ENIGMA 2000 Newsletter - Issue 17

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

Morse stations | Voice stations | Oddities
Enigma control list | Beginners' corner
Numbers predictions | German speaking groups outside Germany (1/3)
Talk at Bexley | News Items
Web sites | Requests | Stop press | Contribution deadlines
Index | E2K NL Home

Selected voice stations

We start off with an unid from Mike of Kent:

Unid, today [02/05] while preparing for the 12.40z E25.

2 May, 12.33z in prog, 9445(ish)kHz, YL, Eng ??, 5f, ending "000" (as Zero) 12.35z AM (type) sig with FM element, very wide, impossible to clearly resolve in AM,USB,LSB,DSB,FM. Also heavy QRM ??? which went when carrier dropped 12.35.20z.

Mike of Kent further noted that the modulation was very similar to the Unid B/C station, 6640kHz mentioned in Issue 12:

'Unid b'cast station regularly heard on 6640kHz, European evenings (18.00 - 22.00z). It would not appear to be a typical EC band pirate ( as is 6660/70kHz) and a number of monitors have tried to resolve it , in all modes - AM, FM, USB, LSB, ISB, DSB, without success. Our interest is the occasional data burst - is it related??, any info appreciated.'

Thanks MoK! See E11

PoSW offers this interesting find: Unidentified language;- presumably a number station of some kind;-

PoSW also informs us of a couple of "Non - number station " observations;-

[Tnx PoSW]

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

RN GB heard the 6970//8110kHz transmissions on 26&29/04 at 2100z and PoSW summed up E05 by stating, "No change as regards the American accent counting station E05; still just the Tuesday and Saturday 2100z transmission on 6,790 // 8,110 kHz in USB. The call /count has been 111/150 since the last week of April; signals on both frequencies are becoming stronger as we head towards summer. There were test tones up on four E05 frequencies early in the morning on Saturday 10-May; this was at 0607z, 7.07 AM BST on 6,970, 8,110, 9,090 and 11,526 kHz. They were still on when checked an hour later.” [Tnx PoSW].

PLondon heard E05:

[Both freqs gave excellent signal strength, excellent audio].

P stated that this is the same message of 29/04 and given PoSW's thoughts [see NL16] asks if this is just a sending to maintain these frequencies?

Looking for E05 on 03/06 whilst waiting for the late XP's to come up PLondon noted that E05 did not appear on either 6970//8110kHz, PoSW reinforced that by stating, "Still no sign of E05; I have been checking 6,970 and 8,110 on Tuesdays and Saturdays at 2100z or soon after but have heard nothing since Saturday 24-May."

E06

[Thanks to AF, Gert, HFD, PoSW and RN GB]

PoSW remarks: "The E06 English Man has been noted again on Saturdays at 1230z + 1330z in June; this long - standing schedule vanished during April and I couldn't find it at all in May."

June from Gert and HFD

June logs from PoSW:

[Tnx PoSW].

E07

The E07 English Man has been noted at the following times in May;-

Monday and Wednesday Schedule;-

Noted on Wednesday 14-May; 2000z, 15,638 kHz; 2020z, 13,872 kHz and 2040z, 12,203 kHz with "682 682 682 1", DK/GC "536 37" x 2. The first sending is almost unreadable due to BC QRM - inside the 19 metre BC band - and the usual low modulation which remains a feature of all E07 transmissions.

Sunday and Wednesday Schedule;-

Noted on Sunday 11-May; 1700z, 14,942 kHz; 1720z, 13,472 kHz and 1740z, 12,127 kHz with "941 941 941 1", DK/GC "321 94" x 2. Modulation on all three sendings was very low making for difficult copy and in addition the third sending is inside the 25 metre BC band with severe broadcast QRM a problem. The same schedule had also been noted on Wednesday 7-May.

[Gert of Holland also informed us of the Sun/Wed schedule].

Thursday Schedule;-

No sign of an E07 schedule starting at 1800z on Thursdays in May - there was such a schedule in March and April - but E07 has been noted at a later time on Thursdays in May. On Thursday 1-May E07 was heard at 2030z, 9.30 PM BST on 12,177 kHz - the carrier with tone having been noted a few minutes earlier - calling "374 374 374 1", then DK/GC "2540 36" x 2. This was unusual as the "Call" of 374 gave no clue as to the frequency, i.e. usually the three figures of the call represent the hundreds of kilohertz part of each of the three frequencies used so for 12,177 one of the figures of the call should have been a 1. No repeat sendings were found. Turned up again on 8-May with "374 374 374 000" and on 15-May two sendings were found, 2010z, 13,368 kHz and 2030z, 12,177 kHz, again with "374 374 374 000"

[Tnx PoSW]

[Tnx AF, Gert, HFD and PoSW]

Several schedules logged in June:

Monday and Wednesday Schedule;-

Sunday and Wednesday Schedule;-

Thursday Schedule,

[PoSW].

