ENIGMA 2000 Newsletter - Issue 8

January 2002
Articles, newsreports and Items of interest : e2k_news@hotmail.com

Morse stations | Voice stations | Oddities
XJT 'Jet Signals' | Book review : Confessions of a spy | News Items
Web sites | Requests | Stop press | Contribution deadlines
Index | E2K NL Home

Selected voice stations

Frequencies preceded by 'c' have been taken from an analogue receiver.

In the last issue Ary requested help with the identification of the station that sent TROJKA VODZIM, SIDJORKA, ADJINKA etc., ending with koniec [5520kHz at 1930z 08/10]. AnonUK answered the query by letting us, and Ary, know that the station was indeed S11a. [Tnx AnonUK].

At 2330z 04/11 Captain Davros reported 'there's a very odd tx going on on 5781kHz. It appears to be in some sort of SSB mode and sounds like a ranting man talking into an empty coke can interspersed with bursts of noise. Any clues?'

Please make your replies via the usual e2k_news@hotmail.com

Our 'Stop Press' section last time carried, 'ISB feeder in use with US broadcasts to Afghanistan. 8700kHz has been heard carrying the programme and has been heard at 1630z with a good steady signal.' 'C' contacted us again with upto date information which reads "With ref to 'Information Radio' 8700 it is on now 12.30 to 17.30 UTC and also in the early hours. It is been sent on two MW frequencies from an aircraft flying over Afghanistan, the uplink is 8700 - Darwin Aero Data Freq.as been asked to move to 8695 to clear the frequency for the uplink." [Thanks 'C'].

On 27-28/10 I monitored the freq with good effect S7/8 and S4/5 respectively. Pity I couldn't understand what was being said BUT MrBin Laden's name had good mention. BBC news have reported that British inventor, Mr Baylis's, wind-up radio are being dropped into Afghanistan to assist with the American PsyOps program. [Thanks 'P'London].

UPDATE: Information Radio Closes ! The American backed radio station which was broadcasting on Medium Wave from an aircraft had also been heard worldwide on an ISB feeder frequency of 8700 kHz. The station closed on November 14th following the fall of Kabul to Northern Alliance forces. Interestingly it was immediately replaced with a 'Jet' XJ signal bang on 8700 the following day (Nov 15th). I also understand that the U.S. Military are unable to acknowledge (QSL) reports for Information Radio as there is a risk from anthrax attack at the mailing centre which screens post for military communications.[tnx'C']*

With the Afghan issue firmly reported on e2k were sent this little gem anonymously: ' It was reported on Sky News that someone in Afghanistan has started an HF phone network in Afghanistan due to the wrecked nature of the telecommunications infrastructure. The frequency used is 7425kHz in USB.

Numbers have also been heard in Farsi and Tajik on a Sunday. These transmissions have been reported on 'Spooks' as being in Farsi and Tajik. Details as follows:

464 464 464 597 597 13 13
15716 51716 14720 14720 94778 94778 25223 25223 16261 16261
36111 36111 31953 31953 26703 26703 56914 56914 77719 77719
10528 10528 31463 31463 76594 76594
597 597 13 13 00000

464 464 464 925 925 10 10
35354 35354 06169 06169 53943 53943 22541 22541 20884 20884
50556 50556 78740 78740 25868 25868 02224 02224 60468 60468
925 925 10 10 00000

AnonUK comments, 'I had a listen to the new Farsi and Tagik numbers stations. A most interesting recording. That 1A family must be a very large organisation with E06 S06 G06 V06 M14 M24 and now these new stations, also very busy at present.'

'P' S.London adds: 'The language of Afghanistan is Pashto, so who are these aimed at?'

[Congrats to all those who intercepted, identified the language and translated].

We recently received information of 'SS' Majorca holiday activities:

"We had no radio or tv in our flat so I bought a radio, a Sony ICF - 403S in the nearest big town when we bicycled over there. It was from a proper electrical shop, like we used to have in the 70's that was on a side street and sold fridges and kettles(!), but not like Comet or Dixons warehouses, and, because it only needed three batteries they only sold me three batteries! (Cost: £16!).

Reception was great out there and I even got XPH. I also got some great logs on Monday night this week, as sent to the list, including an E05 heard whilst listening to an empty X06 freq - had tuned in to X06 then someone called and X06 stopped and I didn't switch off the set, then Cynthia started a while later a few Khz away. Then I was monitoring a 5Mhz freq which was just sending a tone, and E6 came on! I love co-incidence listening like that! The sigs on the X06/E03 clash were mutually compatible, i.e. I could hear both - the X06 beeps were nicely in the background. I heard them on holiday in Majorca."

[Thanks 'SS']

Although we will not be reporting on E03/E03a in the foreseeable future it has been noted that an anomaly occurred in LP's schedule at 2000z 02/12 where the expected transmissions occurred on freqs other than those normally used.

Unid[1]

From Mike of Kent

See also UNID[4] and E18.

