ENIGMA 2000 Newsletter - Issue 27

March 2005
Articles, newsreports and Items of interest :enigma2000-owner@yahoogroups.com

Morse stations | Voice stations | Oddities | Polytones
Chirpsounders | Overall view | German branch | Numbers predictions
Jamming | Recycled AGI
Poor conditions | The Smokey Dragon (4/4)
News Items | Web sites | Stop press | Contribution deadlines
Index | E2K NL Home

Voice stations

Now onto the logs:

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.

Whilst on the subject of E03/E03a, HJH wrote a splendid reminder as to why some of us are as we are [Message 4286 - Group]:

"There is another reason which you may wish to consider. All you say is true, regarding the almost total security of the enciphering system, which we are considering. Equally true is that we are by no means certain about the identity and national origins of many. About E03 we can be fairly sure, and for some others.

I know for a fact that one of our editors/moderators, along with some others, myself included, have seen service with the Armed forces of UK. That alone stops us from wishing to discuss these stations. It's a case of old soldiers never die, they always smell like that!"

remember the ‘squaddie wash?’ A can of deodorant applied to all the offensive parts: ‘You smell like a tart’s k******s! And your soap’s filthy - how did that happen you dirty specimen? That was an invention of my Sgt Brett, he claims].

E06

PoSW offers some insight into this stations transmissions:

Onto others logs:

RNGB's E06 log illustrates some January and Februray activity:

Other February logs show more activity:

E07

Schedules known to be operating are the usual Monday + Wednesday starting at 2100z and Thursday starting at 2110z which use the same frequencies as in the same month in previous years, see Gert's prediction lists. Also, the Sunday + Wednesday schedule starting at 1800z which does not follow this routine. The low mod. problem making for difficult copy despite a strong carrier is still noted quite frequently. Has anyone logged the Wednesday + Friday starting at 0610z recently? I have listened for the second sending after 0630z on a few occasions but failed to find it, although a two -minute "000" is easily missed if one is a bit late up in the morning!

[Tnx PoSW]

Now onto logs of this station, supporting Peter’s analysis:

E07 in time order heard Monday [January 2005]:

Other logs:

Of the 10^th intercepts MoK remarks, "Has anyone remarked on the voice ?. This was a deep voiced YL, or somewhat effeminate OM !!. Quite good mod, for a change."

Noting that propagation has been very bad this month for E07 RNGB offers:

The Monday night February schedule was [in time order]:

and RNGB offer for February:

E offers a Sunday sending:

E10

From Bob our E10 operative we present:

Jan 05

Jan 05

Comments

• Ref SYN66. I was listening to SYN2 on 6930 & 4015 at 2245hrs on the 2 Jan and the call was still ongoing at 0025hrs on the 3 Jan when I packed up listening.However at 1945hrs later that evening SYN2 was on the air as expected and again extended its call to 2050hrs where it stopped or faded into the high noise background. It is possible that SYN2 had infact transmitted for over a 24hr period. and from previous experience when this happens there is a change of call at some stage ie your SYN66. Should this indicate some activity to happen in an area one can only guess. Many thanks Tom H

• In the main signal strengths have been weak, against a background of noise/static for the majority of letter/number stations being received at my location here in Kent. Except at 2245 hrs for SYN2 on frequency 6930 which is very clear and almost noise free infact booming through, compared to its sister frequency 4015 which is broadcating at that same time and is struggling to be heard. Infact SYN2 & VLB2 have been the strongest and clearest signals sofar this month at the times recorded. Conditions have made picking up KPA2 non-existant and only twice for MIW in all a pretty dismal record

• SYN has spoken. Yes indeed, this was heard and reported by Tom USA on the 22 Jan 05 at 0045hrs on the freq of 6930, a group 27 message. One of those rare occurances which has not come my way. The last time I heard SYN was on the 10th of Sept 02 but with no group message (Thanks to Tom USA)

• 25 Jan 05.
  SYN541B on freq 6930 at 1520hrs. Followed by VLB52A on 6370 at 1620hrs. (After 40 mins this changed to VLB2)

• After about 3hrs SYN541B changed to SYN75 and 1hr later to SYN2.
  At 2225hrs SYN2 & VLB2 changed their calls to SYN7 & VLB7. A Further change from VLB7 to VLB542X118X0115Z7 at apprx 2310hrs. and then back to VLB2 & SYN2 at 2336hrs SYN2 then again changed its call to SYN5425 at 0024hrs on the 26/1. Once again both changed to SYN59 & VLB59 at 0201hrs and ending transmission at 0310hrs on the 26/1 .....I hope you all can follow that if not try the log above.......And now to bed.

