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"!

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".

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?

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.

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!

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...

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.

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!

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.

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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.

G11 is back!

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

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!