M08a Nov. 10, 2010 6932.0 kHz CW

[aurora]

This is getting to be a regular Wednesday night occurrence. Very strong signal SIO 555, 15 WPM
I first picked it up from 2117 - 2133z so I waited and sure enough they showed up at 2200z with 3 more messages.

2200 - Announcement started with ANIGA NDUAN ATAGA repeated 18 times then followed by repeating ANIGA 5 times and presenting the 5-letter groups for the first message.
2210 - Message #2 started with NDUAN repeated 5 times followed by the 5-letter groups message.
2218 - Message #3 started with ATAGA repeated 5 times followed by the 5-letter groups message.
2226 - all ended with the typical AR AR AR SK
2227 - {THIS WAS DIFFERENT} I heard a very weak CW message reply transmitted at a slower speed - I could only make random letters here and there.
2234 - silence

[4405486]

Thank you for your observations- the more the better. Maybe a parallel transmission (repeat) nearby in Frequency, perhaps a hour earlier or later. Also, would be interested if you run into to SK01 Cuban Digital Transmissions on this Frequency. although, it is somewhat annoying- Cubans seem to transmit a lot of open carriers (dead air); at least you know what frequency they do use when they do transmit traffic. Perhaps this is used for "guarding" the Frequency or propagation observations by thier handlers; or for no specific purpose other than to run up the electric bill. CW Reply at 2227 Fascinating. Anything can happen with these people. During one of these transmissions, I could have sworn I heard someone, perhaps a janitor in the background conducting what sounded like a tour: "esta es para Estados Unidos..." and so on and so forth. Accoustic Coupling Maybe? Finally, I suspect you may hear these transmissions on this Frequency several times during the week. Cheers.

[Token]

Was the signal MCW or CW?  Was the listening mode AM, or CW/U, or CW/L?  And last but not least, did you confirm if there was, or was not, an AM carrier?

M8a uses both MCW and CW at different times.  When in MCW the carrier is 6933 kHz, thus the 1000 Hz tones are 6932 and 6934 (and normally 6930 and 6936 also).  When in CW the signal is 6932.

I have recordings here of M8, V2, and SK01 all on 6933, all with carrier.  I have never caught M8 on this freq in true CW, always just in MCW.  But it has been reported here, I just have not caught it I think.

You may or may not know this, if you do I do not mean to insult, just confirm, but M8a uses cut numbers, so the 5 letter groups are actually 5 number groups.

The very weak CW message you heard was probably not a reply, I do not know of a reply ever being sent to an M8 message.  A reply would kind of defeat the reason for sending this kind of message, primarily sent this way so the recipient cannot be identified.  If you transmit you can very definitely be identified.  However, there are other CW stations in that freq range at times, such as M51.  As I am typing this I am hearing one on 6934 kHz that is sending all numbers.  Another option is that this is a very active range for Pirate radio transmissions, and it is not unheard of for a Pirate to mess with a numbers station, or even to spoof one.  In fact, since the Fringe show "6955 kHz" aired the other day I have caught no fewer than 4 spoof numbers transmissions on 6955 kHz.  One of them was of V24, and I am pretty sure it was a sound sample lifted from my web page...lol.

[aurora]

Sorry for the late response - I was out of town. The signal was definitely CW/L with no AM carrier.

I copied what I believe was the same 15 wpm CW station tonight (Thursday) on 6932.0 kHz. I copied 5-letter groups from 2115 to sign-off at  2133z (December 2nd UTC time). The signal was very strong (SIO=555) with a consistent S9 reading. My noise level was only S1. I tuned around but I did not detect any AM carrier.