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Messages - Token

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121
Chinese (Tawainese) numbers station V13 (New Star Broadcasting) on 8300 kHz, H3E mode (USB + carrier), 1300 UTC, June 5, 2021 with its normal programming.

Carrier came up at 1300z.

I have this frequency in my logs for V13 in 2013 and 2014, so it is not new for them to use this freq, but I do not believe they have used it recently.

T!

122
All,

I have put up a few new videos on my YouTube channel, today they were all associated with the US military, USAF operated, HF-GCS (High Frequency Global Communications System), including what might be the last SkyKing transmission and a rather lengthy EAM.
https://www.youtube.com/user/FirstToken/videos

For those not aware, the HF-GCS appears to have stopped sending SkyKing messages in late 2019.  Other message types have continued to be used as before, but it appears that possibly there are no more SkyKings being sent.

What I can say for sure is that there have not been any SkyKings recently reliably reported in the regular forums and mailing lists.  There have been some reported overall (such as on YouTube), but on further review of recordings/descriptions, etc, they were either definitely, or probably (in the case of no recordings) not actually SkyKings, but rather miss-identified EAMs.  I have not heard any SkyKings myself since October of 2019, and while I don't spend a great deal of time monitoring the HF-GCS, I typically would hear several a month prior to that date.

This is my last recorded SkyKing, and I have not yet seen a confirmable more recent recording:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51ORIHrpgOU

Only time will tell, but has the SkyKing message format on the HF-GCS gone the way of other Cold War signals?


A rather lengthy EAM, of 164 characters.  To be sure, I have heard longer EAMs (the longest I have completely recorded is 278 characters, but I have heard the tail end of one over 300 chars), but this is definitely longer than average:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdiudqqfkLs

And a recent format SKyKing transmission from a couple years ago.  I included this video in the channel only because tomorrow I will release a video of an older format SkyKing, a format that they stepped away from in about 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAl5O_R0ReU

T!

123
HF Beacons / Re: 4100.04 KHz "H"
« on: May 21, 2021, 0156 UTC »
Anyone notice the chirps on the dits?

T!

124
Spy Numbers / Re: New video up, Chinese oddity station VC01
« on: May 01, 2021, 1425 UTC »
So wherever it goes for May is going to be trickier to catch here. As of 01 May I still hear it on 5285 USB.

Most of the time it seems to change freqs about the 5th to 7th of each month.  So 5285 kHz is probably good for a few more days.

T!

125
I have put up a new video on my YouTube channel, this one is of the Chinese oddity station MC03, the Morse code sister station to VC01.  This outlet of MC03 appears to have a very chirpy transmitter, and I have heard it (MC03) broken like this on several frequencies for more than 6 months.

This station appears to carry traffic very similar to VC01, and is also assumed to be related to air defense or air tracking.  In the video I annotate a couple minutes worth of the changing data, including time tags.

I find the time tags interesting.  There is one official time zone in China, Beijing Time (UTC +8).  However the time tags appear to be UTC +7, which would be Kansu-Szechuan time.  I have seen this pretty regularly with MC03, although I have also seen other time zones in use.  I assume I hear different time zones depending on where the node I am then hearing is located.  But why don't they all use BJT?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPeTx9FSfEs

T!

126
Spy Numbers / Re: New video up, Chinese oddity station VC01
« on: April 25, 2021, 0252 UTC »
For me it seems to peak out right about local sunrise.  I can normally hear it well before sunup, it peaks right about sunrise, and from there starts to fade.  I suspect that it will peak a tad earlier for you, since you need the source in nighttime and you either in dark or just coming out of it.  Since your local sunrise is right about 0600 local I would expect a time of about 1100 to 1200 UTC to be best for you.  Just guessing.

T!

127
Spy Numbers / New video up, Chinese oddity station VC01
« on: April 24, 2021, 1740 UTC »
I have put up a new video on my YouTube channel, this one is the Chinese oddity station VC01.

For those not familiar, VC01 is also called the "Chinese Robot". It is a female voice, machine generated but possibly human recorded, reciting strings of numbers. It is at a very fast rate, too fast for reliable human interpretation. Absolutely the numbers are understandable, but for a human to reliably transcribe the numbers for extended periods is probably not realistic.

The station has been observed for at least a couple of decades, and is presumed to be related to air defense tracking. It has a sister station, assumed to be the same tasking, in Morse code, called MC03.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaBzALk5vsc

T!

128
Spy Numbers / Re: S28 April 16
« on: April 18, 2021, 1434 UTC »
I put a video of this on my YouTube channel.  The series actually started with an OM voice first, a couple of minutes before your recording.

