We seek to understand and document all radio transmissions, legal and otherwise, as part of the radio listening hobby. We do not encourage any radio operations contrary to regulations. Always consult with the appropriate authorities if you have questions concerning what is permissible in your locale.

Author Topic: Russian Freebanders or Fishing Fleets Around 3 MHz - 17 October 2022  (Read 1014 times)

Offline R4002

  • Moderator
  • DXing Phenomena
  • *****
  • Posts: 2984
    • View Profile
    • R4002 - YouTube Videos
Tuned in via Polish KiwiSDR.  Noted activity on

2910 USB - Russian language
2920 USB - Russian language
2930 USB - Russian language
3070 LSB - Russian language (heavy QRM from AM signals on/near frequency)
3031 USB - Encrypted voice signals...with a carrier signal in between the transmissions, tuned in at 3031 USB mode...causing havoc with the 3030 kHz / 3033 kHz crowd

Note, the AM frequencies are seemingly random.  Stations having QSOs with each other are often several kHz apart.  Presumably, they're running equipment with analog frequency displays.


3010 AM - 3009 AM, 3011 AM, 3010.5, etc.
3023 AM
3033 AM - Real mess here, 3032 AM, 3033.3 kHz, 3034 kHz, 3035 LSB with carrier (AME mode, basically AM with the carrier and missing one side band)
3043 AM
3050 AM -
3062 AM - 3061.9 kHz and 3062 kHz, along with 3060 kHz (just a carrier?)
3065 AM - 3065.6 kHz, 3066 kHz, 3064.6 kHz, 3065 kHz, also 3061.9 kHz and 3062 kHz (probably a different group)
3070 AM - 3070 kHz, 3069 kHz
3077 AM - QRM city folks
3080 AM - Stations noted using 3079.2 kHz, 3079.6 kHz, 3081 kHz, 3078 kHz, 3078.9 kHz and 3079 kHz lots of QRM on/around here
3092 AM - 3092 kHz, 3093.1 kHz 3093 kHz
3110 AM - Stations using 3108.5 kHz, 3109.9 kHz, 3108 AM and 3108.5 AM both very good signals, also 3108.3 FMing between 3108.3 and 3108.6.  Another right on 3110.0 AM
3120 AM - almost as busy as the 3000 to 3100 kHz range, not nearly as off-frequency as other frequencies
3131 AM - maybe 3130 kHz is what they're shooting for
3162 AM

3312 AM - Hearing "Highway Star" by Deep Purple, really severe FMing - frequency now slowly increasing, perhaps as the transmitter warms up...was on 3313.1, ended up on 3314.2 at the beginning...then dropped frequency very rapidly..down to 3305 kHz at 1745 UTC...then back up to 3313 kHz (slowly increasing) with more Deep Purple
« Last Edit: October 17, 2022, 1745 UTC by R4002 »
U.S. East Coast, various HF/VHF/UHF radios/transceivers/scanners/receivers - land mobile system operator - focus on VHF/UHF and 11m

Offline Shortwave_Listener

  • DXing Phenomena
  • *******
  • Posts: 3748
  • British Columbia, Canada
    • View Profile
    • The Shortwave Listener
Re: Radio Hooligans Around 3 MHz - 17 October 2022
« Reply #1 on: October 17, 2022, 1908 UTC »
They are Russian/Ukrainian freebanders called Radio Hooligans (радиохулиганы). They use homebrew equipment of very poor quality. They mostly talk to each other but some broadcast music.

Wiki page: https://www.hfunderground.com/wiki/index.php/Radio_Hooligans
Lucas Bandura
eQSL appreciated! lucasnerite@gmail.com
Songs are identified with Shazam if needed. I usually use KiwiSDR receivers. Reception from my QTH is using an SDRPlay RSP1A for SWL with a 40 meter band Inverted V at 40 feet. Kenwood TS-570D for ham use.
My website: https://swl7.wordpress.com/
Shortwave Radio Archive: https://www.youtube.com/@SW_Archive
https://archive.org/details/@shortwave_radio_archive

Offline kris

  • Marconi Class DXer
  • ********
  • Posts: 9044
  • N.Poland
    • View Profile
    • Email
Re: Russian Freebanders or Fishing Fleets Around 3 MHz - 17 October 2022
« Reply #2 on: November 12, 2022, 2352 UTC »
   Yes R4002 - you perfectly showed how this FB community works in the 100m band.
Most of them have a wide ugly AM modulation, an unstable carrier + / _ 1kHz, the correspondent's response is also sometimes out of tune from the sender.
What's worse, you can sometimes hear and see their strong second harmonics in the range of interest to us, from 6260 to 6320.
    Well, they have a "fan" even without vodka.
We write about their music broadcasts in a new thread of the European MW Pirate Radio.
« Last Edit: November 13, 2022, 0002 UTC by kris »
RX888 ( SDR-FE-PLAY, HRD-747, Sony XDR-F1HD),
Ant. Sky Loop 180m 15m AGL, Sky Loop 120m 35m AGL
       + QRM X-phase eliminator
QTH: Gdańsk N.Poland  Ru/Sp/Gr/Sb=Russian,Spanish,Greek,Serbien
eQSL appreciated to: 13krzycho@gmail.com

Offline R4002

  • Moderator
  • DXing Phenomena
  • *****
  • Posts: 2984
    • View Profile
    • R4002 - YouTube Videos
Re: Russian Freebanders or Fishing Fleets Around 3 MHz - 17 October 2022
« Reply #3 on: November 18, 2022, 1420 UTC »
kris,

Thank you very much for the insight regarding these operators.   I figured they were either outbanders (bootleggers, freebanders) and/or were guys using old AM mode marine or military equipment with analog frequency displays in the 2-3 MHz region. 

It makes sense given that a large number of World War II transmitters or combined transmitter-receiver sets operated in that (roughly) 2-4 MHz range (lots of equipment only covered the higher bands, like 3.8 MHz to 6.5 MHz or so).  The older-generation marine radiotelephone equipment also worked in that similar range (1.6 to 4 MHz or 2-4 MHz), with some transitional-generation gear having the capability to run in "AM equivalent" or "AME" mode (SSB with a carrier so an AM only receiver could demodulate their signal, but somebody with their radio set to USB mode could also talk to them). 

These transmissions are very easily heard using internet SDR receivers located in Poland and other locations in Europe, but, understandably so, they are very strong on receivers in Poland, Ukraine and Russia (this was pre February 2022 in the case of the Russian and Ukrainian KiwiSDRs). 

100 meter band.  I like the sound of that.  100m is 3 MHz or 3000 kHz.
U.S. East Coast, various HF/VHF/UHF radios/transceivers/scanners/receivers - land mobile system operator - focus on VHF/UHF and 11m

Offline Shortwave_Listener

  • DXing Phenomena
  • *******
  • Posts: 3748
  • British Columbia, Canada
    • View Profile
    • The Shortwave Listener
« Last Edit: November 19, 2022, 0739 UTC by Shortwave_Listener »
Lucas Bandura
eQSL appreciated! lucasnerite@gmail.com
Songs are identified with Shazam if needed. I usually use KiwiSDR receivers. Reception from my QTH is using an SDRPlay RSP1A for SWL with a 40 meter band Inverted V at 40 feet. Kenwood TS-570D for ham use.
My website: https://swl7.wordpress.com/
Shortwave Radio Archive: https://www.youtube.com/@SW_Archive
https://archive.org/details/@shortwave_radio_archive

 

HFUnderground T-Shirt
HFUnderground T-Shirt
by MitchellTimeDesigns