Sunday 30 December 2007

Long E10 message

A large message sent today by E10 YHF on 7918 kHz at 1130z. It was an 147-group long message starting with IBEIA. Listen it here (it's a bit processed to remove some of the noise). Who knows what this message is; maybe a long, last-moment shopping list for New Year's Eve :-)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Sunday 16 December 2007

Double transmissions... twice!

At 1000z a message for 570 (a relatively rare call) was sent from two transmitters (?) in AM and USB mode nearly at the same time! Listen what happened, as recorded in USB mode. Three persons were involved! The OM with the deep voice, then the OM in USB and his companion who read the message.

At 1029z the same thing happened for Agent 995. Here's the clip, recorded in AM mode this time.

On both cases the OM with the deeper voice started earlier, in AM mode and with the annoying 1000 Hz "test" tone.

Saturday 15 December 2007

Is this the beginning of a new Solar Cycle?


Sun's activity is low, but there are signs of a new cycle starting, as solar physicists say. The source of the excitement is a modest knot of magnetism that popped over the sun's eastern limb on 11th December. Read more here. We're in the bottom of the solar activity for a long time now... so just cross your fingers and hope the scientists are correct!

Friday 14 December 2007

E25 over Polish Radio

E25 appeared over Polish Radio with a massive S9+10 while PR alone was only S5-S7. Here's a clip of the transmission, recorded at 1347z using the Icom using USB mode to avoid QRM. Note the slight echo. The message was:

g14
4121 4041 9811 5592 8876 1949 8148 7233 0693 0321
1043 9173 6024 9811

They QRT at 1354z.

I wonder: Should I QSL Polish Radio asking about the "strange man" disturbing their English Program? Or more precisely their Listener's Letters program? Yes they do have one, every Sunday!

Wednesday 12 December 2007

Let's try... videoblogging!

Hello guys,

I know a lot of time passed since my last Numbers-related post, so I have a small surprise for you!

This is my new radio, an Icom IC-R75:


And of course is tuned on my favorite station... And it's morning, and you can see the signal strength meter...

So now you can see E25 hihihi!

Thursday 6 December 2007

New edition of rfax is available


A new edition of rfax.pdf, the well-known radiofacsimile schedule issued by NOAA can be downloaded from here. Happy hunting!

Tuesday 6 November 2007

V07 loud and clear this morning

Another brilliant Enigma2000 newsletter is out and I thought to give a try to Gert's Prediction List (which is a handy tool for newcomers and experienced listeners). I tried V07 on 13552 kHz, at 0620z. An excellent signal in AM mode; just a bit low audio. Signal had some QSB but it's clarity was excellent. Here is a short clip, unfortunately no message transmitted (as usual).


So you guys over Europe (and elsewhere), consult the Newsletter for schedules and give a try to V07! Who knows, you may catch a message! No one is excused, the latest NL contains everything a spooks DXer wants!

Wednesday 31 October 2007

E25 YL also on 9450 kHz

At 1245z a carrier appeared on 9450 kHz and at ~1250z the YL delivered the control message "785 12, 788 4, 13". At 1254z a brief pause occurred and as this stereo soundfile proves, E25 operators played back the session for a couple of minutes past 1254z.

The Right channel is the beginning of the transmission at 1250z and the Left channel is the playback at 1254z. There are no obvious timing differences (echoes) so the 1250z and 1254z transmissions are the same.

Utility comms on 6140 kHz

My recorder got a QSO on 6140 kHz USB. These are two processed samples recorded at 0806z and 0807z. There is also a weak digital stream, 1000 Hz to <4000 Hz (tone, PSK(?) streams, tone). Any ideas?

Saturday 27 October 2007

E10 FDU along with Voice of Greece

The usual spot of FDU, a presumably test-callsign of E10, is 6210 kHz. As always I was looking for E25 and I was tuning around 6140 kHz. So I stumbled upon E10 on 6210 kHz, calling FDU at 0928z. On the same frequency was Voice of Greece playing music related to the National Holiday of 28th October. E10 was calling "FDU" sporadically so I manage to record only one instance. No message followed. At 0946z E10 was calling FDUK (again with VoG QRM) and at 0951z FDU again. Finally, at 1015z I logged FDU8 without QRM this time!

Friday 19 October 2007

E25 has a young lady

E25 has a YL operator!
I always was curious if the info in the Enigma Control List regarding E25 and its female counterpart is accurate. Indeed, experienced Enigmans are accurate! I was lucky enough to record her twice yesterday (Thursday 18/10) on 6140 kHz:

At 0855z a blank carrier appeared and at 0859z a YL started calling "200 3"! This ended at ~0902z. Listen!

Her second and most interesting appearance occurred at 0929z. The characteristic noise was heard when the transmitter turned on and after a couple of seconds the YL started calling "323"! Three minutes later she said "Message" trice and she handed the microphone to the well-known OM for the message:

"8001 5311 7129 4736 8505 3482 0671 3495 3546 5311",

then "Rebeat" x 3 as usual, and EOM EOT at ~0935z. Here is the whole session!

Note that the 2nd and last group are the same, and the 1st group gives the group count (10) and 8 as a serial number.

So that's how E25 sounds in my QTH without RAI. And that's how the long-awaited YL sounds!

Thursday 18 October 2007

E25 loud(?) and CLEAR on 6140 kHz

E25 now can be heard without interference from RAI International. The station ceased shortwave transmissions since 30 September 2007. While this is too bad for RAI, an excellent opportunity now opens for everyone who has the curiosity, will and time available to monitor for E25 transmissions on 6140 kHz.

Now I have a good and clean signal nowadays, but not as strong as 9450 kHz. You can check at any quarter of hour from 0800z to 1100z on 6140 kHz, and of course 1200z to 1300z on 9450 kHz. The mode is usually AM or USB in some cases. Happy hunting, and please report your findings here or to the Enigma 2000 group!

Wednesday 5 September 2007

The end of summer for E10 YHF agents

E10 YHF sends very large messages at 0900z/1230z/1900z slots. So YHF agents are back from their summer vacations; having a lot work to do :-)

This is the complete E10 YHF 4-message sent today on 7918 kHz USB, 1230z. It is processed to remove some QRM above 4kHz and lots of crackles probably originating from my neighborhood!

Enjoy! (Especially my good friend Kopf!)

Monday 16 July 2007

Lots of E25 specials

6140 kHz is active but interesting things still happen on 9450 kHz, like this. For less than a minute, a carrier appeared on Sunday 15/07 at 1143z and some background chat was heard. The audio was weak; some DSP processing boost it a little.

