ENIGMA 2000 Newsletter - Issue 11

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

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Selected voice stations

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

E05

PoSW wrote

'I think the big news on the numbers scene is the ending of the E05 schedules with the 210/100 message; there were two sendings Monday to Friday which had been on since late last year and these were joined by two daily sendings, weekends included, in April. My observations are that the 210/100 message was last transmitted on Tuesday 28-May; I happened to be at home on this day and I made a point of checking the daytime E05s; I was also at home the next day but found no sign of any of the four 210/100 transmissions, and there has been no trace of them since. Late May also saw the end of several E05 - related data transmissions which had been on weekdays since late last year. These were of two distinct varieties, one a fast FSK type and the other with a pulsing noise. The schedules for these were;-

0700z 8,029kHz, "Pulse data" type; 0740z 12,197 // 15,822kHz,, FSK type and 0900z 6,891 // 8,125kHz, type.

All of these were first noticed in late December and were on each weekday on which I was able to check between January and late May. However they now seem to have all gone; there was no sign of any of these schedules on Monday 3 - June; I am sure they must have been connected in some way with the 210/100 E05.

Several other E05 schedules have also gone; - the Thursday and Friday 2100z on 8,080 // 10,321kHz,, was last heard in the first week of May and the long - standing (since early 1998) Sunday 1800z on 11,072 // 13.465kHz has not been heard since 26 - May - presumably the similar schedule on Thursdays has ended too. Also, the Saturday 1400z on 18,617 // 19,622 kHz, which had the habit of vanishing for a few weeks and then returning, had not been heard since 6 - April and I made a note in the log that it had probably gone for good; but, much to my surprise, it DID show up on Saturday 15 - June, "Call" 801, "Count" 130 - the first time I had heard it for over two months. I still can't decide if this schedule really does vanish for weeks at a time or if it is all down to propagation.'

PoSW noted these E05's during June:

PoSW ends his E05 log with

"It looks as if this message with the "Call" of 210, and consisting of 100 5F - or more correctly 3 + 2 - groups, the total transmission time within a second of 29 minutes, has served its purpose. Now I wonder what that was?

On 9-June-02, Sunday, no sign of E05 at 1800z on 11,072 // 13,465kHz; last heard on 26 - May. This schedule was first noticed in March 1998 but may now be no more!

Whilst 15-June-02, Saturday, 1400z 18,617 // 19,622kHz; this is the schedule which vanishes for weeks at a time; I last heard this one in early April! I have checked these frequencies at 1400z or just after on most Saturdays since then but there had been no trace of Cynthia until today. Weak but clear on both frequencies, 801/130."

[Tnx PoSW]

AnonUK has shared his April log with us, illustrating the vast number of 210/100 messages sent by Cynthia over that month:

Message 210 C100 Logged 156 times to date

The repetitive 210/100 message has also been commented on by AF, PLondon , MikeofKent and JoA to name a few.

After the marathon 200+ sendings [!] of the 210/100 message E05 activity decreased. However the following were monitored:

Tom [US] reported via group that he could not hear the 2200z 11/06 transmission.

AF's June log:

E06

May's transmissions include:

June freqs open with:

PoSW writes:

'The E06 English Man has increased in activity, especially on Saturdays; the weekly 1230 + 1330z transmission continues and the second and fourth Saturday in the month schedule at 1400 + 1500z is back. There is also another E06 schedule on the second and fourth Saturday at 1120 + 1220z, the second sending on a higher frequency than the first which is unusual. The call is always "761" no matter what the frequencies; this has been heard several times over the past few months and has always sent a four minute "No message" transmission until 8 - June when there was a full message with a group count of 108.'

PoSW noted TV QRM on the 12180kHz in his locale, also prevalent in South London and heard in Dartford too. [Tnx PoSW]

Other obs include:

From AF's June log:

From the US we noted a report of a weak E06 via Spooks:

E07

Late April activity was logged by PoSW as:

*Started 10s earlier than nominal time.

