Messages

691

Spy Numbers / Re: V24, mixing with Voice of Strait on 4900 kHz.

« on: February 26, 2017, 1535 UTC »

This Chinese station started using this freq, 4900 kHz, on 3 February.  V24 has used the freq on 23 and 25 February, as per their habits before that.  They will also probably use it at 1530 on 27 February.

Both stations are about equal strength here also, and it can be tough to pull V24 out.  I can tell it is there, reciting its numbers, but not really what is being said.  But, the V24 carrier is slightly below the BC station, the two stations are about 19 Hz apart, so you can look closely and see both transmitters online, even when you can't make out the audio clearly.



T!

692

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Wolverine Radio 6955 USB 0053 UTC 26 FEB 2016

« on: February 26, 2017, 0142 UTC »

a deceptive s6 here in dc, very low audio for the carrier i'm seeing. maybe an effect of conditions.
no local qrm, no fades for me here.

Errr...no carrier.  Wolverine is in USB, and there is no carrier present.  If you have a carrier it is something else.

T!

693

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Wolverine Radio 6955 USB 0053 UTC 26 FEB 2016

« on: February 26, 2017, 0123 UTC »

Weaker than normal for Wolverine, but still usable.  The wife has it on the house sound system while she gets dinner ready.

T!

694

Other / HAARP testing, 0110 to 0433 UTC, 20 February 2017

« on: February 20, 2017, 1521 UTC »

For the first time in a while HAARP was active in the early morning hours (UTC) 20 February 2017.  This activity was preannounced on the HAARP web page as well as several associated Twitter and Facebook accounts.

The official HAARP Facebook account ( https://www.facebook.com/UAFHAARP/ ) was not very useful in real time, however near real time updates were happening on the Twitter account of an assistant research professor ( https://twitter.com/ctfallen ).

A quick breakdown of the HAARP transmissions for early morning, 20 February, 2017, as received at my location:

~0110 to 0200 UTC, active on 4440 kHz with CW.

0207 to 0236 UTC, active on 3350 kHz.  Burst sent every 30 seconds.  Burst length is 4 seconds and consist of 15 short pulses at 5 pulses / second followed by one, one second long pulse.  HAARP system was apparently in X mode during this time.

0239 to 0259 UTC, active on 2800 kHz.  Same signal as 0207 to 0236 on 3350, 15 short pulses and one long pulse in a 4 second long burst sent every 30 seconds.  Still apparently in X mode.

0300 to 0342 UTC, Using both 2800 and 3300 kHz at the same time in Luxembourg Transmission tests.  This series involved different audio being sent in AM mode, sometimes tones, beeps, and music.  This was a 9 minute and 30 second cycle repeated every 10 minutes, so there were 4 complete cycles during this time period, one starting 0300, the next 0312, next 0322, and the last starting at 0332 UTC

0343 to 0433 UTC, Sequencing 2800, 2820, and 2840 kHz, CW on each, Artificial Aurora test.  Transmissions 90 seconds long on each freq, off air for 30 seconds, and then to the next in the cycle.  Sequence was 2800 kHz in X mode, 2800 kHz in O mode, 2820 kHz in O mode, 2840 kHz in O mode, then back to start of sequence.

Keep in mind that when I use CW above I do not mean Morse code, rather I mean CW as defined by RF types not in communications, CW is Continuous Wave, and simply means an unmodulated carrier.

T!

695

General Radio Discussion / Re: HAARP will be on the air February 19-22

« on: February 20, 2017, 1514 UTC »

I tried the times stated on one of the Twitter accounts and checked for any messages . They didn't
Tweet until it was over apparently.  

Chris Fallen, an assistant research professor with the project, was Tweeting in near real time with reasonably up to the minute updates.

https://twitter.com/ctfallen

Looks like the music went off somewhere around 5 ut, at 2800-2840 khz
There was a loud S9 jammer type signal at 2700 , but I went to bed after the posted times passed.

A quick breakdown of the HAARP transmissions for early morning, 20 February, 2017:

~0110 to 0200 UTC, active on 4440 kHz with CW.

0207 to 0236 UTC, active on 3350 kHz.  Burst sent every 30 seconds.  Burst length is 4 seconds and consist of 15 short pulses at 5 pulses / second followed by one, one second long pulse.  HAARP system was apparently in X mode during this time.

0239 to 0259 UTC, active on 2800 kHz.  Same signal as 0207 to 0236 on 3350, 15 short pulses and one long pulse in a 4 second long burst sent every 30 seconds.  Still apparently in X mode.

0300 to 0342 UTC, Using both 2800 and 3300 kHz at the same time in Luxembourg Transmission tests.  This series involved different audio being sent in AM mode, sometimes tones, beeps, and music.  This was a 9 minute and 30 second cycle repeated every 10 minutes, so there were 4 complete cycles during this time period, one starting 0300, the next 0312, next 0322, and the last starting at 0332 UTC

0343 to 0433 UTC, Sequencing 2800, 2820, and 2840 kHz, CW on each, Artificial Aurora test.  Transmissions 90 seconds long on each freq, off air for 30 seconds, and then to the next in the cycle.  Sequence was 2800 kHz in X mode, 2800 kHz in O mode, 2820 kHz in O mode, 2840 kHz in O mode, then back to start of sequence.

Keep in mind that when I use CW above I do not mean Morse code, rather I mean CW as defined by RF types not in communications, CW is Continuous Wave, and simply means an unmodulated carrier.

T!

696

SDR - Software Defined Radio / Re: Decoders (General Question)

« on: February 19, 2017, 1536 UTC »

For RDFT there is really only one generally available answer, DIGTRX, unfortunately it does not run under Win 10.  It runs OK under XP, and with Win 10 I have had decent luck running it under XP in a virtual machine, this is a bit hit or miss though.