Then a transmission followed: 780 788 52 53 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 71 74 then 780 repeated and a 14 group message followed. After the "EOM EOT" another voice said "15 3...", "3...", some bg noises and mouse clicks (?) "...1" and finally they QRT. Here is a sample; be patient to listen till the end of the clip!

Second special: The same day at 1200z again on 9450 kHz calling 275 then "Message" x3 2001 280 x9. An odd message consisting of nine "280". The fact that we can get a correct group count from the first group and 02 as a serial is also interesting. Sample! Note the long gaps.

Third and best special! Two messages for two agents in the same transmission! that happened on 6140 kHz today (Monday 16/07) at 0716z. Enjoy!

Wednesday 11 July 2007

A nice ART / JSR mix

For a couple of minutes a fight between E10 JSR (the intruder) and ART happened on 5435 kHz (ART's home frequency) at 1500z. Here is the recording of their "quarrel"!

ART finally sent its g26 ZSWMU message (an old one).

Tuesday 10 July 2007

E25 on 6140 kHz with more power and new songs

Usually E25 sounds like this here in Crete, in USB mode with RAI interfering. This makes things very hard to me because I always get confused about what the operator says!

Today operators decided to help by increasing their power and playing new music in AM mode. Unfortunately no message followed; the entire session lasted from ~1100z to 1127z. Here is a portion of it. In the beginning only the (strong) carrier is present; in the end you can listen RAI alone. The difference is prominent. I really hope they will keep the new power settings on their transmitter and make my life easier! (And broaden the potential E25 audience!)

Sunday 24 June 2007

Buzzer's other frequency

S28 the "buzzer" or the "foghorn" (OK it sounds like a truck's horn to me!) is using another frequency except 4625 kHz. Ary warned the Enigma 2000 group that S28 can also be found at 3842 kHz.

Here is a comparison of 4625 and 3842 kHz as recorded in USB mode today at 1920z. 3842 is weaker here and lacks the carrier. Also the tones are decaying, not like 4625 kHz.

If you're not convinced if this is S28, listen them both going in "berserk mode" near the hour (1959z). This time the first one recorded is 4625 kHz.

E10 ABC2 on 6428 kHz

I logged E10 calling ABC2 in the extremely hot island of Crete (temperature peaked at 43 degrees Celsius!) after a warning sent on Enigma 2000 Group. Very strong signal at 1922z, with slight digi QRM. Here is the sample!

Friday 22 June 2007

Radio Show of interest: Mathematics and Codes

This is an introductory talk about Mathematics and Coding by NHK:

NHK World (English) http://www.nhk.or.jp/rjweekly/english/index.html

Friday 9th Mar 2007
Japan & The World 44 minutes:

1) "Tokyo Performing Arts Market 2007"
* Ms. Noriko Ohara / Vice Director of Tokyo Performing Arts Market
* Mr. Wie Jiyun / Secretary General PAMS
* Mr. David Fraher / Evective Director of Arts Midwest
2) "Mathematics and Codes"

Radio Show of interest: BRIXMIS Story

Here is a recording of BRIXMIS Story featured on BBC Radio 4, 11 June 2007, 1900z to 1930z.

Wednesday 20 June 2007

This is how E25 sounds on 6140 kHz, with NO RAI present!

Great luck today!

I got E25 on 6140 kHz this morning (0817z) calling "955 21" in USB mode. The frequency was clear from RAI thus giving me a chance for a signal measurement! So E25 was S7 max on 6140.

You can listen the transmission here.

Less than an hour later, at 0901z, E25 sent a message to "570". Signal was in USB, RAI-free but with some QRN. Signal was S5-S7.

Here is the message:

2313 3178 0588 1355 7091 0895 9354 8088 8008 5284
9852 1744 5259

This is the full transmission! I deliberately detune my radio to check if it was an AM transmission or LSB-suppressed. Also you can hear the switchover from the guy calling "570" to the guy sending the message.

And yes, more action followed!

At 0916z a stronger carrier appeared, and it wasn't RAI! Music followed, in AM mode, peaking S9+ but most of the times it fluctuated around S8. So this must be another transmitter on the same frequency!

Music continued and at 0930z an OM started calling "405 425" and then "405" only, under the music! The message was:

8920 8053 9788 0251 0753 8751 1008 0448 4098 8715
5405 7539

Listen what actually happened! Again, an other guy announced the message.

The music session ended at 1021z.

I'm almost sure these was two different transmissions on the same frequency. Today's observations are of great importance, if you also take account the occurrence of another test transmission from at least 0710z (as reported by Mike on E2k Group) until 0816z with a S9+ to S9++ here and S9 at 0710z in UK at 0710z.

I was extremely lucky today; being in my shack to note down signal strengths in a RAI-free frequency :-) instead of the usual record-and-check-later procedure which means no signal strength measurements!

Monday 11 June 2007

Two simultaneous E25 transmissions on 9450 kHz

E25 is active on 6140 kHz -- messages are sent in almost daily basis, but I have to recover them from unattended recordings with a lot of RAI QRM. Anyway, one exciting thing happened today on 9450 kHz:

At 1144z there was an OM calling "788 63 62 61 59 52 785 50 46 45" in USB mode and in relatively low signal strength, an AM carrier appeared (very strong) and another OM started calling "788 52 59 61 62 63 785 45 46 50 60"!

This is a recording from the weak signal just before the AM carrier appeared (USB mode).

And this is a recording featuring both guys (USB mode, a couple of minutes later).

The always-exciting world of E25 continues to surprise me...

Sunday 3 June 2007

E25 uses Windows

Listen the Windows OS startup sound and some background chat when the E25 transmission on 9450 kHz, AM mode, began at 0957z. Now (1015z) they're still playing "Inte Omri". Recording made in USB mode to avoid splatter from Radio China International on 9440 kHz (my AM filters are not so tight...)

Friday 1 June 2007

New edition of rfax is available

A new edition of the rfax.pdf HF-Fax list by NOAA is available. I haven't thoroughly compared it with the previous one, but seems to have the latest info regarding JMH. On the other hand, no further info about Rome Meteo, which I'm not sure if it is still on air.

Sunday 27 May 2007

E25: New frequency found!

Yesterday Mr. DXer alerted Enigma2000 for the existence of a second E25 frequency, namely 6140 kHz. A message to 880 sent at ~0700z.

And yes, it's true! E25 appeared at 0700z calling "880", under RAI Radio. They sent the same message as yesterday in English:

4621 4401 2895 8976 9541 1828 2294 2785 0932 4621

A bit different format, this time first and last groups are the same, and I wonder if the group containing the group count and serial is the second one: 4401: 44 → 44 is the serial? 01 → 10 is the group count? For the moment, it seems to be. More messages needed to clarify the situation.

