ENIGMA 2000 Newsletter - Issue 35

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

Voice stations | Oddities | Polytones
German branch | Numbers predictions
E03 & E03a prediction charts | E06 & S06 schedules
Cubans schedules | Cuban traffic analysis
G06 schedules over a year | Family III chart
If it had not been for 15 minutes (4/6) | Numerals | Jimmy | WWII Czechoslovak military radio stations
HJH's watch | News Items | Web sites | Contribution deadlines
Index | E2K NL Home

Voice stations

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.

E06

We push off our first English station report with PoSW’s comprehensive logs:

Weekly Sunday 1830 + 1930 UTC Schedule
call always "690" and in 2006 is using similar frequencies as used in the same month in 2005

First + Third Fridays in the Month 2130 UTC Schedule

First + Third Wednesdays in Month 2100 + 2200 UTC Schedule;-

A Thursday Schedule

[Tnx PoSW]

Onto the other logs:

RNGB’s E06 log [May and June]:

E07

The usual schedules continue, i.e Sunday + Wednesday starting at 1700 UTC, Monday + Wednesday starting at 2000 UTC and Thursday starting at 2010 UTC. The Tuesday and Thursday transmissions heard in the UK early evening in March and for the first few days of April must have been a special purpose short duration project because neither of these schedules have been heard since - unless someone knows otherwise!

Sunday + Wednesday Schedule

Monday + Wednesday Schedule

Thursday Schedule

[Tnx PoSW]

RNGB’s E07 log [May and June]:

E10 Desk May 06

Frequencies + callsign

Special strings heard during May 06

Comments & reported net activities during May 06.

• We take it that the organisation running E10 is top class and what is transmitted is intended.
  
  Over the years a great deal of information has passed over the Airwaves and much to their credit the system has been superb, the encoding unbreakable, and we can only speculate what it all intends.
  
  Well perhaps life has become a little cushy and some may have become bored and slightly careless. Over the last few months I have noted that the once dedicated time tables have eroded, where a station commenced tx at H+45 to H+50 it would now seem be H+47 to H+53 and much the same with other start and finish times. (VLB2, SYN2, CIO2, MIW2 and KPA2). Two callsigns on the same freq at the same time (JSR & ULX2 9th April 06) happens more often of late as does the transmission by one station apparently on the wrong freq with its sudden ending after a few moments is not rare, (ULX2 30th Mar 06). Ian Wraith also commented on this happening 2/3 times, and let us not forget our famous
  
  "GOODNIGHT" String, was this bordom, fun or genuine?, most likely No.
• Ian Wraith also noted on the 12th May A transmission by PCD on 4270 kHz at 19:30hrs, a 16 group message..NETNK XPFQH IJWGO CVILM GJPEL KFONF MSFKB CKHAS SEMTR KJHMM DWSLB P. Then the transmission suddenly ended at that moment 1938hrs!! Quote "I haven't heard E10 do that before".
• 17th May
  To make it seem that I was telling little porkies VLB2+SYN2+ CIO2 all commenced transmission exactly on time at 2245hrs and ending at 2250hrs this evening, a rare occurence of late. As did MIW2 & KPA2 at 2315hrs to 2320hrs.
• 19th May
  2300hrs It would appear that a majority of calls have been ajusted and the networks are now singing from the same time sheets
• 26 May
  ULX2 transmitting on freq 5230KHz at 2028hrs x2 calls, followed by x3 calls 15secs later.
  (This is normally a MIW2 freq) Nothing further heard.
• 31 May
  From a point of activity with the long strings, this month has been almost inactive just one MIWA93B66 on the 9th of May, prompting me to look back to my records of 2002 to present day for a simular pattern of inactivity. Bear in mind these are my recordings based what I have heard and noted and may not be fully accurate.

All strings just involve the following groups CIO,KPA,MIW,SYM & VLB

In years 2003 to 05 I have no recorded activity in each of the months of Mar/Nov/Dec for each of the three years.

From minimum activity during 02 to 05 MIW has come to life in the first 6 months of 06 with 7 calls.