From Gert we receive this comprehensive log of activity:

For June:

as well as details of a sending of two messages in a special format:

E10

April E10 General Observations [BMDartford]:

I had intended this month to only monitor and report on the more exotic side of E10 i.e. Special Headers, Changes to C/S and the more Rarer Networks, plus any unusual breaks from the expected pattern. On April 2^nd, HNCK was heard on 6.575, with no change to previous network transmissions and still no message. ART on 5.435 was heard not to be sending the expected group message on two occasions, the 2^nd and 9^th April. EZI was sending, but failed to mention the group schedule in its initial part of the transmission on two occasions during the evening of the 12^th April, on frequencies 19.175 and 9.130 unusual?

Not very much one might say. Then Eureka! On the 14th came VLBTMX 1504 and MIWTMX 1504 both sending just the Special Header with no group message both at the same time on their respective frequencies. Each station transmitted for 22 minutes. Apart from the first three letters the headers were identical. With reception being excellent I'm sure many will have heard these.

As to the more common networks I tried monitoring at various times during the evenings on different days, and as you can see from the log the same crowd of active and non active calls were always there, ART, CIO2 and VLB2 more so than the others.

For April 02 By Frequency

• 3150
  00:03-07April PCD2, 00:34-18April PCD2

• 4015
  23:46-06April VLB2

• 4270
  22:04-06April PCD, 00:03-07April PCD2 //3.150

• 4360
  23:47-06April CIO2 // 5.339 & 6.912, 00:45-07April CIO2, 20:47-28April CIO2

• 4461
  22:03-06April FTJ, 00:02-07April FTJ2, 23:04-12April FTJ G88, 00:04-18April FTJ2

• 4780
  23:47-06April SYN2, 00:49-07April SYN2, 21:47-09April SYN2, 20:49-12April SYN2
  22:51-21April SYN2, 20:49-28April SYN2 //7.605.

• 5091
  22:03-06April JSR, 22:03-09April JSR G53, 20:09-12April JSR G40, 23:04-18April JSR G5,
  23:10-21April JSR G51, 20:02-28April JSR G27.

• 5170
  23:46-06April VLB2 // 4.015, 21:49-09April VLB2, 22:47-11April VLB2, 20:48-12April VLB2,
  20:11-14April VLBTMX 1504, 21:46-20April VLB2, 20:48-28April VLB2 //6.930.

• 5339
  23:47-06April CIO2, 00:45-07April CIO2, 21:46-20April CIO2, 20:47-28April CIO2 //4.360//6.912.

• 5435
  23:46-02April ART Nil, 22:02-06April ART2, 00:01-07April ART G44, 22:04-09April ART Nil,
  22:46-11April ART G44, 22:58-12April ART2, 00:10-18April ART G44, 20:03-28April ART2,
  20:32-28April ART G41,

• 6270
  00:04-07April ULX G14, 23:30-13April ULX2, 00:02-18April ULX G8, 20:31-20April ULX2.

• 6498
  23:04-18Aprl PCD G54 Freq Change

• 6575
  23:56-02April HNCK

• 6912
  23:47-06April CIO2, 00:45-07April CIO2 //4.360// 5.339, 21:46-09April CIO2, 22:47-11April CIO2
  20:47-12April CIO2, 20:47-28April CIO2

• 6930
  23:21-11April MIW2, 23:18-12April MIW2, 20:11-14April MIWTMX 1504, 20:16-20April MIW2
  20:48-28April VLB2

• 7605
  22:51-21April SYN2 // 4.780, 22:49-28April SYN2

• 7918
  20:33-12April YHF2, 23:32-13April YHF2, 23:29-21April YHF2, 20:08-28April YHF2

• 9130
  22:36-11April EZI G11, 20:11-12April EZI?

• 19715
  23:38-12April EZI?

Frequency Changes

• PCD2 on 6.498 Reception good

• SYN2 on 7.605 Poor due to heavy background noise

• VLB2 on 6.930 Good, last used this freq 18Feb02

Noises

20th April at 20:14hrs a very powerful whistling noise was heard on 6.428 lasting for 2 minutes. Something sounding similar to a car alarm. A few moments before the main noise commenced it sounded like someone whistling to attract attention, tuning up I suppose? (Frequency used by ABC at times).