• 26 Jan to 31 Jan 05
  All calls now would appear to have reverted back to the standard transmissions SYN2 & VLB2 and both stations are booming through during the late evening, CIO2 is there but very weak and KPA2 & MIW2 are very spadmodic infact I have only heard KPA2 once this month

Feb 05

Feb 05

Comments

• It seemed appropriate that a special occassion was taking place (No not Charles & Camilla) but in the Middle East that VLB, SYN & CIO all should put in together a group 21 message a truely rare occassion for one to do never mind all three, then spend the next three hours repeating it. If you look at the January log you will note there was a fair amount of activity concerning the same three that month.

• SYN2Z58 & SYN2-Z55 were calls heard in the USA & Australia in the early hours, the signal strengths were fair so at this moment SYN is heard to be very active world wide. Many thanks to, Mike L, Simon Denneen, Tom H & Jared Ashburn

• 16 Feb 0535hrs.
  an early morning rise proved lucky with VLB2-Z58 and SYN2 booming through on their respective freq's.there seemed a to be a slight pause between the 2 and zulu. At approx 0600hrs the signal suddenly began to fade and a teleprinter type noise kept breaking in swamping the signal on VLB2-Z58 but both stations were still on air at 0653hrs but fading into the background noise.

• 21/02/05
  One of the lesser heard callsigns FDU2 on freq 6210 just about readable severe noise

• 23/02/05
  Looking at the log above you will notice that at 1945hrs SYN2 and/or VLB2 go into a extended call of 1hr or more

• and have done so for a number of days this month

©BMLongfield E10 Desk26Feb05

[Thanks Bob, excellent stuff!]

E11

At the time of writing the E11 schedule was:

Freqs change in March, see later:

In March the Ell schedule changes [Tnx AnonUK]:

E11b

No reports

E15

E15 following logs recently submitted for this elusive station, from a small group who regularly check on its activity, we republish the Phonetic Alphabet it uses as an aid to successful monitoring. Over the years minor phonetic variations have been heard and these are shown in ( ). The TX is in heavily accented English with a poor signal and often heard “live”, with the attendant problems.

The known original schedule was last printed in Issue 26, and is still believed to be substantially correct, although “early/late starts” recently logged. (Are these to avoid the b/c stations close to almost all its listed freqs ?, Ed)

As many of our regular monitors, and certainly most of our Newsletter readers, will be strangers to this most peculiar station your editors take this timely opportunity to bring you “up to speed” with our current information.

Owing to the great difficulty in receiving and understanding this station only a few dedicated monitors have attempted to keep track of it in recent years, as a continuation of some extensive monitoring they carried out in the late 90’s when there was a period of quite good reception in UK / Northern Europe.

It has been thought ever since this station was first discovered that its target area is small and relatively “local” to the TX site and it uses low power and directional antenna, hence the reception problems.

Nothing from the recent monitoring reports leads us to change this view.

Only a male voice is now being heard whereas originally it used OM & YL, sometimes in the same TX, and it uses a combination of some useful Morse Procedure Codes (NR, AR, GR) – but gives them in phonetics, and with somewhat unconventional usage.

The general formats have remained unchanged, (but variations now being noticed in the 3let ID’s which are differing from those given in Issue 26, Ed ) :-
QTC = mssg follows, QRU = no mssgs.

• With mssg.
  3 let ID/tuning sig for 5 mins ( more or less as shown in the Issue26 sked)
  Preamble :- QTC X 3, NR (as Nancy Robert ), num x 3, GC (as George Robert) num x 3, which is given in reverse ie 52 = 25 gps. (some recent, 2005, intercepts have not conformed to this)
  Mssg body.
  Ending “Robert Adam” x 2 (AR reversed)

• Null Mssg.
  3 let ID/tuning sig for 5 mins
  QRU for 5 mins.
  (Recently, 2005, some TX’s noted with variations to above times)

• Unknown
  3 let ID given x 5 only , then gone. Very short TX and easily missed.
  (not sufficient logs of this format for us to yet form an opinion, Ed)

Flash News, while this issue was being finalised for publication MoK had a very remarkable intercept on Feb 24^th, 11.00z, 18000kHz with a null messg of DEC QRU which was REPEATED 3 mins later.

