VMW Wiluna Australia Meteo HF-Fax

A quick VOACAP run indicated that around 1000z it is a good time to check for HF-Fax transmissions from Australia. I tuned my receiver to 18060 kHz and got four charts. I can't say I'm impressed with the quality of the reception, but at least it is possible, and my decoding software manages to recognize the beginning and end of the charts.

The best one is presented below. According to schedule, it is supposed to be "S.H. 500 hPa Prog (H+48) Valid 0000". You can find how the original chart looks like in the same web page. Unfortunately, the current chart isn't available online, only an older one.

18060 kHz 1032z

Wiluna is located at 26° 35' S, 120° 13' E, about 12000 km from me! Not a bad signal for such long path! Boston is about 8000 km, so it must be the most distant Fax image in my blog!

Mysteries can be melodic

Accidentally I stumbled upon this one. Log details: 8147 kHz AM 2214z-2215z. Known as X06, it is believed to be a Russian SELCAL system nicknamed "Mazielka".

There are hundreds of different tone combinations that can be heard. I know at least one dedicated fan of them, but anyone agrees that the tones are melodic and distinguish from all the other strange-sounding signals found in HF.

E25

E25 sent a message today in English. It firstly appeared on 07/12. Here is a sound sample. Log details:

• 1240z : Carrier.
• 1242z : Buzz, 1000Hz test tone.
• 1244z : OM calling "780" in English.
• 1248z : "Message" x3

9919 3041 3340 1435 0174 4693 2918 3261 6456 8065 1745 8742 3774 3340

• 1250z : "Rebeat" x3.
• 1252z : EOM EOT.
• 1302z : Carrier down.

Note that the 3rd and last group are the same. This seems to be common practice now.

Space found

At last! Google provides 100MB of free space. This will resolve my audio samples storage issue! Now I can share my recordings with anyone! Funny, the solution was under my nose (as usual)!

Interested? Check this out!

This is S30, the so-called "Pip", but with a message. It is a brief message (probably) in Russian. You can call it rare, since few messages are transmitted; the station just send peeps most of the time.

NMF Boston Meteo HF-Fax

The sun storm continues, but the whole Earth is covering ionosphere in my part of the world. Sunlit regions of Earth are affected, and luckily it is night now.

For some reason I have a "decent" propagation path from here to Massachusetts and I can copy Boston Meteo Fax also on 9110 kHz (9108 kHz on my dial, you know, just subtract 1.9 kHz from the listed frequency!)

Reception on 9110 kHz is just a little better than 6339 kHz, so I parked my receiver there for some time. Here is a sample chart:

9110 kHz 2140z

And a chart depicting a satellite image:

9110 kHz 2151z

It is amazing that someone can receive signals from across the world, signals which travel in an unpredictable medium!

I'm pleased to introduce you... E25!

My radio listening has many aspects, from casual FM shows, to Non-Directional Beacon DXing. But the reason I love shortwave is... mysteries! So here is the first mystery station in my blog. Actually this and many other stations are called "Numbers Stations" from their fans. I am a dedicated fan of them!

E25 9450kHz

• 1213z : Oriental music intro.
• 1218z : A man started calling "835, 837 7" and repeating that many times.
• 1220z : The man called only "835". So there is a message for him.
• 1221z : "Message" x3 and then the message follows in Arabic numbers:

4010/4001 2120/1220 2816/8261 3888/8388 7698/6789
2680/6280 9084/0948 3880/8308 2120/1220 1325/3152

• 1224z : "Rebeat" x3, then the above message was repeated.
• 1227z : EOM EOT. Carrier until 1240z

For more info, check Enigma2000 Yahoo! Group.

Latest addition: Sound sample!

Major Solar Storm

The sun is shining outside, but that kills ionosphere!

I am still scratching my head... Where are my signals? Turning on the radio brought nothing but noise! Blame the antenna again! But that's wasn't the culprit. Medium wave signals were there; so something else is wrong.

Fellow listeners informed me that a major solar flare wiped out everything below 15 MHz. My favorite mystery signals were gone. Even Athens FAX was mediocre. But DDK7 still reaches me with a nice clean signal.

You can see the great spike (Bang!) in the image. Well don't forget that the vertical scale is logarithmic so actually that's a great, great spike! Stay tuned for latest space weather updates in my favorite space weather bulletin.

Let's see how this will evolve...

Later on 6 December, another spike occurred. It is also obvious in the above image. The ionosphere is still disturbed these moments I update this post...