Unid[2]

CD heard a most peculiar transmission on 5781kHz 2330z 04/11 (Not to be confused with UNID[4]) and described it as, 'it appears to be in some sort of SSB mode. It sounds like a ranting man talking into an empty coke can interspersed with bursts of noise. E2k was unable to offer any constructive suggestion other than possibly military in useage. JMM offers, 'I confirm: Typical French Air Force frequency testing with days of the week, month names and numbers (range 300-309) numerations. I expect beam was directed towards SE Europe.' [Tnx CD, JMM and Ary]. Keith of Kent also reported hearing similar, c4875kHz 2301z 19/11. Further info received revealed, 'At present FAF is deploying over Yugoslavia to relieve American surveillance forces presence there. I would not be surprised if your intercept was somehow related to this." [Tnx sender]. D of Kent sends, Wednesday 12/12, commencing 30 minutes earlier than the previous nights transmission. 2203z again USB transmission and a repeat of the previous nights broadcast, finishing at 2230z. No BC QRM was heard. Fri 14/12 2233z to 2300z very weak upper sideband repeat of other French style transmissions. Saturday 15/12 2203 to 2230z again repeat of prev USB transmissions. [DofKent].

In keeping with the above: Tuesday 11/12 on 5782kHz at 2212 to 2300z. MCW '975 followed by 000' continually repeated 2221 to 2223z. A very strong signal. Commencing 2233z USB transmission consisting of 22s of speech immediately followed by 7s of music, all repeated continuously for 27m. A somewhat distorted transmission of a French type language, some figures but difficult to comprehend. [DofKent].

Unid[3]

Bob Roehrig US sent via spooks, 'copied today at 1650Z female English repeating "898" then same thing a few minutes later in CW. Freq was 14788kHz.

Unid[4]

Keith of Kent contacted e2k with news of an AM station that appeared circa 5790kHz on 15/11, 17/11 and 20/11 between 2200z to 2315z. A tape recording was played of this strong signal that rode above the splatter from Radio Bulgaria on 5800kHz. On 21/11 at 2303z Keith monitored the mystery signal again, this time a very poor signal, YL /EE/5f ending 000. (See UNID[1]). The YL was apparently not an English speaker, her pronunciation bearing witness to that. [Zeero?]. A number of e2k monitors were alerted to this station resulting in John of Aylesbury hearing an abysmally poor signal on 5782kHz at 2235z and 2250z 23/11. John reported, "5782kHz. ~2235z onwards: Signal strength: S0 (zero), Quality: Grossly distorted, QRM-noise, so much so that I was unable to identify language. Content: Consisted of alternate periods of 11 seconds of speech and 9 second pauses. Some consecutive periods of speech appeared to be repeats. 5782kHz. ~2250z onwards: Strength and quality as above, but content changed. Now consisted of periods of 21 seconds of speech interspersed with 9second pauses. Transmission ceased just before 2300z. Character of ending not heard. The transmission was not too affected by Radio Bulgaria. I measured the freq. width of clear output of Sofia as follows: 5802.26+5797.86 added, then divided by 2 = 5800.06kHz. and: 5797.73+5802.29 divided by 2 = 5800.01kHz. Later, I was pleased to hear R. Bulgaria actually announce one of their frequencies as 5800kHz." Keith confirms John's work as being the mystery station.

John further writes, "UNID[4] 5782kHz. F.30/11: 2205-2209z Detected as being similar to previously heard, but very weak and indistinct. Speech and pauses just identified, but very difficult to measure the exact timings. 2212:30-2214z 30/11similar to above. [See also X06 in oddities].

This unid freq changed to 5060kHz. Heard 0104z and 2245z 13/12 [Thurs] by AF [Tnx'AF'] as well as KofKent 'Grps Number 174 Group 50' 05000, pronunciation of figure 3 as 'fweee', zero 0 as 'zeeero'*.

*See UNID[1]

Message, heard by AF on 5060kHz 2245-2309z 13/12 [LSB] reads:

..07 307 307 307 307 307 307 307 307 307 307 307 307 307 307 307
307 307 307 307 307 307 307 307 307 307 307 307 307 307 307 307
Number 174 Group 50
36365 05000 38252 74333 35283 95420 59043 71924 61121 23625
25560 20928 02541 52954 19023 66148 22461 82000 10160 12536
06602 15762 02120 93313 02411 91032 45510 92122 60470 55032
27351 06121 48410 43804 11374 11225 15462 72244 00421 50947
05211 93304 34401 41637 50570 91051 25502 92212 44445 85808
307 307 307 307 307 307 307 370 307 307
Number174 Group 50
36365 05000 38252 74333 35283 95420 59043 71924 61121 23625
25560 20928 02541 52954 19023 66148 22461 82000 10160 12536
06602 15762 02120 93313 02411 91032 45510 92122 60470 55032
27351 06121 48410 43804 11374 11225 15462 72244 00421 50947
05211 93304 34401 41637 50570 91051 25502 92212 44445 85808
000

Part transmission can be heard at:
http://www.ute-monitor.org/mfa/UNID_5060khz.mp3

Comparison of this mp3 sample and that of an E18 [transmitted April 00] suggests this UNID[4] is none other that E18. See E18

All reports to ENIGMA2000 on this please.

