ENIGMA 2000 Newsletter - Issue 28

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

Morse stations | Voice stations | Oddities | Polytones
ALA 1530 | Spy radio | German branch | Numbers predictions
BRIXMIS | Non-numbers news
E15 schedule | Iraqi Embassy 21 Queensgate, London SW7 (1/2)
News Items | Web sites | Contribution deadlines
Index | E2K NL Home

E15: An attempt to establish an up to date schedule

By Manolis Petrakis

©'s Copyright applies throughout this document

ENIGMA 2000

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/enigma2000

What follows are based on personal observations made from Thursday 10/3/2005 to Sunday 3/4/2005 and Thursday 14/4/2005 to Wednesday 20/4/2005, almost in a daily basis around 0700z-1300z.

Preface

Unfortunately it will be not possible for me to be near my receiver, and things will be worse in the following months due to personal obligations. So I decided to summarize my observations and thoughts regarding E15.

Schedule

I summarize my logs regarding E15 in a form of weekly table. Actually it is not a schedule in the strict sense, since there aren't always broadcasts on the proposed time slots. It is a guide where and when to look if you want to have more possibilities to catch E15. Frequencies are in kHz, USB mode.

I haven't included Mike's observations, just to emphasize any effects of propagation, or transmission beaming. Of course feel free to add any other observations that correct/extend this table. [MoK's obs matched Manolis' own. Those that were in addition are shown in italics]

Notes

• It seems that there are no broadcasts on Fridays.
• Sometimes the harmonic 17503 kHz (3 x 5834 = 17502 kHz) can be heard but with inferior strength and sound quality.
• Maybe they transmitted in the previous used frequency by mistake. The same happened at Saturday 26 March, but then they corrected on-the-fly. The previously known frequency is 11000 kHz

Observations

First of all, there are transmissions at 0945z. In the beginning I thought of them as "early 1000z starts". For some reason, there are no broadcasts on Fridays. The 0700z transmission is the most regular. The typical delay for late starts is 2 to 5 minutes. On the other hand, when there is a message, the transmission beginsearlier.

The announcer is male with a rather unique accent, for example he pronounces "Baker" like "Bakr" which is close to the proper pronunciation my dictionary suggests. But "X-ray" is pronounced stressing the letter "a", and not the "X" as expected. I still have difficulties understanding the contents of a message; four repeats of each group are not enough for me. Calls and "QRU" are easier since they are repeated many times. Lately, I discovered that some transmissions are played back from a tape recorder. In some occasions, the announcer speed varied, probably due to problematic playback from a tape recording. Once I heard a telephone ring in the background, but the most common are noises similar to these made when one handles a microphone. (I can't describe it better; I hope you get the point!). So the studio setup may consist of a tape recorder/player which speaker sound is fed to the transmitter via a microphone, and the operator turns on or puts close to the speaker the microphone in the beginning and in the end of each message. I haven't reached to a conclusion if all the broadcasts are played back. The last days I also noticed that the transmissions can be received in LSB mode also, but not in AM. So is this a DSB transmission, or the transmitter is malfunctioning?

I am supposed to be "near" the proposed transmitter area, while Mike is "far". The higher frequencies are difficult for me, especially 18 MHz, while the lower are easier, despite noise and the local pirates [1]. A typical run of ICEPAC shows 18 MHz just above the MUF at 1100z assuming Damascus as the transmitter area, and well above the MUF assuming Alexandria. But of course I can't claim I am a HF propagation expert.

ICEPAC Parameters
Month.Day = 4.20
SSN = 39
Qindex = 0

Receiver: (Crete)
TX Antenna: Isotropic, Power 1kW

HFWIN32 for Windows-95 & NT systems:http://elbert.its.bldrdoc.gov/pc_hf/hfwin32.html

Logs

"Koneč, koneč."

We include the phonetic alphabet as used by E15:

Note: * R-ROBERT sometimes heard as (RITA / ROMEO).

This splendid input from Manolis is a fine example of what can be achieved.

 Manolis has taken the time to study this station allowing him to detail this station accurately.

Note that Manolis has used MoK's observations too. The actions here are a fine example of what can be produced with a little forebearance and cooperation.

Manolis would be pleased to receive further observations, via ENIGMA 2000.

Thank you for your hard work Manolis [and also for yours MoK].

©ENIGMA2000 & Author's Copyright 22^nd April, 2005

Morse stations | Voice stations | Oddities | Polytones
ALA 1530 | Spy radio | German branch | Numbers predictions
BRIXMIS | Non-numbers news
E15 schedule | Iraqi Embassy 21 Queensgate, London SW7 (1/2)
News Items | Web sites | Contribution deadlines
Index | E2K NL Home