ENIGMA 2000 Newsletter - Issue 34

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

Morse stations | Voice stations | Oddities | Polytones
German branch | Numbers predictions
E03 & E03a prediction charts | E06 & S06 schedules
Cubans schedules | G06 schedules over a year | E11 schedules over a year
If it had not been for 15 minutes (3/6)
HJH's watch | News Items | Web sites | Contribution deadlines
Index | E2K NL Home

Polytones

We put the revised tones in the last Newsletter only to be told of an anomaly – as a result re print the corrected tones.

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

March 06

March Morning Schedule

Below is the waveform and narrowband spectrogram of 0740z 03/03 for the complete sending:

Whilst perfectly adequate the strengths received by PLondon on 03/03were variable and some fading was noticed. JoA echoed this with his report to E2k but at better strengths than PLondon realized at his South Ken works QTH.

A quick count proved RNGBs hidden group as 64+64+28-2+154 gc+1. The hiddem group was 42623.

Tuesday 07/03 sendings started off with a reasonable sending with QRN; good strengths were reported by JoA for all sendings whilst PLondon suffered low signal strength at his SW7 works QTH. [The autosys returned good sigs at his home QTH though].

Whilst weak with PLondon the signals were of good standard and allowed analysis. 260 actual groups were sent and after correction [64*4+4-2=258] proved gc+1, the hidden group being 43593.

The above image illustrates the fading encountered during the sending of the last four groups between 0700z [top] and 0720z [bottom] sending. The final analysis of the Last and Hidden groups being made on the 0720z and checked against the 0740z.

At the end of the lower trace the effects of PLondon removing his sharp filter can be seen.

Sendings on 10/03 were reported by JoA as being very good; PLondon’s signals were not so good due to QRM and desensing.

Perusal of the above spectrogram will illustrate use of a double space [seen at 177s] between the last and penultimate group.

The usual arithmetic was done 64+64+22-2=148 and proved gc+1. The carrier for this sending came up at 0712z and was followed by a single tone. Shortly after a Morse character was sent -…- or =.

Excellent sendings throughout for the morning schedule on 14/03. gc+1 proven.

The sending on 17/03 was a null message and all three transmissions were noted with very good signals by JoA – S9+35dBs. PLondon also remarked that the signals at his SW7 work QTH were like good strength across the entire schedule. The strong signals were maintained on 21/03 with a long message lasting 4m28:22s. gc+1 was proved.

The sendings of 24/03 were variable, for PLondon 0740z gave the best response.

With GMT advancing to z+1 the zulu time of 0700z was maintained for this sending and all three 28/03 were3 strong and good quality, albeit a null message, a repeat of that sent 17/03.

March Evening Schedule

The expected first March sendings on Friday 03/03 were not found despite correct searching by JoA and PLondon. However Tuesday 07/03 saw a combined effort by GD, JoA, RNGB and PLondon and resulted in all the freqs being found. The line up is that used last October and had been suggested prior to us not finding them on 03/03.

The signals were fair with all concerned and RNGB contacted PLondon with message detail. PLondon was unable to use his email due to Yahoo UK being unavailable [checked with JoA by telcon]. Thanks to all concerned who rang in with results. Excellent team work.

14/03 was a repeat of that sent on 07/03 and 10/03. The sending on 5924 suffered with BC QRM but a tight post filter brought:

The filter all but removed the troublesome speech. The 2140z sending was not quite so good; XJT suddenly appeared on frequency and obliterated a majority of the sending:

Perusal of the above shows the effect XJT has on transmissions it is sent over the top of.

The first evening message of March was sent on this schedule on 24/03. All sendings were good readable although the 2120z was troubled by the usual BC QRM. The 2140z sending produced the best trace of the evening.

Sitting up beyond 2200z PLondon and JoA intercepted the post clock change sendings with mixed results between them. For JoA the last sending was his best, whilst for PLondon the first was his best – actually comparable to his post sending filtered 2120z transmission. His 2140z was very poor, with a signal strength variable between S5 to S9. He found the audio to be weak and watery and dominated by a scratching type local[?] QRM. A comparison of spectrograms and tones illustrated a repeat of the 71group [ or 72 with gc+1 taken into consideration] message sent on 24/03.