ID 880 is entirely new to me; and in contrast to other 8xx IDs, the message was in English.

Listen to E25 under RAI, message to 880.

The moment I'm writing this, 0801z, E25 calls "200 8" (a control message to Agent 200)! This ID heard only once back in 12/3/2005 at 1250z! Wow! A whole new world under RAI....

Listen to E25 calling "200 8".

Saturday 19 May 2007

E25 live & playback transmission

At 1007z today, carrier and a 1000 Hz tone appeared, and an OM started calling "315", a rather rare ID. Then a 13-group message followed in AM mode:

g13
3284 6390 4131 2962 0255 9232 9142 4133 8427 7405
2188 6390 7695

After the "End of message, end of transmission", the OM started calling again "315" at 1019z! The song "Arouh Le Min" heard at 1026z and then again the OM called "315" and the whole message delivery procedure was repeated. Here is the whole transmission. Signal was lower than usual.

After a little research, I proved that the operators decided to playback the message session. They did it again for Agent 315 in the past. I created a 2-channel audio file, putting in the Left channel the initial message and in the Right channel what I believed to be a playback. If the resulting stereo file sounded without echoes (=timing differences), the second repeat was indeed a playback. Only propagation differences should be present. Here is a short sample of the resulting stereo file. Do you notice any timing differences? I don't.

Second transmission:

E25 appeared again at 1126z, with the song "Arouh Le Min", calling "555" and sending the 13-group message:

g12
9150 9121 3911 4428 3360 2388 1821 8231 9908 8180
7623 3911

(listen!)

A typical message which follows the guidelines of my article in Enigma2000 Newsletter #39. The transmission was in AM mode, with a stronger signal.

Friday 18 May 2007

E25: AM or not AM?

A brief "control" transmission from my favorite Enigma, E25, occurred today at 1143z. An OM started calling "785 58 788 45 46 50 52". The transmission was in AM mode.

Next, I'll show you the spectrograms from these transmissions: While recording, I switched to USB and detuned the radio for 1-2 kHz to see if both sidebands are present. Today we had...

The 1000 Hz horizontal line is the carrier, both sidebands present. (Audio)

Yesterday it was another story... LSB-suppressed, a couple of problems during startup, and a brief musical segment just before they QRT. The "control" message was "788 45 46 50 52 58 " also sent at 1143z.

The 2000 Hz line (and a 1000 Hz bit during re-tuning) is the carrier, only USB present. (Audio)

I hope this visual/audio representation was useful. I wonder when E25 operators will settle in a fixed mode and a fixed schedule...

S11b message

S11b is also a member of Family III like E11b. Check your Enigma Control List for details.

This one logged yesterday, 17 May 2007 on 7377 kHz USB, at 1030z:

213/35

77777 77777 08863 84165 37806 82607 83077 75531 73768 05155
31331 43344 83716 12625 28754 15735 07681 58384 55607 04406
57667 74406 55718 05715 56623 77530 74556 70521 71458 71268
37036 10786 10875 77777 77777

Due to low signal strength there may be errors in it! Note there are no 9's in the message.

The format is the same as E11b: "213 cherta 35" repeated, then message, each group repeated twice. The message is repeated again, this time each group spoken once this time.

Friday 11 May 2007

E11b message

E11b appeared on 9576 kHz USB mode, at 0845z but with a strong broadcast station creating interference.

0845z:
"233 oblique 36" repeated (a 36 group message will follow for Agent 236!)

0850z:
"Attention
77777 77777 42625 86583 67621 12764 31819 86701 48630 68251
03187 21700 56892 88330 59132 89989 91457 78190 51226 50289
25202 73666 89999 89303 36928 70176 34896 90263 47855 74088
94098 50799 04697 86814 77777 77777"

(each group repeated twice)

Pause every 10 groups. 5 is pronounced as "fiver", 9 as "ninour" and
as usual 0 as "tsero"!

0854z:
"Attention
77777 77777 42625 86583 67621 12764 31819 86701 48630 68251
03187 21700 56892 88330 59132 89989 91457 78190 51226 50289
25202 73666 89999 89303 36928 70176 34896 90263 47855 74088
94098 50799 04697 86814 77777 77777"

(each group repeated once)

0856z:
"Out!"

Listen the recording!

Update 12/05/2007: Is it "6" or "8"?

If you monitor Enigma2000 or this blog, I have mentioned that the third group was 42825 and not 42625. It was my mistake. Noise and BC QRM conspired against me and made "8" to sond like "6". With the help of Mike and some spectrogram analysis, it is proved now that no oddities occurred! The message and the repeat were the same. Here is the proof.

(Hmmm.... Blogger hates animated gifs?)

This is an animated gif of the two spectrograms. The first frame is from the segment "...42?25 865..." of the repeat (the one in question and the noisier) while the second is from exactly the same part of the transmission, when the lady says the same groups, in the beginning of the transmission, being for sure "...42625 865..." (reference).

The number in question is at 0.9 - 1.6 sec of the horizontal (time) axis. Keep your eye on the feature located at 1.1sec and ~2800 Hz.

I also measured the time-distances between prominent features of the reference spectrogram, and compared the results between the spectrograms. No great differences found, so the lady didn't make any mistake! The only one to blame is the BC station and bad luck!

Here are the two sound segments: Reference - repeat. I know -- it is very tricky!

Update 13/05/2007:
Because it is tricky, here is the repeat, processed. It is 6 isn't it?

So the case is finally closed...

JMH new frequencies confirmed

It seems that the image I posted earlier from JMH Tokyo HF-Fax Service was the best so far... I have trouble getting a decent image from Japan. The good news? I confirmed all three frequencies (2 new, one old) of JMH. Here is the broadcast schedule, effective 1 March 2007 (source JMA).

Thursday 10 May 2007

E25 stomps DRM noise for a couple of seconds

This is how E25 kills Voice of Russia DRM when E25 ops decide to transmit. As usual, E25 appeared from nowhere at 1250z for a couple of seconds, knocking down DRM, with a new song and excellent audio quality!

Two short E10 logs

The numbers station E10 (as called by Number fans of Enigma2000 group) is one of the most common oddity noted outside the usual shortwave broadcast bands. Here is a sample message, as logged today on 7918 kHz // 5820 kHz at 1130z:

YHF m g20 t
KEBPM RDPIM IFIXI RPXQZ ZBPBC SKWCY OZOID KHAIS RGBAD PQHWO
VOYVU CUHVQ GDLOR JJCFJ DCKXF NPZQG SDRJF LWVRS JBETN LWOIN
eom eot

Sound clip!
Very nice and noise-free signal!