Contributions

April E10 Logs. All frequencies in usb from Joseph Chircop Malta. (Thanks JC)

* You would also note that all messages bar one were repeated thru-out his logs, one in particular has been running since Sept 05 PCD Group 97 YERRS.

BMLongfield [Tnx Bob]!

E10 Desk Manager

May 06

E10 Desk June 06

Frequencies + callsign

Special strings heard during June 06

As at this evening the 26 June, no special strings have been reported and none heard by yours truely.

Unusual to say the least

Comments & reported net activities

Due to very poor reception conditions this months report contains very little and may also be a reason why no strings have been reported.

BMLongfield

E10 Desk Manager

June 06

[Tnx Bob]

E11

H-FD’s Ell Chart [Updated 26/04/2006] can be seen in the Charts section

Out of schedule intercept by ‘E’:

E11b

Our first Ellb message came from H-FD

Its repeat from mndbs:

Attention Attention

77777 77777 53362 18243 48124 87931 79037 20221 06017 17306
24959 42636 69890 34631 96204 96085 93878 91319 28527 27789
31255 14556 36926 83114 35769 82726 36550 28898 72062 46264
77777 77777 (single repeat) Out.

184/35 Att'n. 77777 77777 29330 24972 48113 29002 87147
10143 30470 03674 76779 48943 24039 01303 73518 73952
47362 67803 47928 17953 39132 45541 31346 10164 83112
16686 26397 97572 58545 74009 54718 52296 77777 77777
Out. [5F gps., Rpt'd. 5f gps. Ending @ 0841:22z]

This seems to add up to 34 gps., although 'call' was 184/35.

E15

Revised Frequency schedule devised by Manolis Petrakis

And the phonetics used in station idents:

MoK posts:

Sun 14th May: 14.02z, 14000kHz, E15, FYP QRU, just breaking through noise, lost at 14.08z

Thur 18 May: E15, 10/11/12.30/14.00z published freqs all had a very low level carrier which, offset by 800Hz, had a slow oscillating 20Hz drift. No mod heard but carrier dropped at H+10 each time. Not a RX or QRM effect as all OK at other times.

E17

Nil Reports

E17z

Nil Reports

E23

Frequencies and Times. All SSB [From AnonUK]

Since December 2004 skeds have become erratic, and may not stick to correct weeks. Some voice transmissions have been heard in week 2

Week 1 Usually starts on the first Monday of the Month, but there have been variations to this.

Times are not rigid, has been known to start as early as Hour + 52

[Tnx AnonUK].

©AnonUK230506

Week 2 was M04. Not heard since September 2000

E25

From the E25 desk

ID’s used with messages so far (no new ones noticed):
222 275 440 555 720 730 780 835 (Arabic counting) and 906

ID’s used with control messages so far (new ones are underlined):
200 209 220 227 270 272 276 277 330 377 422 430 440 442 449 477 557 705 708 745 784 785 788 830 837 875 877 905 909

Transmission times: any time between 11.00 and 15.00 utc (and possible earlier, like 09.00z). Likes 12.00, 12.30 and 12.45. More transmissions on one day possible.

Only one frequency known: 9450 kHz, mode AM.

So far there seem to be three different voices.

• Voice nr.1 is a deep male voice.
• Voice nr.2 has a higher voice (but defenitly male) and sounds more ‘enthousiastic’.
• And there is a voice nr.3 which sounds very high pitched, almost female.

Since begin May 2006 a DRM station appeared on 9450 kHz. In Europe this signal is so strong that reception of E25 is almost impossible. This DRM station is “Voice of Russia” and has a one minute test transmission at 12.03z and starts again at 12.50z. Gert confirmed this is Voice of Russia. It seems E25 receipents do not suffer from this DRM station as they have not changed frequency or starting times yet.

