Messages

1711

Spy Numbers / Re: AUSTRALIAN NUMBERS STATIONS

« on: May 27, 2013, 2231 UTC »

I am not in Australia, but at a guess the most probable stations for you to catch would the be Asian and far East stations.

M95 (Morse) and V26 (Chinese voice) are on multiple times a day.  Typically they operate on one of two "sets" of frequencies.  First set: 4243 // 7345 // 9054 kHz.  Second set: 4283 // 7553 // 9153 kHz.  M95 is CW and V26 is typically in USB mode.

The exact start time for M95 and V26 vary quite a bit, but typically they are on one set or another about each hour from 0900 to 1400 UTC.  Some transmissions are very long, I have seen them run over an hour each.  Some are very short, I have seen 2 minute transmissions.  Since it is so unpredictable I would say just check all 6 freqs multiple times between 0900 and 1400 UTC, and select freq / time to concentrate on based on your anticipated propagation for that set.  Fairly often lately V26 has been erring 1 kHz low in frequency.  I suspect this is because they use an LSB offset for M95 and sometimes forget to reset to an USB offset.  In fact, they sometimes forget to select USB totally, and some transmissions end up in LSB because of this .

South Korean V24 is on almost daily.  It transmits on a predictable schedule between 1200 and 1630 UTC, on the freqs 4900, 5115, 6215, and 6310 kHz, all in AM mode.  I publish a schedule of past transmissions a couple of times a year.  The most recent can be found here:  http://token_radio.home.mchsi.com/V24_M94_latest_sched.JPG  The “Day” in the left most column is day of the month, calender day, there is no relationship to day of the week for this station.  V24’s Morse sister station M94 transmits 4 times a month.  V24 starts with music, so if you tune to a freq and hear music give it a couple of minutes, see if it changes to numbers.

Spanish language V07 I suspect is sent from far eastern Russia, but I have little proof of that.  It might be a good candidate for you as other folks in Australia have had luck receiving it, depending on time of the year.  It transmits on different frequencies each month, and shifts its start times over the year.  This station only transmits one day each week, Sunday morning UTC.  If there is a message to be sent it sends 3 times, first at XX00, second at XX20, and third at XX40 (XX is hours in UTC).  If no message (called a “null” message) it will only send in the 00 and 20 time slots.  I also publish a schedule of this station, it can be found here:  http://token_radio.home.mchsi.com/V07_latest_sched.JPG

V13 is a Chinese language station from Taiwan, called “New Star Broadcasting”.  It is on multiple times a day, but I do not follow this one so I do not have a solid schedule for it.  It’s transmissions are typically about 30 minutes long each.  I have caught it on multiple time slots from 0900 to 1500 UTC.  It changes freqs through the year, but I think its currently active freqs are 7654, 7688, and 13750 kHz.  Operating mode is USB plus carrier.

There is a Russian language S06 that is sent at 0400 UTC every week day, Monday to Friday, on 15721 kHz.  It would be a good candidate for you except that Radio Australia has an outlet at the same time on 15720 kHz, so the QRM will likely be too strong for you to hear the S06 station.

There are others to be found in the region also, but the above are generally what I think of as the “easy” ones.

T!

1712

Spy Numbers / Re: HM01 schedule

« on: May 27, 2013, 2158 UTC »

The chart on that page is a little out of date, but is a good starting place.  The most current loggings on the Enigma 2000 group would paint a more complete, and recent, schedule.

T!

1713

Shortwave Broadcast / Re: CNR1 broadcasts April 30, 2013 1232-1238Z

« on: May 19, 2013, 1401 UTC »

I haven't heard the ol' Firedrake for a while now.

 

skeezix, Firedrake is still on but very little compared to a month ago.  For example right now (1350z, 19 May, 2013) I can find it in only one place, 13795 kHz.  While CNR1 is on 13850, 13920, 13970, 14700, 14750, 14980, 15115, 15195, 15900, 16360, and 16920 kHz.  And all of these outlets went off air at the top of the hour, 1400z.

It looks like Firedrake still exist, but that CNR1 has taken over almost all of the old Firedrake slots.  And it has been that way since about 19 April, 2013.

