Messages

676

Other / Re: UNID 4947 USB 1600 UTC 16 March 2017

« on: March 21, 2017, 1229 UTC »

SIGINT training always comes up as a possible source when these kinds of odd signals show up.  I always take such a suggestion with a grain of salt.  It is certainly possible, no doubt.  And I know it is absolutely true that SIGINTers do live, over air, training with canned signals.  But sometimes that is just too pat an answer.  "Look at this odd signal, it must be SIGINT training", and it is hard to suggest a more plausible source.

So I give SIGINT a solid, but guarded, "maybe".

Now, the fact of timing is interesting.  Looking at my logs these kinds of things seem to peak up in activity about every 6 to 9 months, with the majority of my log entries (but not all of them) over the last 7 or 8 years being in either early March or August - September time period.  If SIGINT training is a source, could we be looking at a school with a 6 to 9 month cycle time?  Not saying the school is 6 or 9 months long, but rather a new class starts about every 6 to 9 months?  Or might very possibly be a case of just too few data points in the log to be anything meaningful.

Just an idea.

T!

677

Other / Re: UNID 8000 LSB 2229 UTC 2017-03-18

« on: March 19, 2017, 1916 UTC »

Wouldn't surprise me if there's fishermen using 7777 kHz and 8888 kHz somewhere

I have heard Peskies, probably fishermen from the sounds of things in the background, on 8888 kHz before, however on 7777 kHz all that shows up in my logs is a couple of different digital type signals.

T!

678

Other / Re: Dasher 6950 0104 UTC 19 Mar 2017

« on: March 19, 2017, 1525 UTC »

I saw this signal at about 0045 UTC, but in the chat it was said these pulses had been on for some time.  Pulse was 0.500 sec long and every 4.0 seconds.  Last pulse was at 0143:15 UTC.

I looked for other freqs that might have the same signal, thinking it might be part of the Pips network, but no joy, I found no other freqs in use.  Because the signal strength was much stronger than I typically receive Pips, and because no other freqs were found, I think this was a different signal.

I also heard this on several European remotes, so pretty decent signal.

T!

679

HF Mystery Signals / Re: Alternating tones 13985

« on: March 18, 2017, 0419 UTC »

This is a frequency normally occupied by Russian military CIS 81-81 FSK.  CIS 81-81 on this frequency uses 500 Hz shift, and that matches the shift of this signal.  This is probably that modem in a test mode, alternating the two tones.

T!

680

Other / Re: UNID 4947 USB 1600 UTC 16 March 2017

« on: March 17, 2017, 0027 UTC »

OK, video on YT here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfO42qkOrF0&t=10s

I was just looking over my logs, and it seems the JFK "Ask Not" speech and FDRs "Fear itself" speech have both been used this way.  I should put video of them up also.  Regardless, I really doubt this is a pirate.

T!

681

Other / Re: UNID 4947 USB 1600 UTC 16 March 2017

« on: March 16, 2017, 1935 UTC »

This transmission began about 1600 UTC and eventually ended at about 1730 UTC.

The audio was an approximate 5 minute loop that was an edited version (hitting only the highlights) of the Dec 8, 1941, CBS transmission from the Joint Session of Congress session where the President requested a Declaration of War against Japan for the December 7, 1941, attacks on Pearl Harbor.  This loop repeated over and over for an hour and a half.

I have a recording of the transmission and I will post it later this evening.

While I don’t know what this transmission was, I suspect it was not a Pirate transmission.  It seems I have run across this transmission before, but I am not near my logs right now to see when and on what freq.  Similar transmission, such as JFKs “ask not” speech, have been noted on other frequencies before, possibly related to this.

T!

682

General Radio Discussion / Re: Decoded North Korean numbers broadcast?

« on: March 14, 2017, 1239 UTC »

The person who supposedly decoded these transmission appears to be in Britain, and the message traffic was purportedly about a British and American targets. But, these transmissions cannot be heard in Britain.

I'm sure 'FVEY' have listening stations, located near Korea.

This has to be a controlled leak from government agencies, released for their own reasons?

Of course they could, certainly do, have listening stations around the World.  For that matter there are remote receivers anyone has access to around the World, including in South Korea.  I use such remotes quite often, as do others on these forums.

My point was that the transmissions are regional.  The selection of frequency and time makes it clear that the intended recipients of these messages are in the area of the two Koreas.  Why send "hit" instructions over the radio concerning an American and a Brit when the instructions will not be heard even remotely close to the targets locations?  If the operative has to receive the instructions near Korea, and then travel around the World to do the job, would it not be easier just to dispatch the operative directly?

These kinds of instructions, from numbers stations, probably work best when intended for an operative already embedded in or near the target country.

As for a controlled leak, would it not make more sense to leak it to something other than the Daily Express?  That is more of a supermarket tabloid, and with its leaning towards conspiracy theories sometimes is not viewed as the most impartial of references.

T!

