Seventh edition of the N&O column / Spooks newsletter

(Date: Thu, 29 Oct 1998 17:46:43 GMT)

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Morse Stations

M21

It came to my attention that the Russian Air Defense Forces, as of May of this year, no longer exist as a separate unit of the Russian military. They have been combined with the Frontal Aviation, Strategic Aviation, and Airlift to form the new "Russian Air Forces"

I logged M21 on 5141.5 and 3838 recently

M63

The station is around for several years. It was first heard in 1994. Who and where are they? Well, df's pinpoint this station in Romania. Who the users are? It is said to be a Romanian border guards network. The ACF23 RTTY system is -as far as I know- only used by Romanian government stations (diplo, military). One thing bothers me though, and that is the language on the net, it is English, not Romanian. Quite illogical for a Romanian internal network, right? Anyway, to get you all involved, here are the station's characteristics. We can hardly await your comments :-)

Characteristics

It operates on two frequencies in parallel. The station was first heard in 1994, when it was using the callsign "G7", the second freq used the callsign "K4", and all the other stations also had letter-figure call-signs; even then, it used the same RTTY, 115.74 bd ACF 23. The callsigns changed to the present A2A and B4G in 1995. When transmitting RTTY, A2A and B4G have a center freq ending on .9 and a shift of ca 400 Hz.

The procedure, and the unusual "Q" codes, have been the same since 1994. Circuit discipline is very strict. Chats between two operators haven't been logged so far. All contacts are very short and formal. Both A2A and the out-stations apparently keep continous watch; A2A usually answers promptly if called by one of the out-stations, and occasionally A2A calls one of them expecting him to be listening.

There seem to be no fixed skeds, but there is a transmission at 05.00 UTC daily on 5807/6763 kHz unless cancelled by an earlier message. A2A is on its (variable) overnight freqs until 04.55, then without warning it moves to 5807/6763, calls CQ at 05.00, and usually immediately gives a change of frequency, sometimes back to the night freqs! Very rarely it comes on before 05.00, on its night freqs, and sends "For QTR 0800 A2A QSW -- and B4G QSW --". So obviously the stations on the net expect a transmission at 05.00 (08.00 local time), and listen on 5807 and 6763 unless told to listen elsewhere. When the 5807 and 6763 freqs are being used, the other stations will answer on 4753 kHz.

Frequency identifiers

There is a series of numbered frequencies. The station operates, usually, within 5 kHz of one of these. The freqs are scattered throughout the spectrum, but so far no freq > 7 MHz has been noted. The identifiers run from ..1 to .13 and are in reverse order of frequency.

The station transmits occasional service messages in CW. Sometimes only a new operator is announced. Each operator has an id-number. A message may look like this 'GE FM OP 107'. Most messages are to announce a freq change, which goes like this:
'NW FOR ALL QSY 501 PLUS 2 - A2A QSW 605 MINUS 5 - B4G QSW 608 PLUS 4'

So, always a transmit freq for both A2A and B4G and one freqs for the other stations to reply.

Now then, what are the new freqs? Let's have a look:

Usually such messages are followed by an exchange of signal reports with some 40 other stations, always beginning with Y2A. Occasionally a few of the out-stations are called by A2A / B4G, and that's always the same few.

Modes and language.

• CW
• Unid mode 115.74bd RTTY, ACF 23 (some say it's RAC-ARQ). Center frequency ending on .9 and a shift of ca 400 Hz.
• Language: abbreviated English, sometimes the French word 'ici' (here) is used instead of the usual 'hr' (here).

Logged frequencies

2775 3180 3185 3235 3325 3390 3395 4065 4085 4110 4145 4165 4315 4360 4545 4565 4755 4905 5005 5060 5115 5175 5305 5605 5805 6763 6765 kHz

Frequency indicators

None of these numbered freqs seem to be more than 13; they go from 301 to 313, 401 to 413 and so on.

Callsigns

A3P A6N B5O B8M C2Y C7N D4X D9M E2L E3Z F4K G8I G9U H6J H7T I1H J3R J8G K1P K3F L5E M6L M7D N4K N9C O2B P4A P8W P9I Q2J R7H U1C V1R Y2A Z6C X4B T3F L8O V8D

Sample messages

VVV QRA DE A2A QRA DE A2A QRA DE A2A
VVV QRA DE A2A QRA DE A2A QRA DE A2A
NW HR QTC 1 FOR ALL= NW WFI
followed by 115.75bd RTTY, and back to CW
NW FOR ALL HR WRW NR 1733 GR 150 WRW NR 1733 = PSE QSL 1 IND WRW =
and then calling its network to receive signal reports on the QSW frequency, like this:
A2A: V1R
V1R: V1R
A2A: GE K
V1R: GE R 1383 WRW 1723 TO 1733 WRK 3 OP 392 TKS
A2A: 1091 R 2 R 3 TU EE

M8

Bob Roehrig posted this on Spooks last month. Additions are most welcome. Thanks for the info, Bob!

Bob sez: ''I offer this list not as an official list but what I have logged and seen that others have logged recently thru your postings. The ? are ones I have not seen reported for at least 3 months.''

CW Cut Numbers Stations (M8) List Sep 2, 1998

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