MoK is one of the few who has consistently monitored the E15 known freqs for over 10 years and has never heard , or seen reported, a repeat null TX.

Another oddity was that the two TX’s had different timings of 4/3 and 3/2 mins for DEC & QRU.

One E15 intercept starts the E15 section:

We print the known schedule [as issue 22]:

ML then sent in a later observation on this station. It makes excellent reading indeed:

I also noticed a very strange one, pretuned to 14000KHz ready for possible E15 14.00z sked when at 13.40z an intermittent carrier came up with various noises and squeeks, at 13.47z a good strong sig (S7-9) :-

"YL, E10 type accent, called - End of Message, Message Message Repeat Repeat" a few more squeeks and sound of mike being dropped, then gone.

At 14.11z carrier back, but only for seconds at a time, not a Ham tuning up, with same background noises.

Station closed 14.16z with nothing further heard.

ML continued with his monitoring:

Due to Contest no E15 intercept possible through CW at 1400z

Are there any readers who care to try their hand at receiving this station? If so please send your results to E2k.

E17z

E23

Best frequency is usually 8188kHz. 3 weekly cycle starting on the first Monday of the Month. [See E23 entry in NL24].

Transmits Monday Wednesday and Thursday:

*Week 2 Used to be M04 but has not been heard for several years, so therefore no transmission on week 2. Recently heard on 2^nd Week by AnonUK.

MoK wrote in with a surprise E23 log:

[Tnx MoK]

Mike was not sure of the station ident and after a query, via Group, the first hint came from PLondon and was confirmed by AnonUK.

Asking for further information on E23 Mike received some input from TomH in America and a complex answer from Jochen in Europe.

"That is the former Swedish Rhapsody E23! Minus the ice-creme truck music and the European accent... uses the now defunct E05 Cynthia "American" accent," wrote TomH in Msg 4356. Jochen, our erstwhile 'kopf' of the German Branch of E2k wrote further information in Msg4357, "E23 uses the same frequencies as they was earlier used by G02, the "Swedish Rhapsody", which you might know from your first E2k time. It was played by a music box (we Germans call it a "Spieluhr"). This one is off air since 1997. Almost a year later, E23 appeared, by the way from the same location as G02 - somewhere in Poland which is very strange, but interesting. The used voice is the one from Cynthia, which we also know from E05, but this time Cynthia's voice is used by the British secret service, not by the CIA."

[Excellent stuff Jochen – tnx]. Jochen suggested a visit to Simon Mason's excellent site for further information <www.simonmason.karoo.net/page30.html>. A link exists in the 'Links' section of Group.

Regarding E23 transmissions AnonUK writes,

"Not sure what E23 is doing with regard to its skeds, seems to be not keeping to them. This week, which should be week 1 [although February is a difficult month] and if this was week 1 there would be no week 4.

Anyway, it was heard on Monday 7th February at 0955z on 8188 which is the sked for week 4, I did not intercept it for the rest of the week at any time."

[Tnx AnonUK]

E25

The ENIGMA Control List describes E25 as:

OM AM/USB,Arabic music intro (sometimes), 3f-2f call, 4f mssg daily 12.40/13.40, currently on 9450kHz, Apl 04, freq/time can vary slightly. 3f-2f call R5 = null mssg, can end with short databurst. Poor reception in Northern Europe, BC QRM. Noted with musical ending April 04

AnonUK reported

also heard by X who wrote in with:

• Tue 4 jan 2005 12.30 UTC, 9450kHz E25 with this message:

555 (for 5 min)
message (3x)
6092 7211 2110 8221
3936 1658 1818 0271
8521 7527 2110
eom / eot

Poor reception, mostly due to another bc station right on this freq. [Tnx X]

• Wednesday 5th January 2005: 12.30 UTC, 9450 kHz, music intro lasting 5 minutes.

No message (x3)
Than calling 557 7 for 5 minutes, ending without eom/eot.

Another observation came from Mike of Kent:

Spectrogram of “222” 1348z 11/01

©ENIGMA200011/01/2005

In addition to MoK's report 'X' [in the Benelux countries] writes:

Heard E25 again today, tue 11 jan 2005.

Heard it twice. The first one was very difficult due to the strong BC station on the same frequency. Not sure if I got all the numbers. The second one was crystal clear, signal strength S9.