E03 & E03a

All reports on these stations suspended until further notice.

E05

During September PoSW noted that the 1200z transmission on 13906//15732kHz were stronger than usual on both frequencies. 13906kHz up to S8 with QSB whilst 15732kHz was almost S9. [Call 733]. Peter remarks, "Something went wrong with this transmission. At approx 1206z 13906 vanished and 15732 started up with rapid pips of tone - noticed on previous occasions when something has gone wrong. The transmission resumed again at 1209z calling 733 again; this went on until 1219z when the message began with 'Count 170'. When 13906kHz came back on it was several S points weaker than before, either due to a different transmitter or antenna being fired up, or perhaps just due to a change in propagation."

On 20th September, Peter remarked, 'A new E05: 11564kHz at 1908z 20/09 [847/189]. Most unusual, weak signal, severe QRM from E10 on 11565kHz.' On searching Peter found // on 13450kHz and notes 'both frequencies have been used by Cynthia before.'

18617//19622kHz
PoSW had lost track of this Saturday afternoon schedule but found it at 1416z 22/09. It was a weak signal. It did not appear on 29/09 but turned up again on 06/10. The signal on 18617kHz was much stronger than that heard on previous occasions, a noted S7 with deep, rapid QSB. 19622kHz was weak.[508/206]. It turned up again at 1400z 13/06 at S6 whilst the // 19622kHz was much weaker. [508/206].

E05

In November Peter wrote, "The American accent E05 has again shown a reduction in activity. Several of the schedules noted for the first time in the late summer ceased towards the end of October. The 2200z E05 5175//6891kHz, on every day except Fridays and Mondays - and Tuesday 11/09 - last turned up on Tuesday 30/10. The 1900z on 11564//13450kHz on Mondays and Thursdays - only noticed in September, and always very weak, vanished towards the end of October."

Peter's observations reflected the various changes in his logs for early December:

• 1-Dec-01, Saturday
  1600z 16198kHz 991/193 (?), very weak signal, difficult to hear. This is the only Saturday E05 of which I am aware now that the 1400z 18617 // 19622kHz seems to have gone.

• 2-Dec-01, Sunday
  1200z 13906kHz stronger than usual, up to S8, // 15732kHz, only just detectable due to usual severe BC QRM. 332/165.
  1500z 14739 // 16198kHz both frequencies weak signals, much weaker than last Sunday, 020/215.

• 3-Dec-01, Monday
  2200z 9219 // 10527kHz, both weak but clear, slight flutter on both, perhaps auroral, 569/32, short message.
  2212 z 6960kHz, usual QRM from a much stronger Lincolnshire Poacher, // 9090kHz, up to strength S6 with slight flutter, transmission in progress

• 5-Dec-01, Wednesday
  1600z 16198kHz 991/193, very weak as on Saturday.

Jmm via spooks noticed:

E06

On 6th October PoSW noted that E06 continued in October with a change of frequency.

Activity on 10/10 was noted by Peter as:

13/10 activity was as follows:

Rest as follows:

In his November log Peter mentions E05 "Cynthia" remains at a somewhat low level of activity; it seems as if the Saturday afternoon 1400z 18617 // 19622 kHz has gone; it has not been on for several weeks. The late evening transmissions have all become very weak as we head into winter.

• 17-Nov-01, Saturday
  1230z 18225kHz regular Saturday afternoon E06, calling "265", DK/GC "903 903 174 174", longer message than the average E06, strong signal, both sidebands appeared to be of about the same amplitude; most transmissions in this set - up have the lower sideband suppressed to some extent.
  1330z 14570kHz second sending of "265" and "903 903 174 174", also with both sidebands; audio level somewhat low on both transmissions.

• 18-Nov-01, Sunday
  1230z 18230kHz the expected next day repeat of "265" and "903 903 174 174". Unlike yesterday the lower sideband was suppressed - but not quite totally - and the modulation much deeper and altogether more readable than yesterday
  1349z 14570kHz second sending in progress.

• 19-Nov-01, Monday
  2023z 6935kHz transmission in progress, good signal with rapid QSB, lower sideband well kHz suppressed. Ended 2031 UTC, "382 382 101 101 00000".

• 22-Nov-01, Thursday
  2200z 5755kHz, "439 439 439 00000", close to and idling FSK signal, carrier with tone noted ten minutes earlier.

