Thursday 19 March 2009

E11a this morning

Right now (07:15 UTC), E11a is on 11486 kHz, USB, with a solid S9 signal. A 46-group message (without the initial and ending 77777's, which is E11b) for Agent "389", starting with "07946..." is in progress.

This is the full transmission.

Sunday 1 March 2009

E10 now sends "TMS" instead of "ABC" on 6428 kHz

E10 was calling "ABC" on 6428 kHz the last few days. But right now (1545 UTC), E10 calls "TMS" in AM mode on 6428 kHz. E10 transmissions are carrier+USB but this one is AM. This recording was made with the Icom set to LSB to avoid some digital "rattle" QRM. The signal is ~S7 on LSB with S9 peaks, while it is a more or less steady S9 in AM with +10dB peaks and digi QRM.

Wednesday 11 February 2009

E10 EZI2 & E06 mix on 6840 kHz

Thanks to E10-Agent, ENIGMA 2000 members were informed about an exciting E10/E06 mix!

Specifically, on 6840 kHz E06 started calling "190" and moments later the E10 lady was calling "EZI2". E10 ended at 2003z (after the usual 3 minutes) while E06 sent a 71-group message:

190
865 71
72890 71657 88008 19559 03948
...
(Ended at 2016z with fast zeros)

E06 started with with an S6 to S8 signal but after a while he got stronger, S9...+10dB. Propagation effect or just a necessary power-up to "win" E10?

You can listen the entire transmission here. Enjoy!

Thursday 29 January 2009

The elusive S21 Russian lady (or girl?)

S21 Russian Lady (or more likely a Russian girl) is always buried in noise and QRMed by several other transmissions. This time, despite the noise from the nearby thunderstorm, I had a decent signal.

S21 appeared on 3823 USB, approximately at 1845z, calling "323", and then "374" x2, "33" x2, and then 5-figure groups x2. I'm not sure about the first groups...

Ended at 1853z with ??? then 323 374 33 0 0 0.

Here's the whole transmission (not processed).

Sunday 4 January 2009

The BC and Jammmer on 7540 kHz

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
The Arabic language Broadcast Station which is on 7540 kHz (E10 frequency) is also being Jammed. But this Jammer is different from E10's Jammer. Here is a very short clip. Please compare with my older posts regarding E10 Jamming.

Check also http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBOAOKCM6oM for a video recording from a Numbers friend from Germany, showing the reception of the BC station with a Sangean 909 (note the nice "extra" on the radio hihi!)

Update:
The BC station is "Denge Mezopotamia" and broadcasts in Kurdish: http://www.denge-mezopotamya.com/. Thanks Mr. DXer!!!

Tuesday 23 December 2008

E25 strange message

My recorder got a strange E25 message on 9450 kHz.

The transmission started at 1207z, at 1208z there was 1000 Hz tone, then at 1213z the song "Inte Omri". After that, at 1216z the mechanical E25 lady started calling "830 26 835" i.e. a "control" message to 830 and a (strange) message to 835:

9999 x8, "Rebeat" x3 at 1221z, QRT at 1224z.

Just a string of eight 9999...

Signal strength was weaker than usual as a typical broadcast station (probably WYFR Family Radio) was in the background. This is a part of the transmission recorded in USB.

Wednesday 10 December 2008

E10 Jammers get aggressive

Right now (1830z) there are two Jammers on 4880 kHz. E10 sends a 115-group message starting with "GHRCA..." to ULX, and both Jammers are on the same frequency! Is this a mistake, or a ferocious attack by all means, to ULX?

So far I believe that whoever operates the Jammers, can transmit at most with two jammers. This time he/she decided to use both Jammers on the same frequency.

Here is a part of the transmission. The Jammers sometimes nearly wins ULX. Also take a closer look at their time offset in the following spectrogram images:
There is a ~25ms time difference between the two Jammer signals. Well, you can hear and see that both remain constant in terms of strength (ok both affected by a slow QSB) so I don't think this is a weird propagation phenomenon. If any of you have a different opinion, feel free to post.

The Jammers stopped at 1851z, while E10 continued with the repeat of the message, plus a weaker broadcast station in the background. E10 QRT at 1855z and the BC QRT at 1859z.