Video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJEkEvfQtcU

Notice that the Buzz of the Buzzer continues under the voice.  Also note that the voices have different propagation characteristics from the Buzzer.  This is obviously a different source form the Buzzer.  I assume it was one of the regular Buzzer trolls transmitting a hoax.

You might notice the Lat / Long given, "38870997 N 77055964 V", or 38.870997 N and 77.055964 W, is the coordinates for the Pentagon, in Washington DC.  The originator of the hoax has a sense of humor. 

T!

129
Signal was just heard above the noise floor on sign on.  But by 0045 UTC it was up to S6+ and improving.  Sounds good enough to be on the house sound system, and Mrs Token is listening also.

T!

130
Other / Re: OTHR on 40 Meters 2339 UTC 29 March 2021
« on: April 10, 2021, 1408 UTC »
The DK2OM document is a very good primer on HF radars, however there are several issues with it.  The largest is its age.  Because of its age it does not list newer radars such as the Russian 29B6 that is a serious contender for this source, and also at least one signal in it is probably not a radar.

To the OP, confirming that your question was about a radar that was present on ~7285 kHz at 2339 UTC, March 29, 2021, and terminated sometime before 0030 UTC on 30 March.  The same radar was again seen on ~7285 kHz at 2332 UTC on 30 March?  And also, you are relatively certain this was a radar, and not DRM?

The reason I ask if you are sure it was not DRM, on the nights of 24 to 31 March, from 2330z to 0000z each day, there is a signal that looks very similar to DRM that can be seen on the Twente WebSDR full day page ( http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/fullday/ it defaults to the last 24 hours, but at the top you can enter the date you want to see ).  Unfortunately, because of the relatively low resolution of that page it can be difficult to tell DRM from certain narrow radars, such as the 29B6.  But the start and stop times across a weak+ worth of time are suspiciously regular to be a radar, such timing is more consistent with other kinds of signals.  While radars which change frequency to chase propagation conditions (most radars that change frequency through the day do it for this reason) often do approximately the same thing every day for days in a row, they don't typically do exactly the same thing for several days in a row.

Here is a crop from the Twente Fullday plot of the 29th of March, showing the time and frequency in question:


If you are fairly certain it was not DRM then the 29B6 is my leading suggestion as a candidate.

T


131
Other / Re: OTHR on 40 Meters 2339 UTC 29 March 2021
« on: April 10, 2021, 0155 UTC »
Would need a bit better description, more information of what it sounded like at least, of the radar to try and narrow down the source.  Maybe a sound clip or a waterfall picture.

However, the Russian 29B6 Konteyner radar is known to hit around those frequencies, often around that time.  The 29B6 can and does hit any frequency it wants, including the middle of ham bands, aviation frequencies, maritime, etc.

T!

132
HF Mystery Signals / Re: Want to identify this 11387
« on: April 10, 2021, 0148 UTC »
Without a sound file it is not possible to confirm, but this is almost certainly HFDL, High Frequency Data Link.  This is a known frequency for HFDL and the image looks like it is probably HFDL.  A more detailed closeup image of the signal on the waterfall could help a little also.

HFDL is HF based ACARS, it is a data link used in aviation, including aircraft in flgiht.

T!

133
I haven't listened to SDR on shortwave for a littlie while. Was listening to WRMI and i came over this USB modulation signal. Of a man Saying parts of the Phonetic Alphabet. And he would stop and say "Standby await new message" And start again. I have no idea what this is. I just was wondering if anyone know what it is. It was accompanied with a ALE2G about 2kh away. Was not able to record that part. But this is what I have.

https://youtu.be/CY0PjDFgyF8
https://youtu.be/aD_jdzutPeQ

Thanks for ya help!

Are those YouTube videos actual videos of your reception?  Or are they similar videos that you have found?

In the videos, the frequency is clearly 4724 kHz.  And this is the US military used, US AF operated, HFGCS.

Some people, especially some doom porn listeners, try to correlate increased traffic on this network to world events, but the reality is that you just can't.  Sure, there absolutely can be increased traffic during world events, there can also be no traffic at all during such events, and there can be increased traffic when nothing important is going on.  The important take away here is that traffic on these freqs is not a harbinger of doom...but it might be...

Since this is not a numbers station I have moved the thread to the more appropriate "Utility" forum.

T!

135
HF Mystery Signals / Re: Amateur Band 14.125mhz unknown data
« on: April 05, 2021, 2138 UTC »
That is PACTOR IV

T!

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