For June 03 from Gert, HFD, PoSW and RN GB:

E10

E10 for May and June[From our E10 desk]:

E10 May 03

E10 Comments

On three occasions this month VLB2 & SYN2 have changed over freq's, on the 04/5 at 23:45hrs on the 10th at 21:45 hrs and 22:45hrs The freq's involved were 6.370 & 6.912. Looking through my logs commencing Jan 03 the two freq's have been occupied thus:-

Thanks to a posting in Spooks, concerning the number of times some group messages were being repeated by individual stations, I decided to take this up and concentrated on EZI on frequencies 9.130 & 11.565, being the best at this moment. At the times I was able to listen, EZI was extremely prolific. See log above.

You will note that EZI did not transmit at 20:30 & 22:00hrs on 9.130 but came up on 11.565 at those times as EZI2 or EZI with another group message or another repeated one. Most groups sent were quite large and in some cases two groups were sent together combine this with the slow reading of the sender, a majority of the messages did not complete at the Repeat stage just simply ran out of time and stopped abruptly. In one case at 22:30 on the19/5 EZI sent a G120+G? and never even completed the opening group. It seems silly to send messages knowing that you could not send all of it in the allotted time span, had the important part of the message already been sent in the first few moments? and the rest sheer bluff. What if the receiver did not get it first time round? perhaps that's why so many are being repeated. No, perhaps that's too simple an answer, if an answer at all, it would be nice to hear what others may think.

28 May. Radio China Int. this evening at 23:15hrs, claimed that Israel has cancelled a major army exercise which was planned in responce to the latest terrorist attacks and were also in near agreement with Hamas on the American peace plan initiative. Maybe EZI was sending draft copies? Mmm!

©BMDartford 29 May 2003

E10 June 03

EZI Survey No2

*Bold lettering Denotes repeat of previously sent group message/s.

E10 Comments EZI Survey

What I intended this month was to continue to monitor EZI and its repeated messages and just note who is transmitting on the other frequencies. I will only make one entry to the xxx2 strings, unless there should be a change or if something exotic comes up. Come the end of the month and you see only one entry on that freq, then it is because only that C/S has repeatedly used it during the month and there has been no changes heard to the schedule.

Listening in paid off on the 9/6 at 22:00hrs EZI-1was heard on 11.565. Five mins transmission no groups.

The top number of repeated messages so far, as heard by me are as follows

RN GB noted that some E10 stns on occasion do not come up on the expected freq he noted that ART was on 6.984.3 where it was expected on 6.986. I have also noted this with MIW2, CIO2 and this evening 18/6 that EZI transmitted on 9.125.5 instead of 9.130

RN also sent the following E10 log For April And May which I have abreviated for space reasons and included his June findings in the above log

• 17 June FDU-M at 23:55 hrs on 6.210 5mins transmission heard, no group message. Not recorded this one before though in July/Aug 02 did record FDU/FDU-4 & FDU-5

• 18 June at 23:05 FDU-M again, 5mins trans no groups. ( Note- also heard by RN GB on the 28/5 on 4.418)

It would appear that CIO2 has stopped using, be it temporary 6.930, and the freq is now being used by MIW2

©BMDartford, 28 June 2003

[Tnx Bob]!

E11

Gert found the new freq for 1300z on 13/05 as 9950kHz [Tnx Gert, well done]. This was followed by further revelations from MoK:

12.30z, Fridays, 9448kHz USB, 4min TX. [312 Oblique 00, r4 min, ends "out"] last heard on USB 9450kHz 12.30z 17/7/01 using 312 call.

E15

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

E17z

Nil reports

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 [Note early start]:

E25

Nil Reports.

G04

The May sending did not appear. We wondered if Mayday may have some bearing on this or perhaps a change of schedule and DoK predicted that it may appear a week later. [Selco confirmed G04's Mayday sabbatical] and PoSW contacted us with: "The G04 German YL with the 3 - Note call - up fooled everyone by NOT showing up on the first Thursday in May, the 1st, as was expected but instead appeared on the second Thursday, the 8th. The first sending was noted at 2000z on 4,830 kHz and the second at 2030z on 4,930 - at least the frequencies were those predicted for May - with 35 x 5F groups." [Tnx PoSW]

The expected 5220/5320kHz did not apparently occur, a search being made. It was reported by AnonUK that its Morse sister M29 had not been heard either. It may be that G04 has disappeared as it did after its 2135z sending on 4380kHz Sunday 04/02/01. [It was rediscovered by PLondon on 07/03/02 at 2135z on 4850kHz.]. AF, AnonUK, DoK and PLondon listened for any activity on 12/06. In keeping with AnonUK's suggestion it did not appear and M29 was still absent.

