ENIGMA 2000 Newsletter - Issue 2

January 2001
Articles, newsreports and Items of interest : e2k_news@hotmail.com

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Morse station notes

ENIGMA 2000 is still seeking help in monitoring the morse stations. If you are able just to monitor one group it would be a great help. We can supply more information on any group you are interested in.

Any logs or requests for information will be answered. Send to either enigma.box@centrenet.co.uk or e2k_news@hotmail.com

Starting off this time is a profile of M1. This station has been on the air for many years. Noteable that it is the only station that still only uses hand sent morse. Operators must be very good as it is high quality with very few mistakes.

M1

It is hand sent, using short zero, and the messages have a usual group count of 40 groups. Although just recently group counts have been varying between 30 and 48. The lowest group count of 28 was logged in October 2000.

The last group is now always the date the message was compiled and the group count minus one.

For example a message of 40 groups compiled on the 10th of the month, the last group would be 10039. This also applies to the M1 B network.

Type of transmission is MCW using low modulation of 2 audio tones. Sent at about 17 WPM although this can vary depending on the operator

The IDs for this group remain the same for the following months.

Transmission times are, and remain at the same time throughout the year.

Since September 1999 the signal has become very weak.

Variants of M1

M1A

End of Month transmissions, the last Thursday and Saturday of each Month These transmissions are an entirely different format to the normal M1 but they can vary each time. Suggest listening to them to hear the format. Some of these have been logged at times other than the EOM and at the same time as M1 was transmitting. Sending was not the usual high quality of M1. (possible operator practise sessions? )

M1 B Network.

Hand sent. These are sent to individual IDs and the frequencies are changed at intervals so cannot all be listed. I can supply some current frequencies if required. These messages are repeated and can be the same for four weeks or more. Parallel frequencies are used, group counts vary between the low twenties and as high as seventy five.

I have listed some of the present skeds. They do change frequency depending on the time of the year, as it gets toward Summer they move higher. Also transmit 1 hour earlier when the clocks change to summertime.

Frequencies as of November 2000

Some of these repeat the same message to a different ID The one on Monday at 2010 Thursday at 2032 and Friday at 2102 are the same message. It is also strange how some of them start at odd times. If not heard on listed frequency, try one of list below. note that when they change frequency they sometimes change ID.

4505 4603 4613 4704 4771 4905 4950 4960 4990 5027 5048 5062 5066 5220 5234 5240 5325 5330 5350 5366 5477 5735 5750 5803 5812 6283 6298 6824

M1C

A common format of these is listed. Several other formats exist. If a message is sent it is nearly always 10groups.

385 385 385 84297 84297 Repeated 8 times
30 Second pause
385 385 385 86652 86652 Repeated 8 times
Can be any number of these, usually machine sent, ending is hand sent.
385 385 385 000

These can be on at any time and do not use the normal M1 frequencies so are very difficult to find.

Logged on 14 July 1999 on 9143. A long transmission from 1045 to 1133, with 2 messages of 30 and 33 groups.

M1D

A new variation heard on 29 September 1999 on 5730 at 0700

Also on 30 September 1999 on 5730 at 0600 0700 and 0800

Similar to M1C but all Auto sent

Call up was 331

Last group of message was random

Here is an example of the end of month transmissions. These are on the on the last Thursday and Saturday of each month. Between each line of the message there is a pause of anything from 5 to 170 Seconds. It appears that it is waiting for a reply from outstations in these pauses. None of these replies have ever been logged. The message, although there is not always one sent is unusual, in that the groups are only sent once. The call up usually uses the ID in use but has been known to start 333. If using the 333 call up, transmission usually starts 2minutes later. The ID in use is then sent 3 times in the middle of the transmission.

463 463 463 50481 50481( This can be repeated up to 6 times)
111 51962 51962( This can be repeated up to 6 times )
333 51028 51028
020 18 23
111 999
558 37= 37x5f = 558 37
111 51179 53065( Repeat of groups 15 and 25 )
111 000

M3

Mostly null format,

The regular M3 null transmissions on Saturday at 0800 ID 624 and Daily at 1630 ID 287 keep to a regular list of frequencies.

Some other IDs active, 035 0630 on Monday and Wednesday 4014. This one changes to 038 whenever a message is sent. Tuesday is another very active day. 041 0730 4780, 503 0745 10720, This is another ID that has been sending null messages for many years.(Not heard since 31/10/00 ) 211 0815 5120, 552 0930 6330.

There is a long list of frequencies in the Morse Station Profile list, that M3 has used, but many of them have not been used for some time.

Logged on Wednesday 25 October 211 0900 7256, sending one of the strange messages 34 groups, first and last 2 groups 77777 77777.

M3A

Very rare now, not logged since May 2000.

M4

Last log September 14 2000. Still looking to see if still active. Has not been heard since then. Possibly another one ended. See new skeds for E23.

