ENIGMA 2000 Newsletter - Issue 33

March 2006
Articles, newsreports and Items of interest :enigma2000-owner@yahoogroups.com

Morse stations | Voice stations | Oddities | Polytones
Favourable comments | German branch | Numbers predictions
E03 & E03a prediction charts | RDF bearings | Gross misuse of MoD email system
Cuban schedules | G06 schedules over a year | E11 schedules over a year
Software defined radio | If it had not been for 15 minutes (2/6)
HJH's watch | News Items | Web sites | Contribution deadlines
Index | E2K NL Home

Polytones

The tones used by XPA have been measured many times and it has been noticed that variation from values accepted across a variety of readers is not directly repeatable. We again revise the XP A tones to nominal values, in Hz, as:

The values above show little variation from measured values and good tolerance around subsequent measured values. The shift between the numerals is a linear and unchanging 40Hz.

Polytone Daily Logs

January 2006

XPA Morning Schedule Notes

The first sending if the monitored morning schedule of 2006 was a null message. It was apparent that January frequencies were excellently chosen, all reports [JoA, PLondon and RNGB] suggesting likewise.

The image above is the first sending in spectral view from the 59 and 60^th intro tones to the end tones. The dark blue at the end of the transmission denotes carrier removal – but notice it occurs within the confines of PLondon’s filter.

The sending on 06/01  proved (gc+1) as 64+18>82-2+80 but whilst looking at the ‘hidden’ group that is next to the seven part separator [6262626] PLondon noticed something strange.  Numerically the HG only had 4 tones, 24 rpt 1 or 2441.

As can be seen in the illustration above the last, ‘6’ of the 7 character separator group is double spaced; this is not usual. If the HG is in effect ‘62441’ then a double length character exists. PLondon questions that if this is the case then surely the same 1200Hz tone, the repeat, should be seen as occurs on the second ‘4’. In XP a tally mark was used, particularly on two group messages. This was carried by altering the length of the 303Hz space tone; PLondon suggests that such a double 991Hz tone is just that, a double length tone, but a single 6. If that is the case then these figures may never be printed, The separators occur every 64 groups and probably gives the receiving/decoding apparatus instruction. What if this hidden group is not part of the message, rather a further instruction – perhaps linked with decode instruction? Of course we’ll never know – unless someone tells us!

All sendings for Tuesday 10/01 were strong with excellent audio and a 103 group message. HG was 88563 and (gc+1) was proved 64 + 42 > 106 – 2 = 104

The sending at 0700z etc on 17/01 was a splendid one – all signals of good strength, decent audio and full messages received without aberration. Again gc+1 was proved. HG was 66331.

On 200106 all morning sendings were of good signal strength with good audio. The end group was somewhat unusual.

Looking at the above spectrogram the final group can be seen as 01010 [followed by the 720Hz end tones repeated].

113 groups were shown on the dk, 64 + 52 – 2 = 114 (gc+1)

The 240106 sendings were splendidly strong again. The end group this time being 32001. Hidden group was 00162 and gc+1 again proved. The 270106 sendings were as strong as the previous sendings, hidden group 86810 and gc+1 proved. Nothing outlandish for the last group this time: 27535.

Very strong signals on 31/01, the final early morning sending of January 2006.  The gc was only four characters long – as was tht hidden group 2022 [gc+1 was present].

Here we see the gc to illustrate the four characters as seen by PLondon:

However this trend of using four figs instead of five was also seen after the 7 tone separator.  In this next illustration the top trace is one seen in the 0700z sending of 27/01 whilst the bottom trace is that seen on the 0700z 31/01.

In the top trace 5 clear tones can be seen highlighted. The space tone can be seen outside the highlighted area.

In this lower trace [0700z  31/01] the tones following the separator can be seen in the same area of highlight. The difference here being that although five tones can be seen [L to R] the last is a space tone.

This four figure group, in thuis case the last [HG] 2022, was also seen after all the separators in this sending. A mistake or intended?

