ENIGMA 2000 Newsletter - Issue 6

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

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Selected voice stations

Seda ye Mojahed (Voice Of Mojahed).

It is unclear if this station is a direct relation of the more famous broadcast station. Our particular VoM operates on 8600 10080 & 12450. The Clandestine broadcaster uses a wide variety of frequencies below 9 MHz in general, jumping around rapidly to avoid jamming, while VoM Two sits on 7072 kHz most of the European evening. VoM Two is heavily jammed - causing untold misery to the 7MHz Amateur band, despite protests to Iraq (the broadcaster) and Iran (the jammer).

Our particular station is now generally felt not to be a clandestine but a 'numbers' type transmission. It was very active up until late April when transmissions seemed to become more erratic. On April 24th it turned up on 10090 instead of 10080. This failed to fool the jammers who soon spotted it had moved, a decoy carrier was then set up on normal 10080, it did not send anything but was jammed also, which shows the dedication of those trying to block the signal. It is suggested that the station is sending anti-Taliban information in the form of phrases, and some mention as been made elsewhere that these may be aimed (as suggested in ENIGMA) against the Afghanistan regime (motto "No Fun Allowed").

Although transmissions seem to have tailed off they may of course return at any moment. Another frequency worth watching is 10254, this often contains a steady carrier in the European evenings, but is attacked by two different jammers at the same time (despite the fact that nothing can be heard in the North of the UK).

Rob of Essex has answered the call for holiday logs and has also sent a short account which will appear in Issue 7. From Greece Rob managed to hear the following [in date order]:

Rob also noticed that a variety of jamming stations could be heard after 1400Z daily on 8350, 8390, 9310, 9320, 9325, 9340, 10280 and 10250kHz

Another station was heard in AM at 0600Z 26/05 on 26840kHz that Rob has described as a 'very strange buzz and pulse 10kHz wide and on air for 35 mins.

Rob's best catch was this unid station:

Another developing story is that surrounding the possible change of site for the E03. My own shielded loop points in the general direction of Cyprus at the date of this insert.

Takashi of Nagasaki makes this interesting point: Presumed South Korean female numbers, without ENIGMA code, are still active on 5715 or 6215kHz at H+00 or H+30 in East Asian midnight. Occasionally these are parallel. According to the BBS of the Asian Broadcasting Institute in Japan, the presumed South Korean numbers broadcast which starts with "General Kim Il-Sung's song" appears almost on 6215kHz at 1530z in 9, 10, 19, and 20th of every month. See V24 on revised ENIGMA Control List.

M of Kent reports this occurrence:

Any ideas folks?

Onto the logs:

E03

From M of Kent:

E03a

Firstly a 'different' signal report from Down Under:

Chris ******** and "St*******" both report very high signal strengths with no fading for EO3a from Melbourne. There is a big Defence transmitter site at Diggers Rest not far outside of Melbourne. An Australian SWL magazine has carried reports that reception of this transmitter were very strong in Victoria, in the south of the continent. The magazine speculated that there might be a second transmitter not far from Melbourne and strongly hinted that the Defence site at Diggers Rest was the site in mind. [See News and Items of Interest]

Schedule: Sun to Fri, [0000Z transmission first, ends 2300Z]
Transmissions outside 1000 to 1300Z are not normally audible in Great Britain.

Takashi mentions this in his log: I heard Cherry Ripe in Jun 27th. At 1000z a powerful pulse-type jamming for a few seconds was intermittently busy on 20474kHz. Unable to hear CR at all. Suddenly she started at 1023z in progress, followed by a usual transmission until 1045z. Did someone forget to switch 20474kHz on? Parallel 23461kHz was a normal transmission. I had only ever heard such accidents twice.

CR usually takes a holiday on weekend and for 3 days at the end of every month. She is using the East Asian time.

John Maky [US] observed:

E05

Gert sent his June log in and confirms these transmissions:

The American accented YL continues her reduction in activity. The long standing 1700Z Monday and Thursday sendings on 8085//9219kHz have gone. They were the strongest transmissions in Cynthia's recent operating schedule. The Saturday 1400Z on 18617//19622kHz - which vanished in the first week of March, then emerged again in late April has gone again. There was no trace on 26/05 or on Saturdays since. The Monday and Thursday 1900Z USB transmissions on 7430//9219kHz also vanished in May. The data transmissions associated with E05 are still around; those heard in the month of June with strong signals include:

In all cases the carriers are on well before transmissions begin - half an hour beforehand is not uncommon- usually with a few minutes of audio tone. Thanks PoSW

Peter also comments that six months ago there were eight separate E05 transmissions on a Saturday but now [30/06] there seems to be just 16198kHz at 1600Z and 9070kHz at 1921Z // with 13444kHz.