M7

Not easy to find, as can transmit on any 10 minute slot during the hour. It does use the same frequencies as M10. Has been thought to be for activating a remote recording device. Recent logs have been the same message sent by M10 to ID 434. Same message has been sent many times, so must be important.

M8

Still very active, best times for UK are 0700 to 1200 Unless you are an insomniac, then it can be heard from. Some frequencies in use at present are. 7582 8010 8079 8097 8137 8187 9064 9112 9154 9238 9333 10127 10236 10447 10874 11433. Skeds are not always the same, so it is worth listening on any of those frequencies on the hour. In the early part of the year it was quite usual to hear 2 messages being sent at the same time, but that does not happen at present. Having written that, M8 has started to send on 2 frequencies at the same time. So it is worth having a listen to other frequencies.

M10

Another station that uses a set list of frequencies, although as M3, some of them have not been used for some time.

A regular sked is at 2100 on Monday and Wednesday on 4782 and 5027 at present. Normal IDs are 619 and 071, although 249 is sometimes used in place of 619. This does not happen very often, 249 was last logged in May 2000, the next log was Monday 23 October, with an unusually long message of 133 groups.

This sked was interesting during the Kosovo crisis in 1998, it transmitted daily from 29 April until 21 June. First ID shared between 249 and 619, second ID always 071.

Another regular transmission is at 1630 on Saturday Sunday Monday and Wednesday, to 4 IDs 571 275 049 435. The second ID sometimes changes to 532, but not so often now. At present on 5946 // 6782. Other skeds Sunday 1800 5190 1920 9454 Tuesday 1500 10125. Thursday 1900 5474 // 4782, Friday 1720 10922 // ????

M10E

Only sked known now is the 28 day one. Sent from Thursday to the following Tuesday, daily Always sent to 4 IDs with messages of 15 to 25 groups. Dates for next transmission, January 11, February 8, March 8. There may possibly be other skeds on as there is a log of 6 December at 0800 on 5250, ID 67794 15 groups. It is worth tuning round to see if any others can be found. Previous skeds were 0700 & 1400 Monday Wednesday and Friday. 1655 & 2100 Daily.

M12

The regular M12 on daily ID 749, 1600 6782, 1620 7657, 1640 8173, used to send a message on Monday Tuesday and Wednesday. The rest of the week was a null message. It now sends a message again Monday Tuesday and Wednesday, no transmission on Thursday. Then another message on Friday and nulls over the weekend. There used to be many repeats of the same message. Monday to 135 963. Wednesday 658 135 257 583. Friday and Saturday 658. All these have now ceased. There are still other M12s on. Wednesday 1930 13389, 1950 12240, 2010 10973 ID 628. Sunday & Friday 1840 10214, 1910 10841, 1930 9958 ID 289. Highest GC of this one so far is 357. Tuesday and Thursday at 0800, October frequency not found. There are probably also others, but as the call up time is only 2 minutes it is not easy to find them. Of course another problem is, apart from 749 all the others change frequency each month.

M13

Still very active. Although not easy to find to start with, once found the same frequencies repeat from year to year. Transmissions are always on the same days of the month. Can be on any frequency from 3600 to 13500.

Single IDs active at present are 253, 254, 261 or 590, ( Depends on length of message ) 272, 284, 346, 378, 411, 417, 517, 714, 753, 757, 823 975. Some of these have been logged at 0530 and 0600. this may possibly be a repeat of the previous weeks message sent in the evening.

M13B

moved to a new lowest frequency for M13, in November it was on 3246. Might be possibly lower in December. There are another 48 IDs in use but only by 4 groups as they change ID each month. The first transmits at an unusual time 1600 and 1800.

The next M13A uses a different form of call, the ID is sent 3 times followed by 3 zeros. Transmits on the second and fourth Monday Tuesday of each month at 2100.

M13B Transmits on the second and fourth Saturday and Sunday in each month 2200. It can use the type A call, although this does not always follow from 1 year to the next.

July 1999 was 175 and July 2000 was 175 175 175 000. It also may transmit 2 different messages in the month, these may also be longer than the usual M13 message, up to 70 groups.

M13C

May transmit on first and third Wednesday and Thursday of each month, at 2200 although it is possible that these days and times may change. Only a few logs from January 1998.

Another one that is useful for those learning morse as it sends slowly. Some predictions for January. ID, dates, frequency, and time

M13A

735A 8/9 22/23 5725 2100

M14

Not much activity, only recent log Wednesday 6 September 2000 4452

M14A

Still has the regular Friday transmission at 1900, frequency varies from 4600 to 4650.

M16

The same regular transmissions every hour. Does not seem to use the Q & Z signals so much.

M23

Old faithful, the regular sked at 0800 and 1400 on 8307 // 9285, still continues to send 579 daily. First logged February 1997.

