Messages

1696

Utility / Re: What RTTY Station Is That on 4905 KHz?

« on: July 14, 2013, 0520 UTC »

The FSK on 4905 kHz c/f is 850 Hz shift, and it is encrypted, also referred to as STANAG 4481 FSK.  This is the signal in pcldltr's video.  I strongly suspect it is US Navy on the west coast, I would say Dixon but I am not 100% sure Dixon is still active.  It is heard at my location any hour of the day or night, and always strong.

T!

1697

Spy Numbers / Re: UVB-76 offline

« on: July 11, 2013, 1823 UTC »

I made sure it was offline by checking multiple servers to see if I could find it, which I couldn't. I also used this: http://www.justin.tv/uvb76repeater?utm_campaign=live_embed_click&utm_source=uvb-76.net#/w/6052195632/137 to see if it was offline, which it was. This is a 24/7 stream of UVB-76. Where this stream is being broadcasted im not sure but every time ive gone there it is always recieving the signal. I could have been (and most probably was) wrong but I thought that this was strange and thought I shoudl report it. I use SDR Radio client v1.5 by the way, also your station Token is quite good I get some good signals sometimes.

That stream (justin.tv) goes offline fairly frequently, and leads to a lot of people thinking the Buzzer is down when it might not be.    Don’t get me wrong, it is good most of the time, and a good resource to have, but it seems that when it does go down people always catch it and think the Buzzer is down.  When that stream has failed in the past that it has generated lots of traffic into the #wunclub and #priyom IRC channels with statements of “the UVB-76 is off air!”  MOST of the time (but not always, because the Buzzer does sometimes go off air) this is incorrect.

The other servers/remotes you tried could be misleading you, or maybe not.  They may or may not have had conditions to hear the Buzzer.  It would help to know what time (UTC) this was (that the signal was gone), and what specific servers / remotes you tried.  With that data a stronger evaluation of the probability of no errors could be made.  Quite possibly you are 100% correct and I am doing you a disservice by even mentioning the possibility that you might, possibly, have miss interpreted what you saw, but the “gallop pole” of past history for this station and these streams would vote against it.  If so many other people had not been wrong in the past then no one would even be mentioning the possibility.

Since this is only your 3rd post to these forums I have no idea of your familiarity with propagation conditions.  Obviously if you are familiar with propagation then you are undoubtedly correct in your assessment.  However, if you are relatively new to the hobby you might not yet have grasped all of the nuances of the sometimes perplexing area of propagation.

T!

1698

Spy Numbers / Re: UVB-76 offline

« on: July 11, 2013, 1302 UTC »

How do you know it was offline?  By this I mean how were you monitoring it?  If via remote which remote was it?  If local radio what was the location of the radio?  Did you try a second source to confirm it was off air?

Many people make the mistake of monitoring via a remote and when they do not hear the station they assume it is offline.  Most often the remote is offline or the audio is lagged out.  If you are not directly monitoring a station, if you are using a remote, particularly one without a visual indication of signal (such as a waterfall), and an anticipated signal is NOT present, you should always confirm with a second source.  If you are directly monitoring, using a local radio, then a remote can often confirm if the station is missing due to lack of signal or if it is really just conditions.

Unless you can confirm the reason for lack of signal an offline UVB (or any signal) does not mean it is actually offline, it might just mean whatever you are using to receive is not hearing it.

UVB-76 is reported off line many, many times a year.  Almost all such reports are incorrect, and in reality only the source the listener was using was off line or not working correctly.  Of course, this station does go off air from time to time, probably once a month or so on average.

T!

1699

Spy Numbers / Re: Numbers station 13750 khz USB 12:08 utc 6-24-13

« on: June 30, 2013, 1549 UTC »

Yes glimmer, V13 is indeed New Star.  They do sometimes recycle freqs, they just went back to 13750 a little over a month ago.

T!