John Maky and Mark Slaten both confirmed that E05/V05 transmissions have diminished but added a new dimension by adding that "Ever since last March, all E05/V05 (The Counting Station) broadcasts that seemed to be transmitted from the Warrenton Training Center have ceased. All remaining transmissions appear to be coming from Europe or the middle east, and are very weak here in the central US."

Mark went on to say " I agree with John that E05/V05 activity has drastically slowed down, but I did copy E05 on July 7, 2001 at 0316z on 9205m and I found the parallel freq at 0328z on 7620m. It was a YL/EE sending 3/2f traffic in the USB mode. That is the first time I had heard E05 in a few months, and I have not heard it since. Has anyone else heard it recently? Maybe the broadcast is being discontinued in favor of another mode of communication."

Thanks to 'Spooks' for use of the above.

'C' writes: I read on the 'Spooks' list that transmissions of E05 and V05 from Warrenton Virginia have possibly ceased in March this year. E05 traffic continues in Europe, most probably from the known site in Germany. Are traffic levels in Europe also on the slide ? Comments on this to E2k via the usual electronic methods please.

'C' sends the following E05 logs:

Joerg Eberhardt, Germany reported the following via 'Spooks':

And from Anon, Scandinavia:

E06

Gert's log listed activity by E06, in part:

Whjilst Gallus Galus listed this on Spooks:

Peter of Saffron Walden notes that the 'English Man' continues to be one of the busiest of the English Language stations, the weekly Saturday afternoon schedule continues in July: 1230Z on 17480kHz and 1330Z 14870kHz. There used to be a separate E06 schedule on the second and fourth Saturdays in the month at 1400Z and 1500Z but I haven't been able to find one since.

Gert reports hearing :

13910kHz 2010Z 09/07 with two messages:

• Msg 1: 206-dk934 gc255=69171

• Msg 2: 206-dk681 gc307=78419

And concludes that observations made over all the Monday slots in July are worthwhile.

Captain Davros proved that fact by reporting hearing E06 on 16/07.

Gallus Galus listed this on Spooks:

and hfd this:

Anon of UK confirms :

repeated on Tuesdays.

Greg Hajek[US] reports via Spooks:

as well as copying:

'C' reports:

.

Whilst Joerg Eberhardt, Germany reported this via 'Spooks':

Anon, Scandinavia sends, via Spooks:

E07

Mondays and Wednesdays at 2100Z, 2120Z, 2140Z. H+20 and H+40 repeats of 2100Z broadcast.

Last time Gert answered some questions regarding the 05nnZ slot and now fills in the missing 0550Z frequency. Gert also notices that the previous early frequencies chosen remain the same for July:

Cap'n Davros reported hearing E07 on 16/07 on the above freqs whilst Ary posted:

Anon of UK remarked that the 0510Z on 8250kHz was a very strong signal and much better than the 2000Z transmission.

hfd reported:

E07 Used same frequencies as in May for June freqs.

Gert sent the 05nnZ August freqs in as:

[Gert notes this as a new slot].

Mike of Kent reports:

whilst Anon of UK sent the 20nnZ August freqs in as:

E07 Monday and Wednesday August.

ID 950

Hfd confirmed freqs:

but did not find last freq, whilst AnonUK offers this:

Anon, Scandinavia sends, via Spooks:

E10

Gert of Holland reports:

Breaking the group up above one finds certain similarities repeated within the actual message:
VLBR 55288 461[1] 260[2] 715[3] F 100[4] T19K 100[4] Z77 260[2] 715[3] 461[1].

Thanks for that log and this info Gert.

Whilst this rare snippet comes from Clavestrian of Hungary, "This happened at 0228Z 01/08 on 4270kHz. I heard a Mossad station sending this message.During the 5LG-s I could hear short white noise QRM, circa 1sec. long and repeated every 5-6 sec. Suddenly with the interuption of the noise pulses the transmission was abrupted without any "end of message" or "end of transmission".After 1 or 2 minutes of silence the station said once:"Victor,Charlie,Delta"After this SILENCE! At 02:31 the station began the normal regime :PCD,PCD,PCD (some minutes)and so on..... Retrospectively I think that the white noise pulses were "external" because when the PCD-s message was finished I also could hear them BUT the abruption was real. [Thanks Clavestrian, nice work]!

