ENIGMA 2000 Newsletter - Issue 21

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

Morse stations | Voice stations | Oddities
Numbers predictions | Non numbers
Enigma control list update | Single letter beacons
Propagation and noise | CVNI schedules
Ana Belen Montes : Fidel's pal in Pentagon | Non-standard German numerals
Spam experiences | Euston tower
News Items | Web sites | Stop press | Contribution deadlines
Index | E2K NL Home

Selected voice stations

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

PoSW's logs reflect the changes in E05 activity: Nothing heard of the American Accent counting station aka "Cynthia"; the fixed audio tones noted on several known E05 frequencies in November continued throughout December and into January but ended in the first week of the New Year. The last occasion on which I noted some activity was on the first weekend of the year.

On Saturday 3-January the following transmissions were logged;-

On Sunday 4-January;-

[Tnx PoSW]

Keith of Kent’s log shows that on 01/02 at 1200 to 1220z a carrier was present on 8110kHz which then evolved into a rapid pulsing tone.

E06

The E06 English Man has gone into a dramatic decline in the New Year, writes PoSW. Activity seems to be at an all time low and there does not appear to be any schedules running on Saturday afternoons, UK time, between, say, 1200z and 1600z which always used to be the most likely time to find E06. The E07 English Man continues to show up on the same schedules as in the same month last year which makes it easy to find; there is still a problem with low modulation with some E07 transmissions which makes copy difficult if the signal is weak or QRM is present.

PoSW’s logs:

E06 activity has been well down in the first month of the New Year; no activity found on Saturday afternoons, U.K. time.

[Tnx PoSW].

Other E06 logs:

E07

PoSW outlined the February Schedules and offers his observations:

Tnx PoSW

E10

From our E10 desk Jan/Feb04 :

• Bold Lettering denotes repeated message

• <> Denotes No changes to schedule heard.

• Frequency in ( ) Denotes slight variation in transmitted frequency used on some occcasons.

E10 Comments

From g0grv, MIW2 on 3557 a new freq, working in parallel with 5339 on the 5 Jan. Also from Simon Parton, hearing PCD on 5435 normally the home of ART both are entered in the log above.

On the 6th Jan at 2116Hrs, both MIW2 (5339) & VLB2 (4780) gave an hour long call no group message passed.

21 Jan at 2200hrs E10 transmissions went out of sinc with JSR2 & FTJ both on the same freq 5091 at the same time. this was closely followed by MIW2 calling in the background of EZI G52 Message on 9130 at 2217 hrs, MIW2 ending at 2220hrs. (Logged Above)

For a number of nights PCD1 on 3150 at 0030hrs with a 3mins call no message, and YHF on 3840 at 0001 hrs repeating a group 35 Message RLKBS. and later a Group 27 RSCPL

Thanks to Jmm of France for pointing out our read/write error for the 9th of Dec 03 regarding EZI's 1900hrs transmission on 9130 & 6840 (see Enigma 2000 Issue 20 ) This must have been an error by me when copying over JC Malta's contribution, Sorry Fellows!!. I no longer have the original as sent, maybe JC Malta could verify for the record next time round. Also thanks JC for your latest lists (Feb)

©BMDartford Feb 04 [Tnx Bob – excellent stuff].

E11

Message sent on27th January 2004 on 8544kHz [AF] as well in February on 10125kHz, 26/02 and 11116kHz 27/02.

As regular listeners are aware the usual ident for both freqs is 232/00 when no message is sent. It did not escape listeners JoA, Gert and PLondon that there was a change in ident as 235/67. The ident was 235 with 67 groups sent. By way of discussion Gert asked if the id232 is only a dummy id to test the transmitter/receiver or an error. Note however that the ident on 27/01 message via 8544kHz remained at 182 but also 67 grps. Perhaps the messages contain decode keys/components for a message sent elsewhere?

JoA rang PLondon with details of a message being sent as:

Variable sigs with QRM, preamble not heard. JoA/PLondon heard sigs, Gert confirmed as 235/67 first grp 18655, last 214146.

E15

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

E17

Nil reports

E17Z

AnonUK offers, “E17Z is on each Thursday at 0800z on 11170kHz.   674 Null message. Interesting that it was on at the same times last year on the same dates.”

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.

E25

As well as this ‘sighting’ Manolis wrote in via group with, “After a long time away from this group (moving to a new house) I thought to give a try to my favourite, E25. And yes, there it was 1234UTC-1237UTC repeating "277 1". Signal was strong, and there was a hum noise in the carrier. [Well doneManolis]!

