ENIGMA 2000 Newsletter - Issue 20

January 2004
Articles, newsreports and Items of interest :enigma2000-owner@yahoogroups.com

Morse stations | Voice stations | Oddities
Numbers predictions | Notes for beginners
E2K phones General Yatom | News Items
Web sites | Stop press | Contribution deadlines
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Oddities

Although the oddities file is a little depleted of the usual reports ‘E’ sends us two interesting reports.

Tnx ‘E’

AnonNI has appraised us of a peculiar double swishing noise he heard at 0311z 29/12 between 4771 and 4800kHz. The carrier heard has particularly apparent edges, the signal strength falling away noticeably at the signal extremes. He states that the duration between the double swish is approximately 1 second. [Tnx AnonNI]

On 31/12 at 1405z AnonUK contacted E2k with details of a foghorn like sound he was monitoring on 10257kHz. It appears to be two tones, no doubt produced as the beat note from more than one tone, of duration of around 1 sec in total. A recording has been made and will be looked into. It is worthwhile noting that the sending of this signal finished around 1412z; later in the afternoon our old friend the Grasshopper [or more correctly the SuperDARN OTH] appeared on frequency.

Backward music station (XM)

No reports

Buzzsaw [XBS]

This peculiar sound has again been heard. TomH in the US has kindly written a short piece for inclusion in the Newsletter about an oddity that still remains a mystery and which has attracted media interest:

“I was listening to the weekend edition of "Coast to Coast AM", with weekend host Art Bell, which is a syndicated and rather large "beyond the fringe" very late night topic show. Art Bell is a HAM radio operator and has an interest in SW radio. He reported that himself and others on the 40 meter HAM band had heard a strange buzzing sound that took up a wide range of frequencies and has been heard all over the Western US and abroad. Him and his radio buds on 40 meters heard it while operating there during the day. He played a clip of it on his show.

I had heard that some users of the Enigma 2000 group have heard similar oddities, Art Bell  thinks it is government related.... he is not too far from Area 51 and other secret military facilities that exist in Nevada and in the SouthWestern USA in general. I have yet to hear it but I will keep looking for it.”

Tom kindly sent a clip in too. That clip can be found in the files section of Group.

For the dx'ers amongst us, Tom heard this interesting piece on 790kHz near his home town of PA [Pennslyvania, a state in Northeastern USA]. He also wrote, "They are on hundreds of 50kW stations around the US including Hawaii and Alaska and also satellite [C-BAND?] as well as XM Radio. They're also on a few stations in Canada. There was a guy from England who called up the show once so they have to be available there somewhere."

[Thanks Tom, excellent stuff]!

If anyone wishes to contact Tom concerning this 'Oddity' he can be reached via: RedOctober@keepandbeararms.com

[Note: Buzzsaw was reported by DoK 5250kHz 2000z 09/01/2001 – sample available in files in the ‘sound samples’ section. Previous coverage in Issues 4 page 11, NL5/17, NL6/17, NL7/21 ansdNL8/21].

Carriers [Blank]

A variety of blank carriers were discovered in the 6MHz band by PLondon and JoA whilst searching for XP Sch2 and XPH freqs.

Crackle

Not heard for sometime and briefly mentioned in a discussion Gert offered this at 2318z via group on 31/12:

“Very strange signal now on 5308.5 kHz. Family of crackle? I have heard it several nights now, it's daily I think. Every evening from +/- 22.00 or 23.00 utc on 5308.5kHz for hours. It is a wide signal, about 4 kHz and sounds a little like the crackle but it is not exactly the same.”

Please listen out for this and if possible please send a recording to group. [Nice one Gert].

Jammers

These can be heard with some regularity on: 5320, 5600, 6420, 6880, 7040, 7050, 7070, 8320, 8340, 8515, 9360,10280,10470 and 13410, 16176kHz.

Mazeilka (X06)

Possible variant, two tones 815 and 845Hz, alternately sent 3 times, giving 6 tones. The total sending od six tones lasted 2283ms. Each tone had a duration on around 548ms and separated by 126ms. Each sending was separated by 1020ms. Sample .mp3 on group in UNID's. PLondon originally thought that this was a possible UNID but Ary [N&O] posted that this was probably a standard X06 although a more rare two tone version exists. [Tnx all concerned].

