with both freebanders/outbanders and fishing fleets.  They like easy to remember frequencies (for example, 6666.6 kHz USB is very popular with Latin American freebanders).

686

VHF/UHF Logs, including satellites and radiosondes / NOAA Weather Radio VHF DX Logs July - August - Sept 2019

« on: July 17, 2019, 1301 UTC »

**EDIT**      I modified the title to show just July 2019 VHF / NOAA Weather Radio ducting discussion

See:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmXVWFQCMAk

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExXEhgXHYSc

From this morning, roughly 0645 to 0655 local time (US east coast), I was able to hear activity on all 7 NOAA Weather Radio NOAA WX frequencies, with all except the local station having multiple signals at once.  162.400 and 162.550 seemed to have three stations going at various points.   The band does appear to be open to one degree or another every morning, but this morning was an extreme example. 

687

Spy Numbers / Re: Numbers stations

« on: July 17, 2019, 1238 UTC »

Spies Like Us was actually funded by the CIA as part of a recruitment project.  Regardless, it’s a hilarious film.

Also, thank you for the PDF link.  This is a great read.

688

Other / Re: 7050 6855 7500 LSB

« on: July 17, 2019, 1234 UTC »

Are the Russians transmitting on 6850 kHz, 6855 kHz or 7500 kHz in addition to the usual 7050 kHz and 7055 kHz frequencies? 

689

VHF/UHF Logs, including satellites and radiosondes / Re: UHF mil air

« on: July 16, 2019, 2142 UTC »

Awesome work, will have to put them into scan. These are kinda similar to the hf channel that used to get more USAF activity than it does now, 6761. That freq was treated like a party line for bombers, tankers, everyone.

On the presets, these vary according to the unit, each craft of a given unit will have the same presets.





Neacp/tacamo/glass flight burning mux on 338.950MHz 1929Z 16JUL19

I’ve heard chatter on 6761 kHz USB a few times too.

In a weird way, it’s like the pescadores and freebanders on HF.  They like easy-to-remember frequencies.  343.400 MHz, 6666.6 kHz, 6363 kHz, 40.40 MHz, 30.30 MHz, 45.45 MHz, 7676.7 kHz and so many others come to mind. Frequencies like 123.450 MHz and 246.800 MHz are super easy to remember.  Same with the often-overlooked 137-144 MHz and 148-150 MHz VHF bands (25 kHz steps, shared with military users using FM and P25 digital in 12.5 kHz/25 kHz steps). 

I know the Air National Guard in my area uses 140 MHz and 141 MHz freqs (in AM mode) in addition to the usual UHF band frequencies, plus a couple FM tactical band channels (namely 38.500 MHz, 38.550 MHz and 49.725 MHz, I presume there are others I don’t know about) for air to air chatter.  The National Guard also appear to use over a dozen different repeated frequencies in the 148 to 150.8 MHz range for tactical comms, only instead of AM or FM voice, they use encrypted P25 digital voice (12.5 kHz channel steps). 

Oh, also 282.800 MHz - aka “Hard Luck” - which is also the search and rescue/survival radio alternate frequency to 243.000 MHz.  I imagine use of 282.8 MHz for air to air chat is frowned upon, but yes, you’ve got some hard luck if you have to use your survival radio....

I don’t know how many scanner channels you have to work with Josh, but here’s another “button” list for the USAF, apparently used for “auxiliary” purposes, such as air to air chat maybe.

265.500 MHz - “Button 1”
266.600 MHz - “Button 2”
267.600 MHz - “Button 3”
268.600 MHz - “Button 4”
269.900 MHz - “Button 5”
270.100 MHz - “Button 6”
271.600 MHz - “Button 7”
272.700 MHz - “Button 8”
273.500 MHz - “Button 9”
274.800 MHz - “Button 10”
275.800 MHz - “Button 11”
276.400 MHz - “Button 12”
277.200 MHz - “Button 13”
278.400 MHz - “Button 14”
279.400 MHz - “Button 15”
280.500 MHz - “Button 16”
281.200 MHz - “Button 17”
282.800 MHz - “Button 18”
283.000 MHz - “Button 19”
284.200 MHz - “Button 20”

690

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Lukewarm Radio 6933.5 USB 1738 UTC 16 July 2019

« on: July 16, 2019, 1859 UTC »

Good signal on the Westminster, MD KiwiSDR, thanks for the weekday show!