Generated from a tape: ‘Salyut 7 19955kHz 1511 to 2151z 17/01/88 – 5 passes.’ Note the rise in frequency as the satellite passes.
January 2005
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Now, as with the last issue we start this section with some most interesting input from PoSW:
Non number station observations;- the 5MHz amateur "notice of variation" allocation continues to provide some interesting listening especially during and after the GB2RS news broadcast at 1230z on Sundays on 5,403.5 kHz, upper sideband. On 31-October a novel experiment was conducted by the news reader to compare the signal on 5MHz with a similar transmission in the 40 metre amateur band which had just gained an extra 100 kHz extending up to 7.2 MHz, subject to the occupancy of the broadcasting stations. The 40 metre frequency was 7,150 kHz, lower sideband and the two transmissions were running in parallel. I listened to both at the same time on two receivers and had good signals from both. So a sort of amateur bands stereo, almost! On 21-November the after-news net was still running when checked at 1430z and one of the stations heard, an M5 callsign located in Woodbridge, Suffolk, was using QRP with a power of just 1 watt. I have heard a military station using a power level of a fraction of a watt on the 5 MHz band in the past but this is the first time I have heard an amateur station using such low power. The signal was not particularly strong but was perfectly readable although more distant stations in the QSO were missing parts of his transmission.
The Hebrew language broadcast station on 6,973 kHz has become a very strong signal in the evenings in recent weeks. Presumably this station is located in Israel although I have never seen any mention of it in the broadcast section of any of the radio magazines. It appears to transmit a somewhat fuller spectrum of audio with the sidebands extending out further than the more usual shortwave broadcasters cramped together inside the BC bands which results in very good audio quality for an AM station. Several number stations have been heard fairly close to this frequency in the recent past and the sideband splash is often quite noticeable. The programming consists of talk, unfortunately my Hebrew is not up to understanding exactly what is being said, and music, mainly local but with a fair sprinkling of British "oldies". While tuning across the frequency in recent weeks I have heard tracks by the likes of The Beatles, Dusty Springfield and, heaven help us, Cilla Black and on Wednesday 13-October when I happened to tune across the frequency around 2005z they were belting out "My Generation" by The Who; nice!
I did enjoy Ken's rant on all things American at the top of page 43; an article in the November issue of "National Geographic" magazine gives some insight into America today. An article entitled "Was Darwin Wrong?" on the works of Charles Darwin - evolution, natural selection and all that - informs the reader that almost half the population of the US of A reject Darwin's theories concerning the evolution over countless millions of years of life on the Earth, especially with regard to humans, and instead believe that human beings were created just a few thousand years ago. It does appear to an outsider that those Americans who disdain Darwinism are precisely those who whole-heartedly approve of what might be called "Social Darwinism", i.e. the principle of survival of the fittest and sod everyone else, as applied to everyday life. Huge tax breaks for the super-rich and no socialised medical care of the European model - certainly nothing like the British National Health Service which in spite of all of its faults remains about the only State institution which commands the respect and affection of the British people - are a fact of life over there; and of course, pressure applied by Wall Street based financial institutions on those countries which still do retain a certain level of public services to privatise everything in sight.
The slow privatisation of the UK's NHS with everyday management being gradually handed over to the sharp-suited spivs whose chains of command can be traced back to the counting houses of New York being a case in point. During the run-up to the recent US presidential election I heard a current affairs programme on one of the radio stations, BBC 5 Live, I think, in which a spokesman for the American Neo-Conservatives was being grilled on various aspects of domestic and foreign policy. On being outsmarted by the interviewer the American suddenly exploded with "You Brits oughta be spending less on your precious health service and more on helping us to fight terror". So now we know.
By the way, has everyone noted the continuing plummet in the value of the US Dollar against many other currencies including the Pound Sterling?. Very nice for all those planning to visit the USA (not Ken, seemingly) to take in some American culture, or Disney, MacDonalds and Coca-Cola as it is more commonly called, since a pound buys more and more US$ with each passing day. The downside of course is the effect being felt in the real world of British manufacturing industry - or the remaining part of it which hasn't been closed down and shipped out to China to take advantage of the work-all-day-for-a-bowl-of-rice rates of pay which can only be found in the world's best organised police state - with many small companies in the specialised electronic and scientific industries whose main export market is the USA starting to feel the pinch because of the diminishing returns on the sales of products priced in dollars.
