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!