Calling "780" many times,
"Message" x3,
9549 6501 0210 3553 1254
7559 0481 6642 3755 0210
"Repeat" x3,
"End of message",
"785 41" ca. 4 times,
"End of transmission" 1251z, Carrier off at 1252z

Manolis draws our attention to the fact that "0210" appears twice![Tnx Manolis]

G04

Nil Reports

G06

Thanks PoSW - now onto others logs:

G22

A special message to the management of G22, the German version of Edna Sednitzer, from Gert. "Glad to have you back Edna. Your audio is good now but you have really got to work on your transmitter/antenna because your signal fell away regularly. Very difficult to copy. Keep on trying, make me happy."

Slavic stations

Before we move onto the Slavic Stations logs DoK, our Slavic Desk offers his latest charts and updates, covering M10, S10D, S17C and M10E.

CHART 10
M10, S10D and S17C Listings at 28^th February, 2004 All times GMT/UTC
[Compiled by ENIGMA 2000 Slavic Desk]

All frequencies stated +/- 2kHz

February came and went, the changes from the first were only minor, comparison between charts 9 and 10 will show these. The majority of transmissions for the month were marred by defective keying, we can but hope this is soon rectified.

Towards the end of January certain indicators and routines were sent which in the past heralded changes, but in this occasion were only minor.

This month [February] I have been very busy on perfecting my RDF system. [More on this later]. This has meant less time checking transmissions. If the usual routine is followed more radical changes will occur from 1st March.

S17C: FREQ CHANGE TO 5301//8190kHz APPLICABLE FROM 01 MARCH 2004

Early indications are that the stations that are subject to scrutiny by our Slavic Desk maybe following Chart 7 [amended] as from 01 Sept 03.

Thanks to Gert and PoSW for their contributions and logs.

The RDF System I have been working on is based on a design first published in Electronic Design on 22^nd July 1996, by M J Salvati and subsequently in the RSGB’s RadCom. A pair of FETs as source followers feed the inverting and non-inverting inputs of a transconductance amplifier IC [MAX436] which combined the signal into a single output of 1500mV across 75 Ohms.

The author states that this should not overload the receiver, however, I find it does and an attenuator is a necessity [such may be found in the ARRL/RSGB Handbook 0 to 81dB, switchable]. The attenuator will also be used in practice when seeking the null indication. A complete description and update will follow in next newsletter [Experience in building electronic equipment using surface mount techniques is a necessity as this is not a project for beginners. Anyone who wishes further information please contact ENIGMA 2000 via the usual channel].

[Thanks Derek] ©ENIGMA 2000

S04

In a joint operation AnonUK and Gert have worked on S04.

S04 will transmit on the Second Monday and Tuesday of the month at 2245z, the frequency, until March 2004, will be 3373kHz.

Like E18 the call for long messages will be 342, whilst 537 will be used for short messages.

On 12/01 Gert sent, "Edna Sednitzer, S04, is active now on 3373 kHz, LSB, start 22.45 UTC with 342 - nr 245 gr 126 = 39384, Repeat tomorrow" via group:

From AnonUK, the numerals:

[Tnx AnonUK]

S06

From Gert in Holland we receive an updated Regular sched chart [compiled along with AnonUK and RN GB]:

[Thanks AnonUK, Gert and RN GB]

Gert posted to Group to ‘S06 found, each wed 0830 UTC, 7840 kHz.’

On 06/01 Gert contacted E2k to say that he had found S06 freqs and that they remained the same as the Chart[later freqs inserted too]:

RNGB sends his S06 log [others credited to sender]:

Peter’s log reflects these findings with further detail:

[Tnx to all monitors concerned for logs and for the efforts of those who produced charts and detailed logs. Apologies to all whose work is not shown here – there was an excellent response].

S06C

Nil Reports

S07

Jochen Marburg posted via group to suggest that he has heard this station

Jochen was unsure if a null msg or not. Good catch Jochen!

Perhaps with the ID being 218 and freq being 6820kHz, this was the third sending and there was definitely a message to follow?

S10D

Peter noted that, "The S10d Czech YL continues to be one of the most active of the voice stations; schedules have remained the same throughout December, January and February. Newly discovered schedules, new to me anyway, include one on Thursdays at 2020z on 3,564 kHz - inside the 80 metre amateur band, no parallel found so far, and an 1855z transmission on the first Wednesday of the month, logged in January and February. The 2050z transmission on Tuesday 3-February, 5,272 // 5,904 kHz, sent what I think must be the longest S10d message ever consisting of 66 5-figure groups. The same schedule sent a message of 59 5F groups two weeks later on 17-Feb."