For May 02 By Frequency

• 4015
  22:05 10 May VLBSE, 19:51 16 May SYN2 Nil, 23:46 28 May VLB2 Nil

• 4270
  22:38 16 May PCD G?

• 4360
  23:50 05 May CIO2 Nil, 22:05 10 May CIOSE, 19:51 16 May CIO2 Nil, 23:45 28 May CIO2 Nil

• 4461
  21:17 06 May FTJ G98, 22:04 07 May FTJ G37, 23:04 10 May FTJ G88, 22:39 16 May FTJ G?
  00:37 21 May FTJ G108, 20:36 27 May FTJ G?

• 4780
  23:47 01 May SYN2 Nil, 22:49 02 May SYN2 Nil, 23:50 05 May SYN2 Nil, 22:03 10 May SYNSE
  21:52 20 May SYN2 Nil, 23:46 28 May SYN2 Nil

• 5091
  21:35 01 May JSR G60, 21:35 03 May JSR G90, 21:31 12 May JSR G90, 22:39 16 May JSR G?
  21:05 20 May JSR2, 20:33 27 May JSR G45

• 5170
  21:46 01 May VLB2 Nil, 22:47 02 May VLB2 Nil, 21:50 05 May VLB2 Nil, 22:05 10 May VLBSE
  19:52 16 May VLB2 Nil, 23:45 28 May VLB2 Nil

• 5230
  20:13 05 May KPA2 Nil, 20:02 09 May KPAZHAZ0905Z2050 Nil, 21:21 09 May KPA6 Nil
  22:16 09 May KPA2 Nil, 22:20 10 May KPA2 Nil, 21:18 12 May KPA2 Nil, 19;18 16 May KPA2 Nil
  21:13 20 May KPA2 Nil

• 5339
  21:46 01 May CIO2 Nil, 22:47 02 May CIO2 Nil, 23:50 05 May CIO2 Nil, 22:05 10 May CIOSE
  23:45 28 May CIO2 Nil,

• 5435
  21:37 02 May ART G16, 21:37 03 May ART G9, 21:32 05 May ART G61, 22:03 07 May ART2 Nil
  20:00 16 May ART2 Nil, 21:04 20 May ART G74, 20:34 24 May ART G133, 20:33 27 May ART G?

• 6270
  21:34 02 May ULX G64, 23:02 07 May ULX2 Nil

• 6428
  22:22 22 May ABC, 20:39 23 May ABC, 19:48 24 May ABC, 20:57 25 May ABC, 19:35 26 May ABC
  20:15 27 May ABC, 22:00 28 May ABC, 22:50 29 May ABC

• 6498
  22:42 23 May PCD G50

• 6912
  22:47 02 May CIO2 Nil, 23:50 05 May CIO2 Nil, 22:02 10 May CIOSE, 21:46 12 May CIO2 Nil
  21:51 20 May CIO2 Nil, 20:50 27 May CIO2 Nil, 23:45 28 May CIO2 Nil

• 6930
  21:50 05 May VLB2 Nil, 22:02 10 May VLBSE, 21:46 12 May VLB2 Nil, 21:51 20 May VLB2 Nil
  23:46 28 May VLB2 Nil

• 7605
  23:47 01 May SYN2 Nil, 22:48 02 May SYN2 Nil, 22:01 10 May SYNSE, 21:47 12 May SYN2 Nil
  23:46 28 May SYN2 Nil

• 7918
  23:50 05 May CIO2 Nil, 20:33 24 May YHF2 Nil

• 9130
  21:34 01 May EZI G79, 21:34 03 May EZI G79, 20:04 16 May EZI G22, 21:03 20 May EZI2 Nil

• 11565
  21:32 06 May EZI G110

General Observations & Comments

©BMDartford [Tnx BM]

6428kHz was occupied by XJT transmissions at 0650z 31/05, but previously home to the delcet and repetitive tones of ABC's unusual non-stop transmission. [Tnx Tansy].