T!

1714

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Red Mercury Labs 6925 USB 0058 UTC 18 May 2013

« on: May 18, 2013, 0128 UTC »

After RML left the air (S8 or a little better here in the Mojave Desert) a station called "California 777" tried to call RML back.

T!

1715

Utility / Re: signal on 22820khz

« on: May 13, 2013, 1613 UTC »

Thanks to cmradio I got the sound to play, and that is the same signal I suspected it was.  However this appears to be the non-stepped version of the signal.  You will find many odd signals on the associated set of frequencies.

The non-stepped version is also running today.  Right now (edit, not now, while writing this the Sun burped an X2+, and I have nothing at all on HF right now) I have the sweeps on 22819 kHz, the drifty MFSK on 14756 and 16926.5 kHz (not synced today, yesterday was synced), and nothing so far on the rest of the freqs.  I noticed these freqs fire up about 1330 UTC today.

As for a book the best I have seen is “Technical Handbook for Radio Monitoring HF”, but that will not have this signal in it.  It will have descriptions of many of the other signals you run across on HF in it though.

For audio files or descriptions of modes there are several sources.
http://signals.taunus.de/  
http://www.nonstopsystems.com/radio/radio-sounds.html
http://www.bcar.us/digsig.htm
http://www.kb9ukd.com/digital/
http://sferix.myweb.hinet.net/hfasia/

I keep meaning to put up more examples on my YouTube channel, but so far only have a few up:
http://www.youtube.com/user/FirstToken

T!

1716

HF Beacons / Dasher network, mutliple freqs, May 13, 2013, 1150 UTC

« on: May 13, 2013, 1304 UTC »

At 1150 UTC this morning (05/13/2013) I noticed a dasher network was active on multiple frequencies, 6551.7, 7801.7, 8056.7, 9963.7, 11276.7, and 12081.7 kHz.  Not 100% confirmed yet but it looked like all freqs were in sync, pulses coincident.  Pulses were about 105 msec long and occurred every 633 msec (just under 95 pulses / sec).

At this time (1305 UTC) all signals are still on the air, but the lower freqs are just about completely faded away and started fading as soon as the sun started getting close to up.  ChrisSmol was unable to receive any of the pulses when I gave him a heads up.  Both of these indicate a possible source west of me.  This is supported by my beam bearings on the upper freqs, around 300 deg true although I never got a real good, solid, bearing line.

T!

1717

Utility / Re: signal on 22820khz

« on: May 12, 2013, 2115 UTC »

Chris,

The 17299 kHz is the "drifty" stepped signal is the one seen most commonly of late.  Sometimes it will be the same stepped sig on all freqs, sometimes each will be independant.  One time I saw the stepped signal and a sweeper on the same freq at the same time, but mostly they do not mix.

Here is an example of the stepped signal on multiple frequencies, all in sync.  I have shifted each tuned freq slightly so that each is on a seperate audio shift.




T!

1718

Utility / Re: signal on 22820khz

« on: May 12, 2013, 1854 UTC »

'swisher' type signal on 22820 khz at 1827utc

audio file at:

http://http://vincewerber.org/swl/22820khz-1830utc.mp3

First minute is on LSB while the second minute is on USB.

73 vince ka1iic _._

“Page not found”, but that is OK, I think I know the signal you are talking about anyway.

This signal is a bit of a mystery.  At one time several listeners in the community thought they had a good grip on where it was from, and a couple of good ideas about what it might be doing.  But then information came to light that muddied the water a bit more.  Just a note, while exactly what it is may be difficult to say it is as close as possible to say it is certainly NOT a radar, as has been suggested on one forum.

First, lets say the frequency is actually 22819 kHz USB.  Yes, for those swept signals you could go with center frequency and that would be near 22820 kHz (typically ~22820.5 kHz c/f for the sweeps), but those swept signals are not the only things you will find from this source.  And for some of the other signals (and sometimes the audio noise on the transmission) you can see that the transmitter is indeed tuned to 22819 kHz and in USB mode.

