ENIGMA 2000 Newsletter - Issue 15

March 2003
Articles, newsreports and Items of interest :enigma2000-owner@yahoogroups.com

Morse stations | Voice stations | Oddities
Numbers predictions | RIMNET revisited | News Items
Web sites | Requests | Stop press | Contribution deadlines
Index | E2K NL Home

Selected voice stations

We start with two UNIDS:

Arabic UNID: AF has sent a log in of Arabic Man transmissions on Thurs 13/02. If anyone can ID please let us know InshAllah.

An UNID heard by Ary Boender:

Now onto the listings:

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

E03/E03a

Apart from the regulations concerning the reception of wireless stations within Great Britain advice on reporting intelligence matters also exists in the form of DA notices.

Whoever the messages, from E03/E03a, are aimed at ENIGMA 2000 has no wish to 'advertise' the existence of these stations to those who may not support the best interests of Great Britain, or its representatives abroad. Although we are unable to stop discussion of E03/E03a, ENIGMA 2000 will remain aloof from any such discussion and will not be including reports or analysis on E03/E03a.

E05

E05 appears not be as active and questions have been asked. PoSW has noted this lack of activity and kindly supplies the answer in his log: 'Not much new to report on E05, A.K.A. "Cynthia"; activity still very low and I could find no trace of the Sunday 1200z schedule on 15,833 // 18,036kHz on 5 - Jan - 03 so perhaps this ceased with the end of 2002. However, the Saturday 1400z E05 on 18,617 // 19,622kHz did appear on 4 - January - 03 and the 2100z on 6,970 // 8,110kHz was noted in progress at 2118z also on 4 - January with suprisingly strong signals, S9 or even S9+ on both frequencies - most unusual!. The mode of transmission for this schedule has changed to "with carrier" in the last few weeks as opposed to the upper sideband suppressed carrier mode used for most of last year.

There also seems to be distinct lack of the E05 related data transmissions around at the moment; one exception is a schedule noted on Sunday 22 - December - 02 at 2000z on 9,090 // 11,526kHz and again on Sunday 29 - Dec -02; this was of the "Pulse Data" type . This schedule was often noted during the summer months of last year but became very weak and difficult to copy by late October; however it re - emerged with strong signals on the last two Sundays of 2002. It was heard again on Sunday 5 - January -03 but signals on both frequencies had reverted to being extremely weak . By the way, on the morning of Christmas Day there was an S9+ carrier modulated by a 1kHz audio tone on 9,090kHz. This was first noted at 0839z and was still on at 0910, 0940 and 1000z; the next time I checked was just after 1105z - and it had gone! I also checked a large number of other known E05 frequencies while the signal was on 9,090kHz but there was no other activity.

E05 continues at a very low level of activity in 2003; there appears to be only two transmissions per week now, on Saturday and Tuesday at 2100z on 6,970 // 8,110 kHz. The most recent loggings as follows;-

All other E05 schedules appeared to end in late November or early December - with one exception, the Saturday 1400z transmission on 18,617 // 19,622 kHz did show up on 4-Jan-03, weak signals on both frequencies, "Call" 482, the "Count" not copied due to a burst of local QRM at the wrong moment but probably 97 as the call/count on Saturdays 14, 21 and 28 of December-02 was 482/97. And the 1400z Saturday E05 has not been heard since. Also, the last remaining E05 - related data transmission seems to have gone, i.e. Sundays at 2000z on 9,090 // 11,526 kHz. This was noted on 19 and 26 January but nothing heard on Sundays in February.

However, someone is still firing up some of the E05 transmitters from time to time, no doubt to make sure everything is still working in case they are needed in a hurry. On Saturday 8-Feb-03 at 1218z there were very strong carriers modulated with audio tone on 6,970, 9,090 and 11,526 kHz. The tone seemed to be slightly higher in frequency than the usual 1kHz test signal and when fed into a frequency counter was shown to be 1.032 kHz. There was also a strong signal of some kind on 8,110 kHz which turned out to be the same tone being transmitted in USB mode. This was much stronger than when used for the Saturday and Tuesday 2100z transmission. These signals were still on at 1320z but had all gone when checked again at 1335z.' [Tnx PoSW].