The first one:

Starting 12.40 UTC, 9450 kHz.
No music
Calling 720 for 5 minutes
Message (x3)
90x8601x x2409xxx 8xxx
2198 6874 176729343xx0
eom / eot

The second one, one hour later at 13.40 UTC, 9450 kHz,

Music lasting 5 minutes
222 calling for 5 minutes
Message (x3)
2133 6190 5670 6244 4472
9227 8595 2237 5670
Repeat (x3)
--- rpt of message ---
end of message / end of transmission

E25 made more appearances on 17/01. DoK had already reported to E2k that an HF lift was on, no doubt as a result of the solar influences prior to the massive CME which was scheduled for 17/18 Jan.

MoK wrote,

Interestingly this was followed by a log by X in the Benelux regions:

Heard E25 today, mon 17 jan 2005.
Starting at 1327 UTC.
Calling 906 for 5 minutes.
Message (x3)
1480 4429 7333 5515
8970 6593 4421 6355
Eom / eot

X it appeared had better reception than MoK. He followed on with the next days E25 intercept which reads:

I heard the repeat of 17/01 on 18/01:
Todays repeated message:
(No music)
906 repeated for 5 minutes
message (x3)
1480 4429 7333 5515
8970 6593 4421 6355
repeat (x3)
--- rpt of message ---
end of message / end of transmission

The carrier did not go off and after a minute (at 13.34) the music started:
Arabic music, lasting till 13.45 UTC
Calling 222 for 5 minutes
message (x3)
5533 7120 3330 8241
0411 9286 8378 3330
repeat (x3)
--- rpt of msg ---
end of message / end of transmission.

X was not the only monitor to receive the second message and MoK also heard it. There was an HF lift on, no doubt coupled with the solar activity before the threatened CME

X appears to be in a particularly decent area for E25 as he sends in:

E25, 9450 kHz, 1342z fri 4 feb 2005.
Starting with the familiar eastern music, lasting for about 5 minutes.
Then, straight into the 'format 2' control message, calling "227 3" for 5 minutes.
No "message" X3 or "end of message, end of transmission".

The next time we heard from X it appeared that things were beginning to change in Arab Man’s procedure…………………….

X initially wrote,

“I heard E25 last Tuesday 8th Feb. It was a very busy day for him with two messages and a long time of music. I could not send this log earlier to you because I had to get a book from the library. Read on and it all becomes clear (or not...).”

Then follows ‘X’ intercept detail, and this is really good stuff: 

“Heard E25 again, Tuesday 8th february 2005.

Missed the start at 1155 UTC but heard the last part of the message at 1203 UTC:

7306  7088  9057  3910  0495
End of message / end of transmission.

Carrier stayed on air and after a minute Arabic music was played. Not the Arabic music that I hear normally with this station. Several different songs where played lasting till 1219 UTC.

Then, in English, the ID was called for 5 minutes:

835 835 835.

That is interesting because that is a new ID, not heard before, followed by

"message message message"

Then, at 1224 UTC the message was sent but not the usual English language offering; This time it was in Arabic

I got a book - Arabic for beginners - from the library and found this message after two days of struggling.

When two numbers are underlined it means it is not spoken as two different numbers but (for example, in English) spoken as "fourteen". That makes it a lot more difficult, but a challenge indeed.

The message read:

Then straight into a format 2 control message calling "830 6" for 2 minutes[and in English language].

At 12.26  "end of message"

Finishing with 5 minutes of the usual Arabic music normally heard with E25. Some years ago the same happened with E09 / V08.”

Tnx X, that’s really brilliant!

The V08 transmission used Arab numbers in the singular.

The first group sent by E25 as described by X would sound as: Khamsta shar tissa tamanya – being 15, 9, 8

The V08 transmission used Arab numbers in the singular, the same group would be heard as : wahid khamsa tissa tamanya – being 1,5,9,8.

PLondon heard V08 as a recording a few years ago and had remarked that he was surprised to be able to comprehend the Arabic numbers as easily as he did having learnt the numerals a long time before and with no usage since. [He admitted finding the numbers compounded by tens impossible to remember with the exception of 15 and was unable to work the system out from that. Having sought assistance PLondon turned to a book and has made the relevant page available – with credits].

The singular numbers in Arabic were posted in Issue 5 of the Newsletter on page 10 [we also made the point that the Arab word for spy is ‘gasus’ or in plural ‘gawasis’].