C writes:

E10 - 'ABC' NOTED MAKING RARE TRANSMISSION The mysterious ABC was noted on SAT June 30th at 20.43 on 6428 kHz. Sending the ABC idler until 20.49 when it paused for several minutes until 20.53, transmissions continued until 21.09 when it ended abruptly with no message. ABC is most probably a 'type 3' station (see Issue 3 for explanation) and is unlikely to send anything other than 'ABC' or perhaps an additional letter or number. It is almost certain that there will be at least one other frequency used by this call. Anyone any idea where ABC is hiding ?

The ABC call breaks the rule of E10 stations - as ART is already allocated the 'A' and no two other E10 stations use the same starting letter in the callsign, e.g. EZI is the only station that uses 'E' etc.

EZI FLIRTS WITH 9170 - On FRI August 3rd I noted an E10 transmission in full flow on 9170, not recognising the frequency I tuned to other active channels and discovered it was EZI in parallel with 11565. EZI was not present on 9130 its usual frequency. I have not heard it since on 9170 so it was either a test or perhaps a mix up at the transmitter site (not surprising with this very busy network). Thanks 'C'.

'C's log also lists 10778kHz [2047Z 07/07] and 12376kHz [2045Z 27/07] as new CIO freqs.

E10 log from M of Kent:

All in all a lot of work on E10 this issue. Thanks to all concerned.

E11

Has been heard on Tuesdays at 1230Z 9450kHz, ID 312, and at 1300Z 9950kHz. The 0800Z transmission on Thurs/Fri remains on the same frequency.

E15

Mike of Kent sent the following observation in:

E15 is alive and well.

and makes this valid comment:

Interesting that FYP was on at 1400BST on 14000k, wonder if it's working to BST now, as that has been the long standing sked - will try the other freqs this way as time allows. NRH at 2000BST.

The next day Mike sent:

E15 is certainly working to BST.

Well done Mike!

With the above in evidence we again print the known schedule, note all times Zulu/GMT, [for BST +1hr]:

E17

Jmm queries hearing this station as:

Jmm reported sigs as "heavily distorted" and 65 groups.

Nathan [US] reported, via Spooks:

E18

AnonUK remarks on this stations apparent absence: " Should have been on Wednesday and Thursday. [10/07 & 11/07] I tuned from 5000kHz to13500kHz but could not hear it anywhere, wonder if that has ended.

E23

Best frequency is usually 8188kHz. 4 weekly cycle starting on the first Monday of the Month.

Transmits Monday Wednesday and Thursday. Reported as active at end of June by Anon of UK.

Week 4 in AM only.

E25

Despite the non-activity we received this report from Mike of Kent:

'Possible activity on 9450kHz at 0935Z 09/08. OM totally unreadable.' Reports to E2k please

[Well done Mike].

G04

Has yet to come to notice again since beginning June 01. Perusal of its Morse counterpart, M29, shows reduced activity to date.

G06

PoSW remarks, 'Similar frequencies used in July last year. This one has been no message so far this year.' Peter does own up to having missed it in February!

S06

Further S06 observations come from Gert as:

S06C

RUSSIAN MAN SINGLE GROUP MESSAGE - I noted a rare 'single group' message from the familiar Russian Man (S6c) on SAT July 28th at 1838Z on 8185 kHz. A single 5F group of '11415' was sent and repeated in 5 minute blocks followed by breaks of a similar length. The group did not change throughout the transmission despite the long pauses. [Thanks 'C']

S10E

This station came up on schedule as:

The obvious question concerned the next cycle and whether S10E/M10E will actually transmit on 30/07 or wait until 06/08. D of Kent rang in to state that it, and M10E, certainly did and he says that the powers that be who control S10E must have read E2k newsletter and his comments about their equipment needing servicing. As a result:

S17C

On Sunday 12^th August at 1225Z onwards D of Kent reported heard on 6945kHz:

Heavy QRM/QSB on entire transmission, strength overall S0.

D of Kent thought that he was hallucinating at what he had received, but referred to his taped copy for verification prior to contacting E2k by landline. Thanks D of Kent.

Anon UK heard the following error on 07/08 when the content '313 42 42 05 05 85044' was also heard on 11416kHz. Despite continued monitoring by AnonUK and D of Kent nothing else has been heard from S17C on that frequency. AnonUK points out that 11416kHz is also an M10 frequency. One can assume that there is a link between the two stations.

S21

This station was heard by Anon of UK who remarked on the very poor signal strength.