683

General Radio Discussion / Re: Digital SSTV Modes

« on: March 13, 2017, 1358 UTC »

There are digital SSTV modes, check out EasyPal.

The problem with digital modes in general is they tend to be very clear right up until they are not, then they fall completely apart.  Sometimes analog modes can provide better reception in fringe areas, areas where you would have no decode in digital modes you can at least have something with analog.

Of course, you can have digital modes that are very good in weak signal application, working at or below the noise floor, but those tend to be very low data rate modes, not something that works well with SSTV or information containing a lot of data, as an image does.  You absolutely could make an image mode that works better at lower SNRs, but it would require you to take longer to send each frame.

T!

684

General Radio Discussion / Re: Decoded North Korean numbers broadcast?

« on: March 13, 2017, 1317 UTC »

I have some serious reservations about some of the facts in that article.

According to the video embedded, the transmission was "10 days ago" at "1245 AM".  This article was posted on March 12, 2017.  So the date of the transmission was around March 2.  The closest Pyongyang numbers transmission I know of was on March 4, at 1515 UTC.  They keep a regular schedule, the first and third Saturday of the month, starting at 1515 UTC.  They used to also send on the second and fourth Thursday of the month, starting at 1615 UTC, but that cycle appears to have been dropped in late January, 2017.

The person who supposedly decoded these transmission appears to be in Britain, and the message traffic was purportedly about a British and American targets. But, these transmissions cannot be heard in Britain.  Radio Pyongyang, the source of these transmissions, uses MW, VHF, and HF frequencies, and transmits these messages simultaneously on over a half dozen freqs.  But the HF freqs are 3250, 3320, and 6400 kHz, and to the best of my knowledge these freqs have never been heard in Britain at the time numbers are transmitted, in fact they are seldom, if ever, heard in Britain at any time.  Normal propagation conditions just don't support it.  North Korea does have other shortwave outlets that are often heard in Britain, but the freqs and programming that carry the numbers transmissions are regional in nature and difficult to hear in Britain.

The person who defected, in Britain, and helped decode the message defected in August of 2016.  He happened to have had the code keys to a message that would be sent for Asian reception 5 months later?

Of course, it is all possible, but there are too many holes in the story for me to take it seriously.  Maybe the details were left out because they would have been tedious to the average reader, or to reduce the word count.  And then again it would not be the first time a media story took a basically correct fact and presented it in a screwed up way that presented some of the facts wrong.

T!

685

Spy Numbers / Re: E07a Transmission issues?

« on: March 12, 2017, 2213 UTC »

Unfortunately, no. I did not capture a recording of the 2100 transmission. I did however take a good transcript that can be found in my previous post.

OK, unfortunately I am a little confused then.

Looking at the two threads, your first post in this thread said that E07a missed a sched on 4577 kHz.  You said it missed the 2240 UTC TX, but apparently you mean the 2140 UTC TX, that is the time it should have been on 4577 kHz if there was a message, an easy time conversion mistake and no biggy.   By the way, those kinds of time noting errors are part of the reason every clock I can see at the radio desk, including the PC clocks, are on UTC time.

Then you quote 2220 UTC on 5277 kHz with a null.  Again this should be 2120 UTC, but once the time gets hosed in the notes it tends to stay that way  The transcript you posted fits well for what should have been in the 2120 UTC, 5277 kHz transmission, assuming a null.

When I asked about a recording of the 2100 TX you said no, but the transcript in the other thread was what was sent.  Quoted below:

3/8/17
4577 USB
Start:2140 UTC
End: 2146 UTC
616 1 616 1 616

42814 90048 40005 36295 02253 91468 85697 65098
89724 68557 50304 67909 68147 06572 34433
000 000

Looking at that post, with the transcript, it says 4577 kHz at 2140 UTC.  So that post says that the 2140 UTC TX on 4577 kHz did happen.

However the message posted, the transcript, is the one that should have been sent at 2040 UTC on 7651 kHz.  The callup 616 is used on the set of 2000 UTC / 10651 kHz, 2020 UTC / 9151 kHz, and 2040 UTC / 7651 kHz.

Could there be some errors in your notes?

T!

686

Spy Numbers / Re: V24 Korean Numbers Station on 4925 kHz.

« on: March 11, 2017, 2041 UTC »

V24's use of this frequency in this time slot is a bit sporadic.  It appears to be about every other month on the odd numbered months, they have used this cycle on other time slots and frequencies in the past.

In this case the frequency / time slot was used in October and November of 2016, January and now March of 2017.  So month 10, 11, 1, and 3.  The month 10 usage is not an odd month, it is even, but it was the first time this freq / time had been noted, so possibly October 2016 was a test month?

The 5115 kHz transmission at 1600 UTC did not seem to go this morning, and it has been a steady player for the last 5 months.  Of course it might have been transmitted and just not heard at my location, that does occasionally happen but is uncommon.

T!

687

Spy Numbers / Re: E07a Transmission issues?