It is worth pointing out that the Arab number system is a little cumbersome in its realisation. For instance for the English ‘ten’ is ten, eleven is eleven and twelve is twelve – or quite simply 10, 10+1 and 10+2. The Arabic is numerals are formed a little differently:

1 is wahid and 2 is itnein. Ten is ashara, eleven is idhashar whilst 12 is itnashar. When numerals are compounded with tens the cardinals are formed as 1+10 = 11, 2+10 = 12 and so on.

It is difficult to continue to explain the Arab cardinals in this fashion and we offer proper text in support of this piece:

Serious perusal of this Arabic system illustrates to the serious student how the numerals work as they are compounded with tens, twenties, thirties and so on.

PLondon reminded us that zero [ . ] is sifr; X later stated cifr – a regional difference with the same pronunciation.

Taken from &lsquo;Aden Arabic for Beginners’ Second Edition by MA Ghanem MBA BA (Deputy Director of Education, Aden).

It originally cost 17.50 East African Shillings from A Hakim and Sons, Fazal House, Near Grand Hotel, Crescent, Steamer Point, Aden

To explore the cumbersome nature of the cardinal order of progression realise the number 3122!

With the increase of messages for E10 and this Arabic event for E25 is it possible that the moves towards better diplomatic understanding between two nations shown in the map below might have a hand here? Perhaps as ‘ceasefire’ messages go to one and a ‘keep a low profile’ go to another?

"E25 is still about but very difficult copy" wrote AnonUK. "I heard it on Thursday 10/02 at 1228z calling 555, but then the BC station on the same frequency came on at at 1230z and I could then not copy the message."

After all his hard work with the Arabic numerals X then intercepts:

• Fri 11 feb 2005, 9450 kHz

start 12.25 UTC with the normal arabic music.
Then calling "555" for 3 minutes
Message (x3)
5990 9221 6110 8516 7378
2294 0866 8261 3878 3586
9828 6110
Repeat (X3)
--- rpt of msg ---
End of message, end of transmission.

A few minutes later, at 12.45 UTC this:

calling "440" for 5 minutes (440 is again a new ID, or at least not heard before)
Message (X3)
1054 1001 4110 5394 0348
0546 3717 2423 4924 2149
Repeat (X3)
--- rpt of msg ---
End of message, end of transmission

And finally a third message today, Friday 11 february 2005 with a control message calling;

905 18
909 17
905 18
909 17

And so on for 4 minutes. No end of message or end of transmission.

The same message, 440, was also heard by both MoK and PLondon, but on Saturday 12/02. It was preceded by 557 9 at 1230 until 1237z. Around 1244z the message as outlined by X was then heard, ending at 1250z. Both operators remarked on the poor signal, albeit they were 220miles apart. With AnonUK about halfway between it says something for propagation and location!

PLondon noted the transitions from reasonable signals to poor and anything in between and produced an aggregated spectral view having removed the ‘dead’ bit found between 1237 and 1244z where traffic was not monitored.

©PLondon13February2005

Strangely the best signals occurred in the two noisy sections at either end; this spectrogram was produced after cleaning the original wavfile up. Perusal of the above plot indicated the change in general signal strength, rising, along with the noise temperature for the last few minutes.[TnxPLondon].

X reports E25 again on

• Wednesday 16th February, 9450kHz:

12.45 UTC.
No musical introduction.
Calling 780 for 5 minutes
Message (X3)
4918 8621 5610 9571 9554
1942 6396 5792 7941 3268
5182 5610
Repeat (X3)
--- rpt of msg ---
End of Message
Than straight into a format 2 control message:
785 33 34
782 31 32
782 33 34
785 31 32
Ending 2 minutes later with End of Transmission.

X notes that, "With this format 2 control transmission I think the 32, 33 and 34is not the day of the month, but more likely 'transmission over xx days', but this is only an assumption."

For 21/02 X wrote,

“E25 was busy again today, mon 21st february 2005.

Made its first appearance at 12.45 UTC with a control message and normal message in one.

No musical intro, no "message message message".
440 440 440 440
785 36 37 38
785 36 37 38
785 36 37 38
440 440 440 440
Pause
"440" for 3 minutes.
Message (x3)
5942 2080 7010 8383
1984 1211 4684 7010
Repeat (x3)
--- rpt of msg ---
End of message
449 449 449 449 449 449
End of transmission.

“I still don't know what the control messages mean. No date for sure. Perhaps the number of days till the next message. Weird ending with six times "449" calling. Nothing came after that, only End of transmission and a minute later the carrier went off.