E11

The first transmission of May [02/05] was preceded [at 0740z] by a series of tones as well as the 'whistling up' of the tx and some cursory voice traffic apparently French. This QRM continued and caused slight difficulty in receiving the usual 232/00!

The run up to the transmission on 10/05 brought thoughts of S17C to mind. At around 0740z an ICW signal battered out VVV = TTT, which in turn was followed by a loud tty like transmission. Happily this ceased prior to the repeated 232/00.

A suggestion from Gert and received via the ENIGMA 2000 Group for E11:

Tuesdays, 1030z 9610kHz and 1230z 9448kHz for 312.

His subsequent logs reflected this:

Whilst AF offers this for June:

E15

Possible sighting via 'Spooks' from Chris Acuff:

Any other

E17

From Bob in US:

Issue 5 covered E17 in May last year, for which the following were heard:

E18

Gert of Holland wrote in to inform us that he had found E18 again:

and suggests that this can probably be heard on the preceding Wednesday. Gert also notes this station follows CET. [Tnx Gert].

E23

From AF:

G04

Continuing on from PLondon's re-discovery we are certain this Fraulien now follows a monthly 'schedule' on the first Thursday of each month. It follows the time change rule, but strangely the usual time of 2105/2135z became 2000/2030z in April last when this change took place.

March's freqs matched those used 03/01, whilst April's matched 04/00.

Freqs previously reported as follows [Date: 2105z freq 2135z freq]:

In keeping with others observation of this recently emergent fraulein PoSW makes this comment on his reception 2-May-02, Thursday, 2000z 4830kHz. "G04 German YL with the rasping 3 - note call - up - once likened to a Rolf Harris Stylophone, if anyone is old enough to remember that - who now shows up on the first Thursday of the month - as predicted in issue 10! Strong signal, lower sideband suppressed, 34 x 5 figure groups and never uses the number "9" for some reason. Final "Ende ende" just before 2017z. 2030z 4930kHz repeat sending of G04, strong signal, on same frequency as a weak tropical broadcast station."

As predicted in NL10 the frequencies used matched those in 05/00 :

Both the above freqs were reported direct to E2k from JoA, DofKent and PLondon. The telephone was very busy. In keeping with past practice PLondon sat on the first expected sending from 1930z. At 1951z the carrier could be heard as a het tone and followed by a brief 'Achtung, Achtung '81737'. The carrier then closed prior to the 3 tones. This practice is normal with G04 as AF reported for April's sending 04/04 between 1950 to 1952z.

PLondon informs us that June's sending followed the predicted 5220/5320kHz. Unfortunately XJT was very nearby to 5220 and USB was selected to copy a pristine 'Achtung, Achtung ! 22148' message and repeat until 2017z when our starring Fraulien announced 'Ende Ende'.

Changing frequency to 5320kHz immediately the carrier dropped PLondon informs us of a peculiar annoying signal that sat on 5320. Sounding much like bursts of feedback ; a tinny, pulsed, screeching noise, described as 'that made by using a coarse file on a piece of metal not properly positioned in a vice' it sounded as though our Fraulien was going to have a bit of a battle on her hands for dominance of the frequency. Bang on 2030z the carrier raised followed by the 3 tones totally removing the unwanted sounds.

First Thursday in July is 04/07, the expected freqs being 5360/5460 at the relevant times.

G06

E reports a G06 not entered in NL10:

Also heard by AF.

June's frequencies, via AnonUK:

G07

PoSW makes these comments concerning the G07 reported in our last issue 10; having been heard on Friday 15 - March sending a continuous count of 0 to 9 was the G06 YL with this pre - transmission routine. I have often noticed this with the Friday G06 - but never with the first Monday in the month one. The higher pitched voice does sound remarkably like the old G07 YL, which incidentally I have not heard for a couple of years. I think the operator at the controls of the Friday night G06 sometimes gets bored waiting for 1830z and starts messing around with the various functions of the device on which the message is stored; I recall one occasion when the voice suddenly changed into that of the S06 Russian Man for a short while. When the transmission proper began at 1830z the voice was of normal pitch and speed of delivery.

