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!