AF sent his E05 logs in:

Leif Dehio posted via 'Spooks', in answer to a mention that perhaps the only two freqs used were 6970/8110: 'The Frankfurt E05 transmitter was up this morning [18/01] between appx. 07:00 and 08:00z on the following channels (all USB): 6970, 8110, 9090, 11072 and 11526kHz

There was however no E05 "voice" transmission, only an unmodulated tone of circa 1050 Hz. All channels went silent at roughly 08:10z.'

February's reports on E05:

E06

The E06 English Man has become a bit more active in the last few weeks with several transmissions other than the established Saturday 1230z + 1330z being logged in January and February, including one with the longer than average Group Count of 239.

And from AF, Gert and PoSW and PLondon:

PoSW remarks, ' transmission in progress, very strong signal, strength S9+, lower sideband well suppressed. Went on for ages! Ended around 2145z "410 /239 00000", so a somewhat longer than usual message. Repeated again on 09/02 on this freq but weaker.

PoSW noted for 25/01: 'Another short message, same number of 5F groups as last Saturday but a different decode key; perhaps the same text but needing a different one - time pad; NOT the same 5Fs as I made a note of last week's message. Not a very strong signal, strength S5 to S6 at best, TV timebase QRM quite fierce but copy not too bad due to the suppressed lower sideband mode which seems to offer much better intelligibility under difficult conditions than the conventional AM which E06 used to employ for these weekend afternoon transmissions.

E07

PoSW writes:

'The E07 English Man remains very active; the early evening (UK time) Sunday and Wednesday schedule continues in February. Noted on Sunday, 9-Feb-03 and Wednesday 12-Feb-03;-
1800z 9,402 kHz - inside 31 metre BC band, and 1820z, 8,135 kHz ;- "419 419 419 000". No message so no third sending. The carrier always strong but the modulation low which makes copy difficult.

Yet another E07 schedule has appeared in February;- noted on Thursday 6-Feb-02, 1900z on 8,159 kHz;- E07 calling "198 198 198 1", DK/GC "794 76" x 2. The repeats were ;- 1920z, 6,928 kHz and 1940z, 5,837 kHz, this last sending only just detectable under severe broadcast QRM inside the 49 metre band. This schedule displays the E07 characteristic of low modulation making for difficult copy. It showed up again on Thursday 13-Feb, call "198", DK/GC "804 54". The first sending on 8,159 was almost unreadable due to an S9+ "Jet" having made its home on this frequency since the previous Thursday. No doubt this E07 also appears on one other day of the week.

Other E07 activity;- noted on Monday 10-Feb-03, 2100z, 7,918 kHz and 2120z, 6,732 kHz, "970 970 970 000", so no third sending. Again, strong carrier but low modulation.

Noted on Wednesday 12-Feb-03, 0630z, 8,103 kHz, "913 913 913 000", very strong signal, modulation sounded deeper than that heard from the evening E07s.'

[Tnx PoSW]

From AF:

From PLondon and AF

February Wed/Fri schedule:

[Tnx Gert].

Gert provides the first insight into the Sun/Wed 1800/1820/1840z sending:

February Schedule for Sunday/Wednesday being:

E10

From our E10 desk for January 03 by frequency

E10 comments

Overall the reception for this month has been pretty poor, mainly due to natural atmospheric conditions rather than man made interference. However one or two things were found which I have listed.

• 14 Jan. 21:40 hrs on 5.230 VLB12 was heard for 10 mins, no group message passed.

• 15 Jan 20:58 hrs on 7.811 CIO10Z2 was also heard for almost 1hr (ended 21:52) no group message passed

• 16 Jan 20:50 hrs 0n 5.230 VLBM6 this changed to VLB16 at 21:04. and faded into the background noise at 21:50hrs no group messages were heard to be passed.