• 24-Nov-01, Saturday
  1230z 18230kHz regular Sat. afternoon E06, calling "265", DK "907 907", GC "265 265", - same as the call; is there any significance in this?, long message. Strong signal with both sidebands.
  1330z 14570kHz second sending of "265" and "907 907 265 265", again strong signal with both sidebands.
  1400z 13480kHz the E06 which shows up on the fourth ( and second) Sat. in the month. Call "741", DK/GC "860 860 32 32", unlike ealier transmission short message and lower sideband well suppressed.
  1509z 10870 kHz, last few seconds of the second sending, ending with "860 860 32 32 00000"

• 25-Nov-01, Sunday
  1230z 18230 kHz the next day repeat of "265" and "907 907 265 265", deep QSB with both sidebands.
  1339z 14570 kHz repeat sending in progress but unlike the previous transmissions this one had the lower sideband well suppressed.
  1400z 13480 kHz repeat of yesterday's "741" and "860 860 32 32", missed the 1500z repeat!

[Thanks PoSW]

E06 was also heard by AF in Germany:

as well as hearing those mentioned by Peter, 25/11 [Tnx AF].

Gert of Holland informed e2k that the start freqs for November, and at the same times despite the end of Summertime as 1230z 18240 kHz and 1330z 14560kHz.

Gert later informed us:

Repeat on tuesday if there is a msg. Seems it looks the same as the sat/sun 1230 /1330z transmissions.

AnonUK emailed us to say that he had heard E06 as:

but had not heard the 1330z transmission to date.

1330z transmission reported via 'spooks' by 'Selco' [US] as:

Gert sent his log in [tnx] which reads:

AnonUK writes of the 01/12 transmission, "E06 on Saturday at 1230z and 1330z, was using almost the same frequencies as last year, but with a different ID.1230z was on 17520kHz which was the same as last year. 1330z was on 14370kHz, last year was 14390kHz. It is quite possible they moved down because there was terrible jammer QRM from 14735 to 14400kHz. ID was 193, last year, 450."

December freqs from Gert of Holland as:

Frequencies for December 2001

On 19/12 we received this interesting piece from Gert of Holland:

Gert writes that "E06 is doing some odd things. Normally each mon 2010 and 2110z, this month (December) only heard on the first mon(3 rd); 6810 (2010z) and 5415 (2110z) with both null msg for 518. Not on mon 10 Dec nor on mon 17 Dec. Tx broken?? I did hear an E06 transmission on tue 11 Dec (6880 kHz 2000z null msg 471). Sat and Sun seems unchanged:

Hfd & Selco sent these findings via Spooks [Tnx each]:

E06a

Received by Gert of Holland:

E07

Gert let us know the line up for November:

[Tnx Gert].

AnonUK heard this station as:

from Joerg Eberhardt, Germany we receive, via spooks:

Rob of Essex paged with the following:

and remarked the voice was of hermaphrodite tones.

Gert's excellent log confirms all the above for November:

The freq line up for December, again from Gert as:

E10

From Keith of Kent:

and

Keith remarks that 'E10 seems to be very active at present; 7^th November gave VLB, CIO, ART and KPA all working between 2240z and 2320z.'

With those valid remarks from Keith we then received a FLASH msg concerning some most unusual E10 transmissions from 'C' concerning Low traffic Stations Activated on 11/11:

"E10 A Strange Burst of Activity - Some odd goings on at E10 may give us more clues or add to the confusion depending on your point of view ! On SUN and MON November 11th and 12th I monitored a burst of messages from the 'low traffic stations' CIO KPA SYN and VLB, these particular calls restrict themselves to sending the '2' idler indicating no message for 99.9% of the time. Messages are very rare. I was amazed to find all four calls were active and sending messages at the same time.

Over the years I have always grouped CIO KPA MIW SYN & VLB together but have never heard more than one station send a message at any given time. In this case only poor old MIW was left out of the fun. It does however raise some serious questions. Why would four stations be activated at once, if they are totally and utterly unrelated entities (e.g. remote un-connected recipients)? The chances of them all needing to be told something at the same time would be remote if not non existent. This throws up all kinds of questions. Are those persons all inter connected? After all they cannot each listen to all the messages as they are been broadcast at the same time. Do they each know each other, are they working together on some coordinated mission, why do they only receive a message every 'blue moon'? It is also interesting to note that the messages, sent over two days, are only in the range 12 to 31 groups. These probably don't have any 'opaque' fillers like those sent by EZI etc.! Can we tie these strange messages up to events in the real world, questions, questions!"

'C' further reported Monday 12/11 E10 activities as:

MON Transmissions at 1800z were :

And queries if 'Something odd is going to happen ?'

Overall activity shown in 'C's log as:

AF's log, Germany shows:

A very good catch from BMDartford who apart from hearing the usual JSR, ART, SYN2, CIO2 informs us of this rarity:

BM further mentions "some current frequencies in use (all usb) for normal E10 transmissions are: 4275. 5091 5435 5437 6428 7605 7811 and 7918kHz with main activity around 2000z. Reception fair to good." [Tnx BM].