A little later I heard another control message, starting at 13.29 UTC, still on mon 21st feb.

Again no music or message(x3) but just straight on calling:

909 19 21
905 22
909 19 21
905 22
Ending at 13.32 UTC.

Nothing else heard today.”

E25a

E25a is described in the ENIGMA Control List as: E25a OM ^ AM/USB,As E25, but 3f 3f 2f 2f 2f 2f call

On Friday 18/02 X reported:

I heard E25 twice, both with a control message.

• E25, fri 18 feb 2005, 13.35 UTC, 9450 kHz calling :

905 20
909 19
905 20
909 19 Stopped after about 5 minutes.

No musical intro, no message (x3) and no End of message / end of transmission.

A little later, at 13.41 UTC, still on friday 18th with:

Eastern music for about 5 minutes,
No message (x3)
Calling "227 4" lasting 5 minutes.
Ended without End of message, end of transmission.

MoK sent his 21/02 findings in as:

12.44z 440 72(?)5 36 37 34 3?.
R till 12.46z then pause.

12.47z New Voice clg 440 R till 12.50z
12.50z mssg 59?4 generally u/r, 1 repeat
12.52z ended, no EOM or EOTX

then:

Carrier up at 13.27, still poor noisey conds.
13.28z no music no intro (logging not fully complete)
909 19 21 909 19 21 905 22 905 22
909 19 21 909 19 21 905 22 905 22

909 19 21 909 19 21 909 19 ?? ?????????
905 25? 905 22 909 ?? ?? 909 ??
909 19 21 905 22 905 22 909 19 21
909 19 21
Ended 13.31z no sign-off

From X again we have:

• thu 24 feb 2005, 9450 kHz, 12.45 utc.

No musical intro.
440 440
785 42 43
785 42 43
440 440
785 42 43
785 42 43
440 440 440 440 440 (1 minute)
Message message message
3334 3011 8640 7042 8403
9664 9047 1734 1704 9497
8640
Repeat repeat repeat
--- rpt of message ---
End of message
449 449 449 449 449 (9 times)
End of transmission.

G06

Schedules for this station do exist:

First Monday of each month [2004]

[Repeated Tuesday if message]

Thursdays[2004]:

[Thurs freqs are 4519, 5934 or 6887kHz]

Friday[2004]:

[Friday Freqs are 4792, 5442 or 5934kHz and occur alternate weeks].

Saturday [2^nd and 3^rd Sats each month]:

Sundays [2^nd and 3^rd Suns each month]:

[Many Thanks to AnonUK for sharing his analysis used in the above compilation].

In station analysis PoSW writes:

The schedules known to be operating are the well established first Monday in the month 1900 + 2000 UTC and the alternate Thursday 1830 UTC with a repeat on the following day at 1930 UTC. There may also be a G06 schedule running at the weekend; a transmission was logged on Sunday 6-Feb-05 just after 2200 UTC on 4,441 kHz.

[Tnx PoSW]

G22

Slavic Stations

From DoK we receive his latest ‘Slavic’ analysis:

[Remember freqs measured +/-2kHz]

• M10e 5019kHz transmissions January, week commencing 09/01/05 Tues to Friday inclusive.

• M10e 5019kHz transmissions February, week commencing 07/02/05 Monday to Friday, inclusive. A first for DoK on Monday!

Chart 17 amended above, is an updated version as only minor changes have occurred. A period of variable conditions with the occasional good day.

Towards the end of January Gert found 9455kHz at 0800z. At this time several alternate week transmissions were in a state of flux and because of this I could not locate its position until Wednesday 09/02 where it proved to be the parallel frequency to 5945kHz. Regrettably, it only appeared on the 0800z Wed/Thurs schedules.

A phone call from PLondon requested a check on 1610z transmission of Sunday 20/02, the transmission ceasing before the usual 0 0 0 [see M10 section]. Unfortunately DoK was off watch and could only confirm that the Monday 1610z was sent without aberration. PLondon had suggested the 1630z schedule that followed on a nearby frequency, 5kHz above, may have been influenced by the apparent over running schedule of the 1610z sending.

DoK explained that the 1630z MCW carrier is normally switched on 15 – 20 mins prior to transmission.