• 21 Jan I noted SYN2 was using 6.370 normally the frequency of KPA2

Longest/Shortest Group Message

Frequency Changes

Sp.Headers & C/S Variations

• VLB12

• VLB16

• VLBM6

• CIO10Z2

Most Active Heard

• KPA2

• MIW2

• CIO2

• ART

• VLB2

• YHF

E10 Desk Feb 03

E10 Comments

• 30 Jan at 21:16 CIO2Z92 was heard and was still transmitting at 00:10hrs header only.

• 02 Feb at 20:03hrs VLB transmitted a G16 message and repeated this a further 5 times, finally ending with 2mins of c/s VLB at 20:51hrs. The Message was as follows:
  NHIFB ZSZWN JBNJE SGIEF OAADR IRGFQ XAWQQ ODPGM PLHYV KEXXI VPSZT UTYJU WUCKE UUGGX WPDXW VNDIR

• 03 Feb at 22:28hrs ABC was heard through a background of noise into which it faded after a few moments. Last time I logged ABC was the 1st Sept 02 on this freq 6.428.

• 04 Feb MIW2 again opened up on 5.230 (normally the freq of VLB family) was last used in Dec02

• 11 Feb JSR twice transmitted a very long group message commencing at 22:05 and ending at 22:55 on each occasion the "end of message , end of transmission" was omitted, perhaps to fit into the time span allotted.. Unfortunately I missed the group number both times.

There has been a general improvement to the signal strengths of some E10 call signs of late, SYN2, MIW2 & VLB2 to name three, and this was confirmed in general by PoSW who sent the following.

"Some of the E10 "Mossad" phonetic alphabet transmissions seem to have become stronger in the last few weeks; I don't usually pay much attention to these as they are can be found at any time of the day and are not usually noted for having excessively strong signals. However, some exceptions have been noted recently to the extent that I noted them in the log;-

( Tnx PoSW )

Frequency Changes

Sp Headers & C/S Variations

• CIO2Z92

• ABC

©BMDartford 28 February 2003

RN asks: 'MIW2' on 17478 in parallel with 20425kHz at 0915z 28/02 New freq?

E11

RN reports:

PLondon reports:

From PLondon and AF:

E15

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

E15 was heard by PoSW who notified E2k:

and from AnonUK:

E17

From 'Alpha' Germany, via 'Spooks'

E17Z

E18

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.

From AF we received this excellent E23 log for December:

Followed by January results:

and February results:

From AF's fine logs of this station it appears that to the end of February the station was starting early.

E25

NIL REPORTS

G04

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

The freqs predicted by E2k were incorrect but PLondon, AnonUK , Gert and AF spotted the error and tuned up on 2001 freqs as:

Expected February freqs: 4280 and 4380kHz.

Expected March freqs: 4750/4850 , April's 5210/5310kHz

G06

From AF:

PoSW reports :

'27 - Dec-02, 1930 UTC, 4,805 kHz - frequency somewhat higher than expected, calling "436", DK/GC "509 509 38 38", which was the same as when last heard on 13 - Dec -02. A fault developed after approx. 90 seconds into the call - up when the voice suddenly vanished and left plain carrier until just before 1933z; voice returned with a faster speed of delivery - although with normal pitch - and continued the call - up until 1935z.

And the Friday Night Fraulein continues in the new year:-

10 - Jan - 03, 1930 UTC, 4,792 kHz, back to the more usual frequency, calling "436", DK/GC "564 564 25 25". Strong signal, strength S9, lower sideband well suppressed and with the rapid speed of delivery but normal pitch of voice, often observed with the Friday G06. All done soon after 1937z.'

• A Sunday G06: 19-Jan-03, 2120z 6,790 kHz - G06 has been noted on a Sunday before but appearances are few and far between; there does not seem to be a schedule which can be followed. Tonight's transmission calling "Neun vier drei" (943), DK/GC "Funef null eins" (501) x 2, "Sechs acht" (68) x 2. Strong signal, lower sideband suppressed. The carrier with tone, then a single "943" was noted at 2103z.

• G06 was only logged twice on a Sunday last year, on 21 - April and 11 - August; searches on subsequent Sundays all proved fruitless!

