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.

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"!

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

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.

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.

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.

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!

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

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+...

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!

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!

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.

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!

Some more HF-Fax images from Cape Naval

I rolled a new "matching transformer" since I have more noise these days and I thought my old one may failed. The new one uses a ferrite toroid from a busted PC motherboard. It seems that the noise wasn't coming from there, something else is happening. At least the new transformer seems to work better on higher frequencies (preliminary result of course!) So here are some more charts from Cape Naval. And you'll see what I mean with "blurred" charts.

18238 kHz, 0730z, 12:00 SURFACE PROGNOSES (PREVIOUS DAY'S RUN)

So this is how a "blurred" one looks like.

18238 kHz, 0803z, ANTARCTIC ICE LIMITS

Note the "UNCLASSIFIED" notice. (Last word in the text box)

18238 kHz, 1029z, 06:00 SURFACE ANALYSIS

Also a blurred one.

18238 kHz, 1100z, 00:00 SURFACE PROGNOSES

Today they were almost exact regarding start time. But still, if the signal is not strong at your location, it's difficult to catch the start, since the phasing sequence is brief (where is Kyodo, with the nice long tuning session?)

New Charts from Cape Naval

11 minutes late! They started at 0741z on 18238 kHz in a hurry! I was ready to tune my receiver to something else, when I heard them rushing to start the transmission! At least there is a 1600 Hz tone idling before the transmission. I still have weak signals so the combination of all these make this station very tricky to catch!

Another thing I forgot to mention: Some charts transmitted blurred, i.e. with lower resolution, like resampling an image to fewer pixels. I don't know if this is intentional, the result is unreadable though.

18238 kHz, 0741z

18238 kHz, 1102z

Now this one started 2 minutes earlier!

E10 blooper

E10 is one of the most common numbers stations in the HF spectrum. Despite the large number of transmissions, usually they make no mistakes. Well, most of the time. Today, while listening on 3150 kHz at 1900z (a "hot" PCD slot) suddenly the operator switched for some seconds from "PCD2" to "ULX2". Here is a recording of the event. And these days, they start late, about 1 minute late! Maybe is the "New Year's Eve hangover effect"!

ZSJ Cape Naval, South Africa HF-Fax

A decent chart appeared on my screen this morning, along with a partial RTTY transmission. So far the best frequency for me is 18238 kHz, but I have to operate on batteries to reduce QRN from my PC. Unfortunately there is noise on some frequencies caused from my computer. In the case of Cape Naval transmission, the signal is very weak and I have to run on batteries.

18238 kHz, 0756z

Station's schedule can be found on the South African Weather Service web page.

Two very important things to keep in mind if you decide to hunt this one:

1. They don't start exactly on time, sometimes 8 minutes earlier or 4 minutes late.
2. The preamble (tuning) sequence is very, very brief, so your decoder might not catch it.

RTTY transmission excerpt:

A EXTENSPOM OF WINDS BY QUADRANTS (KM):
30 KT NE: 150 SE: 250 SO: 200 NO: 150
50 KT NE: 04)2 SE: 040 SO: 40 NOWJ
A FIRST CLOSED ISO(PRESSURE AVEAGOCDIAM): 1008 HPA /400 KM A
VERTICALPXENSION OF CYCLONE CIRCULATION: DEEP

B FORECASTS:
12H: 2007/01/83 14 UTC: 11.0S/47.6E, MINDOTVKT, OVERLAND.
24P: 2007
84 0/75:: 21.6S/47.0EN MAX WIND=030KT, OVERLAND.
36H: 2) 01/04 18 UTCTI WWMTS/46.:MAX WIND=020KT, DISSIPATING.
48H: 2007/01/05 06 UTC: 23.4S/46.7E, MAX WIND=020KT, DISSIPATINGBOTHER INFORMATI
ONS:
CLOVIS IS MAKING LADFALL NORTH OF N
ASRCF
IT SHOULD RAPIDLY WEAKEN OC LAND AND DIZOGANIZE DURING OPE
NEXT WWR TO 48 HOATXHREPTISITUATION AT 030600 C
HIGH 1026 HVAH33F8W HIGHEUR HPA 37S49ELFOTI HPE 57S15W LOW 1010 HPA 4S DE LMW
994 HPA 57S3
S
LOW 1008 PA 22S40E SEVERE TROP
STORM(CLOVIS
OIT HPA 20.5S /
48.7E

1/ COLD FRONT:'67?2-8EEKW 45S19W 50S10W 55SUPLW
2. COLD FRONT: 35S15E UFWS28/3)45S38E 50STFTTS43E 58S38E

AREA FORECAST
ASCENSION (06S/15S 00E/20W)
BSE PHLQQ TO 20.
VIS : GOOD.

ANGOLA CKPYS.19=': 00E/ COAST)
WIND : O SW 05 TO 10 BUT SE 10 TO 25 .8, 5'3 23'5.
VCDN : GOOD.
ST HELENA (15XEPS, 00E/20W)
WIND C SE TO E 10 TO 20
VIS : GOOD.

TRADES (15S/30S, 00E/WEST COAST)
WIND : S TO CE 10 TO 20.
VIS : GOOD.
SEA STATE: 3.0ZWITH SW SWELL.

TRISTAN (30S/'(/(),001)26
WIND :8VARIABLPHK TO 10 IN THE EXTREME NORTH, OTHERWISE NW
20 TO 30 BECOMING SW 15 TO 20 IN THE
H-WEST
TOMORROW MORNING.
VIS N IGCOR IN RAIN AND SHOWERS IN THE SOUTH.
SEA STATE: 3.5 TO 4.5M I THE SUTHBN SW SWELL.

CAPE WEST (30S/40/''0+/20E)
WIND :6859 '3,059 20 IN THE NORTH, OTHERWISE NW 20 9
TO 30.
VIS TOD BUH POOR IN RAIN AND SHOWERS IN THE SOUTOPV
SELATE: 2.5 TO 3.5MNVNHHHE SOUTH-WEST, SW SWELLRBZUI EAST (32.5S/40S,28EBBPE)


WIND : E TO NE QT T
IGIN THE EXTREME NORTH, OTHERWISE NW
I H959 2''= '2 15 TO 2',45'023'5)74.
VIS NPGOOD BUT POOR IN RAIN IN THE EXTCHCBT.
SEU JR ZMT TO 3.0M IC GDNEAST, WITH SW ELL.

The decoding is not error-free due to low signal strength.

Other frequencies? Well, I haven't confirmed any other frequencies. I guess 7508 kHz is valid since I have a trace of a Fax transmission yesterday at 2245z.

Conditions are still disturbed and the frequency (18238 kHz) asks for more sunspots and quiet ionosphere! Hope this will happen soon!

"Perfect Paul"

Ionosphere is disturbed again. While browsing New Orleans HF-Fax frequencies, I heard a mechanical male voice dictating weather info. A few clicks were enough to prove that it was New Orleans HF Voice Broadcast service. Here is more info. The mechanical voice is called "Perfect Paul"! I tuned on 8764 kHz and the signal was better. This frequency is assigned on Chesapeake and Pt. Reyes. The transmission started on 2130z according to schedule. Here is a sound sample recorded at 2154z on 8764 kHz. Some Cool Edit witchcraft is applied to make it more pleasuring for your ears.

Teaser: Cape Naval HF-Fax service is still on air. I'm trying to get a good chart for them to post here! Stay tuned!