1700

Spy Numbers / Re: HM01 on 10345 kHz USB 30JUN13

« on: June 30, 2013, 1548 UTC »

Are you sure it was in USB mode?  HM01 is almost always in AM, but of course there are sometimes mistakes.

Going to go over some basics here, if you already know this just ignore what I type.

When receiving a station you should always try other modes to see if it is really in the mode you think it is.  It is possible to receive some modes in "other" than the mode they are transmitted in.

A station that is transmitted in AM can be received equally well in AM, USB, and LSB.

A station transmitted in USB will only be clearly heard in USB, and the same for a station in LSB, it will only be clear in LSB.

A station that is transmitted in SSB (either USB or LSB) plus carrier will be received in that SSB or in AM, but will not be received in the opposite sideband mode.

CW can be interesting, depending on your exact radio.  CW can be received equally well in CW, USB, or LSB modes, but will indicate incorrect frequencies in USB and LSB mode, or if you are not tuned to the exact pitch in CW mode.  The key here is that with CW signals your freq might be off by quite a bit, so if someone else reports it on another freq keep that in mind.  Or if you are looking at freq lists keep it in mind.  If you are receiving CW in SSB mode (either LSB or USB) consider that the actual freq might be +/- 2 kHz.

Hope that helps.

T!

1701

General Radio Discussion / Re: Solar Flare poses huge threat

« on: June 28, 2013, 2345 UTC »

Now that it didn't happen I have one "?" What am I gonna do with 10 years supply of "T" Paper? 

It never goes bad, and you will probably eventually find a use for it ....

T!

1702

Other / Re: US Military Comm 6010khz USB 4:30 - 5:33 ut 6-24-13

« on: June 25, 2013, 0937 UTC »

Rockpicker, most such traffic would be secure, true, but once they leave VHF/UHF or get away from the SINCGARS radios you can never tell.  As I said, I have heard a surprising amount of it in the clear.  When you jump back to secondary networks or resources things often change drastically, including the application of encryption keys and who has what key.

cmradio, yes 6010 kHz is a BC freq, but I often run across other comms scattered in this band, as well as several other BC bands.

T!

1703

Spy Numbers / Re: Numbers station 13750 khz USB 12:08 utc 6-24-13

« on: June 25, 2013, 0922 UTC »

Then it sounds like it was V13 and ended early, sometimes it does that.  The carrier likely stayed up until the 1300 broadcast was completed, it is not unheard of for the carrier to come up for the 1200 UTC transmission and stay up until the 1300 is complete.  Several numbers stations with back to back transmission time slots do this.

T!

1704

Other / Re: US Military Comm 6010khz USB 4:30 - 5:33 ut 6-24-13

« on: June 25, 2013, 0143 UTC »

At that frequency and that time it was almost certainly something inside the US.  Combat activities of that nature would be Africa or Afghanistan, and neither are likely to be heard at your location for those sources at that time and that freq (it would have been daylight at the source, a condition that would kill DX on that freq).  This kind of traffic is fairly regularly heard associated with training inside the US.  I hear National Training Center, Ft Irwin, traffic like this pretty often, and 29 Palms from time to time.

T!

1705

Spy Numbers / Re: Numbers station 13750 khz USB 12:08 utc 6-24-13

« on: June 25, 2013, 0129 UTC »

I would be interested in hearing a recording of the station you are describing.  It does not fit the format of any station that I am aware of, or possibly I am misunderstanding what you are describing.

The AM carrier you describe might have been Chinese numbers station V13.  V13 transmits in USB+carrier and would have been on that frequency at that time (1200 to about 1231 UTC).  It would have also been on one hour later, starting at 1300 UTC.  V13 starts with pipe music and sends numbers in duplicated groups of 4, in a female Chinese voice.

T!

1706

Other / Re: Odd happenings on 7180 khz; 0321 UTC, 6/17/13

« on: June 23, 2013, 1248 UTC »

Who was the ham that used to produce and air shows around 3880 khz.? He was the most hated man in ham radio for awhile. Even the print mags complained about him.