At 1230z, on the same frequency, a little surprise: YHF3! An unusual call! When E10 has a message, Agent's call is repeated. If no message, the number "2" follows Agent's call instead: "YHF2". Let's see what will happen at 1900z 3840 kHz // 2844 kHz !

Tuesday 8 May 2007

JMH Japan HF-Fax service frequencies

The latest HF-Fax frequencies for JMH Japan HF-Fax service are:

3622.5 kHz
7795.0 kHz
13988.5 kHz

(all H24, 120/576)
Myself have logged 7795 and 13988.5 kHz. Here is today's test transmission at 1300z:
There is some QRM from a digital station few Hz lower. That caused my decoder to choose 60 LPM instead of 120 so I cropped the resulting image.

Sunday 6 May 2007

13320 kHz not numbers related

The mysterious 13320 kHz station logged again ~1351z. It is not a numbers transmission but a live QSO between two stations. Here is the sound clip!

A better sample from 13320 kHz

Here is another sample from 13320 kHz! A bit better reception this morning!

"...LF! LTU, LF! OK? LTU, LF! LTU, LF! Roger? ??? ??? ??? Roger? Roger? ??? Roger? Roger-roger? ??? ???"

The letters are "Lima", "Tango", "Uniform". I can't understand the rest (question marks).

And here is another short one! "OUF, UW! YRC, ZN! WUL, UP!"

Saturday 5 May 2007

UNID station on 13320 kHz

After Poacher's post in Enigma2000 group, I logged 13320 kHz USB, 1222-1241z! Very weak! Here is a short clip! It is heavily processed to improve SNR. Noise reduction introduced some artifacts but you can hear the voice much easier that way!

This station was misidentified as V21.

Sunday 29 April 2007

Sunday morning: Full of oriental music

From at least 0800z to 1322z E25 was on air playing oriental music. At my QTH, signal strength was constant S9+. Towards the end of this lengthy test (?) session a song was repeated again and again several times. Listen!

Friday 27 April 2007

E25 resends nearly the same message

A nice AM transmission today at 1142z, sending nearly the same message to Agent 780. Listen! As a bonus, some background chat is present too! So the OM called "780 785 49 51 788 38 41 45 46 48 50" many times, then "780" a couple of times and then a g11 message followed:

27/04
g11
9546 4111 0310 3238 5429 9388 5757 2587 6001 6341 0310

but yesterday...
26/04
g11
9405 3111 0310 3238 5429 9388 5757 2587 6001 6341 0310

Of course you can spot the difference! The first group is different, but the second, which gives a serial and the group count is legitimate...

26/04 3111 → 31 → 13 = serial, 11 → 11 = group count.
27/04 4111 → 41 → 14 = serial indeed increased by 1 and again 11 → 11 = gc.

Another TX occurred at 1244z again AM, "Arouh Le Min" and an OM repeating "220 4 5". ID 220 is a rare one, last appeared on 17/09/2005 and 01/09/2003 accompanied with musical intro.

Who else is on 9450 kHz?

I found the latest Shortwave broadcast schedule from EiBi. So who else uses the same frequency?
So we have IBRA Radio at 1200z-1300z without causing too much QRM and then VoR, with a strong digital (DRM) transmission. A little searching can reveal more info about these stations.

Language codes:
PJ stands for Punjabi (India/Pakistan)
HD stands for Hindko (Pakistan)
UR stands for Urdu (Pakistan)
HA stands for Haussa (Nigeria)

The rest language codes should be clear to you :-) If not, take a look at the "readme" file at EiBi.

Transmitter locations (aka Remarks):
t is Taldom-Severnyj (near Moscow) 56N44, 37E38
ka is Kashi (Kashgar) (Xinjiang) 39N30, 76E00

And that completes the "Who's who on 9450 kHz"!

Thursday 26 April 2007

E25 in USB under 1000 Hz tone and DRM

After being absent for a couple of days, I checked for E25 news. A carrier was present on the well-known frequency since 1030z today. At 1244z a 1000 Hz tone was up and later, a guy started calling "780 785 47 788 38 41 45 46" (a rather odd calling session, which anyway implied that a message will follow for Agent "780"). Indeed, that happened, and a 11-group message followed for Agent "780". The tone gone near the repeat of the message. Here is the message:

9405 3111 0310 3238 5429 9388 5757 2587 6001 6341 0310

The 5th group was 5428 then changed to 5429 in the repeat.

And here is the processed sample to remove the 1000 Hz tone. It is recorded on USB and near the end of it I switched for a couple of seconds to AM and then back to USB for comparison, so to make clear that it was a USB transmission. The DRM station interfering is Voice Of Russia. Check here for more info. Scroll down and click next to entries for 9450 kHz.

The guy says "Repeat" instead of the usual "Rebeat". Arabic language has no "p" so maybe that's the reason why E25 operators say something like "Rebeat" instead of "Repeat".

Monday 2 April 2007

UNID signal plus XM

A known frequency for the weird whale-song-sounding or "backwards music" station XM (Attention! Not XW, W for Whale! XW is different, "Workshop", check your Enigma Control List!) is 8707 kHz +/-. Here is a sample from today's song, 0814z.

A UNID signal noted by some Enigma2000 members appeared again on 10683 USB, 0809z. I can describe it as a Jet plus a looping banging sound. But today an XM signal appeared there too!!! Listen! The XM interrupted the UNID transmission. I was lucky to catch this since the station QRT at 0817z. Very weird stuff. Any ideas?

Tuesday 27 March 2007

A rare musical Enigma: XPL

A rare member of the polytones family appeared this morning while checking some E10 slots together with the E10 expert, AlphaVax. This was heard at 0934z over E10 ART, on 5435 kHz! It is XPL. The image shows a spectrogram made with CoolEdit, my favorite sound editing program.


The Enigma Control List #22 states:

XPL M12 family

Low Tones (Hz +-3Hz)

It would appear that the low tones are the product of mixing 2 non harmonically related tones, analysis not yet completed but tone pairs identified (Hz +-3Hz), tone product in parenthesis:- 150/235[80], 165/255[90], 180/245[65], 205/260[55], 215/290[75] Hz. Tone/value relationships :- Still under analysis.

Saturday 24 March 2007

E25

This is today's E25 transmission featuring a seriously-sounding OM calling "555" and delivering a 11-group message, after a couple of minutes of the song "Arouh Le Min". Log details: 9450 kHz AM 1218z, recorded in AM mode. Another excellent recording for all of you E25 fans!