22819 kHz is not the only frequency you will find these signals on, I have found them on 14756, 16926.5, 16929, 17299, 17383, 19281.5, and 22819 kHz.  I have heard of other freqs but have not captured those others myself.  Sometimes ALL of these frequencies are active at the same time, and sometimes all of the data on each freq are in sync, other times there is individual data on each freq.  The 16929 kHz signal is always in sync with the 16926.5 kHz signal, and might be a spur that helps indicate the transmitter is indeed in USB mode.

The swept signal is not the only kind of signal you will find on these freqs.  At various times there have been sweeps of different rates, there is often a drifty MFSK-like signal, and occasionally a few QPSK like signals.

The swept frequency is not an honest linear sweep, it is actually a stepped signal.  Since I cannot get your recording to play I cannot tell you which you are hearing, but I have heard sweeps with anything from 16 to 64 steps, with 32 being the most common that I have seen.

Here is the signal on 19281.5 kHz.  Also a max hold image of the 32 steps in this particular version.







WPG in Indiana is licensed for all of these frequencies and is a very good candidate for the source of these signals.  However these signals were first thought to be WLO and Swisscomm sourced.  At various times on each of these frequencies I have gotten good bearing cuts to both WLO and WPG locations.  European listeners have reported bearings consistent with HEB Swisscomm.  So, possibly there is more than one source associated, although WLO does not appear to be licensed for these freqs.

The swept signal has made for interesting monitoring in the past.  Sure, it is a boring sweep that could drive you brain dead in short order.  However, occasionally you can get both long and short path on these signals.  And when this happens on the swept signal it is fairly easy to calculate an approximate range to the source.  Combine said approximate range with a bearing cut and you get a specific geographic area that might be the source.

Image below shows the short and long path signals, and the delta between them (roughly 115 millisec).







In the above case the range is consistent with either WLO and WPG (by chance the range to each is about the same for my location) but the bearing was squarely on WLO, in Mobile, Alabama.


T!

1719

Utility / Re: CW signal on 108.75 MHZ

« on: May 07, 2013, 2025 UTC »

I have several LED's here (including both radio desk lamps), and no RFI from them.  I did have LED's that gave me bad RFI, but then I changed brands and have had no issues since then.

T!

1720

Utility / Re: CW signal on 108.75 MHZ

« on: May 05, 2013, 0406 UTC »

Possibly VOR (VHF Omni-directional Range), need what the CW is saying to be more sure.

T!

1721

Shortwave Broadcast / Re: Firedrake changing habits or reduced use?

« on: April 26, 2013, 1439 UTC »

Glenn Hauser on the dxld mailing list also noted the same change in broadcasts.

Got a link to this list?  Not sure I am familiar with it, but would like to check it out.

Although, not sure why jamming with CNR 1 would be more acceptable than jamming with Firedrake (or any other method).

Just a guess here, nothing more, but CNR 1 audio might be a little easier to claim as just happenstance that it is on the same frequency.  It carries regular programming and so it is just another SW outlet that happens to be poorly frequency coordinated.

Still no Firedrake heard here in over 6 days (last logged April 19, but I think I heard it and did not bother to log it in the very early hours of April 20).  While I do not look for Firedrake, I am not listening for it in general I just log it most of the time when I stumble on it, I have not had a gap of more than 3 days of logging Firedrake in over 3 years.  I thought I might have had it on April 24, but the signal was weak enough I was never able to confirm it was indeed Firedrake, it just had that general boom and screech feel way down in the noise.

However every day since I first posted about this I have had CNR 1 covering multiple stations, such as Sound of Hope, so it is not that I am not hearing China.


T!

1722

Equipment / Re: Antennas

« on: April 25, 2013, 1616 UTC »

Hmmm…I use whichever of my antennas work best at the time, I often switch through them until I find the one that is best, and that can sometimes be one that does not make a lot of theoretical sense.  Sometimes that might be an antenna that produces a much lower signal amplitude but a better signal to noise ratio.  Keep in mind that out here in the desert I am in a pretty low noise area, RFI really is not a regular issue for me.  I do have some light RFI, but not much at all.