I haven't heard him in 6 or 7 years. I hope he's doing ok? Other than Timtron and his buds going off on a shaggy dog stories about finding "serious modulatin' arn" for nothing or some such other subject,that guy was the only thing worth tuning for on 80 meters.

Are you talking about K1MAN, Glenn Baxter?

T!

1707

Spy Numbers / Re: XP Polytone? 7096 kHz LSB 2226UTC 17JUN13

« on: June 21, 2013, 1240 UTC »

There are also examples of XPA on my YouTube channel, as well as a few other signals that are of interest to Utility / numbers / general shortwave monitors.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA0X47UuZZs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM8PCBtIl7k

T!

1708

Other / Re: Dasher network, multiple frequencies, June 16, 2013, from 0235 UTC on

« on: June 20, 2013, 1757 UTC »

So Token are you thinking that these Dashers might be some kind of propagation measuring tool like a beacon? Sounds like a cheep and easy way to measure propagation. Sounds scientific. I wonder if this could be done by HAARP or some one similar? I don't know of any research places in the area that you were pointing at. Good theory T. 

If this is not just some period maintenance based test signal for some kind of network then yes, it could be propagation stuff.  I personally think, because of the infrequent nature of the transmissions, that they are more likely maintenance related.  Because of the repeated use of at least three of the known chirpsounder pre-beep frequencies, and the fact the chirpsounder pre-beep is about the same length as the very first of these ditters seen, I have to think there is a possibility of some relationship.

This is not going to be HAARP, the direction and propagation does not support this signal coming out of Alaska.

And yes, there are MANY possible sources in the direction I suspect this signal of coming from.  You could start with various University of Colorado sources (already a heavy player in the ionospheric research arena), and then off to Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.

T!

1709

Other / Re: Odd happenings on 7180 khz; 0321 UTC, 6/17/13

« on: June 20, 2013, 1749 UTC »

There is a ham net who gets on 40 meter upper sideband near that frequency, although normally a little higher than 7180 kHz, up around 7230 is their normal stomping grounds.  They use upper sideband instead of lower sideband because they run a lot of ex-military, merchant marine, and aviation radios, and many of those do not support LSB operations.  There are also other less structured users of USB on 40 meters, again quite commonly using ex-mil radios.

For readers who are not aware, by convention ham radio voice is LSB on 40 meters, but there is no rule that says you must use LSB, the use of USB is absolutely legal, just uncommon.  And that sometimes leads to a problem.  This net is regularly jammed and messed with by a few other hams who are mad at them for using USB on “an LSB band”.  I would suspect that you have stumbled on someone, or several someone’s, attempting to jam one such net.  Then again, it just could have been some idiot with a radio causing general hate and discontent.

There are also a lot of unlicensed South American truckers in the 40 meter range, but most of them use LSB and most of them are below 7100 kHz.

T!

1710

Spy Numbers / Re: XP Polytone? 7096 kHz LSB 2226UTC 17JUN13

« on: June 18, 2013, 1320 UTC »

This is not XP Polytone, this is a ham mode.  I am not at my home computer to light off software and find out which mode it is, but it sounds like it might be either Olivia or one of the MFSK modes, my bet is on MFSK-16 or something along those lines.  Of course the MFSK modes sound very much like XP.  Check this page for some examples: http://www.k3dcw.net/index.php?p=1_4_Digital-Mode-Samples

This frequency is in a section of the ham 40 meter band that is heavily used by digital modes.  From about 7025 to about 7100, depending on the region of the World you are in, you will find MANY digital modes, often mistaken for things like XPA.  And by the way, the signals will be in USB mode, not LSB.  On the ham 40 meter band audio is most often, by convention, in LSB, but digital signals are in USB.  You 7096 LSB would also be about 7093 or 7094 USB.

T!