• First Monday in the Month Schedule: 3-Feb-03, 1900z 6,915 kHz and second sending, 2000 UTC, 5,360 kHz, "Drei null acht" x 3, "Null" x 5 (308 308 308 00000). No problem in finding both sendings as these frequencies were used in February last year. Strange propagation though; the carriers with tone for both transmissions were noted about 15 minutes before the hour, in both cases with an S9 signal; and in both cases the signal had become much weaker by the start of the transmission and weaker still by the finish four minutes later.

  [Tnx PoSW].

G22

A good find from our E10 desk reveals:

whilst Gert offers:

186 for 5 minutes
Nr 234
Gr 018
44439 42880 24134 41346 41092 13283 48264 22270 24204
19970 08214 48163 00338 46421 61230 39202 11147 06802
000

RN sent in :

followed up by AlphaVX , AF and Gert:

Before the logs DoKent has sent more of his observations on the Slavic stations:

S10, M10, and S17C

Since the last newsletter things have gone from strength to strength. My being retired has allowed me more time to listen in. I have been splitting my sleep routine so that I could monitor the nightime skeds. The updated and revised chart that follows will show this in detail.

[Revised C hart 3 - Feb 03]

[Changes from 01/03 will be reflected in the chart appearing in NL16]

The times prefixed with the letter S are S10d. A number of frequencies have been used but the only ones appearing regularly are 8175//9986 and 5027//7605kHz. The first of these appears on Saturday only and only recently did I find 9986kHz. The normal routine is to transmit only on two days each week and in the case of 5027//7605 it has been Sun/Mon, Sun/Tues or Mon/Tues. It is easy to detect when it will become active. Firstly, monitor M10 on its daily sked at 1720z on 4958//7605kHz. At the end of transmission, usually 1737/8, if the carrier stays on, only 7605kHz, S10d will follow at 1740z. The parallel frequency will change to 5027kHz. The other S10d frequencies shown have not been used regularly but may be at any time. Week ending 15/02/03 this has been the case. There are other aspects regarding 8175kHz which I hope to cover at a later date.

M10 is much more predictable at the moment with certain frequencies and times almost cast in stone, which I hope, will remain at least until changes for the summer skeds.

Referring to the chart, it will be seen that some frequencies have changes of parallel, noticeable mainly with 3522kHz. The 0400z transmission appears to be solo but at other times will be 4007kHz at 2100z, 0210z it will be 5027kHz and 5301kHz at 2200z. The 0310z transmission is not regular but it will replace either 0210z or 0400z when it does appear, probably 0400z. From time to time, the odd error creeps in, on Thursday 26^th December 2002 the 2100z 3522kHz transmission was linked up with 4007 kHz and 5027kHz but eight minutes into the transmission the error was realised and the 5027kHz was switched off. I put this down to the consumption of too many bottles of RF as it was Boxing Day! But it does indicate what can be done at operations level, I suspect that four or more transmitters are available for this groups' use.

Another unusual happening to take place recently on Monday 20^th January 2003 at 0400z, Freq 3522kHz, part of the transmission was a message to ID368, 368 72 22. The same message was transmitted on S10d at 1740z and again at 2100z on M10 3522//5027kHz and subsequently two or three times a day for the next six days. On Monday 27^th January 2003 we have the same thing happening, this time the ID is 628, transmitted for six days by both M10 and S10d, two or three times daily.

We see here a direct link with M10 and S10d, is 368 and 628 the same recipient, if so, where have they gone?

It is good to see increased mention of M10/S10d in the e-mails. During this month of January I have logged 142 transmissions plus daily S17C.

There are several other frequencies that have become active. I will include details of these on my charts when I have established their routines.

Now we come to S17C, from my beginning with Enigma 2000 I have tried to think of what could be the meaning of one single five figure group. Bearing in mind the other transmissions emanating from this station, perhaps something more applicable to its operations.

One 'way out' theory which may benefit from many minds concentrating on it is detailed below, two examples are given, see what can be made of it.

Thursday 13^th February 2003

The product is the day's transmitting frequency for S10d.

The frequencies are likely already known and using the functions of + - x or ¸ others can be found, including M10 freqs.

I have submitted this theory with examples to AnonUK and he has formed the same opinion as myself, namely, for this to be valid, recipients of these transmissions must use a set formula.