The comment on page 38 of E2K 25 on the continuing fun and games in the Middle East, The Balkans and possibly Ireland now perhaps needs to be extended to include another part of the world, the Ukraine, following the recent unrest over the flawed elections. It has been suggested that all sorts of outside influences are at work here to do with the ambitions of Nato and the EU pushing further to the east on one side with Russia wanting to mantain Ukraine in it's sphere of influence on the other. Just to complicate matters, part of the Ukraine used to belong to Poland until 1940 when it was annexed by Joe Stalin and going way back into history the Kingdom of Poland once extended from the Baltic to the Black Sea and included much of the present day Ukraine. There is said to be a small but vocal nationalist minority in Poland who would rather like those lost territories back and since Poland is now a member of both the EU and Nato would these institutions back the claim and so widen the conflict?
A couple of other articles in the November issue of "National Geographic" are worthy of a mention ; there is a piece on the subject of "Democracy", elections and the democratic process in various parts of the world which includes the line ".....opposing political elites, considered corrupt and self-interested by average citizens, simply trade control of government through elections without tackling the nations' problems". This is in reference to those countries where the whole concept of democracy is something new but I think it strikes much closer to home. Thinking back to the previous UK government of pre- May 1997 and remembering how back in those days we all travelled over congested roads or waited for trains which were constantly late or did not arrive at all or how unemployment and inflation figures were constantly fiddled to make things appear better than they really were - I can't see any difference between those days and life under the present regime. Except for the fact that whereas back then we had an "Open door" immigration policy, the door has now been wrenched from its hinges and smashed to pieces and the aperture in which it once hung has been considerably enlarged.
The other article which caught my eye in "National Geographic" is entitled "World of Terror" and includes a listing of all the main terrorist organisations active in the world today, most of which have some connections with what our political masters constanly refer to as the wonderful, peaceful and tolerant faith of Islam. There is a historical listing of terror groups starting with the Zealots who conducted a campaign against the Roman rulers of Judea in 66 A.D. - ("What have the Romans ever done for us?") - through to the "Worldwide War" in which we now find ourselves in 2004. Even that buisness with a cargo of tea in Boston Harbor in 1773 would, apparantly, fall within the FBI's definition of terrorism today. One rather prominent omission in NG's article, however, is the campaign conducted by Jewish settlers against British forces in what was then the mandated territory of Palestine an event of the final days of the British Empire which was itself the subject of an episode of the BBC 2 Television series called "Empire Warriors" shown on 26-November, of which the most memorable event was the blowing up of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, part of which served as the headquarters of the British, on 22-July-1946. There was even a plot to kill the British foreign secretary, a former trade union hard man by the name of Ernest Bevin, by "Irgun Zvai Leumi", the Jewish terrorists - or freedom fighters, depending upon your point of view.
Now that the scheme to seize control of the second largest oil reserves in the Middle East and bring it to the West through pipelines through the Mediterranean ports of fellow NATO and soon to be EU member, Turkey - which, however much Bush and Bliar may bleat on about bringing democracy is the real reason for the current unpleasantness in Iraq - has gone so horribly wrong, the following story from the Daily Mail of December 1 will be of no comfort to the great American nation;- headlined "America's black November", the piece by David Gardner starts off ;- "As many American soldiers died last month as during the whole of last year's Iraq war. The battle for Fallujah and fierce fighting which has spread across the country brought at least 139 US casualties in November. Britain's casualties since the start of the war in March 2003 stood at 74 last night. The American casualty count has increased almost every month since April, when 135 troops died in a rebel uprising that flared in Fallujah."
The Scottish regiment the Black Watch, at the time of writing on their way back from Iraq having been sent there by Mr Bliar as a personal favour to his boss in the White House were the subject of Uncle Sam's ambitions a full four decades ago. The Daily Mail of October 26 had a short piece on the subject which begins;- "The last time an American President (Lyndon Baines Johnson, in 1964) requested the help of of the Black Watch it was turned town by the then Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Johnson was impressed when he saw the regiment's first battalion pipes and drums and military band play at the funeral in 1963 of President John F Kennedy. He wanted them to back American troops in Vietnam. Mr Wilson's refusal infuriated the then U.S. Secretary of State, Dean Rusk who later said, "All we needed was one regiment. The Black Watch would have done".
Three decades on, the leftovers from the Vietnam war are still turning up. A story in the Daily Telegraph of November 9 headlined "Vietnam finds biggest bomb" goes on to say, "Vietnam says it has detonated the biggest bomb found there since the war with America Ended in 1975. The bomb weighed 5.5 tons and was found in the forests of Gia Lai province by residents looking for firewood, a millitary spokesman said.".
[Tnx PoSW]
Whilst perusing page 19 of the Sunday Times, dated 26th December, 2004 ['Egypt trains MI6 agents to combat Islamic terrorists' and 'How we kept alive on Planet bin Laden'] PLondon looked across to page 18 to see a story entitled 'Dad's Army runs rings round CIA stealth satellites' and penned by Tony Allen-Mills in Washington [US not Tyne and Wear]. He was prompted to write into E2k.