Of the rare transmission MikeofKent, who likewise monitored the 25/11 ABC transmission comments, 'At 2020z ABC was still going strong and started deep fading at 2100, gone by 2120, either stopped TX or faded out. No message sent so would have expected ABC2, an odd one this. [Tnx MoK].

E11

Oblique from Gert [tnx]:

From Cherry Ripe we receive:

E15

We print the known schedule [as prev issue 6]:

FYP was heard by MartinH in Canada. Martin described it via spooks as:

"After calling for about 2 minutes the OM announcer read a few digits and then switched to 5-letter groups, repeated once, in their funny phonetic alphabet, ending just before 1407. Then at 1407 he started calling again with more, or the same, traffic beginning at 1409. Ended just before 1412Z. The signal was too weak to tell if the second transmission was a repeat of the first. In each case the end seemed to be announced by 'ADAM (something) ADAM (something)'. Unless this announcer has an unusually deep voice, the RF seemed to be a little low, with best resolution on about 13999.90 kHz USB. QSA 2 in Canada, on a 4-el 20m monobander aimed at southern Europe."

[Tnx Martin].

A further interception of this station was made [09/12] by AnonUK, who stated that it was a very good signal.

Message reads:

QTC QTC NR 1 NR 1 GR 01 GR 01
AYWRL FPSGN GXJXD DUUYH QHBLU STNTV PGRKR YAEOC EUSHO JMKRQ
AR AR

E16

From Spooks, Chris Smolinski writes:

"Al from over on the WUN list may have logged E16 (Two Letter Phonetic), which has not been reported in a year or two. The logging was on 16085 AM, on Dec 7, at 1445z. (I believe that was a Friday) So this freq might bear watching again."

[16085kHz is used by E03 so possible confusion?]

Apparently a firm recognition of this station was made using a file copy of an earlier transmission. Obviously a good time to tune the receivers to 16085kHz is at 1445z on a Friday.

E17

Concerning the above 6867kHz transmission [0215z 06/11] Ben writes, 'I caught E17 in progress at 0155z this evening and heard a part of the E17 broadcast I'd never heard before. There was a loud tone, followed by the hermaphrodite voice proclaiming "Four Five Three". I turned on the tape recorder, and this repeated again (tone + 453). Then nothing but a carrier 'til 0215-0220z, when we got a null message for 453 (453 00000). At 0221z and 0222z there were more tones. Finally carrier went down at 0230z.'

Ben posted a recording, which can be heard at:
http://www.hungry.com/~ben/radio/e17-11-05-01-0155-6867kHz.mp3 [Tnx Ben].

Another E17 transmission was caught in the US and reported via Spooks:

Ben Mesander later wrote via spooks:

"This is too weak to be called a 'prediction', but these are some windows that might be worth monitoring for E17 in December."

[Tnx Ben]

E18

Gert informs us of a possible new freq:

and discovered that it was repeated the next day:

Gert remarked that this timing matches that of S04 heard last March

[Details in Issue 4 as: 3868kHz 2245Z 13/03 [342 nr210 gc066=51513]. Thanks Gert.

See also UNID[1]&[4].

E23

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

Transmits Monday Wednesday and Thursday:

Week 4 in AM only.

Reported by DofKent:

and confirmed by AnonUK: 'E23 was on Monday 05/11, Week 1 transmissions, so is still with us.

G06

Peter noted in September that the Friday G06 is back. This one ran throughout last autumn and winter months and into the spring of this year; last heard on 27/04. Not found throughout the summer months-unless someone knows otherwise. I had often tuned around at 1930z looking for her. If the schedule is the same as last time she will turn up on alternate Fridays, although on one or two occasions she fooled us by missing two Fridays in a row. Should move to 4790kHz +or- a few kHz in the depths of winter. As when observed before the carrier was on well before the transmissions began, in this instance at 1843z with tone, then a brief recitation of numbers 1 to 9 and a '947' in German. Plain carrier until 1930z when proceedings began with call 'Neun vier seben' then dk/gc Drei zwo sechs x2, 'Vier acht x2. Strength S7 to 8, lower sideband well suppressed.

On Monday 1st October the First Monday transmission of G06 was heard at 2000z on 8060kHz. For the first time in 2001 a full message followed. Call ' Drei null acht' dk/gc 'Zwo seben funef 'x2, 'Acht sechs'x2. Carrier up at 1937z, tone at 1943z followed by a spoken '308'. Peter remarks,"Same frequency was used in October last year. I couldn't find the first sending at 1900z which should have been on a higher frequency - usually about 2MHz higher, so it might have been inside the 31metre BC band - I couldn't find it last year either. Signal Strength S9 to S9+, lower sideband suppressed.

Friday 12th October 2001

The alternate Friday G06, call Neun vier seben, dk/gc Drei acht einsx2, vier null x2. Strong signal, lower sideband well suppressed. As is often the case with this one the carrier was on well before the start of the transmission. It was on with audio tone at 1836z then '78945' in German repeated several times. 0 faster than normal and the voice high pitched like a tape recording running too fast - followed by numbers '12345' in German repeated over and over for about 3 minutes, then plain carrier until the start at 1930z.