Evening XPA Schedule Notes

First evening schedule of 2006 was a strong signal , although a null message. The sending on the evening on 06/01 was not likewise strong – it was pretty dire; all signal strength and wishy washy audio. Despite the poor signals with fading PLondon managed to record the usual details along with a hidden group 91905. Likewise the sum was done to prove gc+1.

64 * 3 + 6 – 2 > 196. The signals were probably a casualty of propagational disturbance.

The sending of 10/01 was back to decent signals, hidden group 55522 and gc+1 proved yet again:  64+64+22=150-2+148 (gc+1)

The sending on 13/01 was appalling and determination of the message content most difficult. In any event it was found to a repeat of that sent 2100z et al on 10/01. We were not able to see the ‘hidden’ group though. All the noise and fades preventing our simple analysis.

Again, on 17/01 the evening sendings were like poorly. 2100z was strong but very poor audio, 2120z fair with the unwanted attention of the infernal XJT leaving the only sending for any real analysis to be 2140z. PLondon was able to check the tones gathered from the 2100z sending and found them to be commensurate with those of the last sending. The hidden group was 56366 and a quick bit of arithmetic [no need for slide rule today] 64+22-2= 84 (gc+1).

For the initial 2100z sending on 20/01 the40dBs carrier detected at 2040z promised a good signal, unfortunately the audio was very poor again – modulator fault? – and started 1minute late. The 2120z was on time but suffered the same faults but the 2140z  offering was the best.

Much like the sending on 20/01 the 24/01 sending was like poor. The 2100z carrier rose at 2048z with a 40dBs strength but closed down. At 2052z it rose again and struggles to reach S7, fluctuating between S5 and  S9. The 2120z sending was next to useless, its frequency being ‘washed’ by the harsh signal of XJT. Although our analysis was carried out using the signals from the 2100z sending the 2140z sending was by far the best. It is probably the bit of kit that Igor hasn’t thought about adjusting! Perhaps he lied about the HND and is just a screw twister!

On 27/01 the 2100 and 2120z offerings were again poor – lots of carrier in the run up to the message proper at 2052z but watery audio that left an awful lot to be desired. 2120 was totally ruined by XJT sendings and much like 20/01 only the last sending was of any use – to check the derivation of tones quantified from the poor 2100z offering. However, due to the poor nature of all the sendings we were unable to prove (gc+1) but noted the hidden group as 85522.

The last evening sendings of January were of generally better quality. Indeed the carrier was up at 2037z and testing on 5424 at a splendid 40dBs at PLondon’s QTH;  the actual sending had sone fades to =20dBs but with a good audio quality for the entire 2mins sending.. Whilst the 2120z was strong the audio was a little wishy washy but the 2140z sending kept a steady 20dBs with good audio. A fitting end to this month’s repeatedly poor evening performance.

February 2006

XPA Morning Schedule Notes

03 Feb saw the initial sending on the same freqs as used previously. Like the XP sending  of Feb 2005 [NL issue 27] the ident was 833 rather than the expected 818. This does beg the question to be asked why 833 as this can surely not be a mistake. Judging by the set up of the transmitters this morning and the poor audio content the unit is being tended by the cleaning staff! HG 77136 gc+1 not proved due to bad trace.

The transmissions on 07/02 were all good quality sendings. However the sending at 0720z had three breaks in transmission of the message groups as can be seen in this total sending [minus 58 start cycles] waveform:

The first break affected only group 39. This was followed by a fade and the next two breaks can be easily seen in the waveform.

The highlighted section of spectrographic trace below illustrates the second and third breaks.

The first shown here [actually second break] occurred at group 122, removing group 123 and affecting group 124 also. The second longer break [really third and last] occurred 13 seconds later, lasting 1.12s and affecting groups 145 to 149.

During a phone conversation with JoA, PLondon played the content of the longer break and both heard sounds of voices in the background. The modulation seen in this waveform of the last breaks shows the modulation:

The 10/02 transmissions were fair but not too strong – as reported by JoA -  and presented a 253 group message that obeyed RNGBs gc+1 rule.