Thursday 4 December 2008

Another E17 transmission

At 1452z on 10240 kHz I found E17 sending another 50-group message. The transmission was in progress and ended at 1458z with "538 538 50 50 0 0 0 0 0" (slow zeros). No breaks/restarts this time, even the signal strength was better (S9 with peaks +10 or +20dB).

Audio sample.

E17 found on 8180 kHz

8180 kHz was set on my VFO since earlier this morning, after successfully recording three SK01 transmissions. At 1100z I switched from the E25 memory (do I need a memory for E25? Hihihi!) to VFO, to set an E03a frequency and check if E03a was on air.

And... SURPRISE! The E17(z) YL was on 8180, calling "274" but had several problems, trying to send a 50-group message (274 986 50 30238). She started again and again several times, occasionally having low audio level.

Here is the complete (24 min) transmission.

And here's a typical transmission of E17z. This one logged on 27/11/2008, 0800z, 11170 kHz.

E17z (and E17) belongs to IA family (format similar to E06/S06). E17 believed to be some kind of training net, because of the problematic transmissions. Its sister, E17z, is more accurate :-)

Thursday 27 November 2008

S32 the "Squeaky Wheel" changes tempo

Thanks to Fritz, yesterday we were informed about the new sound of the so-called "Squeaky Wheel" (Enigma Designator: S32) which transmits on 3828 kHz during night, and on 5473 kHz during day.

S32 during night (3828 kHz)

S32 during day (5473 kHz)

LIVE LIVE LIVE!
Ooops! Right now (1643z) S32 sends a message on 3828 kHz! The language is Russian! (That's why it's S32 instead of XSW (the old enigma Designator; in the past we did not know that the Squeaky Wheel sends voice messages).

Here's what I got (a bit noisy...)

Wait till the end of the file to hear the Squeaky Wheel after the OM finishes!

Monday 24 November 2008

E07 and a Pirate sending SSTV?

This is the E07 2100z transmission on 6931 AM. You can hear some "digital" QRM just from the beginning of the transmission. It's SSTV. I managed to decode the last part of the SSTV transmission, just after E07 QRT. The actual frequency was 6924.97 USB. Here's the screen shot from MMSSTV (a freeware SSTV program):

MMSSTV shows 14ZK192 as the callsign of the sender. A Google search leads to http://14zk192.free.fr/. Who's this?

Tuesday 18 November 2008

A lot of E25 logs!

This morning we had 2 transmissions on 6140 and 4(!) on 9450 kHz. The last transmission on 9450 (ID "222") was over Polish Radio International. The sound samples are trimmed a bit (to get rid most of the 1000 Hz tone and the silent ends). So here we go...

E25 6140 AM 0836z:

1000 Hz tone
804 repeated several times
5488 0301 6511 2157 2589 9588 2447 9952 8795 6115 0301 8721
"Rebeat" x3
...
EOM EOT

(sound sample 1)

The signal was S9 peaking +10dB, carrier began slightly off-frequency.

E25 6140 AM 1019z:

1000 Hz tone
205 repeated
9774 6277 5844 1083 0472 3266 4393 2509 3442 7900
7095
"Rebeat" x3
... audio problems ...
EOM EOT

(sound sample 2)

Note at repeat the machine sounds like having a slower pace. Signal was S9 with peaks +10dB and some QSB & thunderstorm QRN.

Let's see what happened on 9450 kHz ...

The "a" (E25a) denotes a type: (ID), (number 1) , ... , (number n) transmission. These believed to be "control" transmissions. Also all recordings on 9450 kHz made with the receiver set to USB, while the actual TX could be in AM mode.

E25a 9450 USB 1154z:
1000 Hz tone
277 1 2
EOM EOT

(sound sample 3)

The transmission started off-frequency.

E25a 9450 USB 1211z
"Inte Omri" song
830 21 from the mechanical YL
EOM EOT

(sound sample 4)

The signal strength was lower than the previous (and the next) transmission.

E25a 9450 USB 1238z:
1000 Hz tone
785 20
EOM EOT

(sound sample 5)

And here's a transmission over Polish Radio International:

E25 9450 USB 1345z:
"Arouh Le Min" song (the other song by Umm Kalthoum)
222
8111 2061 9711 9810 4916 6472 2366 2183 5413 4651
7691 3668 5764 9317 9756 9711
"Rebeat" x3
EOM EOT

(sound sample 6)

So that's the end of a busy E25 day! Please be warned; tomorrow we might have repeats of some transmissions on 9450 kHz.