FSK and RTTY come down to the same mode in general, although you might have to be a bit more specific on what kinds of FSK and RTTY you want to work with.  FLDIGI works for many of these signals, however you might have to set up custom configurations for the various types.

MMSSTV is the easiest free software that does SSTV, although I have never tried to run it under Win 10.

And for CW, again FLDIGI does a decent job.

T!

697

HF Mystery Signals / Re: 6814khz 0220 utc 02/17/2017 40khz wide. OTHR ?

« on: February 18, 2017, 0112 UTC »

Yes, it is an OTHR.  Exactly which OTHR I cannot say, it is not any of the normal suspects or if it is it is a less used mode.

(edit)  Based on  the time and signal strength this radar was heard in MD this morning I would say there is a good probability this is the US ROTHR in VA, although based on my receptions here this is not a typical operating mode for that radar.

T!

698

North American Shortwave Pirate / UNID 7615 AM 0230 UTC 14 Feb 2017

« on: February 14, 2017, 0235 UTC »

UNID station 7615 kHz AM, 0230 UTC, 14 February, 2017.  The same programming as the station formerly known as YHWH.

T!

699

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: RELAY STATION 5150 AM 1334 UTC 13 Feb 2017

« on: February 13, 2017, 1447 UTC »

5150 kHz is a frequency that is in my monitor list, I have a radio plotting that freq every day from 1000 UTC to 1800 UTC.  Not for the relay station, I have never been able to receive it here, but because it is a freq also used by a South Korean numbers station (V24) for three transmissions each month.

This morning at 1330 I had a signal on freq, with music.  V24 starts each transmission with music, so I figured it was V24 opening a new time slot of operation.  But that song led to another song, not normal for V24, and then into another song.

So I started swinging antennas around and trying to get an arrival angle on the signal, thinking it was some Asian or Pacific station I have not caught before.  But the direction of arrival made no sense.

40 minutes later I click on the HFU Ryver chat (it was open the whole time, but minimized) and see reference to the relay station....DOH!

I have never heard the 5150 kHz Relay station before, so I never connected it.  But I had it for about 25 or 30 minutes this morning for the first time at a usable level.

T!

700

North American Shortwave Pirate / Re: Wolverine Radio 6940 USB 0029 UTC 12 FEB 2016

« on: February 12, 2017, 0109 UTC »

Naturally I had to tune in in time for "One Toke over the Line".

I was in the middle of reorganizing the listening desk, with everything turned off earlier, but good signal into the Mojave Desert at this time.

T!

701

HF Mystery Signals / Re: 4020 USB UNID Tone/Alarm? 03/02/16 0114 UTC

« on: February 11, 2017, 2304 UTC »

Has been active since Feb 02, 2017.  Suspected Russian military, similar to The Pip, Squeaky Wheel, and Buzzer.  Voice has been heard also, but so far only test counts have been reported.  Digital signals have been noted, such as CIS 36-50 FSK, however those are probably not part of this transmission (I think absolutely not, but has not been proven yet), rather just co-channel stations.

T!

702

HF Mystery Signals / Re: Mystery signal question

« on: February 11, 2017, 2301 UTC »

Vince, I moved your post to this thread, since it is the same kind of signal discussed here.

Almost certainly some kind of industrial process, I have seen identical signals in the 25-26 MHz that I could trace directly to an RF plastic welding machine.

The problem is as stated a couple posts above, those machines are supposed to fall in a few narrow freq ranges, and these signals are seen across far wider freq ranges.  I suspect they are from non-compliant devices, or possibly DX from nations with looser requirements.

T!

703

HF Mystery Signals / Re: Strange signal on 5174 kHz

« on: February 10, 2017, 1853 UTC »

This is LINK-11 CLEW, also called TADIL, MIL-STD 188-203-1A, and STANAG 5511.

Link 11 is a tactical data link used by NATO forces (mostly naval, including USCG and US Navy) that allows multiple platforms to share situational awareness.  For example one ship in a task group can have its radar active and tracking targets, and all of the ships in that task group can have the same track data without using their own radars.

Link-11 can unencrypted, but to be honest I don't think I have ever seen any that was.  In the military when we used Link 11 without encryption we called it Link 1, this is technically incorrect because Link 1 is actually something else, but it is what we called it anyway.

This could also be Link 22 as -22 is replacing -11, however I don't know how to tell them apart and there may be no way to tell them apart as -22 is supposed to be backwards compatible.

T!

704

HF Mystery Signals / Re: 8130 USB 2323 UTC 09 Feb 2017

« on: February 10, 2017, 1847 UTC »

This is the British PLUTO radar, from their base at Akrotiri, Cyprus, in its most common 50 Hz rep rate mode.  In this mode of operation (since there is no coding beyond the LFM pulse compression) the radar probably has approximately a 3000 km maximum range.

T!

705

Spy Numbers / Re: New V24 prediction chart, first quarter of 2017

« on: February 06, 2017, 1913 UTC »

I have updated this schedule again based on observations through February 1, 2017.

Version 17.0, V24 schedule, first quarter, 2017:
http://www.tokenradio.net/Radio/SharedFiles/NumbersTfer/V24_sched_V_17_0_1Q_2017.JPG

And as always, the latest schedule (V17.0 at the moment, but will change as new scheds are made) on my web site can be found at:
http://www.tokenradio.net/Radio/SharedFiles/NumbersTfer/V24_M94_latest_sched.JPG

Of note a SW BC station has moved in on 4900 kHz from 1200 to 1600 UTC, this could cause issues with V24 using that freq, and may cause V24 to shift that time slot to another freq.  Time will tell.

T!