In short

The logs in detail for the month may 2006

1. The first one heard by Manolis on the 16th
   1252z OM calling "222" then
   "Message" x3 6238 3490 6150 3072 3572 9993 4911 8022 6150 1254z "Repeat" x3 Third and last groups are the same. Signal strength was lower than usual for my QTH, I also used USB to avoid a "Jet" TX from below. The announcer was not the usual one; he almost yelled to the microphone.
2. One day later E25 came with a repeat of the 16th message, heard by Manolis on the 17th: E25 now playing music in a fast tempo! I had the chance to listen from the free DXTuner with no sucess. Was a repeat of yesterday's message. The usual OM calling "222" but an other OM (higher pitched voice) for the message. Low signal strength and a lousy audio. As I said before, found no trace of the transmission on the free DXTuner.
3. May 30, heard by Izzywizzy;
   E25 up on 9.450 at 11.45z calling '745 56' lots of QRM, heard on DX Tuners Sweden.
4. July June 4th hear by Gert;
   starting at 12.00z on 9450 kHz. Male calling "377 1" for three minutes, than the DRM station came making any further E25 copy impossible. Weird starting time for a broadcast station to start at H+03... At least E25 is still there.
5. 8 june, heard by Gert;
   E25 was just calling on 9450 kHz, 11,18utc; "330 2" for 2 minutes. Very weak signal.
6. June 21st, heard by Manolis;
   1247z OM calling "222", other OM message: 5671 9064 7510 8490 0413 0445 0819 3556 7510 (Third and last groups the same) Better modulation this time.
7. June 28, heard by Izzywizzy;
   E25 up calling 44211 78554 again and again on 9.450 at 11.45 utc on DX Tuners, Sweden.
8. June 29, heard by Izzywizzy and TomH;
   E25 up calling 449/12 on 9.450 at 11.45utc DX Tuners Sweden
9. June 29, heard by TomH;
   E25 up again calling 475 on 9.450 at 12.00 utc on DX Tuners Sweden
   Again heard with Nigel on Rommele SE web radio, I managed to get this transcript before the DRM signed on at 1200 UTC 475 [called several times] 9050 5521 280 280 280 280 280 wiped out by drm top 1200.

Thank you all for your logs! [Tnx E25 desk]!

G06

[G06 Schedules across one year, via H-FD at end of NL]

The long-established first Monday in the month 1900 + 2000 UTC and twice a month Thursday 1830 UTC and Friday 1930 UTC are still with us. In May the Thursday and Friday transmissions sent four minutes of "00000", the first time these schedules hve failed to send a full message, I think. There was a schedule on Saturdays at 2200 UTC in Jan, Feb and March but I have lost track of it since. In the early summer months of previous years there was a transmission on some Saturdays at 2020 UTC on 12,210 kHz, as suggested for May in Gert's Excellent Predictions in E2K34. I have listened for this on several Saturdays in May and June, along with 10,875 kHz which has also been used but nothing heard. But then, the underlying principle which governs the entire universe, Sod's Law, may have been at work and G06 may have been around on the Saturdays on which I was unable to listen!

First Monday in the month 1900 + 2000 UTC Schedule

Thursday 1830 UTC Schedule

Friday 1930 UTC Schedule

[Tnx PoSW]

Onto the other logs:

G22

[Possibly now inactive, see Family XV in ECL21]

Slavic stations

Chart 25 Updated [1^st May, 2006]

M10, S10d and S17c

Compiled by the Slavic Desk

All Freqs ± 2kHz

Chart 24 above is current from 1^st May 2006 and updates Chart 24 published in NL34. This chart will remain in force until 1^st September, 2006.

Subject to minor changes the current chart shows a number of additions and changes and I suggest the serious monitor should compare both charts.

For the benefit of those less serious monitors I list the changes and additions:

The 1000z sched is now Wed/Thurs. It originates the messages repeated at 1840 and 1940z Wed/Thurs. [This replaces the 0840z sched during the summer season, reverting back from 1^st September, 2006]

The 1500z Mon/Tues sched is now back on the chart and can be heard on 4782//6835kHz – new freqs for this period.

The S10d S1230 also returns and can be found Thurs/Fri on 15785kHz, BC QRM permitting.