The alternate Friday G06 moved to 4792kHz as from 09/11 [as used last year]. The first Monday in the month G06 turned up as expected. [PoSW].

AF [Germany] heard G06 as:

Peter's log reflected his observations:

• 23-Nov-01, Friday
  1930z 4792kHz the alternate Friday G06 German YL; almost forgot this one, suddenly remembered at 1928z to check 4792! Call "Vier drei sechs", DK/GC "Acht funef neun" x 2, vier seben" x 2 - same as when last heard on Friday 9 - Nov. Good signal, lower sideband well suppressed, numbers delivered at a more rapid rate than usual. But the pitch of the voice sounded normal so it was not due to a tape running a bit fast - which did seem to be the case on a few previous occasions with this one.

• 3-Dec-01, Monday
  1900z 5930kHz, first Monday in the month G06 German YL, "Drei null acht" x 3, "Null" x 5, inside 49 metre band, on same frequency as Radio Prague in Spanish, difficult to hear. Same frequency used in December last year.
  2000z 4860kHz, second sending of G06 "308 308 308 00000", strong signal, no QRM, lower sideband suppressed, much better than the first sending. Same frequency used in December last year.

• Monday 4^th December 2001
  G06 turned up at 2000z on 4860kHz, '308 00000' as usual.

AnonUK heard:

14-Dec-01, Friday

S06

From Peter of Saffron Walden excellent log:

• 19-Nov-01, Monday
  2130z 7670 kHz, carrier with tone noted 2112z, strong signal but much weaker by the start of transmission. Calling "Deviett pyat tri", then DK/GC "Dva syem null" x 2, "Deviett cheteria" x 2. Lower sideband well suppressed.

• 20-Nov-01, Tuesday
  2130z 7670 kHz, a repeat of yesterday's S06 Russian Man
  2230z 5760 kHz, another sending of S06 "Deviett pyat tri" and "Dva syem noll" x 2, "Deviett cheteria" x 2.
  2230z 5750 kHz, calling "Syem shesht adean", DK/GC "Tri vosyem derriet" x 2, "Pyat dva" x 2. Strong signal, lower sideband well suppressed. Carrier with tone was noted 2220z.

• 4-Dec-01, Tuesday
  2230z 5750 kHz, a following day repeat of yesterday's S06 Russian Man.

S06A

AnonUK heard a large carrier on 4490kHz 2000z 04/12 whilst listening for M01transmission. As the CW was ending at 2010z S06a started calling: 270, sent 2 messages, first was 153 153 2 2 11111 11111 00035 00035, odd message, only 2 groups. Then called 270 for 2 minutes, 182 182 46 46.

AnonUK noted that he used the notch facility to remove the carrier from his required M01transmission.

[Tnx AnonUK]

S06C

AnonUK remarks, " All the years I have been monitoring numbers stations, I have never heard an S6C until today".

[Tnx Anon]

S07

Rob of Essex paged with the following:

Of the above [and E07] Rob remarked that signals were strong and with Mr Putin's visit to America one can always find a message.

S10E

In keeping with M10E [always a good indicator for its voice sister] S10E came up as expected as:

On 19/11 PofLondon remarked "very strong signal, excellent copy." The offering on 20/11 was of good signal strength +20dB [S.London] but was marred by eight tones of similar length sent at 1318z, lasting six seconds and confirmed by DofKent. Wednesday 21/11 at 1245z the tones were 33 evenly spaced over a period of 22 seconds. Quantities and times confirmed by recording. [Tnx DofKent].

As expected S10E returned on 17/12 as PofLondon informs:

Next scheduled cycle after this current one should occur on 14^th January 2002

S11A

AnonUK contacted e2k to report:

and states, 'This ID was until this week was a morse ID. Must have a new agent who does not read morse.'

Anon noted that the call is 976 when a null msg exists. [Thanks AnonUK].

Try c10600kHz at 0745z [Thurs 13/12] Tnx KofKent

S17C

DofKent contacted e2k at 1252z on 01/11 to inform us that the 6945kHz frequency for S17c changed to 9385kHz [previously used]. DofKent remarked that this looked a routine change of frequency from 1st November. He also remarked that he thought someone was reading his post as every time he mentioned something it either came about or stopped! On 19/11 DofKent contacted e2k to mention that the 8190kHz transmission was very loud, whilst the 9385kHz transmission was down in the mush. PofLondon also remarked to us that he used the attenuator on his set to bring the 8MHz down to a manageable level, whilst he also found the 9MHz sending 'in the mush'. On 06/12 at end of 'konecs' at 1257z 10s later one second tone followed by a long break = [-...-] followed by 'S' [...] in MCW format. Friday 07/12 after carrier up at 1231z, followed by a series of tones finishing at 1255z, carrier off at 1259z, nothing further heard [both freqs 07/12] monitoring continued with a tape change at 1310z and finally discontinued monitoring at 1353z. 1253z to 1353z other known freqs were also checked and nothing heard. [Taped event]. Tnx DofKent

V02

The station heard by PoSW 9230kHz 0807z 30/09 had a strong signal but was impossible to understand. The speech was clipped and distorted.