The story detailed how a retired computer programmer, ex-Marconi, stands in his Hampshire garden [in Great Britain] and observes the night sky through binoculars. Like others this ex-Marconi employee is a member of an 'informal global Dad's Army' of ageing amateur sky watchers.
This spare time interest, this hobby, has, we are told, emerged as an improbable threat to a US$9.5bn US Intelligence gathering operation based on 'stealth' spy satellites.
This group exchange data on military and intelligence satellites. Such a satellite is codenamed 'Misty'.
Misty is intended to be invisible from earth - a diagram has been seen that suggests an inflatable 'jacket' made of darkened material [dark material absorbs heat - not a wanted factor for a satellite] - but it has been spotted by a Scottish enthusiast; the US, understandably were none too happy about that event.
They were doubtless more 'browned off' when initial calculations were made to produce orbital detail; those same calculations repeated several years later disclosed that Misty's orbit had been changed.
The average of the involved Group is 62 and a Canadian member, aged 51, considers himself the 'spring chicken' of the Group.
Despite the US Justice Department investigation and complaints, one Defense Department executive has stated, "They may actually be enabling us to understand what is easily in reach of (hostile) observers."
The ex-Marconi man stated that he had been observing satellites since his schooldays in 1958, it was that statement that caught PLondon's eye.
PLondon writes, 'In 1986ish Channel 4 TV screened a film entitled 'Sputniks, Bleeps and Mr Perry.' An interesting film, it told the story of Geoffrey Perry MBE, a Science teacher at Kettering Grammar School, who successfully tracked Sputnik in 1957. Not only was the spacecraft tracked by its radio beacon but Mr Perry used his mathematical prowess [and a Smith Chart, I think] to accurately predict the whereabouts of the Russian launchsite, something that the US Intelligence community had not done.'.
During the film, Geoffrey Perry appeared in interview, stating that he was basically an optical observer using binoculars and photographic methods. The untimely death of his then Head of Science brought Mr Derek Slater G3FOZ, a radio amateur, into the school as the replacement Head of Department. Mr Perry saw a way here of tracking satellites and admitted that he would rely on Mr Slater's skill to do this. His interest, and willingness of Mr Slater, not only stimulated the formation of 'The Kettering Group' but also brought fame to Mr Perry and to alesser extent, Mr Slater. There were a number of schoolboys involved in the group - as was suggested within the film in interview.'
PLondon was stimulated by this film to try his hand at satellite reception and used the Practical Wireless column ‘Space and Satellites’ and SWM’s 'Info in Orbit' both then penned by Pat Gower, to gain insight as to what may be available to be heard. PLondon writes, 'I actually found Salyut[Cosmos1686] on 19955kHz and successfully monitored it for sometime. I knew nothing of the satellites but was aware of Keplarian elements and the physics surrounding orbital characteristics.'.'
PLondon generated tape recordings of Salyut until its demise. In 1988 PLondon had a surprise that was to stimulate his satellite interest further. "I was sitting in a teaching laboratory in Nottingham University when Geoff Perry walked in. He was wearing a flat cap to render some disguise, but I recognised him instantly and we struck up a conversation. What a splendid bloke he was! Addresses were exchanged and tapes of my observations were sent. One such remark from Geoff was, "You're slipping, frame twelve has changed!"
Generated from a tape: ‘Salyut 7 19955kHz 1511 to 2151z 17/01/88 – 5 passes.’ Note the rise in frequency as the satellite passes.
[Forget the text book explanation of express trains with their whistles blowing as they pass to explain Doppler shift, here it is for real]!
"In our conversation at Nottingham University Mr Perry stated that the CR100 was still in existence and in good working order.
Geoffrey Perry was also ITN's Space Correspondent and appeared on occasion when such newsworthy matters required his expert attention. Unfortunately Geoffrey Perry passed away in 2000."
PLondon stated he was taken aback to read that the US authorities stated that this visual method caused them some embarrassment; Geoff Perry and his school group had risen to prominence in 1957, a film had been made of his exploits and methods and there is plenty of source material available on these methods on the Internet. How then, can the US authorities not know that satellites can be tracked in this manner?
The spacecraft that PLondon tracked via 19955kHz was Salyut 7 with a space tug, Cosmos1686 coupled to replace Salyut 7's defunct engines. It was the tug that had the 19955kHz beacon attached. [For more reading on this matter try GM4IHJ, John Brannegan's book, Space Radio Handbook, published by the RSGB].
In his 'witterings' about Salyut 7 PLondon let slip that he had carried out a series of calculations to produce the speed and position of the Salyut 7 spacecraft. Those of you who have read this far might be interested to learn that on 15th December [year unknown] at 2320:40z the spacecraft crossed the equator at 125.70deg West. [Tnx PLondon].