March final morning sendings on 31/03 were not very good at PLondon’s QTH and mainly noisy.

The third sending started at S9 went to S7 noise wise and in the middle of its sending ceased as can be seen below:

The 22.66s gap between the ID and the part re start can be clearly seen. Below is the detail of the fail:

Using a full message PLondon was once again able to prove gc+1.

The last sending produced excellent received signals right across the schedule as the spectrograph and waveform below proves:

gc+1 was again proved and it is worth noting that there was the slightest het on the second sending, the BC station could barely cope with the strong XPA signal and was certainly outclassed for once

April 06

April Morning Schedule

The frequencies for the morning sendings were as previously seen in April 2005, the clocks having advanced by H+1 the sendings now occurring at 0600, 0620 and 0640z.

The choice of 9452kHz as a freq is open to question by those of us who are not in the know at the transmitting end. Apart from it being in the 31m BC band and open to splatter or worse, recently it has been noticed the parking of data transmissions and XJT on there. Remembering that 9450 is also home to E25 one must ask if the placing of these two very efficient signal jammers is anything but intended.

PLondon used the post filtered 0600z sending to derive content detail from the intercept. Apart from the message detail above the hidden group was 36493 and gc+1 proven.

Note the entire message sent without fade or other aberration.

The 0600z sending was marred by splatter from a BC Station on 9460kHz and a heterodyne [2266Hz] was heard alongside the message but after post filtering the resilience of XPA against interference was seen.

On 07/04 PLondon switched the PC on for his analytical software only to find it wouldn’t work; a pop-up declaring ‘continue with install.’

Luckily the v5 Spectrogram was still functional and did its duty, allowing PLondon to note the numerical content.. As 04/04 the same problems existed with the first sending, BC QRM but that was later removed using his newly installed software [tnx IT]!

The others were weak with him but were received as better signals by JoA.

The sendings on 11/04 were variable, Again the 0600z was troubled by BC and a 2260Hz tone, 0620z was almost inaudible to PLondon at his work QTH. The 0640z was weak but provided measurable tones.

JoA reported like signals as well as monitoring a break “10852kHz 0619:53z [S7 QRN QRM-noise] A very short break in Intro. detected @ 0620:31z”, but it would seem this break was prevalent in all sendings as the spectrographic print above shows. [Well done John]! Looking at the traces it would appear the breaks are approximately 10 secs apart in comparison.

The hidden group was 98224 and 64x3+40-2 = 230 proved gc+1.

Magnified view of a break in transmission 0600z110406

All the morning sendings were problematical; the first two being very poor, 0600z XJT and BC QRM. 0620z QRN and noise.

The last sending was the best at 20dBs strength although it was slighty troubled with a 1 and 2kHz hets.

Both JoA and mndbs reported a break in the 0640z sending. This break is shown below.

Gap in 0640z 14/04/06 sending

The 18/04 sendings were peculiar to say the least. PLondon reported the 0600z sending as the only one he was able to correctly receive [20dBs with BC QRM] with the 0620 and 0640z sendings virtually unuseable. RNGB reported his reception as being variable but stated the 0620z sending as his best whilst JoA reported his best as 0640z.

This wide variation is interesting as JoA’s antenna is vertically polarized. His signal strength is also often better than that experienced elsewhere too. [Others’ kitchen’s, radiators and soft top cars not withstanding, JoA :) ].

64x3+12-2+202 to prove gc+1.

British Rail reared their ugly head in the form of Signal problems outside Epsom, or, a broken down train in front of the 0608 on 21/04; they just threw a load of excuses that probably meant the driver was still in bed - £116 a month for that sort of service. As a result PLondon was forced to contact JoA to make the observation for him – having fallen out of bed 65mins late he could not recall having set the autosys up for XPA interception. As a result of this comedy of errors PLondon missed the 0600z sending completely [would have caught it if the 52 bus actually ran to time – it hasn’t all week] but set up for the 0620z and 0640z sendings. Both were terrible, low signals and fading with PLondon. PLondon contacted JoA who had just come in from his herb garden who stated that his signal levels for all the sendings were not too good – S9, S9+5dBs and variable S3 to S7.

On returning home PLondon discovered he had set the autosys the night before, the0600z and 0640z were not upto much but the 0620z was strong allowing analysis of the numeral content.