When the G04 transmissions 'disappeared' last time M29 remained active. Its disappearance possibly a problem of finding the station. The absence of M29 this time suggests that G04 may have been closed down permanently [or at least until we hear M29 sending].

[Tnx AF, AnonUK, DoK & PLondon].

G06

The first Monday in the month G06 German YL showed up on 5 - May at 1900 UTC, 11,485 kHz - 5KHz lower than in May last year - and the repeat was an hour later on 9,115 kHz - exactly as in May last year - with four minutes of "308 308 308 00000".

The Friday 1930z G06 has moved from the reasonably clear frequency of 5,442 kHz used in March and April to 5,933 kHz among the broadcast stations in the 49 metre band. This was noted on 9-May calling "218", then DK/GC "563 563 47 47". Reception is difficult with the receiver in AM mode but by selecting USB and tuning the carrier for zero beat most of the BC QRM is removed by the filter in the RX and copy is not too bad. I had always been unable to find the Friday Night Fraulein after the end of April until September in previous years but last year she was noted on the last Friday in June on 5,933 so this - or maybe 5,943, noted on one occasion last summer - will be the frequency to check until the end of August. Turns up on alternate Fridays as a rule but sometimes misses two Fridays; should appear on 23-May or failing that, the 30th.

The Friday 1930z G06 German YL remains inside the 49 metre broadcast band; has been heard on 5,933 kHz in May, last heard on 13-June on 5,943 kHz. A G06 has been noted on Thursdays at 1830z on 6,887 kHz with the same DK/GC as the G06 heard at 1930z the next day. A Sunday G06 was heard on 15-June at 2020z. The first Monday in the month G06 was heard on 2-June with a "Full message" transmission, instead of the "00000 - no message" which has been the norm for this schedule for many months. [Tnx PoSW]

AF accordingly found the sendings as:

PoSW G06 log for June commented on the schedules:

First Monday in the Month Schedule;-

G19[??]

Maciej Sebastian Muszalski (Miles) heard a G19 'sound alike' and produced a .wavfile of his find.

G22

And from Gert for June:

Slavic stations

Before we move onto the Slavic Station logs we hear from our Slavic Desk and PoSW:

From our Slavic Desk, DoK offers his analysis for May/June 2003.

The period covering May/June started out well but changes did occur; some good, some bad and some confusing. Details follow below.

I have decided in this issue to show the routing procedures [which I like to call Broadcast Transmissions] and help to explain the many repeats that are sent. These Broadcast Transmissions may contain details of schedules and any possible changes. Why else are they sent?

The last 10 days of the month have been very busy due to one change on S10D, which was somewhat confusing but was only of a temporary nature, schedules and frequencies since returning to normal. During this period, and leading up to preparation of the latest chart. I have spent many extra hours checking and reconfirming all the times and frequencies to ensure accuracy.

During the whole period May-June inclusive I have logged over 360 transmissions. [S17C is not included in this total due to bad conditions and the heavy tty on 6758kHz. Many fruitless hours have again been spent searching for a parallel frequency, again with no success.

It is good to see the activity returning to the higher frequencies and periodic checks should be made over the next few months on 13936, 14377 and 14565kHz.

[Note: Several schedules have recently been coming up late and allowances should be made. Eg, 4485kHz 2020z 30/06 S10D was three minutes late].

Repeat Message Routine

• New Message Day Friday 0210z Rptd 0410z Rptd 1720z, Seven days each week.

• New Message Day Monday 0400z Rptd 0410z Rptd 2100z, Seven days each week.

• New Message Day 0450z Rptd 1410z Rptd 1720z, Monday and Tuesday only.

1630z New Message Saturday, Rptd Sun, Mon & Wed - always same ID's.

Consecutive day transmissions will invariably be the same message, both M10 and S10D. [There are other instances but not covered in this column this time].

A number of schedules do not operate each week; 1610z operates irregularly.

The separate 1700z operate on alternate weeks.

1820z also every other week and S10D 1820z will also miss weeks.

There have been problems occurring with 1720 and 1740z sendings. On a number of instances the 1720z M10 transmission was swamped by the 1740z S10D carrier some 10 minutes before the end on this transmission. Funnily this only seemed to happen on Mondays! On Tuesdays the S10D carrier came up shortly after the M10 transmission finished.