S06

PoSW sent the following in:

The S06 Russian Man has also been busy, especially on the second and fourth Saturdays in the month, early evenings UK time; on Saturday 8 - June for example there were two separate S06 transmissions on the air, one at 1600 + 1700z and the other at 1700 + 1800z.

PoSW's log for S06 reads:

• 9-May-02, Thursday
  2048z 10,982kHz, something different here; this was a Russian Man but not the usual S06 voice. It was the voice used by S07 which I have not heard for two or three years at least. An obviously synthesized voice with a comical cartoon - like quality to it; used to be referred to as "Tinny voice" when it was often heard in the early days of "ENIGMA" with regular schedules. This was calling "Syem shesht adean" x 3, "Noll" x 3, "Dva tri dva pyat pyat" (761 761 761 000 23255), repeating this routine over and over until just after 2051z. Carrier stayed on for approx 30 seconds or so then went QRT. A.M. with both sidebands.

• 5-June-02, Wednesday
  2109z 12,165kHz, S06 transmission in progress, lower sideband suppressed, ended message 2111z with DK/GC "Deviet null adean" (901) x 2, "Tri vosyem" (38) x 2, but instead of ending transmission started calling "Tri vosyem syem" (387) for a minute or so; a two - message S06 then; second DK/GC "Shesht deviet cheteria" (694) x 2, "Dva" (2) x 2, only two 5F groups in the second message! - which were "Dva dva dva dva dva" (22222) and "Null null null cheteria adean" (00041) - similar two message S06 transmissions where the second message consisted of two groups have been noted in the past. Ended with DKDK GCGC and 5 x "Noll" 2113z.

• 6-June-02, Thursday
  2100z 12,165kHz, same frequency as yesterday but not quite the same transmission; calling "Tri vosyem syem", (387), then DK/GC "Adean cheteria pyat" (145) x 2, "Dva" (2) x 2, a two 5F message sent first, but different to yesterday, "Adean adean adean adean adean" (11111) and "Null null null cheteria adean" (00041), followed by DKDK GCGC and "call "387" again, then second DK/GC "Deviet null adean" (901) x 2, "Tri vosyem" (38) x 2 - which WAS the same as yesterday, although sent as the second message today, followed by 5Fs.

• 8-June-02, Saturday
  second (and fourth) Saturdays in the month finds S06 on the air;-
  
  1600z, 14,860kHz, calling "Syem dva cheteria" (724), DK/GC "Tri shesht pyat" (365) x 2, "Cheteria dva" (42) x 2, good signal with QSB, lower sideband well suppressed.
  
  1706z 12,175kHz, transmission in progress, ended 1712z, "365 365 42 42" and 5 x "Noll" - repeat sending of 1600z transmission.
  
  and;-
  
  1700z 14,650kHz, another S06, on at the same time as the one on 12,175kHz, calling "Null shesht cheteria" (064), DK/GC "Cheteria null pyat" (405) x 2, "Vosyem tri" (83) x 2, good signal, lower sideband well suppressed, carrier with tone noted warming up the frequency at 1648z and a single spoken "064" in Russian at 1650z.
  
  1800z 11,480kHz, second sending of "064" and "405 405 83 83"; very strong signal, lower sideband well suppressed.

• 10-June-02, Monday
  2015z 14,730kHz, "Cheteria deviet vosyem" x 3, "Noll" x 5 (498 498 498 00000), until 2019z. Good signal, lower sideband well suppressed, carrier noted a few minutes earlier.

[Tnx PoSW].

AnonUK informed us that S06 could be heard in May as: Monday & Tuesday 1850z on 11130kHz 1950z on 9230kHz. Also notifying us that the Wednesday morning [08/05] S06 at 0700z had moved to 14580kHz and was a very strong signal. AUK further mentioned that all the S06's heard have very poor modulation [and that the 0700z transmission may possibly on at 0600z for the first time].