The Mon/Tues 1200z is also back on the chart on 16020kHz, sometime ago this was on the list of ALT week schedules it has changed to regular.

Many questions are still being raised regarding the Tues?wed S10d S1855 and much time and effort by a number of monitors has made me conclude this should be R [Regular activity designation].

The summer period does offer more chances to check the upper HF frequencies’, propagation being that much better. Another point to remember: On finding a new frequency, it should be checked against other scheds where no parallel is known.

It will be seen on the chart that frequencies are usually used more than once.

Concluding this report, the Saturday 0535z schedule finished with 0 4 0 not the usual 0 0 0.

Now onto my secondary chart, 25A which has been compiled in order to explain more fully the alternate week programming schedules.

Chart 25A Alternate Week Schedules [ONLY] June 2006

N/A indicates frequencies not known for this period or are currently not active

04/06/06 to 10/06/06 inclusive

11/06/06 to 17/06/06 inclusive

18/06/06 to 24/06/06 inclusive

25/06/06 to 01/07/06 inclusive

Over a period of time schedules have been changing to incorporate a first and third week and a second and fourth week rotation; the above chart [25A] illustrates how this has been carried out for the month of June. It will be interesting to see how they cope with the August calendar.

These schedules should not be viewed in isolation, I have covered the links with the repeat message procedures as far back as 2003 but would refer monitors to NL25 and Chart 16.

When these links are understood it is possible to predict which scheds are operational. For example I have known that the 0840z schedule had to be active for the repeats on 1840/1940z although the frequency was not known at certain times of the year. That problem has now been solved with the appearance of the 1000z sched.

To the best of my recollection this is the first occasion both time and frequency have changed together.

The first chart I produced in 2003 listed only 13 frequencies; the current chart shows 94 frequencies covering 119 schedules. I do wonder how many more can be discovered!

Thanks to Fritz Nusser and H-FD for their contributions.

Addendum:

The above reports were completed on Wednesday 28/06/06 and I had hoped that the alternate week schedules were 100% completed. Unfortunately, the Thurs/Fri 1100z schedule and its repeats [1440/1530z] did not appear. This may be a prelude of things to come in July; further analysis will be ongoing.

I have suggested in the above write up that the Tues/Wed S1855z [S10d] should be classified as regular – that is not the case, as it did not appear on the 27 & 28^th June and will need futher investigation.

A portable RDF unit

Over the last 2/3 months I have been trying to produce a portable RDF unit that could be constructed by someone with limited experience, the aim being to publish in the NL a unit that monitors could use.

The photographs show the prototype unit; to gauge its size the protractor on top is 4” [c100mm] diameter. [The photograph is courtesy of PLondon who has the unit for evaluation purposes and comparison with his commercial loop system].

The aerial is a ferrite rod with a coil in the centre and all enclosed in a small ABS box.

The aerial output is fed through a ¼” [6..35mm] jack plug into the tuned amp. The only controls are tuning and a gain control [high/low]. The aerial can be tuned from MW to 15MHz although two aerial units are preferred as gain drops at each end of coverage.

Using two aerials enabled the range to be extended from MW into the 10M amateur band. Using my base tuned amp and various aerials I have found they outperform my loops and give excellent deep and sharp nulls.

There is a small problem inasmuch that the tuned amp required by the aerial demands experience in construction that is probably beyond average skills. I will continue with this project in the hope that something simpler can be produced. I envisage that al parts would be available from suppliers such as Maplin with a total cost of £30.

Finally, and on a more personal note: Is Bulgarian Betty past her sell by date? Confusion abounds as she is obviously Czech!

DoK 30/06/06

Onto the other Slavic station files:

S04

[Possibly now inactive, see Family XV in ECL21]

Pronunciation of numerals

• 0 is Nuar
• 2 Should be Davouka
• 3 is Thuree.
• The figure 8 Osem Sounds like Arthur
• The figure 9 Devet Sounds like David.