I would like comments on this, don't leave me like an amateur calling CQ on a dead band.

The reported transmission of S10d on 2846 kHz has not, as yet, been heard by me.

The Wednesday 1700z transmission on 4130 kHz I have heard once only, a very weak signal and somewhat distorted. What I could copy I am pretty sure was Russian, but time will tell.

Regrettably I cannot help at this time on the CW on 2362 kHz, another I haven't heard yet. Due to the pressures of following a very rigid and sometimes unsociable listening schedule I have not been able to pen more of my travel reminiscences. They will return in another newsletter though.

FOR YOUR INTEREST: On Wednesday 26th February 2003 between 0805z and 0810z I was listening to the S10D carrier on 14565kHz. Whilst waiting for the commencement of the transmission I suddenly heard very loud key-clicks. Having a few minutes to spare I tuned down circa 10kHz and was surprised to hear an ICW transmission sending barred letters. I made a note of this and retuned to monitor the S10D transmission. [This one not yet charted]. Because of the signal strength of this signal +20 to +40dBs I phoned PLondon immediately for a comparison of signal strength. These transmissions are rather short but were heard several times during the day. On Thursday 27th February this station appeared again. I reserve judgement and opinion until further is known. [DoK].

Thanks to AnonUK, Ary, PoSW for their input, frequencies and where applicable, suggestions.

©DoKent [Tnx DoKent].

[With reference to DoK's mathematical exploration of the 5 figure group, manipulating to produce a useable frequency.

PLondon wrote in to say that he had plotted January's series of 5 figure group in graphical form. 'X' axis the first two numbers, and separately, the last two numerals. The 'Y 'axis was the day number. The results led to a rather interesting plot that *could* be used to possibly predict groups].

S04

From Gert:

S06

PoSW's Start of 2003 log for S06:

PoSW's log continues into February:

From AF:

From AnonUK we receive note of a strange 3 group message:

Gert offers:

E offers:

Gert in Holland also heard:

S10D

PoSW sends his logs for S10D traversing from 2002 to 2003:

Saturday Afternoon Schedule

Wednesday / Thursday Evening Schedule

Something New

RN heard the following on the night of 25/02 at 2100z.

On 4835 and 7380 in parallel was S10d with M10 transmitting simultaneously on both frequencies. Is this normal?

The voice was 263x3 37 143x3 41 555x3 repeated, then 05 37 00417 (37 groups) then 143 41 29910 (41 groups); the CW traffic was 40 371x3 19 555x3 643x3 repeated, then 60x2 40x2 - 49506x2 (40 groups) then 40 371x2 18x2 19x2 - - 47954x2 (19 groups) ended T T T

In answer to RN's question DoKent replied 'No not normal at all.' DoK then confirmed these details and stated that the 2200z M10 transmission that night, normally on 3522//5301kHz was also heard transmitting on 4835//7380kHz in addition to the nominal frequencies.

S10E

On 15/01 AnonUK wrote that he had heard M10E: M10E was on 7380 at 0800, IDs 97216 62540, messages of 5 groups. I did wonder if S10E might also be on today, but although I looked around, I have not found it yet.

On 16/01 PLondon searched from 1200 to 1330z, but without success.

S13

S17C

AF monitored S17C and sends the following:

The sendings continued throughout January on 9165kHz at 1250z. Numbers: DoKent in italics , AF were:

03/01	99034	04/01	11037	05/01	76028	06/01	99037	07/01	99031	08/01	11036	09/01	75024	10/01	99037	11/01	99039
12/01	11036	13/01	76028	14/01	99037	15/01	99039	16/01	11036	17/01	74027	18/01	99037	19/01	99040	20/01	11036
21/01	79031	22/01	99037	23/01	99039	24/01	99036	25/01	74032	26/01	99037	27/01	99039	28/01	99036	29/01	99039
30/01	99037	31/01	99039.

S17C 9165kHz February transmissions as follows, thanks to AF and DoK:

Please send these groups to e2k for analysis -- thanks.