Gert advised us of the following freq:

AnonUK had problems finding the June Tuesday 1850z and 1950z transmissions but confirmed that the Wednesday slot remained unchanged:

S10E

As was expected S10E, like its Morse sister M10E, re-appeared on 6^th May.

Appeared as expected 3^rd June.

Next appearance 1^st July

S11A

From Gert we have a possible hint of a new Thursday slot

and asks if anyone has heard the Monday 0800z 8186kHz transmission lately? Answers please to E2k.

S17

The S17 format suggested a weekly schedule occurring on Thursdays and Fridays starting around 1015z and possibly again at 1250z with message groupings of 4 sendings, to three recipients daily [01/03 being 688, 351 and 401], producing a transmission of 12 actual messages. The actual sendings were preceded by a series of rapid tones and it seemed to end its schedule with rapid tones. The signal strength was fair to good in the SE of England.

Friday 01/03 produced this log from 7809kHz:

©DofKent

To date no further reports have been received of this station, the above log and apparent traits posted to allow identification if later heard.

S17C

DofKent rang in to say that there was no appearance on 8190kHz on 01/05. On 04/05 AF placed this info via Group:

This frequency is heavily utilised by a tty station and the resultant signals on this freq have not allowed S17c to be observed since 04/05. Interestingly 6758kHz was a stated freq for OLX Cz station in 1991.

Despite the very poor conditions AF was able to inform us, and send a .wav of the 08/05 transmission as:

What is interesting is that AF is not troubled by the tty transmission at his location. AF managed to hear S17C as: S17C

DofKent rang into say that he had used a loop from his qth to try to null out the tty without much success. It is possible that this interfering tty type signal is from GB? It may also be military in origin. If it is, could their Lordships please authorize a new freq so ENIGMA 2000 can get on doing what it does best!

What is apparent is that the S17C transmission is not aimed at Great Britain. The fact that it is of reasonable copy near to the Polish border whilst the GB monitors suffer this 'tty indignity' reinforces that view. DofKent was fortunate in 'just' hearing S17C 1250z 10/05 but was unable to extract the five figure group due to the audio being obliterated by the tty.

In addition to the contact near the Polish Border we were also contacted by another monitor in the CZ republic, who reported hearing S17C RS59 and without QRM from tty.

DofKent later rang to say that his observations on this station have been marginally better around 05/06 due to the apparent cessation of the strong tty QRM, although a weaker signal persists, it allows monitoring of S17C for the present.

AF copied S17c throughout the month of June and offers his log. Note all transmissions were USB:

S21

V02

Audible in Great Britain via PoSW:

Rest US via 'Spooks'

V02A

V07

April 02 sendings were 0600z 14387kHz, 0620z 16087kHz, 0640z 17487kHz. [Call 304]

AnonUK contacted e2k with these freqs on its first sending of May, Thursday 02/05:

Third frequency not heard in May but should be 17520kHz at 0640z.

PLondon informs us that June started with:

V08

The V08 1800z 6,647kHz Middle Eastern YL turned up as expected on the first Saturday

in May, (4th), [also heard by AF and E] but I could find no sign on the first Saturday in June (1st); this one may have appeared on the second Saturday (8th) instead, but I was so busy keeping track of an S06 I forgot to check! However, there was a V08 transmission noted in progress at 0803z on Wednesday 15 - May on 11,292 kHz, frequency appeared to vary.

• 4-May-02, Saturday,
  1800z 6,647kHz, V08 Arabic YL maintains her first Saturday in the month schedule. I parked a receiver on 6,647 earlier and observed the carrier come up at 1738z. Audio tone for some time, transmission began just after 1800z with a few seconds of Middle Eastern music, then the YL voice. Modulation low in relation to the carrier and QRM from some kind of utility transmission - often noticed before but never as strong as it was today - made copy difficult. Voice stopped just after 1813z followed by music for about a minute. Carrier stayed on with various clicks and pops until QRT 1818z.