Looking at the last group 60688 in Spectrographic form we can see something that PLondon has been watching for sometime:

Looking at the display above can be seen that we have shown the 7 character separator group as tones. The equivalent is the numerical 6262626. Not the last 1k tone is double the length. 1000Hz is the number 6 – the last numeral of the separator and also the first number of the next group.

With that in mind one would expect  the next character to be 1200Hz, the repeat tone [in this case the number 6], but it isn’t.

In the XP sendings such a double character only appeared with the space tone, 303Hz, to produce the tally mark. Such was seen only on the two message format, separated by _00000  and on the night  2^nd and 3^rd night schedules as a 50 group delineator.

In XPA this does not appear to be the case. You cannot surely produce a long six [!]. PLondon reckons this elongation of this character confirms that the 64 group separator has only a machine function [it’s after 64 groups] and that the 6 seen in the hidden group would be seen as a 6 and nothing else. But! What is the purpose of the hidden group?

All the sendings on 14/02 were very poor with QRN and poor audio. However the null ‘message’ posted actually showed some changes.

833 833 833 000 [R3] 00213 00001 00000_10140 00000 00000_end tones

The underscore shows a double length space inserted  [why?]. In addition to the double length spaces two extra 0 [R5] groups were added beyond the 10140 group, as can be seen above.

Sendings of 17/02 were excellent giving a decent display to work with for the tones. HG was 91609 with gc+1 proven.

Some signal variability was seen on PLondon’s reception of the 21/02 transmissions although complete pulse trains were saved.

Determination of all groups was easy but at the last Group PLondon noticed that the space between that and the penultimate group was double length. Although not seen in the message of 17/02 it had been seen in the null sending of 14/02.

The first group in a null message is a serial number; it can be nothing else; no message is sent  so no decode key is necessary. The next  group is the group count 00001, it only has one group – the serial number. Finally we finish with 00000 10140 [and in the case of that on 14/02 00000 00000 with long space and end tones, all unusual. This has only been seen once and is perhaps a cock-up, or perhaps a necessity if the receiving apparatus is not responding to 10140 as an end and reset command?

A conversation between RNGB and PLondon led us to believe that the first group is indeed a serial number. That would explain the added group that gives RNGB his gc+1 [on 21/02 88341]. Is that added group the decode key – if so is it the last Group?

Now we have the sending above but why is there special attention to the last group here – after all a decode key is surely any number that can be utilized.

Another null sending occurred on 124/02, the trace can be seen below.

All sendings were excellent quality, JoA reported signal strengths as 30. 35 and 35dBs respectively. PLondons take was like good and he commentsed of the audio being of good quality.

Compare the above trace of the 24/02 null sending with the image produced on 14/02. and note the difference. The 24/02 sending is generally that expected for a null message.

The final sendings of February 2006 started badly. After 73s into the 0700z sending the carrier dropped and rose again, bereft of any tones at 0702:14z  with a test tone heard for 1 sec at 0702:44z as can be seen in the narrowband spectrogram below:

The dark grey patches have no carrier whilst the lighter piece has. The dot, occurs at 159s into the representation, is the test tone. The carrier drops, never to recover circa 24s after that tone.

The 0720z sending was poor and the message details were acquired on the 0740z sending. Conditions were variable to say the least, PLondon having discussed that factor earlier in the morning with Mike mndbs. (gc+1) was proved from the results.

The entire schedule was poor.

Evening XPA Schedule Notes

The February evening sendings fell within the search limits suggested by PLondon, the first sending at 2100z being occluded by a BC station.These were the same scheduled freqs as per November  2005 and the same quality!                                      

However, using a FFT based filter  PLondon derived the numerical detail of the tones sent. In fact whilst he was doing this he picked up his ringing phone and said, ‘It’s 5890 John,’ expecting the caller to be JoA. In fact he informed a Police Officer phoning him on a much more serious matter of the XPA frequency. The tones were good enough to allow him to see the proof of gc+1 along with the HG 90640

The second sending at 2120z was very ‘wishy-washy’ audio wise despite a strong carrier. The 2140z was strong at 40dBs.