On 17/10 the 0702z 9063kHz transmission was calling "Attencion, quatro, quatro, cinco, seis, uno; cero dos cinco ocho tres; uno uno uno dos uno" then 44661 rptd and into 5fgs. This signal was close to a strong FSK-RTTY type signal but since V02 is a proper AM signal with both sidebands, setting the receiver mode to 'LSB' removed the QRM.

Note comment from BillyS, US for 0400z 08/11,'hum on carrier.' This is a trait of V02.

Further to the comment from PoSW for 30/09 and 17/10 transmissions, Peter took care to send in:

• 18-Nov-01, Sunday
  0729z 6869 kHz last few seconds of one of those short format Sunday morning transmissions, ended with 3 x "Finale".

• 22-Nov-01, Thursday
  0634z 8097 kHz good signal, up to strength S9. Ended 0645z with 3 x "Finale".
  0706z 9153 kHz V02 again, much weaker than earlier transmission, strength S5 at best. These frequencies were used by V02 on Thursdays throughout the summer months.

• 25-Nov-01, Sunday
  0726z 6869 kHz ended a couple of minutes later with 2 x "Finale".

• 29-Nov-01, Thursday
  0636z 8097 kHz V02 in progress, good signal, about strength S8 with deep QSB.
  0709z 9153 kHz V02 again, this one weak signal.

V02A

V06

The Spanish Language stations were active and PoSW heard this Fiday 2200z transmission.

Peter remarked 'Only turns up on the first Friday of the month. I have not heard her for a couple of months. Carrier noted at 2154z "Ocho tres seis"x3, Cerox5, very strong, S9+ signal. Lower sideband well suppressed. Stopped 2204z.'

V08

[Also reported by Joerg Eberhardt, Germany via 'spooks'].

Mike of Kent writes, "Interesting one, prior to start there was 'Khartoum ? Radio' x 3. TX 1903 - 1909 repeat 1909 - 1915. CW 'dot' jammer from 1900 which stopped at end of tx. Carrier up till 1930 and at 1917:30 a few seconds of 'op-chat' over an open mike until someone shouted and mike was cut." [tnx M]

V13

From Ben Mesander via Spooks:

XPH

October freqs confirmed by John of Aylesbury as:

As mentioned last time on 23/10 Captain Davros heard additional transmissions at: 2010z 11595kHz, 2030z 10208kHz and 2040z 9040kHz and remarked that the transmissions were much longer than usual and signal strength was weak. AnonUK contacted us to say that he had listened for the additional morning slots on 26/10, which he did not find, whilst those in the evening were at least +30dB at his QTH.

With reference to those 'in-betweens' mentioned in NL7 AnonUK also writes, "The XPH on 11595kHz at 2010z on Tuesday, 30/10 turned out to be M12 this week. It had about the shortest message I have seen for M12, 30 groups. I have seen this happen before with an additional XPH sked, having changed to M12 then after a few transmissions, disappeared. Another thing about this family, is that they do not all change transmission times with the change of clocks, this makes it difficult to find them." [Thanks AnonUK]

November freqs confirmed by John, via text, and AnonUK as:

On 02 & 07/11 2100z transmissions on 7426kHz suffered from BC station QRM. Those sent at 2140z were of questionable quality, much muffled and with some additional QRM to make things easier for the recipients!

Ary reported that apart from the transmissions shewn above for 09/11he also copied the 'in-betweens' as: 2110z 7727kHz and 2130z 6781kHz sked 771 null msg. Ary makes the following observation, "Sked 771 was used by XPH two weeks ago, then switched to M12 last week and tonight back to XPH again."

[Tnx Ary]. PofLondon mentioned that the am transmissions were 6.5mins long on 13/11 whilst those in the pm slot were 2min null messages. The same occurred on 16/11 with am msgs being 6.5mins too.

Peter of Saffron Walden wrote in to make further comment on XPH,"The XPH poly-tone stations have stepped up their activity in much the same way as last year. In November there are two separate schedules after 2100z on Tuesdays and Fridays, those freqs listed above and: 2110z 7727kHz, 2130z 6781kHz, 2150z 5162kHz. "These frequencies were used in November last year." Peter notes, "There is also a XPH schedule running later in the evening on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Very strong 'full message' format noted at 2300z on 6862kHz on Thursday 01/11 and on Tuesdays 06/11; also noted at 2240z on 8162kHz and at 2300z on 6862kHz on Thursday 08/11. I think these are the second and third sendings; there must be a first sending at 2220z on a higher frequency, perhaps in the 31M BC band. A late evening schedule was noted in December last year, ie 2220z 8188kHz, 2240z 6788kHz and 2300z 5388kHz. It will be interesting to see if this schedule turns up this year." See 'Tones' in Oddities section.

