Messages

1426

Other / Re: What's up with the Carrier on 6950khz ?

« on: March 03, 2014, 0016 UTC »

Are we talking about the big carrier around 6946.6?  If so, I'm with skeezix and believe this might be related to the ute that was around this freq recently.  The carrier has been there a couple of days now.

The carrier / tone on 6946.575 kHz is a resting leg of the 850 Hz S4481 FSK that has been on center freq of 6947 for a few weeks now.  When running the two data tones will be on 6946.575 and 6947.425 kHz.

Not sure if this is the 6950 carrier everyone is talking about or not.

T!

1427

North American Shortwave Pirate / Radio YHWH 6995 AM 0033 UTC March 02 2014

« on: March 02, 2014, 0039 UTC »

Yahweh Radio, YHWH, 6995 kHz AM, March 02, 2014, I turned on the radio at 0033 and he was already on.

Religious pirate, kind of Old Testament leanings.  Good audio, S8 or a little better here.

T!

(edit) Off air at 0048.  He really needs to run a bit later to make it east.

1428

Spy Numbers / MOVED: 15016.xx usb HF GCS, 1835 utc Feb, 28 2014

« on: March 01, 2014, 0353 UTC »

This topic has been moved to [Utility].

http://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php?topic=15575.0

1429

Utility / Re: 15016.xx usb HF GCS, 1835 utc Feb, 28 2014

« on: March 01, 2014, 0352 UTC »

Is this the right forum for this?
I happened upon some phonics.  
It sounds like it just ended at 1835 utc. "This is H O out."

The voice was too funny, it sounded like a bored American football player.  "Yankee, sigh..., quebec, etc.)
Now I realize it was ITU phonics.  I wish I wrote them down to see if it spelled something.

No, Spy Numbers is not the right forum for HF-GCS receptions, although it is a common mistake.  These should be in Utilities.  I'll move it for you.

T!

1430

Spy Numbers / MOVED: Odd flute sound on 4020khz

« on: February 26, 2014, 0226 UTC »

This topic has been moved to [Other] as it is not Spy Number related.

http://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php?topic=15545.0

1431

Other / Re: Odd flute sound on 4020khz

« on: February 26, 2014, 0151 UTC »

This is CODAR, and it sounds like you were in AM mode.

T!

1432

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: UNID 6925.1 AM 0318 UTC 24 Feb 2014

« on: February 24, 2014, 0326 UTC »

S8 here, but the audio is a little low.  Based on the audio width (very nice by the way) I suspect it is the station that I never heard an ID from , but that sent an SSTV image last night.  The SSTV image had an ID of KCPR.

Off after 2 songs, 0326 UTC

T!

(edit) Back up 0328 UTC, slightly lower freq, about 6924.95 kHz.  Signal strength up a bit.  Audio in and out a couple of times.

(edit 2)  Ended with an old cowboy song (same album as last night?) and an SSTV image at 0339 UTC.

1433

Other / Re: 6945-6948U, 02152014,2330utc, some type of data stream?

« on: February 23, 2014, 0133 UTC »

Think of it as modern day RTTY.  It uses the same basic technique as old school RTTY, but it does not carry strictly the same thing anymore.

T!

1434

SDR - Software Defined Radio / Re: SDR-IQ Alternative?

« on: February 20, 2014, 2334 UTC »

The RTL SDRs are even more susceptible to imaging and overload than the AFEDRI.  Note that this is not a slam on either product, but the fact remains that there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.  Lower cost always cost you something.

The RTL SDRs bring a tremendous value to the table, they are dirt cheap and when combined with an upconverter, such as the Ham-it-Up, they provide HF to near microwave tuning range for under $100.  The cost is that they are not very stable in frequency and they have poor dynamic range and image rejection.  They also are not really very sensitive.  But hey, it is under $100 and you are not going to get that capability in anything else until you spend many times that cost.

The AFEDRI is fairly sensitive and is good on HF, but at the cost of dynamic range, image issues, and potential overloading.  But again, for $250 you will not find anything else that can compete with it.  And it really is not bad, just not very good when compared to higher cost options…not really a fair comparison anyway.

The SDR-IQ has fair sensitivity, decent image rejection (compared to the 2 above), and is not overly prone to overload.  It has more dynamic range than the other 2 I have listed.  But it also has only 190 kHz of recorded and displayed bandwidth, and is about $500.  A few years ago it was the no kidding best entry SDR you could get, today the question is much harder to answer.

And then once you are at this price point, for only a little more you can start to talking about SDR with really excellent performance and capabilities.  Between $500 and $1000 things get really very good, by almost any measure.

T!

1435

Utility / Re: Link 16

« on: February 20, 2014, 1927 UTC »

Is it similar to Link-11?
 