« on: March 11, 2017, 0305 UTC »

I now realize my mistake on the time conversion. However the format is intriguing. The first message had traffic, the second was null. Therefore I assumed the traffic would have been re-transmitted on the third transmission. Thanks for correcting me Token, I appreciate it.

The fact the first TX at 2100 had a message and that the second at 2120 was a null is the odd part, that would be an error.  And since the 2140 TX did not happen, that would seem to indicate the first slot should have been a null also.

You wouldn't happen to have a recording of the 2100 TX would you?

By the way, the callup of this family of stations gives you a clue to the frequencies that will be used.

All three of these time slots, 2100 UTC on 5877 kHz, 2120 UTC on 5277 kHz, and 2140 UTC on 4577 kHz, in March will have the callup of "825".  Notice anything with that callup and and those freqs?  All the freqs end in 77, and the 100's kHz digit is the same as the callup digits in that order.

I mean, look at the callup, 825, eight, two, and five.  And the first time slot freq is 5_8_77 kHz.  The second time slot freq is 5_2_77 kHz.  The third time slot freq is 4_5_77 kHz.  This family of stations does this commonly.

T!

688

Utility / Re: USAF 11175 kHz USB 1630 UTC 6 Mar. 2017

« on: March 11, 2017, 0151 UTC »

There really is no real "normal" for the HF-GCS network.  Further, what becomes normal changes with time.  Coded messages might range from 9 chars (the shortest one I have in my logs, anyway) to over 250.  Similarly, there might be more than a dozen transmissions in an hour or there might be less than one.

Listeners like to make a big deal out of certain callsigns, how many times an hour messages are sent, or how many chars are in a message.  In reality there just is nothing to be made of these things.

Many messages in a short period might mean something is going on someplace, or it might simply mean they are doing training someplace, and it does not have to be one of the big name announced training exercises.  Personally I suspect the only thing that really has any meaning, however small, is exceptionally long messages.  I just doubt they will throw padding (extra nonsense information added to a message to obscure it or completely meaningless transmissions sent to foil traffic analysis attempts) on such long messages all that often.

However, I will tell you, sometimes it is also informal "training".  Maybe not on the main HF-GCS freqs, but on the discretes I would not be surprised.  I once sent a 220 character message in a format similar to the EAMs of today on an Echo Whiskey net in the Pacific.  And got a similarly long response in return.  I am sure any listeners would have thought "these guys must be talking about something important".  What we were passing was details on where to meet and what to do when we got to the PI, because liberty is an important feature in any sailors life.

T!

689

Spy Numbers / Re: E07a Transmission issues?

« on: March 11, 2017, 0128 UTC »

3/8/17

Notes:
E07a missed scheduled transmission on 4577 kHz. It is scheduled at 2240 UTC. I can verify the transmitter was operational, I received traffic from it 60 minutes prior.
This could possibly suggest multiple transmitters aimed at Europe and at North America.
 
-----------------------------
3/8/17
E07a
Start: 2220 UTC
End: 2224 UTC
5277 kHz USB

Null with 9 groups of:

825 825 825 000


-Cherrypie

E07a did not miss the transmission in the time period pointed out.  By the way Cherrypie, I think you have done a time conversion wrong, it should have been 2120 UTC, Wednesday, March 8, 2017, on 5277 kHz, not 2220 UTC as you posted.  In the 2200 period that day, at 2200, 2220, and 2240 UTC, would be M12 (E07a's Morse code sister station), not E07a.

In March, on Wed / Thu the 2100 time schedule is 2100 UTC on 5877 kHz, 2120 UTC on 5277 kHz, and 2140 UTC on 4577 kHz.  The same message, if any, will be sent in each time slot.

However this station, like all of the stations in its related family, will NOT transmit the third transmission if the message is a null.  The third time spot, 2140 UTC, will only be used when there is a message.

As noted, the 2100 UTC, 5877 kHz, and the 2120 UTC, 5277 kHz, transmissions were a null, "825  825  825  000".  Since there was no message, it was a null, the 2140 UTC TX did not happen.

And that is what the "in case of traffic" means, if there is a message to send, and not a null, the third time period will also be included.

So, no schedule missed, just normal operations for the station.

T!

690

22 Meter Band HiFER Beacons / Re: Dasher 13559.88 kHz 2122 UTC 25 Feb 2017

« on: February 27, 2017, 1433 UTC »

I have a fast dasher locally on 13559.95 kHz 24 hours a day.  I have heard this sound miles away from anyone and in the middle of the desert.  I chased it for a while, trying to figure out what it was.  A guy I know (hey, I know a guy, who knows a guy), who is a radio guy and who works for the cable company, says the specific sound I am hearing is a security system on their cable.  He did not have, or at least share, details, but he was able to turn it off one day when we were talking on 2 meters.  When he turned it off the signal I was hearing went away.

The signal I am talking about sounds pretty much identical to the video that MDK2 posted.

T!