S21

V02

The following have been logged by operators in the US and have been taken from 'Spooks':

In Great Britain PoSW heard the following, we include the extract of PoSW's log from the start of 2003:

[Tnx PoSW].

PoSW's efforts illustrate that V02 can indeed be heard even when propagation is somewhat limiting.

V02A

It has been noticed by those on Spooks that M08a and V2a have been mixing; this has been previously reported. Mark Slaten [US] suggests that the Cuban equipment is either substandard or that the Cuban operators need retraining!

Mark states :

"Sometimes the skeds come up late right in the middle of a message. No addressee is sent. Now I know why they rebroadcast the sked an hour later. The poor agent in the field needs a second chance to get the message meant for him or her. When you compare the Cuban broadcasts (voice or morse) with any other country, they are definitely in a class of their own. A final note, the V2 broadcasts seem to be less prone to goof ups. The xmtrs seem good and strong and crisp. Obviously these are probably two different organisations."

[Thanks MS and Spooks].

These listed transmission have been generally logged by US operators:

V07

PoSW noted that this station was ' still around'. These sendings were noted by PoSW for Thursday 9 - Jan - 03:

The February sending was heard by Gert:

There was a message for 382, dk 944, gc 122. [20/02]

V08

PoSW notes:

The V08 "Eastern Music" Arabic YL turned up on 4 - January - 03, the first Saturday in the month on 6,645kHz. The carrier was up at 1846z, went off around 1848z and came back up with audio tone; as noted on a few previous occasions the transmission started well before 1900z, about two minutes early. A few seconds of music, then the YL voice until just after 1901z - a very short transmission; then another few seconds of Eastern Music until just before 1902z and the carrier going QRT after 1902. Must be the shortest V08 ever!

There was no sign of the V08 "Eastern Music" Arabic YL on the first Saturday in February, the expectation was that she would appear at 1900z in the region of 6,645 kHz on 1-Feb. All I could hear was a number of strong pirate SSB stations all around that frequency and it was the same on the following Saturday too. However, the V08 YL was noted on another frequency in mid January; this was on Saturday 18-Jan just after 1700z on 7,662 kHz. There was a transmission in progress, the same YL voice. It was a strong signal although the modulation was a bit low. The voice stopped at 1710z and ended with music - but not the music used on the 6,645 kHz transmissions; this was a short instrumental break from a slow rock number which, I am fairly sure, is called "Guitar Man" and was in the charts in the early 1970's. A trawl through a volume entitled "The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Rock" came up with the information that "Guitar Man" was a hit for Los Angeles based band "Bread" in 1972; so not so much "Eastern Music" as "Western Music" then! 18-Jan was the third Saturday in the month so I thought this might turn up again on the third Saturday in February, the 15th - but there was no sign. I had also listened on the Saturdays in between, i.e. 25-Jan, 1-Feb and 8-Feb but again, nothing heard.

[Tnx PoSW].

Arabic numerals are shown in our 'NEWS & ITEMS of INTEREST' section

V09

AF noted an UNID on this freq as 2125z 10/01poss V09?

V13

AF was an active listener for V13 in December, with good result:

Ben Mesander reported via Spooks [ 2003]:

V22

Following an UNID being heard Igor in Chita identified the station as V22 and offered, via spooks a 'schedule'.

Transmission can heard (always QRU format) everyday (Not SAT and SUN) - 1300, 1330, 1400, 1430, 1500z on 8375 kHz;

[Has been heard on 8375kHz at 1600, 1630, 1700z too] :

XP

December freqs via AnonUK, JoA and PLondon.

ID929

*Unexpected Thursday morning sending.

ID975

ID993

January Freqs via JoA, AnonUK,PLondon

ID358

Surprisingly the first transmission of 2003 was no message, the second sending was a 97 group message dk/gc 09345/00097. All freqs used produced strong signals. The signals sent on 10/01 were very strong, topping +40dBs for 0700z. The sending was a massive 308group message [dk/gc 00621/00307]. 0700 and 0720z sendings went well but the 0740z suddenly ceased for 29 seconds at 0745:42s and recommenced at 0746:11 and ended at c0747z.. That meant that Groups 253 to 292 were not sent [41 grps] in 29 seconds] The missing groups are shown at the end of the XP section. A test carrier appeared at 0748:44s and was removed 0759z. No doubt the offending operator is subject to a 252 or worse!