• 15-May-02, Wednesday,
  0803z 11,290kHz, another surprise because this was the V08 Arabic YL with a similar type of transmission as heard on the first Saturday in the month. Not too strong, strength S6 or so, the frequency seemed to be shifting back and forth between 11,290 and 11,292kHz. Ended 0807z with music, very faint, unable to make out if it was the same as heard on the Saturday V08. This was the third Wednesday in the month so maybe a regular schedule here; I see 11,292kHz is listed for V08 in the ENIGMA 2000 Hitch - Hikers guide issue 3.

V13

From Hideharu Torii via Spooks we became aware of the fact that this station is apparently no longer called 'New Star Broadcasting Station' but 'Star Star Radio Station.' As we get to hear more we will keep you posted. It says its email address is w2789@hotmail.com and its postal address is PO Box 12587, Taipei.

V21

XP

The third evening scheduled freq for April was stated in part in NL10 for which we apologise and publish in full here [2040z 9475kHz].

As previously stated XP uses tones of 305, 321, 337, 353, 369, 385, 401, 417, 433, 449, 465, 481, 497 and 513Hz.

April Freqs per AnonUK, JoA, PLondon

ID018

ID194

Other scheduled XP courtesy AnonUK/JoA

ID845

May Freqs per JoA, PLondon

ID148

ID545

Other scheduled XP courtesy AnonUK/JoA

ID963

This second scheduled XP transmission on Friday 24/05 was plagued with problems. The 2010z sending started at 2014z finishing at 2017z. The carrier being heard at 2009z and somewhat later than usual. [S9 to +10dB over]. At 2022z we were treated to a few seconds of the second sending with the start and end tones only. At 2030z and on time the second sending was heard for 3 mins at S5. The third sending was the best at PLondon and started with no problem at 2050z. 252 and lodp for XP op!

*Friday 31/05 2010, 2030 and 2050z transmissions did not appear as the usual melodious tones that we expected. The raising of carriers and subsequent tones, as the norm, indicated the run-ups to each transmission. At each expected transmission time Morse was heard, the characters being sent reasonably slow. However the speed changed to fast as the message was sent. Contact was made with AnonUK who confirmed that the signals heard were a M12 transmission. This firmly established the tenuous link, suggested by AnonUK for XPH in NL10, with XP too.

The messages sent were [E&OE!]:

963 963 963 1 963 963 963 1 rptd
781 26 781 26
[26 Groups of five figs]
000 000 [sent as TTT TTT].

June Freqs per JoA/Plondon

ID148

ID545

Surprisingly this June XP is using May's frequencies, the first evening transmission at 2000z 14598kHz actually being hailed by a carrier that came up briefly at 1926, 1929 and 1933z.

Other scheduled freqs courtesy AnonUK

ID184

New XP Transmission leads to further analysis

We received an email from PLondon [no doubt up early to celebrate HRH's Jubilee!] at 0545z 04/06.

He writes, 'I had occasion to get up early and switched my receivers on at 0415z. I had previously set 12173kHz as a guard whilst I was going to search for XP at around 0552z. I was surprised at 0455z when it became apparent that a carrier had appeared on 12173kHz. Although its strength tickled the meter at S4 to 5 I recognised the threatened transmission as XP when two short tones were sent at 0458z. Sure enough between 0500z and 0502z a null message was sent [and repeated on 13473kHz at 0520z]. The recorded signal was analysed giving an ID148 [the same ID as used throughout May - and now starting in June]. The section sampled contained these tones [Hz]:
303/337/512/335/303/352/399/462.
Translated this breaks down as Space, 0, Repeat, 0, Space, 1, 4, 8.
[Eight characters used].

This is not the same as that sent [a full message] in May [0600z28/05] for ID148. A sampled transmission produces 300/352/300/350/399/461, Translated this produces Space, 1, Space, 1, 4, 8. [Six characters used]. This sequence is identical with that taken from 0600z 04/06, a full message sample.