The second evening sending of the month occurred on 07/02 and was quite diabolical. 2100z was obliterated by a Russian BC whilst 2120 took a caning from XJT – both commented on by JoA. The question does need to be asked why choose these freqs when thet jam their own sigs by doing so? Tuning in to the third freq at 2127z PLondon was encouraged to detect a 40dBs carrier already up. Perhaps the buffoons who picked the previous freqs were making sure this one was as trusty as a rock. Whatever, PLondon received a good signal with only slight QSB at a constant 20dBs; JoA mentioned his fading was a little worse.

PLondon described the 10/02 evening sending as, ‘pretty dire tonight with 2140z the best.’ Audio did slip in and out a bit and

gc+1 not proved due to poor signal and bad resolution. The hidden group was 40051.ML and JoA also monitored this sending with same results as PLondon.

The message of 10/02 was repeated on Tuesday 14/02. The initial 2100z sending was again marred by BC QRM [believed to Vatican Radio] despite the early testing of the transmitter at 2032z when a +40dBs carrier was noted by PLondon. The 2120 and 2140z sendings hit +20dBs at PLondon’s Crystal Palace QTH and 30dBs at JoA’s QTH. The audio was perfectly decent and excellent spectrographic results were taken by PLondon. On IC ML noted that XJT was all over the place – not on 5268kHz though! 

17/02 sendings were particularly poor – Vatican Radio and Voice of Russia doing a good job on the 2100z sending, whilst the others were just poor with fades and less than perfect conditions HG was 51927; unable to prove gc+1 due to poor display of spectro.

The  21/02 2100z  signals were much like other days, lots of unwanted noise from Voice of Russia’s hefty French programme ‘Ici Moscow’ on 5895kHz. Other sendings at 2120 and 2140z were reasonable and gc+1 was again proved.  HG was 51927.Penultimate group/last group were separated by a normal 50ms space.

The sending reads [courtesy of Jakub in Cz]:

• XPA 5267kHz 2120z 21/02/06

825 825 825 1 825 825 825 1 825 825 825 1
msg
00978 00107 78734 61113 03412 90664 05950 17005 83306 68049
17603 38631 70686 45041 93353 02862 59955 67062 60343 70337
07331 27795 71645 48969 95775 59460 84064 02622 15977 37077
12747 03748 07616 63232 60423 97081 22792 91089 22754 96994
41098 32360 38564 50344 26784 40704 94320 36528 46194 28941
34787 17765 18310 89811 75054 65374 13765 89029 87908 27219
39092 13832 52371 61567
msg
51927 55437 38007 90356 34234 30912 62931 18202 82021 86226
06101 79317 97357 78693 06950 04210 89762 09721 52273 84121
35791 34156 19518 53726 99031 47922 37417 35739 56827 94839
98322 12864 50934 25176 29239 81765 72255 95596 03149 14278
77443 34217 99536 08060 17097 07363
end

24/02 evening sendings were not as good as those on 21/02 but this time the 2100z sending was prominent over the Voice of Russia, although the others were fairly mundane. gc+1 was proved by 64+40-2= 102

No surprises with the het at 2100z and the wishy-washy audio coupled with fades at 2120z. Once again the best, and barely adequate, was sent at 2140z wish slight fades. With hidden group 48510 gc+1 was once again proved.

The above is a trace of the body of the message 2140z 280206 and from the top shows the waveform, wide band and narrow band spectrograms for this section of the transmission. The darker patches being the stronger and adequate signal one can see the fades and effects.

Morse stations | Voice stations | Oddities | Polytones
Favourable comments | German branch | Numbers predictions
E03 & E03a prediction charts | RDF bearings | Gross misuse of MoD email system
Cuban schedules | G06 schedules over a year | E11 schedules over a year
Software defined radio | If it had not been for 15 minutes (2/6)
HJH's watch | News Items | Web sites | Contribution deadlines
Index | E2K NL Home