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?)