Tuesday 20 March 2007

E25 this morning but no E15 yet

I'm doing some HF surfing to find E15 but still no luck... Frequencies to check: 18000, 14727 (discovered by Poacher), 14000, 11170, 11000, 6715 (Greek pirates' favorite also), 5834, 5530 and 4130, all USB mode. Take a look in the current Enigma2000 Newsletter (under E15) and in Newsletter #28 and the accompanying article regarding E15.

On the other hand, E25 appeared this morning on its usual spot (9450 kHz) in AM mode. A couple of transmissions in something like suppressed-LSB mode occurred lately. Personally I prefer AM mode, they sound a lot better, even if they play a little with audio gain and cause distortion.

Here is a sound sample of the 0912z E25 transmission. Too much audio gain in the beginning, then lower gain and background chat. I don't know which song they played. I wonder what the ops say in the background...

Monday 19 March 2007

E15 reappears!

Poacher from Russia discovered E15 on 14727 kHz, USB, 0840z: http://strangesignals.narod.ru/audios/unid_signals/END_ROVER.mp3

Here is an old recording of mine (6715USB, 17/03/2005, 0703z). It is the ending of an E15 transmission, saying "Adam Rover (or Robert)" twice (AR AR). It is similar with Poacher's recording so it must be E15!

E15 transmissions with message ended with AR x2 in the past.

Saturday 3 March 2007

A thousand sunsets

Now we will take a glance into an entirely different part of the spectrum. A total lunar eclipse was visible from my location (and almost half of the world). Here is one of the photos I took during totality using a Canon 350D digital SLR and a 300mm f/5.4 lens mounted on a simple altazimuth tripod. Exposure time is 1/4 sec, ISO 1600. Unfortunately it was a windy night so most of the images are blurry.

I thank my brother for letting me use his photo equipment!

Amateur astronomy is another hobby of mine, a demanding hobby requiring patience and endurance for staying outside in the night to fight the elements (and mosquitoes!) A hobby which doesn't like modern "achievements" like "light pollution".

Update 13/03/2007:

"OK, how dark is this?" You may ask. If you are familiar with photography, by noticing the ISO and shutter speed settings, you have your answer. If not, think of the following: The full moon is sunlit so it will require camera settings similar to a normal sunny scenery. This is true. Using the same lens and f/ ratio, a normal full moon will require 1/500 or 1/1000 sec at ISO 100 or 200. Pretty close to normal daylight photography. Here we have an eclipsed moon. Note the use of ISO 1600 and 1/4 sec exposure time. Compare that with say ISO 200 at 1/1000 sec. That implies 8 by 250 that is 2000 times less light from Moon during a lunar eclipse!

Hevelius' drawing of Leo, 1690

For the more familiar with Astronomy, 2000 times less light is about 8 stellar magnitudes drop. Full Moon shines at -13 mag. The stars (from down right to upper left of the eclipse photo) 56 Leonis (mag 5.8), 59 Leonis (mag 5.0) and χ Leonis (mag 4.6) will be very hard to notice due to the brightness of a Full Moon. During the lunar eclipse these three dim stars share the same frame with the moon. A normal observer under dark skies (no moon) can reach stars of mag 6, so 56 Leonis is near the visibility limits.

And another detail: I used the Daylight white balance setting of the camera. Auto white balance would produce a false-colored Moon. As I mentioned before, Moon is sunlit after all.

The Astronomy lesson is over. Just stop and think for a moment that the golden brown colors of an eclipsed moon is the combining result of all the sunrises/sunsets here on Earth... You can see all of them at once...

Strong signals and clear skies!

Why "the pip" named S30

Those scanning the low HF bands are familiar with the "piping" sound found on 3757 kHz. The "pip" also transmits on 5448 kHz during the day. Most of the time it pips continuously, exactly as its cousin, the "Buzzer" (S28 or formally UBV76), buzzes, but sometimes it sends a message. Today, on 5448 USB, 1520z a YL sent one in Russian. Listen!

Update 4/3/2007:

Mike provided a translation to Enigma2000 Group:

And a translation of what you heard!

(pip-pip)
For 080: 037 918 380 013 692 885 334 894 140
For 080: 037 918 380 013 692 885 334 894 140
How do you copy? How do you copy?
(pause)
For 080: 037 918 380 013 692 885 334 894 140
For 080: 037 918 380 013 692 885 334 894 140
How do you copy? How do you copy? Over
(pip-pip)

Which is very similar to the XSW (S32) text I heard some time ago!
Thanks Mike!

Thursday 1 March 2007

S17c calling "777" plus X06

S17c changed their frequencies as a part of its seasonal changes. Usually 5301 kHz is noisy and weak in my QTH. Lately I dial my tuner on S17c try to see what surprise the mechanical YL have for us. Today she called "777" along with a X06 transmission which was stronger. Here it is a sound sample, 5301 USB 1250z. The message was "62027" (as usual a "0" is in the middle).

V02a new voice, old habits

V02a operators are famous for errors, mixing with M08a or even Radio Havana Cuba. This morning a male voice heard just before the schedule start, on 9040 kHz AM, 0900z. They started with MCW for some moments, silence, and then the new voice of V02 started, with some brief MCW again. Listen here. That's how V02a sounds on AM in my location, 10000 km away from Cuba!

Tom H (Enigma2000) pointed that the voice is actually an older one used in the past. Also some new frequencies found, check Hugh Stegman's Utility World blog.

Tuesday 13 February 2007

S17c with a different callup

HFD from E2k Group noted that S17c used s different callup sequence, instead of the known one: "555"x3, "313"x3, 05 etc. Today, she said "777"x3 instead of "555"! Listen! 9165 USB, 1250z. A very good signal on my QTH, but i did some processing to reduce noise!

E25 test & voices again

This is the beginning of the test transmission started at 0815z and ended ~0833z on 9450 kHz this morning. Again there is a weak conversation in the beginning, and when the music started, the people talking, can be heard easily.

It will be very interesting if E25 start transmitting more frequently. More messages to gather & analyze, and more opportunities to other Numbers fans to listen! I wonder if this will evolve to a 0830z-1030z-1230z schedule!

Monday 12 February 2007

E25 morning tests

This is a recording of the beginning of a test(?) transmission from E25 this morning (9450 kHz AM, 1032z). Except that it proves the existence of other broadcast times than ~1200z-1300z, it is very interesting because an entire conversation can be heard in the background. If anyone can hear & translate it, is welcome to post a comment and make me happy!