PoSW S10D logs illustrate the Schedules used by this station with his loggings listed below. All sendings started with the standard S10 "555" call - up.

Transmission on 7,745 // 9,985 kHz at 1855 UTC, listed in the Newsletter by the Slavic Desk as "Irregular", might be on the first Wednesday of each month.

[Tnx Peter].

Comparison of Peter’s log with DoK’s chart from the Slavic Chart, or vice versa, shows the compound the accuracy of the Slavic Desk’s and PoSW’s work [Thanks both]!

S10E

Nil Reports

S11Kreska

Nil Reports

S11A

Nil Reports

S13

Nil Reports

S17C

FREQ CHANGE TO 5301//8190kHz APPLICABLE FROM 01 MARCH 2004

These groups were heard on the 9166kHz freq:

[Tnx hfd/af/anonuk/posw/dok]

S21

V02 and V02a Stations comment

PoSW has been following the V02 Spanish YL from Cuba and writes: V02 remains generally weak and difficult to copy over on this side of the Atlantic. The long-standing Thursday and Saturday transmissions heard in progress in the UK around 0630z on 8,097kHz and after 0700z on 9,153kHz have been way down in signal strength right through the winter months. There is often a V02 on Wednesdays on 8,010kHz noted around 0630z which is a bit stronger but this is usually flattened by a strong, distorted FSK/RTTY signal on the same frequency. However, the Senorita from Havana was heard on Wednesday 18-February just after 0730z on 9,063kHz with a strength S7 signal, the strongest V02 for some time. Also, there does not seem to be any V02 activity on Sunday mornings, UK time - used to be a busy time - and there has been no sign of a late evening transmission after 2200z on Fridays on 8,492kHz during the winter months; in previous years this was noted regularly from early December through to late February but this winter - nothing heard!

[Tnx PoSW]. Now onto the logs mainly derived from US operators/Spooks.

V02

V02a

Before we move onto the logs TomH [US] again writes of problems he observed early in January with the Cuban station, V02A, 'the 0300z transmission on 10126kHz 06/01/04 V02a badly mixing in with a very strong M08a. TomH found it weird that, 'the voice segment would only come on when the M08a started to pulse away, giving very short and cut off numbers read by the voice. Suddenly went off at 0300z.I am in full belief that the anomalous V02a transmissions are transmitter tests or drills.' This event also reported via Spooks by Gary7 [TnxTomH]

V07

V08

Polytones

Before we go on to the charts, PLondon, JoA and AnonUK have been paying attention to the movements of XP and we have also received a note from PoSW that adequately sums up the indications that XP Sch2, Sch3 and XPH have all but disappeared: “No sign of a late evening XP Polytone schedule starting at 2220z despite checking frequencies used in January and February 2003; likewise unable to find an XPH high-pitched polytone schedule starting at 1830z.”

In addition to that sloppy operating may be responsible for the non-representative ID of 833 for the AM sched for February sendings when it should have been 818. That it was a mistake was indicated by March AM Sched whose id of 915 adequetly indicated the working freqs of 10923, 12123 and 13523kHz at 0700, 0720 and 0740z accordingly.

Do not for get that in April the station will observe the time alterations and send at 0600z and 2000z..

Now onto the XP logs, thanks to JoA, AnonUK, PoSW and PLondon. We acknowledge the log from HFD:

XP Daily Log [Insert M for message, N for Null message, add ‘o’ if from other source. Underscore indicates 50^th tally mark].

*AnonUK writes,"Had a listen for XPH Saturday, but did not find it. However found M12 at 1830 on 8180 and 1850 on 6907, ID 192 null message. My thoughts are that it has replaced XPH. One of the XP was replaced by M12 some time ago." Thanks AnonUK - It has also been noticed that the Sch2 and Sch3 transmissions are not yet discovered.

XP Daily Log
[Insert M for message, N for Null message, add ‘o’ if from other source. Underscore indicates 50^th tally mark].

Morse stations | Voice stations | Oddities
Numbers predictions | Non numbers
Enigma control list update | Single letter beacons
Propagation and noise | CVNI schedules
Ana Belen Montes : Fidel's pal in Pentagon | Non-standard German numerals
Spam experiences | Euston tower
News Items | Web sites | Stop press | Contribution deadlines
Index | E2K NL Home