John of Aylesbury contacted e2k mentioning that he had heard XPH null msg at 2240z 20/11 on 8162kHz. PofLondon also mentioned hearing XPH on 7724kHz at 2110z 20/11 with 5 mins of traffic.

The morning 0700z 11634kHz sending on 23/11 ended at 0705:27 but the carrier stayed up for a further 75s, all in all an unusually long transmission. [Tnx JofA]. The Friday 0700z [23/11] transmission was described by AnonUK as "longest XPH I have heard with 370 groups."

As regards the 'in-betweens', obviously other XPH schedules, e2k received this report from JofA concerning activity on the night of 23/11: 7727kHz. 2110z: 2102:40 already up. S9. v.strong QRN.2110:00-2115:28 (E) Poly., 6781kHz. 2130z:2122:25 already up. S9. v. QRN + QRM-Hum+rushing noise. 2130:01-21354:29 (E) Poly., 5162kHz. 2150z: 2140:25 B.Up.2143:05 Up. S9+25dB. v. QRN.2150:00-2155:28 Poly.2155:48 Carrier off QRN from Jet 5160kHz noted by Jan Michalski, Poland, 8162kHz. 2240z missed, 6862kHz. 2300z. Checked just before 2300z, and just after 2300z. Believed to be NRH. 27/11 other sched offerings heard as: 2110z 7727kHz Null message 343, 2130z 6781kHz Null message 454, 2150z 5162kHz No transmission [Tnks J]

December Freqs confirmed by JofA and 'P'London as:

The signals heard by 'P' London between 0700z and 0746z 04/12 were described as 'very strong, at least 9+20dB, no QRM unlike the November morning slot'. Interestingly the evening slots suffered some QRM during the first slot with the mid-slot being a very strong signal, S9+20dB+. The last transmission whilst strong displayed hetrodyning with the BC station on or near that freq [4637kHz] and some side splatter from S28 on 4625kHz, still just audible whilst running AM/N. Unlike the 5 mins transmission sent in the morning slot, the evening slot was only 3mins long. Interestingly the 2140z transmission appeared, suggesting a short message. Other schedules that occurred 04/12 were monitored by JofA as: 2220z: 8188kHz S9+35dB. Very strong, 2240z 6788kHz. 2240z: S9+10dB/25dB. v. QRN/ Slight QRM-BC. (Chinese). 07/12 at 0700z - carrier remained up, and heard as such by JofA, until 0730z.

Tom[US] reported via spooks that the 12224kHz 0720z 11/12 was also audible in Nevada City, Colorado.

The evening slots of 11/12 at 2100, 2120, and 2140z were copied by Ary who stated that the signals were lousy. Morning stations of 14/12 were heard to be of poorer signal strength than usual whilst those in the evening slot were abysmal [TnxP].

John of Aylesbury wrote in to say that he heard the following on Saturday 01/12:

[There will be a full schedule here to be discovered. Please send all findings to e2k via the usual routes]

PoSW logs make interesting reading concerning the XPH station.

On Tuesday 4 - Dec - 01 three separate schedules of XPH showed up; they were all "Full message" format and used the same frequencies as in December last year;-

All three schedules had a total transmission time of just over three minutes.

Whilst Ary copied the usual schedules in the evening of 11/12 he also looked at the 2110z 6934kHz null msg and the 2130z 5927kHz null msg. He noted that the carrier of the 2120 transmission were already up whilst the 2100z transmission [6848kHz] progressed, reasoning that these transmissions are not from the same site. [Seems the E2k shielded loop will have to be brought into play here]!

Also, the Saturday lunchtime polytone transmissions, similar to XPH but much higher in pitch, are still around in December although the frequencies have changed from those used in November;-

24-Nov-01, 1230z 20123 kHz, two minutes of slow tones, then faster until just after 1234z, then a few seconds of slow tones again, then QRT, a "Full message" format. Repeated 1250z on 18715kHz and again, 1310z, 17433kHz.

On Saturday 1-Dec-01, the frequency schedule had changed; 1230z, 18942 kHz - noted in December last year - close to a strong BC station, full message format.

1252z 17537kHz, second sending in progress, difficult to find because it was flattened by an S9++ BC station; I had been tuning around looking for a carrier which would indicate a repeat but had to wait until the tones had actually started to be able to find this.

1310z 16077KHz, the third sending, strong signal, no QRM, by far the best of the three.

[Thanks PoSW]

Frequencies for schedules 2 & 3 were listened for by PofLondon on 14/12. Those that were heard were poor signals.

All things considered XPH is a lot busier than first thought. A lot more work needs to be done on XPH to find all the schedules.

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