This was further complicated when the 0210z transmission on Friday 13^th June contained two messages of 39 and 56 groups and the transmission time was 23 minutes. As this is repeated at 1720z it meant that the 1740z S10D had moved to another frequency, returning to normal Monday and Tuesday 23^rd and 24^th June.

The parallel frequency of 13502kHz remained as normal but resulted in other pairings, which have not been charted this time.

Another strange happening on Tuesday 17^th June, the 1640z schedule on 10125kHz also operated on 7745kHz. The transmission started as normal with ID's 680 and 777. The first message to 680 was completed but after 777 and dk 18 was sent the 7745kHz transmission ceased at 1652z. At 1745z, 7745kHz came back up, sent just three figures and ceased again. During this time 10125kHz continued, completing the transmission at 1658z. Tones on 7745kHz were then sent out at 1657z prior to commencing the next schedule at 1700z.

Another thing I noticed during this period is the increase in multi-frequency use and I wonder if there is a routine service programme in operation?

A number of other schedules have come and gone in this period and as they are short term and on well known common frequencies they have not been charted.

With the increase in activity, particularly S10D, I believe some changes may occur from 1^st July.

[PLondon noted a subtle change in the 0410z sending 01/07 of M10. The previous message header -in part-, as sent 0410z 30/06, read 555 228 25 046 22. On 01/07 it had changed to:555 228 25 776 22].

Excellent logs have been received from RN GB and PoSW, my thanks to you both. Thanks also so to PLondon and AnonUK for their contributions.

In closing if anyone would like greater detail or additional information about what I have written please contact me via the usual channels.

Finally, this article is dedicated to those silent listeners from whom we hear little or nothing. == Nazdar. DoK, Slavic Desk.

©ENIGMA2000 30/06/03

Slavic Number stations info from PoSW:

PoSW has heard an interesting station and reports

"Unusual voice transmissions;- short transmissions with the S07 Russian Man "Tinny voice" were logged a few times in May; the regular format S07 ended several years ago but brief sendings consisting of an "000" format followed by a single 5F group have been noted from time to time; several were noted last summer and the following were logged recently;-

S04

Nil Reports

S06

S06 "Russian Man" is still very busy, the most widely heard of this family of number stations. Of special interest are the transmissions which have logged at various times on 8,080 kHz , always with the call "102" and are noted for long pauses and repeats of the 5F messages. One was logged on Friday 13-June which went on the best part of an hour and a half - and had probably been running for some time when tuned in. By way of contrast an S06 was heard on Tuesday 17-June with a group count of just 2. [PoSW]

We have printed PoSW's entire log, which illustrates the activity of this station along with valid operational info. [Tnx for your work PoSW]

[Tnx AF, DoK, E, Gert and HFD]

Gert of Holland has plotted the weekly skeds for Tuesdays [First and Third] starting at 1900z
[Note that the frequency may change ±10kHz weekly and also maintains UTC/GMT].

Gert draws our attention to the change of ident at Jan 03.

[Tnx Gert].

S06C

AF noted S06C:

S07 Format stations [See intro to this section]

Note PoSW's observation; 15/05 AM with both sidebands, the 28/05 transmissions had a very strong carrier but with low modulation.

S10D

It has been a case of "All change" with regard to the S10d Czech YL during May; the Saturday 1520z transmission has moved from 8,175 kHz which was used from October last year through the winter and spring until the last Saturday in April, and as of 3-May has been turning up on 7,745 // 9,165 kHz. The Saturday and Thursday 2130z transmission which was on 5,473 // 6,894 kHz during March and April is now on 9,165 kHz; no sign of a parallel so far despite checking a list of over 30 frequencies known to have been used by the S10/M10 set-up in the past. There is a transmission of the two-message variety on Mondays and Tuesdays at 1740z on 8,190 kHz, again no parallel found so far. On Tuesday 6-May an M10 CW transmission was noted on 8,190 kHz at 1729z, ending at 1737z, i.e. 3 minutes before the Czech YL started up on the same frequency. The M10 was in parallel with 12,295 but this frequency was not used for the S10d transmission.

PoSW's log:

RN GB offers:

RN GB possibly noticed an interesting trait:

Another little quirk I've noticed about S10d. When they use parallel freqs (ie. 9165 & 7475), the numbers are slightly clipped on one of the freqs - in tonight's [19/06] case it was 7475. I wonder if 9165 is the master freq and 7475 slaved off it somehow?