Good signals on 25/04 with a 253 group message 64x4-2­= 254 proving gc+1.

The last morning schedule sending for April on 28/04 was a peculiar one. JoA reported signal strength as: 9452kHz 0559:59-0601:59z Intro., 0601:59-0602:47z msg.[S9+25dB QRN]; 10852kHz 0619:58z [S9+30dB QRN]; 12152kHz 0639:59z [S8/S5 QRN] whilst PLondon at his home QTH noted different strengths: 0600z S9 to 20dBs, 0620z S9 and 0640z virtually NRH!

On looking at the waveform PLondon noticed there was no apparent hidden group, what he counted 64+52-2=114, exactly the right number except he had made a mistake [Tnx RNGB]. On checking the groups around the only 64 group separator there was a space tone [680Hz] between the last character of the separator and the next group:

The top image shows the proceedings 0620z 280406 and the space tones and what goes on in between can be easily seen.

The lower image is that taken from the 75 group xending of 11/04 at 2000z. Looking at the lower image one can see there is no space between the final tone of the 7 tone separator. The hidden group is somewhere in the 64 groups preceeding the separator; feasibly the last group prior to the seven tone character?

In the top trace the group preceding the separator always has a space between it and the separator – on this occasion, no space as can be seen on comparison.

April Evening Schedule

April evening schedule kicked off by using Sept 05 freqs and repeating the null message of 21^st March. The first sending at 2000z was tainted by XJT as per the September log, the second 2020z was troubled by a BC station a few kc/s away and whose presence created a 2022Hz het tone that was easily removed. The third and last sending reached 35dBs at PLondon’s QTH although the freq was being used for USB voice tx using FF language.

The first sending was noisy and PLondon used USB, tuning the intro m/s to their correct tone as can be appreciated below:

Perusal of the 2000z trace above reveals that although the sending was noisy the use of USB, which PLondon rarely uses for XPA, allows the measuring of tones etc.

Excellent sendings on 07/04; +30dBs for 2040z. gc+1 proven with hidden group 44705.

11/04 was readable throughout its schedule with the first two sendings trouble by XJT emissions. The hidden group was 43971 and gc+1 was proved.

Results for the evening sending were poor and incomplete; no doubt due to the smoke from JoA’s bonfire ! Although a het was heard at 2000 and 2020z no variation of the tone was noticed – carrier up, no sending. The diagram below shows the 2020z sending and it can be seen the het is up for the right time, from around 2012 to 2022z for the close.

The last sending at 2040z sent a message but the signal was so poor PLondon was unable to accurately determine the gc, dk and the rest of the pars for XPA. Whilst tracking a few stations during the day it was noticed that conditions were less than useful.

The following sending on 18/04 started well at 2000z and continued straight across the schedule with signal strengths of 10 and 20dBs. 64+34-2+96 proving gc+1.

Completely different to the mornings sendings the evening transmissions of 21/04 were excellent with the exception of the XJT troubled 2000z offering. That needed retuning to 9103kHz for clear audio. 2020z had a 2024Hz het on it from the skirts of the nearby BC station, ‘Galei Tzahal’ whose line up included a hit from the Kinks; strange when you consider the programmes are aimed at the Israel Defence Force. [6973kHz]. A little post reception filtering and the tones were very good.

Not as good as those sent at 2040z on 5758kHz though. The sending was extremely strong, a great help considering the two data bursts and the weak Morse that was heard just before the XPA kick off. The signal strength was +40dBs and was banging on the endstop of PLondon’s ICOM IC-R71E. PLondon mentioned to DoK after that the signal was so strong that with the effects it produced PLondon could have claimed it as a ground wave.

‘Null Message Body shown below:

Note how clear the background is and the clear definition of the signal trace.

The final sending of April was a null message and a repeat of the previous Tuesday; coincidentally the first group was virtually the same as the ident!

Morse stations | Voice stations | Oddities | Polytones
German branch | Numbers predictions
E03 & E03a prediction charts | E06 & S06 schedules
Cubans schedules | G06 schedules over a year | E11 schedules over a year
If it had not been for 15 minutes (3/6)
HJH's watch | News Items | Web sites | Contribution deadlines
Index | E2K NL Home