No, it is not similar to Link-11.  While its function is somewhat similar to Link-11 (in that they are both networks that provide situational awareness beyond the capability of your own platform) the modulation techniques and data structure of Link-16 are completely unrelated to Link-11, Link 16 transmissions are much more robust, wider banded, and frequency diverse.  And as said before, Link 16 transmissions are generally at UHF (including L Band), however the data structure does support hardline connections and other modes of operation.

T!

1436

Spy Numbers / Re: V13 2014/02/07 08:00, 9522k

« on: February 18, 2014, 1911 UTC »

Vince, in the morning your time try 8300 kHz for V13.

...
T!

Token, what do you define as morning re. the above?  I'd like to see if I could hear V13 here in West Texas.

A couple of the time periods they use that freqeuncy (8300 kHz) are 1200 and 1300 UTC.  Try those.  1200 is your best bet.

T!

1437

Other / Re: Transcon 13993 USB

« on: February 18, 2014, 1505 UTC »

Yep, Martians.  Sometimes they search for the Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator.

T!

1438

HF Beacons / Re: Beep every 2 seconds 13560 Khz

« on: February 17, 2014, 1838 UTC »

Hi Token

On the '2 second' beep... sorry about calling it that it was a guess of mine and no equipment was used to determine the timing... <heh>

No reason to be sorry, your “2 second” was fine, I was just giving you the rough measured number if you were interested for your notes.  And my measured number is probably not dead on the money, but should be within 0.005 sec.

A decent free program that will display spectrograms and allow such measurements would be Spectrogram (there are several others also).  I find having at least a rough idea of the actual numbers can sometimes help ID things a little better.

As for the frequency... well the specs for the rig I was using on that intercept are as follows:

+- 4 ppm from 1 min. to 60 min after power on... and the rig was on for about 4 hours... Not lab standards for sure but fair to good for hobby purposes :-) reads out to 0.01 khz btw

Sorry for any confusion :-)

Again, no reason to be sorry, it was not a criticism.  I was only telling you the actual center freq assuming your freq readout was correct.  Some people like to log that, others could care less, it is all good either way.  For CW signals it is preferable to log center freq if possible.  Some tune CW in SSB, others in CW mode, and it can lead to confusion of the “real” freq unless you know the mode used and in the case of CW mode the CW offset of the receiver.  This confusion can be a problem on some beacons (and other CW signals) that are tight packed in freq and similar in sound.  Sometimes knowing the real freq can help determine which one you are hearing.

As before, a program like Spectrogram, Audacity, FLDigi, Argo, etc can be used to determine the center frequency form knowing your tuned freq and mode.  Then you add (or subtract if in LSB) the offset to your tuned freq and you have the center freq.

T!

1439

HF Beacons / Re: Beep every 2 seconds 13560 Khz

« on: February 16, 2014, 2034 UTC »

Token,

Sorry for taking so long on the reply but here are the sound files for both of these intercepts:

2 second beep:

http://vincewerber.org/swl/2secbeep-13560-02-12-14.mp3

And the 6 second beep:

http://vincewerber.org/swl/6secbeep-13874khz-1541utc-02-12-14.mp3

both are recorded in the USB mode (ie real frequency read out) and not CW.

I hope this is helpful...

Your 2 second beep is actually about once every 1.395 seconds, and the pulse length is about 0.115 seconds.  I have no idea what it is, but if your frequency is correct the c/f is about 13560.43 kHz.  I don’t think that fits with any of the beacons near that freq, but I do not know for sure.

As I said before, no telling what you will find on this freq.  I have a “regular” beep locally (once per second, 0.200 sec long) on 13560 kHz +/- that I was able to track down as coming from the local Wal-Mart (9 miles away), and it goes off when they shut some of the stuff down at night.  But no idea what it specifically is.  Right this minute I hear another beep on freq, 13560.38 kHz, that is about once per 0.85 sec and 0.19 sec long.  But I also have 3 different CODARs hitting the freq and a general lump of signals on 13560 that makes pulling anything out difficult.

Your 6 second beep on 13874 kHz was on a center freq of about 13874.96 kHz and is a 0.125 sec long beep every 6.0 seconds.  This fits with the Pips network as I thought.  13875 kHz +/- is a regular freq for them to hit.  As I said before ( http://www.hfunderground.com/board/index.php/topic,15329.0.html ), the next time you hear that freq in use like this check the other related freqs and I bet you will hear more Pips.

While no one is really sure what the Pips network is for (front running theory is some kind of propagation thing) it is not one of what is normally thought of as HF Beacons.

T!

1440

Spy Numbers / Re: V13 2014/02/16 1210 & 1300 8300 kHz

« on: February 16, 2014, 1624 UTC »

While they used to be H3E USB+carrier recently I have seen them in full DSB AM.

Glad you could get that one, I thought you might, which is why I suggested the times and freq.  The 1300 slot is not always used.

T!