S06

See end of this Newsletter for the updated “S06 regular skeds ending slow”

A small correction from H-FD:

"The Weds sked for ID 475 is unusual in that it keeps same frequency all year. It is thought that it does repeat 10 minutes later, but the frequency has never been found. (Probably buried under a strong broadcast station). This sked is expected tp move one hour early in May starting at 0730..."
[E2K NL #34]

H-FD adises us

“Actually ID is 745. It transmits in the winter season at 0830z and in the summer season at 0730z.”

TnX H-FD

Mndbs noted

“A quick comment regarding S06! While carrying out my Friday Spy day [05/05] just gone, I noted S06 tune up some kHz below the expected frequency. This was the 10290 0930 TX and it actually tuned up on 10270 with the usual tone.

When it vanished I re-tuned to 10290 to find it starting its tx there! So this may explain the observation that it is just coming on direct. Possibly they have taken to tuning up close by the intended frequency out of concern for our tape recorders running out of tape maybe.

Thanks S06 most kind :-)”

RNGB’s S06 log

S06 Report from RNGB, followed by his June logs:

Nothing heard of the regular Saturday afternoon ID 724 the last 2 months.

The frequencies are rather high, so it may be just down to lack of propagation (We are at the lowest point for the sun spot activity).

Or maybe the times have changed?

Still no repeat found for ID 108

The Tuesday 1630/1730 sked continues without 8s or 9s in the message.

I’ve heard nothing of the S06 slow ID 967 on Mondays, Tuesday ID 624 and Thursday ID 314

I’m wondering whether they are still active or have changed times?

There are many instances when the 3 figure group immediately following the ID is also the same as many known IDs for S06 slow.

ie. Monday 5th June at 1600 on 9256 gives ID 176 934 8 86675
934 is Friday morning ID at 0600 on 8340 kHz

Also, on Tues 6th June ID 352 at 0800 on 14373 gives 352 418 6 71435
418 is ID for Tuesday also at 0800 on 7245 kHz

Weds at 0820 on 6755 ID 471 crops up on another S06 fast sked and also an E06 sked

Weds 7th June at 0840 on 10120 gives ID 328 471 6 56758
471 is Weds 0820 ID on 6755

Just coincidence? Seems unlikely

Now on to S06 log for June

And now PoSW’s analysis and logs:

Most S06 schedules noted earlier in the year are still running with the exception of the second and fourth Saturdays in the month 1600 + 1700 UTC transmission with call "724". In January, February and March this was heard on at least one of the Saturdays that it was expected to appear each month on the same frequencies as in the same month in 2005. However I could not find it in April, was on 14,910 + 12,190 kHz in Apr-05, or in May, 14,840 + 12,220 kHz in May last year. There is also a female voice version which appears from time to time, in May and June was heard weekly on Wednesdays around 2010 UTC on 9,110 kHz, not sure if this has its own seperate E2K designation but included at the end of this log.

Weekly Tuesday 1630 + 1730 UTC Schedule

Second + Fourth Mondays in the Month 2015 + 2115 UTC Schedule

Saturday 1600 UTC Schedule, call "108"

Other S06 heard

And the Female voice version;- [No separate designation ECL states S06 OM/YL]

[Tnx PoSW].

See end of this Newsletter for the updated “S06 Regular skeds ending slow”

S10d

PoSW kicks off with analysis and logs:

The S10d Czech YL continues much as expected on the same frequencies as in the same month in previous years. But the most noteworthy observation with this one is the use of single sideband suppressed carrier mode exclusively. Or at least I havn't heard an S10d in any mode other than SSB (upper) suppressed carrier since late April. S10d was usually heard in the AM with lower sideband suppressed mode, i.e. USB with full carrier which meant it was AM compatible and could be heard on an AM receiver, with the occasional transmission in suppressed carrier mode. It must mean that all of S10d's indended recipients are now equiped with receivers which incorporate a carrier insertion / beat frequency oscillator. One disadvantage of all this to the number stations monitor is that there is no tell-tale carrier up on frequency before the start of a transmission although there is sometimes a few seconds of tone. Come to think of it, this was the path trodden by the now long gone E05 American Accent YL who was on for many years in USB with carrier, then in USB suppressed carrier for a couple of years before retiring in late 2003. I think the S10d related M10 Morse transmissions have gone along the same route; I have got somewhat out of touch with M10 in recent months but I am sure that at one time the mode used was constant carrier, keyed audio tone but the few M10s I have heard in the past few weeks all appeared to be sent in SSB SC with the receiver S meter dropping back towards zero in the gaps between the elements of the Morse characters owing to the absence of a carrier.