Other transmissions are 0928 and 1458 on 7795. 0928 on 7800. These are usually Monday to Friday. can anyone suggest why they should keep on repeating messages for so long. One message was first sent on 29 September 1999 and has been repeated 30 times. There are many other messages like this, but the repeats do not follow any other pattern. Apart from these regular transmissions, can come up at any time, anywhere from 4 to 8 MHz.

Some ids in use on 7795 plus the date that the message was first sent. 002 15/5/00, 024 13/10/99, 062 6/10/99, 080 20/10/99, 448 21/10/99, 482 29/9/99, 606 18/10/99, 666 16/11/00, 624 9/10/99, 882 27/9/99, Note that they are all even numbers. Many of these messages have been repeated over 30 times. On 7800 the IDs are 00000 or 11111. The sked on 7800 at 1100 started to send to ID 22222 on 13 November. Several different messages were sent during the week. The usual for IDs 00000 and 11111 is to keep on repeating the messages. Another interesting thing about the ID 22222 messages, is that the signal is a lot stronger than usual. Possibly intended for the UK. Activity on this frequency has become frantic, with new messages every day. IDs 22222 33333 44444.

M24

Much more activity than M14, but do not keep to any skeds so can be on at any time. Many of them heard well in the USA. 1 Sked reported is on Saturday and Sunday at 2100 on 18562.

M24A

As M14, still 2 regular transmissions, Monday 1900 4450 to 4500 ID 263, and Wednesday 1900 4800 to 5000 ID 362. All these send 2 messages, the group counts of which add up to around 144 groups.

M29

An interesting station, many more transmissions than its Sister voice station G4. At present has skeds on Sunday 2100 2130, Monday Tuesday and Friday 1800 2000, Monday 0700 0730, Tuesday 0700 0730, Wednesday 2100 2130. Frequencies for the Monday Tuesday and Friday transmission remain the same each month, the others change each month. The current frequencies can be obtained from ENIGMA 2000

Frequencies for the Tuesday Friday and Saturday Transmission.

December Skeds

It is possible that there are 2 transmitters, the morning transmissions are sent faster than the others.

There was a fault with the transmission on Sunday 3 December. Most of the transmission was a continuous carrier with only short bursts of morse.

M40

Is not regular but does stay on the same frequencies. Only 2 audible in the UK are 515 and 747. 515 is on at 1700 on 8860 and 1730 on 12300. 747 is on 0900 and 2000 on 10620. Messages are repeated on the next day.

M45

This is very useful for those learning morse, as it sends very slowly, each group is repeated and the same message is sent each month. A copy of the current message is available on request. Hand sent, usually very well with very few errors.

One interesting error on Thursday 26 October, statrted calling 54, after a minute stopped and then called 454, which is the ID for S21. After a further minute he must have been told, and started using the correct ID 555.

M63

First log of this one on at 1903 on 5807. Short call up transmission.

M76

Back on again at 0500 and 1750 on 3819. The 0500 transmission is far stronger. In the second week of November the transmission developed a bad chirp. This is still there at the time of writing. It does at least make it easy to identify.

The format is still the same, changes callsigns daily, although the 1750 and 0500 the next day have the same callsigns. The preamble still starts with 26310, as it is always the same we wonder why they bother to send it.

The same goes for the messages, they always start with, 40545 and end with 437.

MX Single letters

Some active at present.

• Letter R on 5466.

• Letter L on 3338 still with chirp.

• Letter L also on 8190 at 1600 on Tuesday 5 December.

• Letter S on 5155 at 1920 on 5 December.

There are still some clusters active, but they are not on very often.

If anyone is interested in logging one of the groups there is much more information available on request.

Additional Info on M12 from ENIGMA]

M12- 082, 135#, 147, 169, 242, 257#, 258, 269, 275, 289, (279 groups on 1^stOctober, 331 17^thOctober), 302, 326, 351, (311 groups on 3^rdSeptember), 363, 416, 418, 419, (373 groups 5^thNovember) 446, 521, 541, 555 (Yes! Freq-related 14521-13521-12521), 557, 658*, 578, 691, 749*, 750, 791, 840, (GC 227 22^ndOctober), 886, 941 (GC 333 3^rdSeptember, 229 17^thSeptember, 301 24^thSeptember), 949, 957. 963#

*special and linked, #linked with *

January - July:
042 082 084 134 135 162 208 248 (MCW) 257 357 398 416 446 462 494 505 507 583 658 749 791 853 (A MCW) 875 876 945 954 963

After many years the regular special SN 658 [associated with 749] has disappeared.

Longest message this period: 347 groups [SN398 on primary 16326]. SN042 also carried 339 groups on 26thMay [on primary 19033 - a very high frequency]. Daily 749 is still running around at 1600 and messages are still only sent on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

[Info on M12 from ENIGMA].

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