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Author Topic: 8MHz CW, mystery signals...  (Read 2166 times)

Offline Looking-Glass

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8MHz CW, mystery signals...
« on: April 27, 2017, 0442 UTC »
My favourite CW band, good old 8MHz never fails to give up something strange:

8.319MHz  CW  "4XZ" Israeli Defence Force, Haifa.  Transmitting nonsensical letters and numbers at high speed. 2229z 569 report.

8.345MHz  CW  "V V V RMR RMR RMR" at 2120z 529 report. (On 18th April at 2217z Voice transmission heard USB "Mike Alfa calling Key Star" every five minutes for around 20 mins).

8.348MHz  CW  "V ORTN" (repeated two times before rapid burst of letters/numbers).


8.492MHz  CW  "AQP2/4" Pakistan Navy beacon 559 report at 1307z.

Does any one know about the two highlighted frequencies please? 
Condobolin, NSW.

Grid Square:  QF37ub

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Offline Traveling Wave

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Re: 8MHz CW, mystery signals...
« Reply #1 on: April 27, 2017, 1727 UTC »
Here is my guess for 8.348 Mhz...The first installation for the Australian Coastal Ocean Radar Network is in the southern section of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) on the north-east coast. The GBR radar is a phased-array WERA system operating at 8.348 MHz and a 33 KHz bandwidth. It transmits 28 W of power in a CW chirp on a broad-beam antenna and receives on 12 short whip antennas at half-wavelength spacing along the bank at the back of the beach in a sweeping arc of a circle with a large radius of curvature. This configuration produces surface current measurements on a 4.5 km grid scale over ranges of up to 150 km. The two radar stations operate alternately for 5 minutes, giving a map of surface currents every 10 minutes.

and for 8.345 MHZ callsign is similar ....http://qrg.globaltuners.com/?q=Russian+Navy%2C+Baltic+Fleet
« Last Edit: April 27, 2017, 1740 UTC by Traveling Wave »
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Offline Token

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Re: 8MHz CW, mystery signals...
« Reply #2 on: April 30, 2017, 1253 UTC »
Here is my guess for 8.348 Mhz...The first installation for the Australian Coastal Ocean Radar Network is in the southern section of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) on the north-east coast. The GBR radar is a phased-array WERA system operating at 8.348 MHz and a 33 KHz bandwidth. It transmits 28 W of power in a CW chirp on a broad-beam antenna and receives on 12 short whip antennas at half-wavelength spacing along the bank at the back of the beach in a sweeping arc of a circle with a large radius of curvature. This configuration produces surface current measurements on a 4.5 km grid scale over ranges of up to 150 km. The two radar stations operate alternately for 5 minutes, giving a map of surface currents every 10 minutes.

WERA, like CODAR, is a coastal surveillance radar as you point out, however, it does not send CW.  The "V ORTN" and then high speed numbers and letters (ass described by Looking-Glass on that frequency) would not be part of a WERA transmission.

and for 8.345 MHZ callsign is similar ....http://qrg.globaltuners.com/?q=Russian+Navy%2C+Baltic+Fleet

Yes, 8345 kHz is a long time Russian naval freq.  I have it in my logs going back more than 10 years on that freq, with similar format callsigns.  RMP is the most common callsign I have on that freq, but I have seen RMR also.

I am moving this thread to the "Utility" forum.  These CW transmissions may be from unidentified sources (particularly the 8348 kHz "ORTN" signal, the others are known sources) however this "HF Mystery Signals" forum is more aimed at unidentified transmission modes, not unidentified sources.

T!
T!
Mojave Desert, California USA