Schedules operating in the last two months include the following;-

[Tnx PoSW]

Mndbs intercepted this S10d sending on Tuesday 09/05

He recorded the message as:

38746 82680 24247 85578 97032 61551 43514 50370 08338 53587
21877 81336 01387 49318 15743 86742 72848 11355 17441 59126
71737 21336 79170 79771 89449 79360 22654 81772 51370 61516
61536 45793 12300
Pozor 23 33 konec

And asks:

“Is it just me or do the number groups in S10d seem very similar often?”

The answer came from AlphaVax who kindly answered as shown below:

I think this one is encrypted partially or fully by the means of a codebook!

Look at the following facts:

Groups 6 & 30 & 31	:	61551 61516 61536	<-- nearly analog by the means of '615' !
		21887 11355 71737 21336 51370	<-- all a '1' as second figure and the last 2 similar in 2nd and 3rd figure!

 

Lets see the S10d message from

Distribution:

165/5=33 grps

Not so unusual but special things happen:

grps 1&2&5	:	78252 18452 81752	the 4th and 5th figures are the same!
grps 5&7&10&13&21&30	:	81752 21511 31228 91970 21378 81132	<-- 2nd figure is always '1' !
grps 15&16&23	:	29006 29509 29191	are featuring a '29' on their beginning!

Seems to be a partial codebook encryption in this message!

Tnx AlphaVax and Mndbs

55095 32264 68421 02180 04648 23257 32990 33388 81045 13706
11817 80901 07867 38347 79089 06910 67834 09141 27040 82345
69484 25407 80856 92648 21897 62744 36936 04617 01404 06074

S11a

S11b

No Reports

S17c

Freqs 4485//6758kHz daily 1250z

Logs from H-FD and DoK:

S21

V02a

Now onto logs [Mark Slaten’s splendid Current Cuban Skeds charts can be found at the end of this Newsletter.] :

V02a from PoSW in Great Britain:

[Tnx PoSW]

PoSW’s efforts illustrate exactly what can be intercepted in Great Britian – Thanks Peter – excellent stuff.

‘E’ in England sent in these Spanish Lady reports [freq order]:

Tnx E

V02a exclusively monitored by Mark Slaten US:

V07

AnonUk has sent us a summary of his logs for this year – note the standard progression from Jan to Dec

[Tnx AnonUK]

V13

In message 4573 dated 05/03 Ben Mesander wrote,

"For a while, V13 seemed to have timeshifted into slots where it was not possible to hear it at my QTH. It seems to have resumed at least some skeds that are possible to pick up in the western US. Check around 1100utc-1500utc on:

• 8300.0 kHz
• 9275.0 kHz
• 9725.0 kHz
• 11430.0 kHz
• 11433.0 kHz
• 13570.0 kHz
• 13650.0 kHz
• 13750.0 kHz
• 15388.0 kHz

Note that some of the above freqs are in error, but since it's been so many years since I monitored this station I can't remember the ones that are "real"."

[Tnx Ben]

We have received two unsubstantiated reports concerning this station – worth keeping an eye on if it’s within your capabilities.

V24

Nil reports this time.

Voice stations | Oddities | Polytones
German branch | Numbers predictions
E03 & E03a prediction charts | E06 & S06 schedules
Cubans schedules | Cuban traffic analysis
G06 schedules over a year | Family III chart
If it had not been for 15 minutes (4/6) | Numerals | Jimmy | WWII Czechoslovak military radio stations
HJH's watch | News Items | Web sites | Contribution deadlines
Index | E2K NL Home