Thursday 8 February 2007

The E25 saga continues

For several days I have noted activity on 9450 kHz at 0800z. Yes, that early! Let's unfold this story first:

Monday 5 February
A carrier noted on 9450 kHz at 0756z. QRT at 0759z

Tuesday 6 February
0753z carrier up! 0754z music, the familiar style of E25! Definitely E25. QRT 0810z

Wednesday 7 February
0749z carrier! Music! "Arouh Le Min" QRT 0800z

And today the surprise:
0823z carrier on 9460 kHz coming and going. Weaker than previous ones. These were as strong as the English E25 transmissions ~1245z. 0826-08028z series of test tones of different frequencies. Maybe it is not related to E25 but is a very interesting event.

Noon:

  • 1211z: Carrier, "Inte Omri" music intro.
  • 1217z: "830 16" weaker signals than usual. Read on.
  • 1244z: 780 788 27 28 785 29 30 repeated, the usual excellent signal strength now.
  • 1246z: 780 repeated, "Message" x3
1319 2160 1111 1754 2130 1111

This message reached USA! Chris of SpyNumbers had the luck to log E25 today along with other people on #wunclub!
  • 1248z: "End of message, end of transmission", QRT. Listen! "EOM" is at 4min 51sec.
Tip: Messages to "8xx" are in Arabic and with reduced power/different beaming. Analysis in progress!

Too tired now... 73!

Tuesday 6 February 2007

Some more schedule times for Tashkent Meteo

Today these air times were noted for Tashkent fax service:

  1. Earlier than 1507z
  2. 1510z
  3. 1541z
  4. 1608z
Second and third fill the gap 1500z-160z which is nice. Images were of bad quality so I didn't upload them.

Some more images from Murmansk

Three images from that unique fax station which transmits on LSB mode. Your favorite fax decoding software might miss it since Murmansk does not transmit the series of tones which activates the decoder. You must be present and press "Receive" when you notice a fax transmission. Usually Murmansk sends the "white" tone and then the phasing band of black-white for you to align the image. Then the chart follows.

At noon, the two images were sent one after the other so I has to manually start and stop the decoder.

8444 kHz 1327z

8444 kHz 1342z

8444 kHz 2002z

An annoying "barking" sound (digital station) is present near Murmansk's frequency. It doesn't cause much interference but it is really annoying!

HSW64 Bangkok, Thailand Meteo HF-Fax

Bangkok HF-Fax service is active on 7397 kHz in par with rfax. today I received the following charts:

7397 kHz 1702z Forecast for shipping

7397 kHz 1720z Surface analysis

Signal was weak and had voice QRM. Also at 1300z was on air, on the same frequency but much weaker so no chart to present here!

Monday 5 February 2007

E10 in parallel with Slavic OM

I just caught E10 calling SYN2 on 3840 kHz USB, at 2051z, in parallel with a Slavic male counting live! Listen!

E25

We had two transmissions today, one in Arabic and one in English. Both are the same as yesterday's transmissions. There was a notable difference though. Yesterday in the Arabic message, single digits were first, while today they came second.

  • Arabic transmission: 9450 kHz AM 04/02 1220z (listen!)
9001 / 9 0 10
9260 / 29 6 0
4621 / 64 12
1410 / 41 1 0
6729 / 76 92
8917 / 98 71
9416 / 49 61
2339 / 32 93
9260 / 29 6 0
7479 / 47 97
  • Arabic transmission: 9450 kHz AM 05/02 1211z Different announcer, clearer voice for me to translate! (listen!)
90 10 / 9001
29 6 0 / 9260
64 12 / 4621
41 1 0 / 1410
76 92 / 6729
98 71 / 8917
46 91 / 6419
32 93 / 2339
29 6 0 / 9260
47 97 / 7479
  • English transmission: 9450 kHz AM 05/02 1241z, same as of 31/01 (listen!)
1310 0160 1111 1754 2130 1111

I hope my translation to be correct. Time for rest now...

Update 08/02/2007:
After Mr DXer's comment, I corrected the translation! Thanks Mr DXer! Yes I confuse sitta (6) with tissa (9) because sometimes I can't hear the stressed "t" in tissa. Some of the E25 announcers are more difficulr for me to understand!

Friday 2 February 2007

UNID HF-Fax station: Must be Tashkent!

I did a search to some old HF-Fax images, received back in 2001-2002 where the Sun was more kind to us offering more sunspots! I found some similar images, of better quality, which resemble the ones I've posted earlier. The service's logo is visible, and I think it reads "UZHYMET". So it must be Uzbekistan. I'll show you my older images later, and ask you if I'm right. Here is a link to the Weather Service web page. Still I haven't found more info about fax transmissions...

First, I believe a transmission was on air commencing earlier than ~1359z, but it was under heavy QRN. A series of images followed, with slightly different timing than the previous days.


4067 kHz, 01/02/2007 1422z


4067 kHz, 01/02/2007 1448z


4067 kHz, 01/02/2007 1601z


4067 kHz, 01/02/2007 1631z


4067 kHz, 01/02/2007 1701z


4067 kHz, 01/02/2007 1731z

There was also a transmission at 1801z, but I was listening to G11 of course!

Here are the old pictures. Definitely then the conditions were better, despite being received in a more noisy location and with Sangean's 7 meter random wire antenna!


15/09/2001 1440z


04/10/2001 1439z


15/09/2001 1501z


22/12/2001 1519z

I have uploaded them full-sized so you can read the labels more easily! Unfortunately no frequency details available. I was novice then and underestimated the value of a good logbook! But it is obvious that the conditions were much better back in 2001.

Thursday 1 February 2007

G11 is back!

Great news! G11 is back on 5779 kHz USB at 1800z with great signal! Listen!

Wednesday 31 January 2007

E25 with a lot of pops and breaks

I tuned on 9450 kHz at 1201z and a nice carrier was present. But with a lot of pops and later with transmission breaks.

  • 1201z: Carrier was present.
  • 1212z: Music intro: "Arouh Le Min".
  • 1217z: Music stops, hum, bump, man starts calling "8... 830 13".
  • 1223z: Mic taps, QRT.
Recording

And then the breaks party begun:
  • 1241z: Carrier up again.
  • 1246z: After a series of test tones and transmission failures, a man starts calling "780 785..." failure again...
  • 1249z: Background noises! A voice! Door screeching, then man calling "780 785 29 30 788 27 28" many times.
  • 1253z: OM calling "780" many times.
  • 1254z: Message of 6 groups: 1310 0160 1111 1754 2130 1111
  • 1255z: Repeat.
  • 1256z: EOM EOT, QRT.
Recording

Important observation!
Richard from e2k group noted:
The last 2 digits of the second group indicates group count. For example, 2nd group today was 0160, the last 2 digits are 60. If you reverse the order (06) you have the group count!
Try it in every message I posted and see that it works! Thanks Richard! This tip seems to work even in my old logs!