The start of those calculations and they get much heavier…………………….
Ever wondered why Great Britain is known internationally as ‘Treasure Island’? The answer is simple; it’s because the majority of Brits pay over inflated prices for just about everything they buy. Those selling goods worth not a lot charge what they like on British high streets – one only has to compare goods from America. Don’t be surprised to see that the US price say of US$100 is converted to £100 when it should be circa £66. [Fifty quid nowadays]! The amateur radio and audio markets are notorious for this practice.
Even the Government is at it. In the year 2005 to 2006 the price of a passport is likely to rise from £42 to £85 to pay for expensive ‘biometric technology’ required for ID cards to be launched in 2010 to 2012.
Apparently the cost will be £85million for the ID cards and £415million for biometric passports.
All this is to comply with the US calls for secure electronic travel documents. Personally, I have no intention to travel anywhere, let alone the US, wouldn’t contaminate my boots with their soil. But what requirements does HM Govt place on the septics who want to enter our green and pleasant land? A one word answer will suffice: None.
Any adversary of the US will have its satellite communications jammed in an attempt to “deny and disrupt an adversary’s space-based communications and early warning” of attack. This jammer is said to be ground based. Given that the earth is a sphere and satellites are either orbital or geostationary that means the devices must be all over the place. Wonder how many are based on British soil?
The equipment, which can be transported in a trailer, is made up of turnkey equipment, antennae, [the US said ‘antennas’ as the plural – that is wrong] transmitters and receivers and is under the care of the 76th Space Control Squadron [where are the other 75 groups of these intending space dominating looneys]?
The actual report, sent by Jmm, was interesting and stated, “The ground-based jammer uses electromagnetic radio frequency energy to knock out transmissions on a temporary and reversible basis, without frying components, the command said.” Later it reported, “Citing "operational security" concerns, military officials declined to discuss how the jammer worked but equated it with traditional Air Force electronic warfare weapons that have been used since World War 2 to deceive, disrupt, deny, degrade or destroy targets.”
Wonder if this kit is capable of ‘friendly fire’ because those in charge of it are and it would be such a shame not to be able to interfere with friendly satellites as well.
Ms Eliza Manningham-Buller warned,‘People who doubt that Britain is facing a real international terrorist threat from al-Qaeda and similar groups are deluding themselves'. She made known the dangers of complacency at the CBI’s annual conference on 8th November. Companies should plan to foil terrorist acts against them and such plans should be a part of their business agenda as health and safety issues. [See next story]:
According to a plethora of newspaper reports apparent on 23/11 al- Qaeda plotted a 11/09 style attack on Great Britain. Such an attack was used in many headlines in a variety of newspapers, the Metro stated “al-Qaeda ‘plotted to strike Canary Wharf.’” [Already blown up once by the IRA]. The general story surrounding that was that British intelligence services stopped this as ‘one of four’ others. This information was apparently passed to the Daily Mail ‘from an authorative source with no axe to grind.’ [What does that mean]?
Anther plot highlighted in the Daily Mail was the launching of missiles into the flightpath of Heathrow, possibly from Legoland in Windsor. Operation Griffin was launched by the City of London Police to train 1500 financial institution staff on handling a major attack such as that in the US.
The International Institute for Strategic Studies has said that up to 18000 trained al-Qaeda operatives were deployed around the world with orders to strike against western targets, including targets in the UK.
At the recent CBI conference MI5’s Director General, Eliza Manningham-Buller mentioned that those who doubted the threat of al-Qaeda were deluding themselves. She is also recorded as stating, “There is a serious and sustained threat of terrorist attacks against UK interests at home and abroad.”
Then, the very next day, 24/11, the Times newspaper carried a report entitled, “How al-Qaeda’s London plot was foiled.” It started with “al-Qaeda terrorists had to abandon a plan to fly hijacked airliners into Canary Wharf, the London skyscraper, and Heathrow airport after being ‘rumbled’ by British and European intelligence services.” Although reports suggested the events were recent the actual intelligence operation was completed at least two years ago. The confirmation of the planned assault occurred when incriminating files were found on computers belonging to an al-Qaeda member in Pakistan. Other targets suggested on the files were the so termed ‘picture postcard’ targets, Houses of Parliament, and Windsor Castle as well as discussions on potential assassination targets. The plots that were discovered apparently pre-dated the attacks on 11/09 in the US.
A quoted suggestion from a ‘source’ as to the non-event was printed in the Times as: 'They were rumbled. We believe that al-Qaeda recognised that aviation security in the UK was too tight for a repeat of the September 11 attacks in this country and that it was too difficult to hijack an aircraft in our airspace.'