Monday 21/02/05 a phone call from AnonUK alerted me to a transmission on 5945kHz, the time being 1342z. I immediately switched to my search receiver and on completion of the initial call-up I started to search for a parallel. The second frequency checked was 9971kHz which proved to be the correct one. The 9455and 9971kHz frequencies are what I previously termed archival and had not apparently been used for some time. The new transmission was copied until its completion at 1355z.

The 1410/1610/1630z schedules were all logged as normal while waiting for the 1700z schedule which duly appeared.As hoped it repeated the 1340/1342z schedule. I was able to state that the 1340z schedule would also appear on Tuesday, the following day. At this point, in order for the reader to understand my reasoning, I refer you to Newsletter 25.

This NL contained Chart 16 together with my explanation of the alternative week programme [ALT] transmission week dates and repeat message procedures.

See also my comments on missing schedules.

This report is being written during the final full week in February and things are still changing. The ALT weeks are still in a state of flux, perhaps until the 1^st March 05.

During the week of the 13 - 19 February both sets of 1700z schedules did not appear, but on week 20-26 Feb both sets were active. Despite this, the Monday/Tuesday message remained different from the Wednesday/Thursday message.

On the above amended Chart 17 the activity designations have not been changed and will be reviewed after the next predicted change [1^st March].

I have been covering this group exclusively for the past 3 to 4 years and have considered writing a full dossier, including frequency lists and charts.

I have estimated that it would run to ten to twelve pages of A4, not very fair on our editors!

Considering the number of interested CW enthusiasts is probably no more than six [and I base that assumption on the actual reports received from time to time], any thoughts or comments would be appreciated as to whether such a dossier would be useful.

I personally prefer analysing a groups activities rather than scoring points on the number of station intercepts I can make.

My thanks as usual to Gert, AnonUK, RNGB and PLondon for their input and support.

Finally, I would recommend reference be made to Chart 11 for guidance from 1stMarch.

Note that S17c will transmit on 5301//8190kHz from 1^st March 05

S04

Also heard by MoK who writes:

For February JoA offered his fine log for 07/02:

[Tnx JoA]

S06

Before we move to the logs we present an excellent piece concerning the fast and slow endings of S06:

S06 Russian man ending 00000

by Gert

More than a year ago I started making the S06 list and it became as big as it is now thanks to help of RNGB, GD and other listeners who send their log to E2k.

A few months later I noticed that there is a slight difference in the ending of the Russian man.

The difference is that it is pronounced as 00000 or 0 0 0 0 0. I called the 00000 ending fast and the 0 0 0 0 0 ending slow. I wrote them down in the list and soon a kind of regularity became visable.

All the slow ending S06 stations kept using the slow ending, the fast ones kept on using the fast type of ending.

Later the S06 ending fast surprised us by changing into E06, English man, also ending fast (that was in august 2004, on Wednesday 21.00 / 22.00 UTC skeds). It seems there is a connection between the fast ending S06 and E06; using the same day/time/fast ending and only change into the English voice. .

I started looking further and found all E06 stations ending fast too.

But calling a station ending slow or fast is very much subjective. Therefore I took a closer look at the S06 and E06 stations. To make the list below more complete I also included the special female voice S06 (heard in May 2004) and G06, German lady ending with five zero’s.

I have done some measurement on the different types of S06 and E06 stations to see what the difference is between fast and slow ending. The results are shown in the chart below:

*without the time between the groupsThe results show us there is almost no difference in the length of the individual numbers of the different stations.

For example, the number 0 (zero) has the same duration with both S06 slow and S06 fast, as well as E06.

The big difference is the time between the ending zero’s. For S06 fast it takes 3.8 seconds to speak the 5 ending zero’s, for S06 it takes the double time. G06 takes even longer with 8.5 seconds.

To go a little step further I also took a quick look at one other station (possible a member of the above stations, family Ia) : E17z ending with 5 slow zero’s: duration 8.6 seconds.

In the monthly E06/S06 list there is one sked that appears to act a little strange. That is the E06 thu 20.30 / fri 21.30 UTC sked. The messages are on both skeds the same, the ID is different. More confusing is the seemingly random use of both slow and fast ending zero’s.

[Tnx Gert]

©ENIGMA200015Feb2005

Logs

PoSW’s S06 log shows us a hint of the pre-new year activity:

[Note the Christmas activity – no cheers for 567 but some respite for 724]!

Of the above transmissions, AnonUK wrote, ‘The messages are getting longer, so the second transmission is starting later than 10 past the hour.’