S30 [XT]

V02

V02a Note the references to V02a transmissions and those of M08a [from John Maky US].

Takashi of Nagasaki noted this of V02 and V02a for those listening in the Asiatics: Recently it has been pretty hard to hear V02 and V02a, but only 13374kHz can be heard regularly at 0700z every Sunday, which is of maximum signal strength but very low modulation.

On 6900kHz the un-modulated carrier has been on for the past three months.S06 transmissions can be heard occasionally on this freq at H+00 or 30 in East Asian night. Thanks Takashi.

V06

Always on the first of the month, this station has not been heard for a time.

Peter, who reported this, remarked that it must have been the second sending. Very strong signal, lower sideband well suppressed. Carrier with tone noted on frequency 12 minutes earlier.

V07

Peter of Saffron Walden makes this observation, "The V02 YL remains the most widely heard Spanish Number station. On Thursday 5^th July I spent a few minutes tuning around looking for the Spanish language V07. I had previously been able to listen on a Thursday morning, V07 was on at 0610Z on 9283kHz and 0630Z on 10357kHz, regardless of the month, but I could find no trace - it was certainly on in May. Perhaps it has gone the same way as the G07 German YL. "

V08

This interesting find from C:

ARABIC MUSIC STATION I was surprised to come across V08 on a new frequency and at a new time (to me, anyway). This station has in the past restricted itself mainly to 6645 and 11290. I came across V8 on THUR July 26th at 2006Z on a new frequency which I measured at 7662 kHz (although it was a little unstable), the message read by a Female announcer was in progress and ended at 2108Z with some 'Arabic' style music sent at quite low modulation. Most interestingly the carrier remained on (along with that strange associated 'clicking' sound) until 2100Z when the message and music were sent again. Clearly this was an important message. Transmitter went off at 2113Z.

V13

V21

XPH

Signal strengths have not been as solid as usual towards the end of June,there having been some propagation changes.15677kHz has been a poor choice with XPH signals hetrodyning with the BC [Chinese?] station occupying that frequency. Towards the end of the month the best evening transmission was indeed the 12211kHz which reappeared on 26/06 despite the short 2 min transmission of the null message prior.

June Freqs Tuesdays and Fridays:

July frequencies confirmed [John of Aylsbury and Paul of London] as:

John Maky [US] reported hearing XPH on 25/07 at 2000Z on 14846kHz (out of sched) as well as the scheduled 2000Z 27/07 and 13438kHz 2020Z 27/07

Some apparent problems with the XPH transmitter on 14523kHz preceding the 0640Z offering on 06/07 as follows:

Prior to start up freq had some BC and general noise.

This 'problem' also manifested itself on 10/07 and 13/07 and has not been noticed in July since.

However on 17/07 2000Z 14846kHz transmission was rudely interrupted in mid-stream when at 2000:30Z all ceased. No carrier or tones were heard and the signal returned at 2002Z with a somewhat rough note with reduced signal strength, the transmission ending at 2002:30Z. On Friday 27/06 at 0600Z the problematic on/off carrier did not appear.

August frequencies confirmed by John of Aylesbury to be:

The morning frequencies remain unchanged. As such the first slot [0600Z, 11623kHz] attracts hetrodyne from the very strong emanations of Vatican Radio. The worrying resultant Het tone, circa 2040Hz, does not seem to cause any negative effect to the polytone transmitted on the same freq. A short sample run using VM's excellent 'Xperta' program stood witness to this. Perusal of a spectrogram of the same sample clearly shows the various tones, irrespective of the interference from Vatican Radio.

Bearing in mind that John's 25/07 spotting was out of sched this report is also interesting:

XPH on Monday 06/08 at 0720Z until 0726Z. Mike of Kent reported hearing polytone activity on 15790kHz, a frequency previously used in February.

At 0740Z Mike tuned to 16290kHz but makes the comment 'Nil required heard'. Whilst the 16290kHz freq was NRH the earlier 0700Z transmission was apparently missed but may have occurred on 14890kHz. If this is a new schedule then as the month turns the following frequencies may be of interest to the XPH'ers on a Monday morning, 13410, 14910, 16110kHz. In the evening 9450, 5782 or 7962, 4582kHz may apply. Reports to E2k please.

*At the time of writing, the entire evening slot 17/08 has not been heard, was it no tx by design or has the freq moved?

[Thanks to John of Aylesbury for his continued reporting of this station].

Please send your voice logs to e2k_news@hotmail.com

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