[I always thought being rumbled meant you were caught red-handed. Did this source not mean ‘stymied’ instead]?
Despite the few bits we have left [including Diego Garcia which we rent out at a good rate to our trans-Atlantic cousins] there is bad news.
On 15/12 the Times carried a headline that stated, “The sun sets on Britain’s old diplomatic empire.”
An interesting piece penned by Michael Binyon illustrated how Britain is to downgrade or turn over to local staff, dozens [yes, dozens] of consulates in Europe, Africa and Latin America to pay for new embassies and diplomatic outposts in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan and other crisis areas. [They’ll probably be burnt to the ground with the image we’re currently promoting].
Such cuts, Mr Binyon suggested, could affect posts in all continents and is intended to save more than £100Million. Much of this money, he writes, being needed to pay for Britain’s six-month presidency of the Group of Eight [G8] industrial nations which begins next month and of the European Union in the second half of the year.
Apparently British diplomats will be withdrawn from around a dozen consulates in France, Germany and continental Europe, being staffed by local employees or retired diplomats living in the area.
Some Embassies will be closed all together in other places, those named places include Latin America, the Pacific and possibly ‘elsewhere’.
‘Ship me somewheres east of Suez, where the best is like the worst,
Where there aren’t no Ten Commandments an’ a man can raise a thirst;
For the temple-bells are callin’, an’ it’s there that I would be
By the old Moulmein Pagoda, looking lazy at the sea:”
[Taken from ‘Mandalay’ Rudyard Kipling].
Apart from the threatened decimation of our diplomatic posts abroad, apparently to save a massive amount of money to be used elsewhere, here's another debatable act by HMG.
Diplomatic Pouches are regularly used to send sensitive material to our emabassies and missions abroad in sealed pouches. The stuffing and sealing is carried out in the basement of the Foreign Commonwealth Offices in Whitehall by civil servants. A necessary task dating back hundreds of years. Obstensively to save space [or is it the cash?] a tender is to be raised to attract private involvement in the stuffing, sealing and dissemination of the pouches. Pouches have been apparently used for all sorts of items, the material produced by the GCHQ spy, Geoffrey Prime, was said to have gone to Russia via a 'dip pouch' and the arrival of the weapon that killed WPC Yvonne Fletcher outside the Libyan Embassy was said to have been via the diplomatic pouch.
The work involved in the readying of the pouches, with their sensitive material - visas, passports, and other sensitive materials, will be carried out possibly near Heathrow Airport or Northwood.
Before you discount this as inaccuracy the House of Commons has already discontinued its use of Royal Mail as its carrier for its internal mail in favour of a US Distribution Company. One wonders if any of the personnel are 'leased' by the CIA!
As Bank customers in Great Britain complain about being charged to withdraw cash from a minority of certain machines [ATMs] our troops, some returning from Iraq, are having to pay charges of £1.50 per withdrawal at 250 of 268 machines. NAAFI Financial stated that the charges were fair because the troops did not have to leave the bases to visit a bank. [Metro 08/12]
Not have to leave their base to use an ATM? I don’t have to leave my University to use an entire Branch or ATMs and I pay nowt.
More ‘out to contract.’ I’ll bet the ATM’s look just like those found in certain shops where there’s a payback to the proprietor.
For those of you who do not know, NAAFI is Navy Army and Air Forces Institute. For the more agéd and disgruntled of us it also means No Ambition And F*** All Interest;- probably the result of being highly taxed on poor wages and then being told we should save for a pension [ which is also taxed if it rises above a pittance].Treasure Island is not just a decent read……………….
From Brian Moso: “I don't own shortwave- and I can barely get tv channels where I am living- but I had a theory about the number stations- could it be they all are sending one message- and it is just split up and encoded in bursts that have to be somehow combined and then decoded? I just wanted to share this with you all....I wish I could get shortwave and let the computer crunch thru the mess....” [Tnx].
Voyuerism is a defined offence under the under the new Sexual Offences Act 2003 [Is there no halt to this governments ability to pass new laws]?
Take one Croydon house converted into flats [apartments to our US brethren], an Italian with a good knowledge of computers and a glut of foreign students who rented the flats. There are no real details of what occurred, or how it was done, but in early November our hapless PC user was charged with three counts of installing equipment with the intention of obtaining sexual gratification by viewing others participating in a private act without their consent. As if that was not enough he was also charged with breaching copyright laws over 646 DVDs found at the same property he rented out. In good form the Italian programmer pleaded not guilty to the charge. The Magistrate who heard the matter stated that any sentencing is beyond the power of a Magistrates court. As a result the Italian, who is on bail, will have his case heard in Croydon Crown Court in late December.