In general for the June sendings, there has been a distinct increase in traffic from the S10d Czech YL during June with several new transmissions noted in the first week of the month, including some which were "One offs", i.e. they were not heard in subsequent weeks.

An unusual event was observed on Tuesday 17-June at 1740z on 13,502 kHz which began with "999" instead of the "555" which until then had always been the start - up routine of the Czech YL.

S10E

Nil Reports.

S11A

S17C

AF was the first to alert us to a change of freq by S17C

Reception on this frequency has been extremely poor in due to t/p QRM. However DoK managed some May transmissions along with AF and HFD, thanks all.

S21

AF kindly sent in his S21 log:

[Tnx AF]

V02

Ben Mesander [US] notes a new format for V02 and writes:

In addition to the 4's on ID's, I noted a new V02 format the other night. Usually V02 single-callup broadcasts have one of the following two formats (note there are also two-callup broadcasts with different formats):

Atencion III GC (repeats several times) XX GC (repeats several times) 5 figure groups finale finale finale

Or: Atencion III XX (repeats several times) GC XX (repeats several times) 5 figure gorups finale finale finale

Where III is a 3-digit ID, GC is a two-digit group count, and I've no clue what XX is, but it has two digits. The other night, I heard a broadcast of the form: Atenction III (repeats several times) 00 (repeats several times) finale finale finale This was a "null message" which I'd never heard V2 send before.

It reminds me of the E17 null messages I used to come across occasionally.

[Tnx Ben!]

From E in GB:

V02A

V07

The May Tues/Thurs sendings via Gert:

From Gert, HFD and RN GB:

PLondon heard all freqs with a full message on 08/05. The signal strength was very poor and the audio was only just discernible. Sendings lasted nine minutes.

V08

No sign of the V08 Arabic YL at 1900z on 6,645 kHz, plus or minus a bit, on Saturday 1 - March, or the following Saturday; not found two months in a row. There was a very weak carrier on 6,647 heard under the SSB pirate racket but there didn't seem to be any mod. on it and I don't think it was V08. Also, nothing further heard of V08 at 1700z on 7,662 kHz as noted on 18-Jan. Beginning to wonder if the absence of V08 is connected in some way with the large number of arrests of "Persons of North African origin" in various European cities over the past few weeks.

Also mentioned by 'E' as 'No V08 today'; whilst PoSW remarks for April, "Nothing heard of the first Saturday in the month V08 Arabic language "Eastern Music" station, last heard in January; there was no sign on 1-Mar at 1900z on 6,645 kHz (+ / - several  kHz), and also nothing heard on 5-Apr at 1800z - V08 always moved an hour with the start of summertime so as to appear at the same local time."

Polytones

Before we look at the logs for this interesting mode we heard from PoSW about "Luminaire" which is defined as "Soviet cipher machine of the 1960s. It was plugged into a radio receiver. The machine translated sound signals into numbers that appeared on ten small dials in the top of the machine. The numbers were an enciphered message that was solved by a one - time pad. The Luminaire was designed for agents who did not know Morse code or who needed to have a silent method of receiving messages" So presumably XP and XPH are modern versions of this? [Tnx PoSW].

PLondon recounted seeing a report in the early to mid-eighties of a find of something similar that looked as though it had been built into a diecast box. Coloured grey, there were a row of LED's over which a fiche could be placed and he is sure that he saw the exact thing at a display in the Imperial War Museum, London. This apparently worked on the same principle as that described by PoSW above, the fiche being changed for different messages. PLondon recalled the reporters remark, 'Security Services have never seen anything like this before.' He found that a little peculiar since he was using an auto decoder for Morse/tty/ascii at the time the AEA-MBO.

Difference in XP transmissions discovered by RN GB

In late May RN GB emailed to say that he had found what appeared to be an anomaly. In the body of the 2010z sendings he had noticed that the 50th group had a 'tally' mark against it. He notified E2k accordingly. All sendings were looked at, with the exception of the 2010z sendings which were either Null Msg, affected by propagation or not heard [10/06 was sent early].

All 2000z sendings upto 10/06 were perused and it was found that there was no 50 grp tally mark apparent.