Not going to run through all the antennas, but here are the ones that typically work best on MW and LW.

I have three Rhombic antennas for HF work.  Two of them are 450 feet apex to apex and the other is about 310 feet apex to apex.  Via vacuum relays at the terminated end of the Rhombic all three of them have three modes of operation, terminated, open, and shorted.  In the terminated mode they are directional, towards the terminated end.  In the open mode they are bidirectional, through the long axis of the antenna.  In the shorted mode each becomes similar to a large horizontal Sky Loop slightly squished, the two larger ones are about 1000 foot loops, and the smaller is about 700 foot.  This basically makes them full wave Sky Loop, although much lower than optimal, for about 1000 kHz and about 1400 kHz.  Typically one of these three antennas results in the best SNR on MW and LW.

Surprisingly my 160 meter half wave dipole, despite being a bit too short for the frequency range, does well on MW, and fair on LW.

I also have two loop antennas.  One is a home brew passive mag loop, I forget the number of turns right now but on about a 3 foot box.  The other is a Wellbrook ALA1530S+.  Both of these antenna perform well on MW and LW, with the Wellbrook being the nicer to use of the two.  The advantage to these antennas, naturally, are that they can null offending low angle or groundwave stations, sometimes making it possible to pull out a station that the other antennas might have lost in other noise/QRM.

T!

1723

Shortwave Broadcast / Re: Firedrake changing habits or reduced use?

« on: April 21, 2013, 2254 UTC »

Further research seems to indicate that the Jinhua Youbu transmitters are not frequently associated with Firedrake, and that there are too few transmitters at that site to really account for the absences of all of the Firedrakes.

Most reports put the majority of Firedrake jammers on Hainan Island.  Personally I believe that since the audio is distributed via satellite almost any transmitter site can be used, but still the Jinhua Yoube transmitters being off the air would not account for CNR 1 audio being used in an obviously Firedrake manor when that has not been the pattern in the past.


T!

1724

Shortwave Broadcast / Re: Firedrake changing habits or reduced use?

« on: April 21, 2013, 2012 UTC »

Glenn Hauser, on his latest WOR, said that a major Chinese SWBC transmitter site was going down for maintenance, so that might have something to do with it?

Very possible.  That would explain the reduced coverage, fewer jammers online at a time.  Not sure if that would explain the change from Firedrake to CNR 1 on former Firedrake targets.

Regardless, CNR 1 is a much less effective jammer than Firedrake.

T!

1725

Shortwave Broadcast / Firedrake changing habits or reduced use?

« on: April 21, 2013, 1446 UTC »

Hello all,

Over the last couple of days I have noticed that many time slots and frequencies that are normally the Firedrake Jammer have switched audio to CNR 1.  For example, at 1340 UTC today (April 21, 2013) the frequencies of 14700, 15115, 16160, and 16920 all had CNR 1 audio on them, but normally they have Firedrake in this time slot.

Not only is the CNR 1 audio being used on these frequencies instead of Firedrake, but the way they came online to cover the stations they were jamming is the same way Firedrake does it.

For those not familiar, Firedrake has 2 basic modes of operation, “on at the top of the hour” and “on later”.  In the “on at the top of the hour” mode Firedrake typically comes on like any other SW station at the top of the hour or slightly before.  In the “on later” mode Firedrake comes on sometime after the station to be jammed starts, typically Firedrake audio starts anything from 5 to 40 minutes after the hour, with about 10 to 20 minutes after the top of the hour being average.

For the last few days I have seen the CNR 1 audio start displaying the “on later” habits of Firedrake and on frequencies that Firedrake has normally hit.  In the last 12 hours I have found NO Firedrakes active, and normally I find them at will.

In the 1400 UTC time slot only two CNR 1 audio jammers appear to be active at this time (1445 UTC), on 12230 and 12370 kHz, both regular Firedrake targets.  All other outlets of Sound of Hope and other regular Firedrake targets are in the clear and have been for the entire hour.

Could the Chinese, in response to the recently publicized jamming articles and complaints, have reduced usage of Firedrake?  I suppose they could be having technical issues.

T!