Sunday 16 November 2008

E10a calling HNC B on 4114 kHz

After following Mike's hint, I caught E10a calling HNC B on 4114 kHz at 1947z having a strong S9+10dB. The transmission was QRMed by an XJT transmission which went away exactly when the E10 YL QRT at 1949z. Here's a short clip.

Tuesday 11 November 2008

A new version of the rfax.pdf is out there

Please update your favorite HF-Fax list with this one (28 October 2008).

Sound Sample from "Friday night: Special mix night"

And here is the sample from the E10 mix occurred on 31 October 2008...
Please refer to my previous post.

Enjoy!

Saturday 1 November 2008

Friday night: Special mix night

Yesterday evening I was hunting for the famous E10 Jammer and I accidentally found the 6842 kHz, 2000z transmission of XPA. The transmission was interfered from the E10 EZI2 transmission from 6840 kHz, also at 2000z. Here's the recording. XPA was very strong (+10 to +20dB) but someone can listen the YL and the jammer.

And another surprise a few moments later! On 2456 kHz (an E10 ART frequency) there was a nice ART/PCD mix! The ART message was a g44 UMHQN and PCD has the long g106 message starting with AEOYY. Both messages were sent complete, till 2023z when PCD ended.

Sound sample will follow...

Thursday 23 October 2008

Jammers, OTHRs and E10 stuff...

This is the Jammer alone, as recorded today at 0446z on 6840 kHz.

Spectrogram:

Spectrum:

This is an OTHR (Over the Horizon Radar) found today at 0447z on 9130 kHz (another E10 frequency) which is not related (I guess!) with E10...

Pulse:

Spectrogram:

Spectrum:

And this is the Jammer who stops after an PCD2 transmission on 4270 kHz, yesterday at 1900z. (The other noises are just QRM.) The fact that the Jammer stops after the "null" xxx2 E10 transmission may be an indication that the Jammer posses a monitoring station somewhere and checks if he jams an actual message.

Saturday 11 October 2008

Some better images from Honolulu

Yesterday evening I tried again on 11088 kHz and luckily the reception was a bit better! Now you can see a "real" map!

11088.10 USB 1718z TEST TRANSMISSION

Unfortunately the test transmission is a short white chart with a black horizontal line...

11088.10 USB 1734z SIGNIFICANT CLOUD FEATURES

That's better, isn't it? Compare it with the original:


I received two more complete charts until I quit due to excess noise but I think it's unnecessary to upload them now I have at least one good image from them. I'm happy I'm back to HF-FAX DXing, after a long time.

QUESTION: Does anyone of you know if they answer to QSL reports? Any ideas for how to send a proper QSL report? So far I got response only from amateurs, so far no response to a letter sent to Northwood and an e-mail sent to Hamburg...

Thursday 9 October 2008

And yes... Honolulu!

Propagationally speaking, Honolulu is more difficult than Wellington, New Zealand, even if it is closer (13700 km instead of 17400 km).

Yesterday, I had some luck with Honolulu!!! The frequency was 11088.1 kHz USB, starting at ~1723z till ~1834z.

Here is a comparison of my received images to the ones actually sent. Mine are the top (and noisy) ones:

1724z SIGNIFICANT CLOUD FEATURES


1735z CYCLONE DANGER AREA



1755z STREAMLINE ANALYSIS

Despite the noise, I think there is some resemblance with the original images. These are provided by NOAA and I was lucky to find the originals today since they keep only the latest images! I've got Honolulu! What do you think?

More on E10 jamming

This morning I decided to check 6840 and 7690 for any jamming over EZI. Interestingly, the jammer started at 6840 kHz and then decided to jam 7690 kHz, even if there was an EZI2 message.

The recording is from 0627z this morning, on 6840 and 7690 kHz, USB mode.
The first 1min 58 sec is on 6840 kHz. You can hear the YL calling EZI2 just before 0630z. Then at 1min 33sec the jammer stops. I'm still on 6840 kHz. At 1min 53sec you can hear some code and then at ~1min 59sec I switched to 7690 kHz. Hey! The jammer is here now! At 3m 18sec or ~0630z EZI2 starts normally. I switched back to 6840 at 4min 24sec but no jammer there, just CW. Then I switched back to 7690 kHz, till the end of EZI2 transmission, The jammer stopped just few seconds before the YL.