On the night of 12/06, despite having to be up at 0300z, PLondon intercepted all the 2120z late night sendings. Conveniently the signals were of excellent strength and quality. The .wavfile was converted using xperta:

XP 18459kHz 2120z 12/06/03 ID446 dk/gc 00574/00213

446 446 446 1 446 446 446 1 446 446 446 1 446 446 446 1
446 446 446 1 446 446 446 1 446 446 446 1 446 446 446 1
446 446 446 1
R>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> _________00574 00213 98935 87897 27170
35568 09253 14182 24531 50456 38364 89844 70096 81483 23236
67589 13413 38664 37415 19234 70852 86573 95874 61277 48387
19736 79777 63615 23001 82516 17025 52023 18855 01377 64636
44411 80797 47278 65248 88211 76645 63895 69664 97534 21261
90831 47181 96442 75677 19755 75759 26083_55308 00531 00152
48451 68918 09728 99665 78445 62026 10579 85927 22718 60918
14508 62504 02541 71434 27156 32448 92438 58204 38409 67032
51394 01972 71394 50761 76808 24532 20911 68809 54487 92391
89833 79403 44539 36609 09495 31760 33390 94982 05772 87654
89536 92201 89550 94347 39038 41632 52957_38899 25878 60023
43175 34942 57001 70968 66512 12689 66871 12944 80854 90125
94327 06567 45628 89532 35668 42652 08634 50531 43955 41352
44180 57417 40366 79627 12768 72561 56748 07564 41551 16068
38791 34808 52123 06950 79731 95349 79335 62207 85470 97399
53914 29399 16490 86933 21175 96938 28113_95811 02967 20462
91229 81609 63816 46796 63213 58094 85054 89708 06182 90614
14325 95961 58819 89208 41168 90266 23268 86020 99367 33179
19534 54927 88787 08178 38198 11434 34934 52338 48588 90034
85301 99882 38170 22827 62645 95602 68635 06372 42818 29068
62397 17010 89467 06449 77125 16506 56766_62899 70051 11725
71715 23867 84509 99219 50454 59922 62665 50232 75809 77093
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<>___>

Note tally mark on every 50^th group. Space mark is longer in duration for that group.

Whilst observing the spectrogram as the signal was received PLondon noticed that the 303Hz [space] prior to the 50th group was longer that the 51 preceding it.[the dk/gc do not feature in the group count]. He then counted the spaces for the next 100 space tones and noticed that they, like the first 50^th mark was longer in duration. This of course duplicated the work previously done by RN GB whom we thank for notifying us. PLondon and RB GB also noticed the use of a tally mark on the late sendings of 19/06.

The 2010z sendings have moved into line and are now 'apparently' sent at 2000, 2020 and 2040z. The tally marks still remain. On 20/06 the morning transmissions, 0600z et al were a double message format. The first message, 31 groups long was separated from the second much longer 293 group message by two groups of 5 zeros. The first group was preceded by a tally mark, _00000 00000 as can be seen from this abbreviated file of that message:

XP 13857kHz 0640z 20/06/03 ID148 dk/gc 00358/00031 & 00754/00293

148 148 148 2 148 148 148 2 148 148 148 2 148 148 148 2
148 148 148 2 148 148 148 2 148 148 148 2 148 148 148 2
148 148 148 2

R>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> _________00358 00031 01405 70840 89771
24989 81683 10185 33984 67804 88413 79087 44448 41255 99193
99042 57699 73088 93780 87153 44735 91833 00586 46472 28803
97853 35541 77461 23071 73818 78173 27336 02501_00000 00000
00754 00293 48519 75240 65593 27155 18063 63791 62294 22453
26512 88791 02599 67124 82518 61898 66091 29153 85104 94505……………………

Examination of the spectrogram for the above sending displayed a longer 303Hz tone before the '00000 00000' routine.

©ENIGMA 2000 18^th June 2003.

Now onto the logs:

XP April 03 morning sendings

ID018

XP April 03 evening sendings

ID914

ID845

Late XP: April 03

ID631

XP May 03 morning sendings, courtesy JoA, PLondon RN GB:

ID148

The first morning sending of the month on 02/05 pushed the boat out with a two message offering, 00496/00079 & 00548/00153, strong sigs for all three sendings. Signals again strong at 20dBs in Central London on 06/05 with 00718/00221. 09/05 saw the sending of two messages 01661/00075 + 00718/00221. 13/05: 00264/00237. 16/05, excellent sigs: 07285/00213. 20/05: 00355/00167 repeated 23/05. The sendings on 27/05 were very poor and characterised by a strong carrier and low audio. All messages were tainted but PLondon managed to extract 03421/00111 from the very poor signals received. JoA also commented on the poor nature of these signals. G remarked that the operator should have been instructed to turn the modulation up a bit! Last AM sendings of May 03 were better, offering signal strengths of +10dBs into JoA and Plondon for message 00254/00189. Of the final morning sending JoA noted:13857kHz 0640:01-0642:48 (FAILED) carrier stayed ON. re-started 0643:59 with slow ID poly for a shorter period of time than usual until 0645:09 then fast msg poly from 0645:16 to 0647:52 (E), the actual msg part being 3min.53sec.