Big news from E10 YHF

Massive traffic from E10 these days. YHF is sending 3 or 4(!) messages in a slot, which is rare. More info can be found in the Enigma2000 group, the one of the greatest Number Stations resources.

This morning, YHF resend the massive 4 messages. I was tuned on 7918 kHz not to miss the unique oportunity to listen E10 Lady saying "Four messages!" Here is the recording. Some noise reduction and dynamics processing was applied, just for your listening pleasure!

Warning:
It is a little more than 6 Mb and lasts 55mins. Listening to numbers for such prolonged time may have undesired mind-controlling side-effects! (Just kidding!)

Enjoy!

UNID HF-Fax station: Tashkent?

Yesterday I decided to look again for that UNID Fax station on 4067 kHz, and got 4 complete transmissions and a partial one. Again the problem is the spacing: 1000 Hz instead of 800 Hz, and also some faults during the beginning of the broadcast.

4067 kHz, 30/01/2007 1451z Partial image.

This one probably started at 1430z. Well it still seems Russian to me :-)

4067 kHz, 30/01/2007 1601z

4067 kHz, 30/01/2007 1709z

You see, my environment is not QRN-free! That zig-zag lines are caused by QRN.

4067 kHz, 30/01/2007 1801z

Use the times given as a guide to hunt for this one! Unfortunately the images are not clear and I can't read the boxes. If anyone is familiar with Tashkent fax service, is kindly requested to post a comment saying so.

Monday 29 January 2007

Reverse E25

After a hard weekend I'm back! E25 on the air today with another surprise:

  • 1241z: Carrier.
  • 1242z: 1000 Hz tone.
  • 1245z: OM starts calling "780 30 29 788 28 27" then correctly "780 785 30 29..." (Initially he missed 785). Note the countdown!
  • 1251z: "780" repeated, then message:
9496 9080 1831 3673 1003 5721 2851 1831
  • 1253z: Repeat.
  • 1254z: "End of message, end of transmission", then QRT.
It's the first time I see a countdown! Usually the reverse was the case! Here is the recording! Note that some clicks/pops heard are due to a faulty antenna connection. Luckily, it was easy to repair!

Yesterday's transmission:
After listening Sunday's recording, this transmission was the same, but without yesterday's failures! A lot of breaks happened during the calling session (780 785 etc...). Today I was experiencing "technical difficulties"!

Friday 26 January 2007

Murmansk, Russia Meteo HF-Fax

An unusual HF-Fax station logged today with success. It is supposed to be Murmansk Radio. Rfax info is partially outdated.

8444 kHz, 1330z

This station must be decoded with the receiver in LSB mode. My Sangean was tuned on 8446 kHz LSB. The transmission was wider than 800 Hz, and I didn't noticed the series of tones that triggers the decoder. So another difficult station, not because its distance!

I logged this station yesterday at 1456z and 2007z, so keep an ear(!) at 1440z and 2000z (or something like that!) on 8444 kHz!

E25: Entirely new music theme but no message

For at least 25 minutes E25 was on air today, playing music. Not the usuals. I tuned on 9450 kHz at 1207z and it was already there, until 1229z. I think they tried to transmit a message with no success at 1223z. Here is the sample, ~1221z till the end of the TX. Any ideas about the music?

Yesterday only two "control" messages:

  • 9450 kHz 1226z 25/01: "Arouh Le Min" intro, 557 4, RTTY QRM
  • 9450 kHz 1246z 25/01: 785 29 30 788 27 28, RTTY QRM

Wednesday 24 January 2007

E25

Two messages today but with a lot of transmitter failures and four(?) announcers. Carrier was present at 1221z until 1252z, with many breaks. Two messages were sent, old ones with just a minor difference:

  • 1226z: "Arouh Le Min" music intro by Umm Kulthum. A lot of breaks.
  • 1230z: OM calling "555".
  • 1232z: TX failure.
  • 1233z: TX on, other OM into 17g message, as of 23/01!
  • 1235z: Repeat.
  • 1237z: EOM EOT. Carrier left on.
Listen here the sample! Then another message:
  • 1244z: Another OM (more familiar to me!) calling 780.
  • 1246z: Message: 21g message from another guy! As of 21/01 but with one exception: 2nd group "8012" instead of "7012"!
  • 1249z: "Re beat!"
  • 1252z: EOM EOT, QRT.
And here is the second sample! Both transmissions with excellent signal strength.

The other musical theme is "Inte Omri" also by Umm Kulthum. I like them both, actually I like this type of music for its instrumental richness, tempo and vocals. After all, Greek music is influenced by oriental music. A Greek label (EMI) has released some of her art, as you can read here.

Tuesday 23 January 2007

E25 2 voices

E25 today with music intro and 17 groups. Listen today's recording; transmitter's power up in the beginning (1223z) is very spooky! Here is the 17g message to "555". Frequency is as always 9450 kHz AM.

g17
1092 6171 3010 6553 7095 2187 1503 4975 9753 6852
6226 2203 2099 1141 5388 4279 3010

Downloading difficulties issues:
Not my fault. OK, I test the links and work for me. That doesn't mean it works for everyone, you know how computers behave! It must be a Blogger/Google issue. I recommend using a download manager like GetRight, or your favorite alternative.

Update 24/01/2007:
Mike
independently logged E25 yesterday and noted two voices, i.e. a second guy took the microphone for the message. It seems to be true, as I posted my log in a great hurry, not carefully listening my recording and didn't notice it. They have similar voices hi hi! Here is the number "five" spoken by both of them, in this short stereo sample. One channel is the first OM, when calling "555" and the other is a "five" from the message. Use the balance control of your soundcard to hear the one or the other channel and compare.

Monday 22 January 2007

UNID HF-Fax station

Unidentified HF-Fax station logged on 4067 kHz today on 1631z, 1701z, 1731z, 1801z:

It seems Russian to me :-)

E25 another guy again!

There were 2 transmissions today, from a different voice. Listen!

  • 1208z: Carrier, good to very good signal strength.
  • 1211z: Music, transmission breaks.
  • 1217z: A different OM calling "830 12".
  • 1221z: QRT (what does "QRT" mean? Q-codes).
Then while waiting for another transmission, I tune on 9443 kHz to check for E11. When E11's YL said "Out", I tuned back to 9450 kHz, and voila! 20 secs after E11, the E25 transmitter was turned on. I was really lucky! Listen the whole process!
  • 1235z: Carrier on.
  • 1236z: 1000 Hz test tone.
  • 1244z: OM calling "780".
  • 1249z: "Message" x3, repeating yesterday's message.
  • 1253z: Repeat.
  • 1258z: QRT.
The signal was perfect this time, in contrast with 1208z transmission.