This brings to mind an earlier case where a neighbour kindly fitted out a young couples bedroom with free satellite television and was able to generate a mass of video material of them at their most intimate. The dodgy satellite kit was only discovered when the tv malfunctioned and required an engineer to attend to fix it. When he opened the tv he did not expect to discover an array of CCTV devices within. That was the subject of a television programme entitled, ‘Neighbours from Hell’.
The new Sexual Offences Act 2003 can be read at: http://www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts2003/20030042.htm
Following the obvious turmoil surrounding the Ukraine election America has told the Ukraine to solve the crisis ‘or face the consequences.’ [Bet they won’t do anything to harm the chances of maintaining the 1600 contingency of Ukraine soldiers involved in the Iraq fiasco. Perhaps they’ll refuse entry to NATO].
Dubya has ordered Porter Goss, Director CIA, to double the number of field operatives and analysts. At the moment the US has circa 4500 spies abroad, to double them would cost hundreds of millions of dollars. How this massive increase is to be funded was not discussed. Wonder if they’ll get some Arabic speakers?
J6m wrote of a newspiece concerning a rare bravery medal awarded to a pigeon which flew vital intelligence out of occupied France in World War II being sold at auction for £9,200. The PDSA Dickin medal, the animal version of the Victoria Cross, was awarded to Commando the pigeon, bred in Haywards Heath in West Sussex.
Put up for auction by the grandson of the pigeon's owner it was bought by a British collector who already possesses three other medals given to pigeons for bravery.
Commando, of the National Pigeon Service, distinguished himself in three covert missions helping British agents against the Nazis.
A BBC report outlines how Commando was parachuted into France and flew crucial intelligence held in a tiny canister on a leg back to Britain in June, August and September 1942.
This information revealed the location of German troops, industrial sites and injured British soldiers.
Read the full story at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/uk/4054421.stm
[Tnx J6m]
On a visit to Bletchley Park PLondon saw a small exhibition there concerning the use of pigeons at war. He also recalls seeing a picture in a book where a bird is released from the conning tower on one of HM’s Submarines in WW2. Does anyone know if such methods were employed by U-Boats?
For the last ten weeks the British population have settled down to watch the BBC1 [also shewn on BBC3, except the last episode where Danny gets topped ] programme, ‘Spooks’ now in its third series.
We have seen Tinkering Tom top a turned agent and dump him outside Thames House, actually the Freemasons ‘Big House’ in Queen Street WC1, Agent Zoe spirited to Chile after being found guilty of murder and lately poor old Danny, the black agent, topped by a terrorist of the Muslim kind. [Wonder if the BBC received any complaints about that particular story]? So in the course of a series they have got rid of half of ‘Section B’ – the Grid will never be the same. Let’s hope the character of Ruth Evershed is retained, a credibly acted blue stocking.
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See the Coat of Arms on the wall: Regnum Defende indeed! Did you know
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| ‘The Team’ |
The Arabic spoken was good. It was all there, covert tracking devices fitted with a flashing LED [If its covert why the LED?], shotguns and the marvellous ability of Adam Carter to relocate himself from what looked like the inside of 1 Charles Street by helo to his wife’s place of detention. In the half a microsecond it took Adam Carter to travel most of the country the terrorist, named ‘Ahmad’ showered his wife, an MI6 officer with a gallon or so of petrol prior to immolating her.
So Adam Carter storms in as Ahmad is taken out by some very poorly grouped shots to his body mass and his lovely wife, Fiona, is saved.
How boring is that? They removed a really good character, who looked convincing, so that the programme will no doubt concentrate of the lives of husband and wife spy pair Fiona and Adam. DoK made the point that all good soaps lose their edge when they start exploring personalities and private lives. ‘The Bill’ went that way [with less than credible storylines too] as have many others. Now we apparently suffer the same in ‘Spooks’'
Let’s hope that the story lines next autumn do not encompass the dandy looking Adam Carter and his apparently constipated Fiona. Ahmad should have topped Fiona in the first instant so we retain at least one convincing character, that of Danny.
Perhaps we should see more of the character Ruth as she lives her life in the confines of MI5 and only drifts along the surface of any sort of a relationship.
From an ENIGMA 2000 viewpoint, let’s have some number station content and some visits to GCHQ.
Not Nine to Five? …………….it’s starting to slightly drag now. By the way, this programme is called ‘MI5’ in America, where they have yet to see the last episode where Danny gets topped by being shot saving Fiona Carter from a similar fate. Good how the hero tracked them down to the lair and released his wife as she was ready for the ‘blazer and flairs’ treatment……………………………
As well as a boom on the Thames to stop the possibility of an attack on Parliament from the aquatic route an MI5 officer has been given unprecedented powers to turn the House of Commons into a fortress to ensure any attacks. There will be electric fences, road blocks and ‘security features’ in the Thames. al-Qaeda has been named as a potential attacking group. This leads onto our next story…………….