Before we move onto the logs offered by AF and RNGB some thoughts from the log for January:

AF’s and RNGB's January log:

*Of the sending on 12-Feb-05, Saturday;- 1600 UTC, 6,922 kHz, PosW offers this extended log :

"890 890 890 00000", S9 signal, similar transmission heard on the same frequency on the second and fourth Saturdays in the month in the early part of last year, moved to 6,772 kHz in the summertime. Unable to find a transmission at 1600 + 1700 UTC with call "724" or an S06 schedule at 1700 + 1800 UTC.

[Tnx PoSW]

©ENIGMA200027/02/05

S10d

S11a Cherta

Nil Reports

S17c

From 1^st March 2005 freqs are: 5301//8190kHz

As you all saw in the last NL the 5f on 28/12 was a peculiar one indeed; 27063, another out of the usual run was that heard on 03/01 by DoK and PLondon being 77027.

Others from AF, hfd and others:

Feb05:

S21

S25

AnonUK wrote about the designation of S25 [See page 29 of Issue 26].

"Looking at the control list I see what we last heard is covered by S25a. My last logging of 9th December 2004

It included the 11111 and 22222 and was a longish transmission of 18 minutes."

We note that Gert intercepted a similar earlier transmission:

and likewise contained the 11111 and 22222 groups.

Spanish Lady Transmissions:

All of the V02 Spanish speaking YL transmissions heard in the UK in the early mornings, i.e. starting up at 0600 or 0700 UTC and ending 45 minutes or thereabouts later have been extremely weak signals throughout the winter months; sometimes it was just about possible to detect the presence of the Senorita from Havana on an expected frequency by using the receiver in a single sideband mode and swinging the tuning by a few hundred Hz which sometimes revealed the heterodyne of a very weak carrier but there have not been many occasions when it has been possible to hear the 5Fs. A few loggings listed below;-

[Tnx PoSW]

V02a

We kick off the New Year with a report from MarkT[US]:

[Tnx Mark].

V02c

Into February’s transmissions:

[A massive thank you to MS in America for his assistance with this column and for answering our few questions – tnx Mark]

V02c schedule from MS

V07

Reports on this station have been few, it can be heard on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Its frequency series have been:

V25

Chinese number station (V25) heard at 1300 on 8th Nov and also on 10th at same time. Difficult copy, but I’ll take my recording to my local Chinese take away and see if they can decipher it !!!

[Tnx RNGB]

RNGB also wrote,

"Gleaned from various sources, ENIGMA included I think, V25 also uses freqs 8870 at 1300z/1400z; 9239 at 1500; 9256 at 1200; 9639 at 1200 and 10019 at 1500z.. But I’ve never heard anything. The last I heard was on 8024 in Feb 1996!"

[Thanks RNGB].

V26

IB captures a rare log of this strange mixed Chinese/English mil station

This is Igor’s intercept [via Jochen]:

• 3gf (IB)

callup missing
... 802 880 122 802
783 680 332 801 102 802 923 775 862 996
220 802 923 805 190 182 774 323 825 246 1
784 993 723 993
ahr msg ga
nr 8 118 49 0110 1410
259 833 822 819 624 923 823 903 183 881
832 880 182 802 708 910 832 150 182 802
923 765 132 766 110 802 923 764 874 943
862 819 624 923 823 923 183 830 832 871
142 842 783 871 832 811 712 862 923 775
362 766 203 802 923 155 185 388 943 852
819 624 923 823 943 183 820 382 120 172
802 783 896 832 150 102 802 923 774 862
996 220 802 923 924 855 993 842 819 624
923 823 903 153 811 832 660 182 802 703 1
700 832 861 182 802 923 774 862 766 203
802 923 155 185 388 993 723 993
msg agn
nr 8 118 49 0110 1410
259 833 822 819 624 923 823 903 183 881
832 880 182 802 708 910 832 150 182 802
923 765 132 766 110 802 923 764 874 943
862 819 624 923 823 923 183 830 832 871
142 842 783 871 832 811 712 862 923 775
362 766 203 802 923 155 185 388 943 852
819 624 923 823 943 183 820 382 120 172
802 783 896 832 150 102 802 923 774 862
996 220 802 923 924 855 993 842 819 624
923 823 903 153 811 832 660 182 802 703 1
700 832 861 182 802 923 774 862 766 203
802 923 155 185 388 993 723 993
ahr znn sk znn sk
<short phrase in Chinese>