All went well with the 14/01 sending of the 307 group message, dk/gc 00621/00307 previously sent 10/01.The morning sendings 21/01 produced 02359/00195. 24/01 produced dk/gc 00431/00141, signals were 40dBs in central London.

That sent on 28/01 was a two message sending, dk/gc 00171/00133 and 00431/141 a repeat of the message sent previously on 24/01,

ID875

The first message sent at 2100z on 14/01 was a 229 group one with a dk/gc 00317/00229. Full message sent on 28/01 dk/gc 00249/00253. In the run up to the message proper, and around 2141z the transmission ceased abruptly and came up as quickly as it had ceased. This occurred between the 6^th and 7^th cycle of 875 875 875 1 and did not affect the header at all. PLondon noted that the signal levels where intelligible groupings can be recovered can be very low and affected by noise. The loss of signal in this instance left a gap on his spectran display and sliced a little off the leading edge of 463Hz [8] tone. 31/01 sending was dk/gc 02615/00081

Missing Groups from XP 14878kHz 0740z 10/01 ID358 dk/gc 00621/00307

84303 17315 51717 21938 12150 79398 33637 99032
99818 09142 03159 38175 16705 96930 18983 99803 95654 62104
35100 34560 21413 22764 89871 21019 62449 25659 86022 73710
21849 58065 39279 75556 08350 41123 57872 99831 83992 40098
47170 81616 34299 04940 89861

[Existing whole groups in italics]

Second schedule sendings Jan 03:

ID475

The first full message from the 10/01 2110z sending of XP was dk/gc 00121/00127 and was repeated again on 14/01. That sent on 21/01 was dk/gc 00329/00103 and repeated on 24/01. A new message on 28/01, 04792/00155.

Late XP

In the last Newsletter we reported that Gert of Holland heard a late offering of this signal as:

This signal was also reported in 2001 on the same frequency.

PoSW wrote in with the complete schedule for the January 03 sending:

ID148

Concerning the 2220z and 2240z sendings PoSW wrote, 'Inside BC band but flattening the opposition, seems to be a regular thing with this organisation. 2300z 5858kHz, a very strong signal. PLondon & JoA monitored the transmissions on 21/01 and found the 2220z almost non-existant with only the odd 'pulse' being heard. The 2240z sending was a little better allowing the message to be heard; the 2300z was +20dBs and a good signal. Dk/gc was 00686/00089. Signal strengths were a little better on 23/01. The 2220z could just be heard and a full trace was recorded on 'spectran'. Poor signals again 28/01 dk/gc 00174/00051. On 30/01 a null message was sent, nothing unusual about that but like the 2140z transmission of 28/01 there was an abrupt dropping of transmission on the third '148' of the first cycle of '148 148 148 000'. This resulted in only '1_ _' to be sent.

February's morning schedule from PLondon and JoA:

ID244

The first full sending on 14/02 was a 275 group message, dk/gc 07193/00275. The sending on 18/02 was very weak, S1 with AnonUK and inaudible with PLondon, however a null msg was sent. 21/02 transmission was very noisy, the message being 00518/00127.

The 25/02 0700z sending started off well with a +20dBs carrier measured by PLondon. Unfortunately on the 5th cycle of 244x3 and message indicator the carrier failed for 18.44 seconds. This occurred after a complete 367Hz tone [2 of ID] of 975ms length, and 861ms of 399Hz, the first 4 of the ID. When the signal returned it played the end sequence after 7.351 seconds. The signal then returned as a complete sending and ended as JoA's timings display:

XP (244) T.25/2:15272kHz 0700:04-0701:06 (E)Transmission failed. Carrier off ~0701:26. Poly restarted 0701:43-0705:27 (E) (3min.34sec.) S9+30dB.