Leading us in to the logs for November, Peter of SW included his X06 logging from late October:

Mazeilkas was also busy elsewhere on 22/11as Peter again shows:

[Tnx PoSW]

S28 [formerly XB]

It buzzes away on 4625kHz.
www.geocities.com/uvb76

S30 [The Pip]

Continues to dominate 3757kHz in the 80M band.

Jet [XJT]

This horrible noise, described as ‘vile’ by CD 06/11, gets everywhere. AnonNI also made particular comment about this mode too.

Following CD’s sample sent to G7VAK and question re the XJT signals he received on 3823kHz 06/11 you can read more about the Harris Corporation's RF-5710A HF Radio Modem which has been adopted as NATO Standard

“PARIS, June 19, 2000-(EUROSATORY, Booth #27) - Harris Corporation today announced that its new RF-5710A high-frequency (HF) modem was recently used in a series of NATO tests to select a high-speed HF waveform for NATO use. The new NATO standard, known as STANAG 4539, provides for transmission over long distance HF radio circuits at rates up to 9,600 bps.

The United States submitted its new military standard (MIL-STD-188-110B) high-speed HF waveform as a candidate for the new NATO standard. The MIL-STD-188-110B waveform was implemented on a Harris RF-5710A modem, which incorporates a unique adaptive equalizer that allows transmission over HF radio channels at rates up to 12,800 bps. After extensive testing of the RF-5710A modem at the Defense Research Establishment in the United Kingdom, the MIL-STD-188-110B waveform was selected over several other candidate waveforms.

"This new generation of high-speed HF waveforms represent a major technical advance," said Steve Elvy, director of engineering, Harris Corporation, RF Communications Division, Rochester, N.Y. "The adoption of MIL-STD-188-110B as the NATO standard is a testimony to the design of the waveform and its implementation in the Harris RF-5710A modem. The new standard will provide significantly faster long-haul radio communications to NATO military users, at sea, on land, and in the air.”

The Harris RF-5710A modem is now in production with the new MIL-STD-188-110B (3,200 bps - 12, 800 bps) waveform. It also supports a host of other interoperable waveforms, including; MIL-STD-188-110A, STANAG 5066, STANAG 5065, STANAG 4529, STANAG 4481, STANAG 4415, and STANAG 4285.”

The full article can be read on: http://www.harris.com/view_pressrelease.asp?act=lookup&pr_id=331

A copy of Harris’s descriptive brochure of the Modem has been posted to Group Files.

Auto recordings made by PLondon on November XP freqs revealed that XJT occupied 8162kHz at 2240z 12/11. Having this horrible noise all over the spectrum is very anti-social and prevents an interception of Sch3 polytones.

Slot machine (XSL)

XSL is heard on 4152.5, 4231, 4290.5, 6249.5, 6416.5, 6444.5, 8312.5, 8587.5 and 8703.5kHz. USB mode

Still being heard in US, Oceania and like areas. E2k would like to receive details of any observations made in Great Britain, Eire and Europe please.

XSL general transmission times [freqs of 8588.0//8703.5]

The text via <http://www.geocities.com/hfasia/files/Japanese-PSK.html> describes the Slot Machine as Japanese PSK with a Vertical bandwidth of 3kHz. It states frequencies in use as: 4152.5, 4231, 4290.5, 6249.5, 6416.5, 6444.5, 8312.5, 8587.5, 8703.5kHz

It is usual to see reports from America of this device but this time we were surprised to see the only log to E2k on this station from af:

Squeaky wheel (XSW)

Can be heard strutting its stuff on 3828kHz

Teleprinter 4710

Can be heard on the usual frequencies of 4710, 6702, 9000kHz, 11122kHz [daytimes] and 15020kHz [evenings].

• More Info on 'oddities' can be found on Brian of Sussex excellent web pages:
  http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/brogers/page2.html

• Frequency information and trends can be downloaded from:
  http://www.cvni.net/radio/

Thanks to AB, AF, Anon UK, AnonNI, BMDartford, CA [US], CD, D of Kent, 'E', GallusGallus, Gert of Holland, HFD, IB, J of Aylesbury ,J Derby, JM, JMM, K of Kent, LP, Ben Mesander, Mike of Kent, Mark Slaten, MLF, PLondon, Peter of Saffron Walden, R anon, Rob of Essex, RN UK, TomH, Spy Numbers Robot, and all others for their contributions to the Morse, Voice and Oddities columns. As ever we acknowledge information from the Spooks site.

Morse stations | Voice stations | Oddities
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