XP May 03 evening sendings, courtesy JoA, PLondon RN GB:

ID595

The first sending for XP in May resulted in a null message, sig strength a healthy 30dBs in South London. For the first time in three years a full message was sent on the 2040z slot on 08/05. The message was 03153/00133; the signal strength of the first sending was very poor and variable. The subsequent sendings bettered the 2000z S3 by tickling the 20dBs point om PLondon's meter.

The transmissions of 22/05 started at 2000z with the usual ID + 0 tones; however the carrier dropped suddenly at 30, 39 and 41s into the sending and a small glitch to the sending was also heard at 87s. Sounds like a case for poor maintenance!

A full message was sent on 29/05 but the signal strength was so low that the audio was not strong enough to be displayed despite attempts to enhance. No doubt due to the Coronal Mass Ejection [CME] of that day the other sendings remained *'Nil Required Heard' and PLondon's shack but heard weakly at JoA's. Difference here is that JoA uses a vertically polarised antenna whilst PLondon uses horizontal. Note that Russian Embassy in London uses a solitary centre loaded vertical antenna.

ID963

Some fading marred the 2010z sending 02/05 with 2030z strength tickling +10dBs. The 2050z offering was decidedly 'scratchy' due to watery audio - 00461/00193. 06/05 gave 00679/00137 good sigs.09/05, good signals for 3^rd sending only a repeat of 06/05. Variable signal strength signals on 13/05 produced the diminutive 00693/00057. 16/05 00540/00141. 20/05: 00503/00145 repeated on 23/05.

27/05 good sigs, 00982/00249. RN GB has noticed that the 50^th group shows a longer space on the spectrogram and on the converted message. Although the Friday 29/05 sendings were appalling in strength and quality RN GB sent a sample to show the 50^th group phenomenon on the respective groups, 14416, 87802, 77588 and 56039. PLondon was in IoW and unable to monitor the sendings, enjoying a 5 course dinner followed by a twirl in the ballroom of the splendid hotel that Mr&Mrs PLondon were staying at [He managed M10 0410z 01/06 though. The cleaner will find a cryptic 555 868 28 174 28 868 64 28 == 08828 etc written on the back of a menu card - I imagine the local headlines now]. An SMS Msg at around 2200z alerted him to the state of the sendings of this XP

Late XP, May 03 from PoSW

ID596

[PoSW]

PLondon noted that a full sending occurred 27/05, but the signal strengths on all sendings that night were, as PoSW found, appalling.

XP June 03 morning sendings, courtesy JoA, PLondon:

ID148

The first message sent for June was dk/gc 00487/00217. JoA reported the signal as good strength whilst PLondon suffered with some local QRM. The frequencies chosen match those used last month and last year. 06/06 presented 04874/00291 - long message! Good signals throughout. Poor signals dominated the 10/06 with the best reception at 0640z - dk/gc 09643/00251, repeated 13/06. The 17/06 sending was 00754/00293. The second sending was affected by a burst of maritime data which removed grps 109 to 113 and a deep fade that affected grp 274. The 0640z was the poorest of the mornings offerings at a constant S5 with PLondon at his central London workplace. 20/06 produced a 2 message format: 00358/00031 & 00754/00293. 24/06 good signals 00137/00273. A likewise two message format was seen again on 27/06 with 00640/00049 and a repeat of the tues 24/06 00137/00273. Perhaps the 49 group message was either thanks from Mr Putin or a recall to Moscow for his London Ambassador! Tally mark visible at start of 00000 sequence.

XP June 03 evening sendings, courtesy JoA, PLondon ,PoSW:

ID545

Good signal strength on the first sending with PLondon +10dBs, 07015/00261 being the bk/gc. The sending on 05/06were of excellent strength producing dk/gc 04366/00223. Good signals for 10/06: 00997/00203. 17/06 09243/00079 and repeated on 19/06.

NRH for 24 -26/06.

ID184

Poor signal strength pervaded all sendings on 03/06 with around S8 being the best on the 2030z offering, unfortunately QSB present.

dk/gc not totally received: 04n94/00143. This partially received message was repeated again on the next scheduled sendings, 06/06, the full message received without problem: dk/gc 04094/00143. Last sending was poor.