The sending was good and a complete message [same as Friday's morning sending 00518/00127] was heard as shown here:

244 244 244 1 244 244 244 1 244 244 244 1 244 244 244 1
244 244 244 1 244 244 244 1 244 244 244 1 244 244 244 1
244 244 244 1

R>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> _________00518 00127 77342 03757 47395
85231 64595 90193 59392 77667 27993 54732 53353 62597 78466
13243 71043 75911 09169 54093 25893 51916 60723 42131 55835
47096 87987 37917 37806 56570 87125 27836 09018 65639 25805
09671 58383 87431 92710 02994 01398 74498 85602 81103 57888
98754 69823 82331 86030 38149 45846 16779 19400 49998 04156
51198 58819 90966 23309 29861 16519 86375 76597 78163 79412
22908 97061 19915 30132 73914 49466 79640 50200 69342 49501
73601 61854 39562 45222 44944 25062 27855 12661 84660 16237
73684 98768 26187 60476 60823 90067 32185 19502 13136 94673
72470 07558 99250 28657 64250 66700 02669 46372 69834 39519
90374 50476 66442 25359 20210 30510 58691 66776 80459 05485
86048 82267 81563 92058 21161 43040 83367 01390 87309 49969
12348 01095 51215 04382 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Italics illustrate unaffected characters on first attempt.

The subsequent sendings were of good strength and did not suffer from the same problems that affected the 0700z sending.

The message sent on 28/02, all sendings were excellent strength. Was 02702/00145.

February's first evening schedule Freqs from JoA

ID571

Opened up with an 81group message in a 3 minute sending, dk/gc 02615/00081, the next full message occurred on 18/02 00379/00085. "25/02 signals were very poor with on-signal distortion. Dk/gc07494/00059 [Tnx JoA]" which was repeated on 27/02.

February second evening schedule sendings from JoA

ID058

PLondon informed us that the 04/02 six minute sending was a single 221 group message, dk/gc 00442/00221, repeated on 07/02. 2110z sending not heard due to high electrical QRM. Signals were affected by poor propagation 11/02. Only the 2150z signals were of real use disclosing that a 179 group message had been sent: dk/gc 00212/00179. Although this 179 grp message was repeated 14/02 the signals were much stronger in PLondon's SE London's facility. The dk/gc for the message set 18/02 was 00816/00121, signal strength being variable on all sendings. 21/02 sending was 00816/00121. On 25/02 2130z was a poor quality sig with some splutter. 00404/00075 [Tnx JoA].

Late XP

Freqs via PLondon and JoA.

ID315

After isolating a fault in his shack that was causing local QRM PLondon informs us that this unsociable transmission was dk/gc 00571/00139 and were very poor sigs in his South London location. Like the 11/02 2110/2130z sendings these transmissions were affected by poor propagation. The 2220z 11/02 was not heard apart from two tones in the start up sequence. Whilst the 2240 and 2300z sendings could just be heard the tones were so far down in the crud as to be useless. A 185 group message, 00335/00185 was sent on 18/05. The signals in PLondon's location were very poor with the exception of the last sending. 25/02 produced varying sigs at JoA's QTH. The sending which lasted 5mins and 16 secs sent a 221 group message: 00780/00221 [Tnx JoA]. The message sent on 27/02 was 00906/00195 and of poor signal strength.

XPH

On 7^th January PoSW heard this:

On receipt of PoSW's logs AnonUK, JoA and PLondon used PoSW's findings as a guide and sought out the other two scheduled transmissions on 14/01. Unfortunately the sendings from this high frequency polytone station were null messages and attempts to find the first frequency failed. The probability is that a BC station masks it. However, the second frequency was found by all three persons. PLondon managed to capture the last few seconds of the preamble and identified this months ID as 386.

It is known that XPH will send on Tuesdays and Saturdays at 1830z, 1850z and 1910z and possibly at 1230z, 1250z and 1310z on Saturdays. Attempts to find the mid-day Saturday sendings did not reveal any transmissions.

ID386

February's evening transmission freqs from AnonUK and JoA:

ID169

Much like most other transmissions on the 11/02 [see XP] these sendings were very poor, but identifiable as a null message. 14/02 and 18/02, 22/02 sendings were likewise poor.

XPL

E heard this most elusive polytone:

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