HM Govt is set to ensure that all Brits carry an ID card even though they will not have to by law. But, fail to tell Govt when you change address, fine £1000. Failure to register for the scheme £1000, Tamper with database and you could get 10years. Fail to sign up to the database, fine of £2500, submit a spoiled application its another £1000 and finally, if a holder fails to renew a card, guess what? That’s right a £1000 fine.
As Mr Hoon axes four infantry battalions and cutbacks on heavy artillery and heavy armour to make our most professional army ‘more robust and resilient and able to support and sustain enduring expeditionary operations' [no doubt at Dubya’s behest] more is afoot too.
Britain will gift £3.6M worth of weapons which will include 438 AK47’s, Grenade Launchers, 5666 9mm Pistols, 850,000 rounds of this is aimed at hastening the capability and capacity of the Iraqi Police, National Guard and Department of Border Enforcement.
[All this cash going out, and to an uncertain useage, and Hoon has just wrecked the Army to save money]. Here’s an interesting fact:
The Metropolitan Police now has 30,000 Police Officers. That is more persons than are currently employed in the Royal Navy. [Mentioned by Sir John Stevens on Nick Ferrari’s talk show on LBC97.3 16/12].
‘Heart of Oak are our ships, jolly tars are our men,We’ll always be ready,
Steady boys steady! We’ll fight and we’ll conquer again and again.’
[I had to learn that, along with all Churchill’s speeches when at school. That was when we had armed forces to be proud of, when Great Britain was thought of as the ‘Mother Country’ by the majority of the World’s Nations and when we had discipline and respect for others. Now look at the politically correct and apologetic, whinging haven for the world’s riff-raff we have become, along with binge drinking and rising crime. Our enemies of two world wars couldn’t manage do what Mr Hoon has done].
During renovation work on a major meeting room in the UN’s workmen found a listening device said to be of Russian or East European design.
Note the blue mains transformer – got a drawer full of those at work! Obviously an intended long term installation, of which one must ask, in a ‘Lloyd Grossman’ accent, “Who would plant a thing like this?” And its back to the blokes in suits for an answer – or not! |
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The room is known to host teleconference meetings between the UN Secretary General, head of the Geneva office and heads of state and ministers.
An internal inquiry has been set up to address the find.
The mock warhead launched from Kodiak Island that achieved a text book trajectory will now be so much scrap somewhere on the floor of the Pacific Ocean. It was the mock hostile missile to be intercepted by President Bush’s anti-missile shield, derogatorily referred to as ‘Son of Star Wars,’ after the late ‘80’s non-worker. US$80Bn and years of research could not guide the interceptor rocket to the target 100 miles above the Earth simply because the rocket failed to launch.
This was the ninth of a series of tests, of which 3 previous have failed, and in good Americanism occurred because ‘23 seconds before blast off, an undetected anomaly prompted the automatic system to shut itself down.’ [In Queen’s English, “We have no idea of why it failed 23 seconds before its launch”]. Apparently there are some interceptors already installed in silos in Alaska and Vandenberg, California. Other versions are intended to be launched from warships. Apparently the expected enemy is North Korea. A senior adviser at the Centre for Defence Information admitted ‘I didn’t expect such a primitive failure. The major pieces are missing. The interceptor has never been shown to have any capability under realistic conditions.'.
We knew it was going to happen sooner or later. The Battle for Fallujah is the title of a film where Harrison Ford, playing General Jim Mattis, will help defeat the Iraqi insurgency. This film will start production next year and will be based on a yet-to-be-finished book, 'No True Glory: The Battle for Fallujah' by Bing West, a former marine, politician and now war correspondent.
Whilst the film is said to depict the story point from US soldiers and politicians this rather worrying statement was seen on a US site, "it seems unlikely that the plight of the Iraqis will figure too prominently in Hollywood's take on the subject." That was followed by a quote by the author who proudly stated, "If America needs a hard job done, the marines will do it, and they won't lose their humanity in the process or any sleep over pulling the trigger. Yes, they are 'the world's most lethal killing machine.' That's what America needs in battle." [Bet the director won’t have any ‘friendly fire incidents in his ‘masterpiece’].
This has to be another depiction of the reason America is respected worldwide for bringing democracy to countries who live under despots who rule by fear and whose troops are unable to defend themselves. [Thanks KW]
PLondon writes, “Anyone remember the TV advert for a weekly magazine, collectible over God knows how many months, circa 70’s?
It showed a British soldier, dressed ready for battle at Rorke’s Drift, running an African Tribesman up against a wall with a bayonet at the ready.