The italics above illustrate the change of sending time being adjusted to fall in line with other sendings.The expected 10/06 2010z et al sendings were not heard, not so much as a carrier, tone, whatever. PLondon switched to 'vfo B' at 2044z in readiness for the expected 2050z tx only to hear the final tones as the message closed. The message was obviously sent early. RN GB caught the ending as: 47085 21092 33837 35077 44818 86034 01005 83238 75330 >>>.On 13/06 PLondon listened to the sendings start at 2000, 2020 and 2040z. The dk/gc of these sendings were 04017/00175. Comparison with RN GB's sample 9 groups [above] showed that the missed message was the first sending of that intercepted 13/06. 17/06 00545/00119. It was again repeated on 20/06. New message on 24/06, excellent sigs producing 00281/00211. 27/06 all poor sigs with PLondon, 00281/00244, best was S5.

Late XP, June 03 from JoA, PLondon, PoSW:

ID446

Very weak, poor signals obviously not including GB in its footprint. The resultant spectrogram of 03/06 was picked apart to discover 05162/00175 -- group count could be 177 though?. PoSW remarks, " Again, signal strengths have been variable; on Tuesday 3-June all three transmissions were weak signals, way down in the noise but on Thursday 5-June all three were very strong signals with the first sending at S9+ plus many dB and the third sending the weakest at strength S9. In fact I think this was the best reception of the late night XP schedule for a long time."

Late freq courtesy of JoA, full message 10/06 5mins 10secs. 2120z S4/6, 2140z S4+QRM poor, 2200z S9+25dBs. 13/06 was an excellent sending, sig strengths reaching +20dBs for 00574/00213. Sigs on 17/06 were very poor, propagation took its toll and whilst a full message was heard at 2120z it was weak and unusable in PLondon's shack. The other two sendings remained NRH with PLondon.
Plondon did hear those signals sent on 19/06: 00334/00183. On 24/06 first two transmissions produced very low signal strengths, S3 and S4 respectively. However the third sending at 2200z was at least 20dBs over 9.. [Is the footprint changed for the last sending]? Dk/gc 00403/00199.

On Friday 20/06 JoA intercepted a sending on 20/06 and alerted PLondon via telephone. There was no apparent 2^nd and 3^rd sending.

26/06: 00403/00199. Thanks to PoSW for use of his freq cribs.

XPH

April's evening XPH

ID836

May's evening XPH:

ID373

Friday 09/03 sending remained unheard by PLondon; looking at the solar forecast he discovered that a solar storm was probably due to his lack of signals. He also noted that 14 and 16MHz was almost devoid of any transmissions, and the stations that were audible were not as strong as usual. As expected the 13/05 sendings were back, the 16M was S5 and the 14M variable to +20dBs. Good to see the recombination effect considered PLondon's wishes to catch XPH! Conditions were changeable on 17/05, the first sending on 16M was a reasonable signal with PLondon. He remarked that the 2^nd 14M freq did not produce the expected sending and that it was very noisy. 24/05 as 17/05, no second sending audible.

JoA and DoK monitored XPH for PLondon whilst he was away Both confirmed to PLondon that the null messages of 31/05 were received at a signal strength of S7 and S5 accordingly. [Tnx JoA and DoK]

June's evening XPH:

ID494

Surprisingly good signals for the June kick off with strengths of S8 on the two longish 1200Hz tones at 1822z, continuing as such for both null messages. The Saturday 07/06 tones were missed by JoA and PLondon but caught by AnonUK. He reported that the first sending was inaudible [propagation]? On 10/06 it appears the first sending was a casualty of the solar activity at PLondon's horizontal wire, however JoA's vertical array did its stuff well and was heard. The null msg sent 14/06 were heard by AnonUK and PLondon at good strength. Reasonable signals on 17/06 albeit another Null Message. Both sendings excellent sigs on 21/06.

PoSW noted, " Signal levels have been varied ranging from, for example, S9 on Tuesday 3-June to "Weak and watery" on Tuesday 10-June."[Tnx PoSW]

Of the 28/06 sendings JoA writes, '0msg on XPH to-night. 17456k 1830z Tones 1823:54 M S indistinct, 1824:48 M S indistinct. Signal=Zero QRM-noise, poor. 15932k 1850z Some tones 1842:29 indistinct, Signal=Zero QRM-noise, poor. I doubt if you would have been able to use it if there had of been a message. (Length of transmission 2min.18sec on time).' Tnx JoA.

With months of null messages this circuit must be a low priority one or kept open 'just in case'.

XPL

The last observations by AF were :

XPM

Last monitored by AnonUK on:

Non-Number Station Broadcasts of Interest:

JoA writes BC txs. noted: 26/6: 15455k 2005z VOR Moscow (Eng. News.) S9+35dB vst.

• 12070k 2018z VOR Moscow (Eng. News.) S9+40dB vst.

• 15401k 2007z Unid. (Eng. News, re-Liberia) American accent (VOA?) QRM-BC.

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