Howdy all,
Monitoring the GHFS with its EAMs and Skykings is not something I do often, but you can't help but tune across them occasionally.
This morning there has been much activity since about 1200z, including some callsigns I had not heard before. Except for the volume of traffic and a few new callsigns there was really nothing odd about it though. From 1200z to 1400z I was hearing five or six messages per hour, mostly from the old standby Andrews.
My assumption is an exercise of some type is on.
At about 1830z I heard a long EAM sounding message on 11175 kHz USB, it was a good bit weaker than I normally hear the system and no "echo" so I figured it was from a single station instead of the entire network. Checking the other frequncies revealed it was not being simulcast on any of them, but it was being simulcast on 15017 kHz USB, 1 kHz off the regular 15016 kHz. Both frequencies were very weak, and the callsign sounded something like "Ball Que” but I am not sure exactly what it was. In the #wunclub IRC it had been reported that a similar callsign was used about an hour earlier on 11175 kHz, but unknown about other frequencies.
10 minutes after the end of the above (starting 1900z) a "regular" message was sent, all frequencies including the normal 15016 kHz and callsign "Andrews".
Anyone have any clarification as to what the real callsign of this “Ball Que” station might be? Or a location?
As I am typing this (1910z) the station came up again, still on 11175 and 15017. This time I was able to get it on the beam and it is centered on 075 deg from my Mohave Desert location, so not Europe.