Sunday 21 January 2007

E25 getting serious

An OM trying really hard to defeat his mechanical counterparts, with a long (g21) message: 9450 kHz 1240z AM mode. Here is the message:

g21
9609 7012 4151 4029 8839 1795 3888 6815 2405 6746
0401 4243 3705 0571 9987 0787 6001 4103 1635 2916
4151

And here is the recording!

Friday 19 January 2007

Moscow, Russia HF-Fax

Moscow HF-Fax service seems to be active, but on different frequencies rfax initially mentions. In the end of the entry about Moscow Fax, the latest (May 2006) edition of rfax mentions:

(Update 3/2002) - Frequencies reported as 4318, 5108, 6890(night), 10611 and 13886 (night)
(Update 3/2002) - All broadcasts reported as 120/576 or 120/288 mode. 60 or 90 rpm is no longer used.

From my observations, the station is active on 10611 kHz and 13886 kHz (there is always an idling (?) digi station interfering) in the mornings, and 4318 kHz and/or 10611 kHz in the evenings. Here are some sample images from yesterday, logged on 10611 kHz:

10611 kHz, 18/01/2007 1401z

10611 kHz, 18/01/2007 1423z

10611 kHz, 18/01/2007 1446z

Wednesday 17 January 2007

E25 long message

E25 is back, sending a long (19 groups!) message on 9450 kHz AM at 1244z:

g19
3909 5091 5941 5814 0798 7670 5335 7429 9312 9030
2737 7587 2909 0407 4494 6094 5598 9856 5941

The third and last groups are the same. It seems to be typical for most E25 messages. Usually their messages are about 10 groups, but today 19! Maybe a lot of news to tell after a long time away. Listen my recording. It is the whole transmission. I have to add that around 1230z was a weaker carrier on the same frequency, 3/7 of my Sangean signal scal.e You can hear the power-up in the beginning, reaching 7/7, which is usual for my QTH.

ATS-909 S-meter


I don't remember where I found this graph, relating the signal meter indication of my 909 with S-Units. My radio has a meter of 7 bars indicating full signal strength. If anyone has more info about the source of this graph, please leave a comment.

So 3/7 is S3-S5 and 7/7 is... S9+10+...

Tuesday 16 January 2007

S06 Numbers Station

S06 Russian young lady was on 7740 kHz at 0809z, exactly as the painstaking fans of Slavic numbers stations predicted in the latest Enigma 2000 Newsletter, with the ID "352" repeated for some 4 minutes. I had a very clear signal, except from a RTTY pest about 4kHz higher, but after some DSP filtering it sounds great. Listen my recording: Can you hear the echo? It was a short 7-group message, ending "0 0 0 0 0". If you are bored with the ID, fast forward to the 4th minute of the recording!

Cape Navel today and... yesterday

The ionosphere is disturbed again, but reception on 18238 kHz today at around (!) 1530z was the best I ever had! The transmission started early at 1523z, and was a "blurred" Surface Analysis chart.

18238 kHz, 1523z 12:00 Surface Analysis


But yesterday... a series of false starts:
  • 1538z: Transmission of a "blurred" Surface Analysis starts.
  • 1549z: Stops! Starts again!
  • 1552z: Starts again! Ends!
  • 1553z: New trial: Header only!
  • 1555z: New attempt, this one finishes normally at 1616z!

Wednesday 10 January 2007

NMG New Orleans on higher frequency

I managed to log New Orleans on its highest frequency, 17146 kHz this afternoon. Here are three pictures:

17146 kHz, 1335z HIGH WIND/WAVES

17146 kHz 1350z 72 HR WAVE PERIOD/SWELL DIRECTION

17146 kHz, 1400z GOES IR TROPICAL SATELLITE IMAGE

ZSJ Cape Naval again

18 MHz was quieter this morning, but instead of a typical weather chart, I got this one:

18238 kHz, 1033z

Yes, It's only that. I have rotated the image. Also, some image editing magic to correct my decoder's fault of missing sync and adding the final part of the transmission. If you compare the header with my previous images, it's obvious that conditions were better. Cape Naval notoriously continues to transmit early or late, even only the header for a couple of times before transmitting a chart. At least some moments later got some charts:

18238 kHz, 1102z

18238 kHz, 1124z

Conditions stayed good in the afternoon; a "blurred" chart this time:

18238 kHz, 1532z


I like this station because it's so unpredictable. I can't wait sunspot number rise and have even better signals on 18 MHz! I like higher frequencies; they give cleaner and steadier HF-Fax images!

Monday 8 January 2007

E25 different voice

A different announcer appeared today with the "control" message "830 11 12" at 1215z. His first (probably) performance was back on 10/11/2006. Check Ary's webpage for that sample. Listen here today's recording.

Saturday 6 January 2007

First E25 message for 2007

A short message in Arabic was the first one for 2007. Maybe this is their way to wish us happy new year. The translation was easy, since only 2 unique groups existed:

  • E25 9450 AM 1213z: Carrier, music intro, then OM calling "835 830 10" meaning "message for 835 only". Very good to excellent signal; low modulation. The message was:
7050/7050
5555/5555
5555/5555
5555/5555
5555/5555

Easy to translate. But of course maybe I did a mistake. Here is the whole transmission recording. Nice piece for learning Arabic numbers. So far I have learned sifr (0), khamsa (5), itnien (2), wahid (1) (I confuse itnien as 1 sometimes).

New Orleans HF-Fax schedule

The "Request for comments/Broadcast Schedule" chart from New Orleans HF-Fax service, as of 05/01:

12790 kHz, 2025z NMG New Orleans, Request for comments/Broadcast Schedule.

All-in-one plus QSL info! I hope the address is still valid!

Ice

I'll present you some HF-Fax images regarding ice & icebergs, which I received yesterday (Friday 05/01) from Hamburg HF-Fax service, and Boston. Here is the one I like most:

9110 kHz, 1810z, NMF Boston, Ice Chart.

I like the "CQ" in the beginning and the comment "The 2007 ice season has not opened"! DXers overlook the powerhouses but they can also send interesting charts like the following, instead of "surface analysis" and charts full of isobar lines!

7880 kHz, 2100z, DDK3 Hamburg/Pinneberg, Ice Conditions Chart Northwest Atlantic. (image rotated 180°)

7880 kHz, 2115z, DDK3 Hamburg/Pinneberg, Ice Conditions Chart West Baltic Sea.

By overlooking the "common" ones (Northwood & Hamburg) I have never logged the above chart, which is also beautiful!