All this was done to the caption, ‘How we taught the World to speak English.’ That’s the Queen’s English Mr Gates – not ‘International English, or, God forbid, US English.”[Tnx PLondon] Likes his written word does PLondon.
Gaul enquiry has ruled that the Gaul sank because its hold flooded during a severe storm.
That scenario was suggested during a conversation between AnonNI and PLondon. The fact that there was a witness who suggested that one of HMG’s submarines had pulled the Gaul down was apparently ignored was being discussed as the relevant news came to the fore.
The Gaul was one of the most modern vessels sailing from Hull, originally built as the Ranger Castor by Brooke Marine for a South Shields fishing company, Ranger Fishing Company and launched on the 6th December, 1971. She was designed to operate in the Arctic as well as N&S Atlantic regions. At 1106.29 gross tons, 410.54 net tons her designed draught was 15’ 9’’ , giving a displacement of 1851 tons. Her overall length was 186.5ft and breadth 40 ft. She was sold to British United Trawlers on 15th October, 1973 and renamed ‘H243 Gaul’ |
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| The Gaul |
AnonNI also asked what the effect would be if John Doone suddenly turned up, his comment based on an apparent sighting of the Gaul’s radio officer in South Africa some years back. Spying activity was also ruled out.
See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/humber/4101905.stm
Then J6m posted an interesting take from Reuters, no mention of the GFA’s take but an almost unheard theory was also quashed: The Gaul was not torpedoed by a Russian Sub – someone obviously read ‘Spyship’! [That was but a story where the trawler was sunk by a British missile …… nonetheless the inquiry pulled some right stunts there, if you get my meaning Guv’nor.
If yes, then you should have seen the ad sent in by E. It started, ‘If yes, then we have the following Temporary vacancies requiring CTC [counter-terrorism check] and/or SC Clearance :
Security Cleared AAs [req gd clerical and basic PC skills : £7 to 7.50 per hour]
Security Cleared A0s [req at least 2 yrs office experience and good PC skills : £8 to 9 per hour]
And the inevitable jobs for the smartly dressed and coiffured bintas:
PAs/Secretaries [req previous PA experience with good organisational skills and a flexible attitude to work £10 to 13 per hour]
All these posts were based at Victoria, London.
So what is there at Victoria that can be termed as Government? DTI or whatever it’s called nowadays, NSY [possibly – but is it Government?], and of course we have Westminster City Hall – now that could be loosely termed as ‘Government’. There is also London Underground – rife with Union flexing of muscles - no secrets there. Nope! You’d have to look a little further for somewhere for this sort of clearance [it’s not much really] St James’ Park area. Lots more Govt orientated offices.
You can see some really good ultra high freq antennas atop Admiralty buildings too. There’s the MoD, Cabinet Offices, Parliament, allsorts. So you can reckon you’d be ‘something’ around the Marsham Street area, without walking towards Thorney Street where DV is a basic requirement. [Thanks E – another gem]
There are four levels of security clearance, BC is Basic Identity Check involving an ID card and proof of identity, whilst CTC is the Counter Terrorism Check and allows the holder to enter sensitive government buildings. The SC level is involves the issuing the holder with a number and access to certain files. Such checks are made by the MoD [can that mean another dept with a figure after 4 in it’s title too] although the Cabinet Office carries out its own Security checks in line with those handled by the DVA, Defence Vetting Agency, [contracts and suchlike]. Of course if the subject is ‘known’ to the security services that’s their lot! No BC, CTC or SC nor the other level – keep serving up the burgers!
Developed Vetting involves a full-scale process and as such is a lengthy process. This necessary process is designed to look into the innermost surroundings of an applicant or employee to ensure that the person can be trusted with sensitive information or assets. Developed Vetting would be necessary if someone was working with top secret material, we suppose. [In the BBCs first series of ‘Spooks’ the black operative Danny was seen using his position to write off his credit debt – if there was any sort of continuity in the programme that story line would probably not been run as without a doubt the ‘financials’ would have been checked – you don’t need a degree in theology to work out that credit, finance and sex are motivators for the’ naughties.’ Doubt there are few traitors who’s sole motivator was ideology].
A particular event occurred ending with the arrest of a temp secretary working in the Cabinet Office. The stories, “Police quiz temp over Cabinet Office leaks” and “ ‘Mole’ in Cabinet Office had clearance,” both in the Guardian newspaper show how important the checks actually are. The stories relate to the ‘on sourcing’ of certain files to a newspaper. They are worth a read.
http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0%2C14173%2C1328825%2C00.html?=rss
http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0%2C14173%2C1332978%2C00.html
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/whitehall/story/0,9061,1332980,00.html
In the stories you will see all the descriptions of BC, SC, CTC and Developed Vetting used here.
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