The 2000z 04/06 transmission was a null message lasting only two minutes. However there was the same variation in the sequence: 303/338/514/338/303/416/403/416 or translated:

Space, 0, Repeat, 0, Space, 5, 4, 5. [Eight characters used].

I come to the conclusion that the six character sequence is sent when there is a full message, whilst the longer eight character sequence indicates the much shorter null message.

The discovery of the 0500z sending was an added bonus but raises further questions.

Is the ID148 a coincidence with the 0600z series sendings?

In June 2001, XP sent its 0640z message on 14973kHz. Such use would ensure that the ID would have been 149. On 04/06/02 the ID was 148. Does this mean that any subsequent full message will be sent on a frequency of say 148nnkHz; or will the full message never be sent because the 0500z transmission is an indication for the 06nnz series sendings?' AnonUK reported hearing the 0500z transmission again on 18/06 giving 1^st and 3^rd transmissions. The next 1^st and 3^rd sendings are: 2 & 16/07. Possible freq 0500z 11623kHz, 0520z 13423kHz.

[TnxPLondon].

ID148

12173kHz was monitored on Thursday 0500z 06/06 and Friday 0500z 07/06 but this early XP remained NRH with PLondon as did the same freq on Saturday 08/06.

XPH

Uses these tones, as measured by AnonUK:

XPH sends a preamble the same as M12, DK and GC. [The March one was 805, Space 131 Space 805 Space 131].

XPH is now believed to send in the evenings of Saturday and Tuesdays. PoSW found this evening schedule to be 1830z 14837kHz, 1850z 13372kHz, 1910z 11648khz. [Noted that the ID reflected the 3^rd letter of freqs in the evening sendings].

May's freqs [per AnonUK], reports also via JoA:

ID373
[Reported as 383 elsewhere; the tones were 879, 1089 and 879: translates 373]

Of the 11/05 transmission AnonUK contacted E2k with this interesting observation:

"It sent a message but between the DK/GC and the message is sent as another 3 figures, they were 365. The DK/GC was 612 58 612 58. You may have noticed that XPH DK is always 3 figures, but M12 is mainly 4."

[Excellent observation AnonUK].

Of the XP/XPH sending on 14/05 JoA discovered that two sendings of XP/XPH were as follows:
14/05: XPH 1830 tx. 1829:43, XP 2020 tx. 2019:43 [freqs were 16350 and 13417kHz respectively]

JoA uses an MSF linked clock for timing accuracy and queries if the XP/XPH stations use either the same timing method or the same control room. [Is the Russian time signal still available on 4995kHz]?

AnonUK informed E2k that the ending on 25/05 varied by not ending 000 000.

June's freqs [per AnonUK], reports also via JoA:

ID494
[62 groups recorded 1^st sending]

Whilst monitoring the 1850z frequency of 15932kHz PLondon intercepted a tone being sent at 1845z. This tone was viewed on the Spectrum amalyser in real time and measured at 1198Hz. This frequency corresponds to the figure '9'. Another 1200Hz tone was sent prior to to the 1850z sending on 18/06, again corresponding to the figure '9'. More work needs to be done on this to see if other tones correspond in this way or if this is just pure coincidence. [PLondon added that the tones he had encountered before on XP all seemed to be around 1200Hz, so this match may be pure coincidence].

As this is prepared for distribution another 1203Hz tone has been sent, there being no '9' in the July ID 383

PoSW informed E2k of these apparently new sendings of XPH:

Late evening (UK time) XPH, noted on Thursday 6 - June with a "No message" transmission, so two frequencies only;- 2120z 18,459kHz and 2140z 17,459kHz.

XPL

This rare station [rare to these columns anyway!] was heard by E as reported in last NL:

From the XPL sample sent in by AnonUK E2k were able to measure freqs used as 327, 332, 356, 359, 386, 391, 416, 426, 442, 456, 480, 496Hz. The low freq sounds heard are believed to be the product of more than one tone sent between 322 to 582Hz [much like the tones produced by the telephone tones].