Thirty-first edition of the N&O column / Spooks newsletter

(Date: Sat, 02 Dec 2000 00:22:16 +0100)

Voice stations

Unid Russian??? station

The -still- unid Slavic station on 7019 kHz, definitely transmits in Russian. Takashi regularly reported this station and Igor, who heard it recently for the first time, translated the text for us. The station, that has a fixed schedule is on the air since at least 1998.

The characteristics are as follows:

Freq. :	7019 kHz
Mode :	AM
Voice :	Male
Language :	Russian
Schedule :	Thursday, 11.30 UTC

Message :

926 926 926 (repeated for 4 minutes)
652 652 27 27 (decryption key and group count)
razdel razdel ('separation'; same as '=' in morse)
59553 59553 63199 63199 09624 09624 04790 04790
61265 61265 36386 36386 85707 85707 16672 16672
56623 56623 86519 86519 73563 73563 32363 32363
36728 36728 75906 75906 64356 64356 05404 05404
81548 81548 71134 71134 98779 98779 89842 89842
31136 31136 85460 85460 13484 13484 45062 45062
83024 83024 80173 80173 96912 96912 (5FGs each group 2x)
razdel razdel
652 652 27 27
000

Chinese stations

All transmissions were in AM, read by a YL in Chinese and logged by Igor.

'138' used 7570 kHz for its message to '370'.

Message:

370 this is 138
nr 109 gr 10
1068 6033 8145 7254 5835 5743 5290 7224 6366 2401 bye

'728' was heard on 12877 (0130 UTC), 14860 kHz (0200 UTC), and 22305 kHz (0830 UTC) with '316 this is 728'. No message.

See also Newsletter 37 for more on '728'.

V02

Billy S. heard V02 on 5 Nov. at 0600 UTC. After this broadcast a hand keyed morse message was sent. Unfortunately Billy could not copy this message. Did anyone else heard it and wrote it down?

Three note oddity [G04]

Hans-Friedrich, the floor is yours!

2/11/00	2105Z	4.270 kHz
	2135Z	4.380 kHz	(+110 kHz!!!)

Message : 36364 45567 82476 20320 82020 34400 00758 34411 56057 12118 88424 05727 45652 73164 21703 44562 68818 20420
= 18 groups

Remarks :

2nd frequency 110 kHz higher
Rather small number of groups
No "9".

History :

Summer	2005	2035
Winter	2105	2135

11/99	3910	3810	2nd transmission -100 kHz
12/99	3360	3260
01/00	3440	3340
02/00	3920	3820
03/00	4520	4420
04/00	5210	5310	2nd transmission +100 kHz
05/00	4830	4930
06/00	5220	5320
07/00	5360	5460
08/00	5320	5420
09/00	4760	4860
10/00	4580	4680
11/00	4270	4380	2nd transmission +110 kHz

See also Newsletter 32.

Unid station - Information wanted !!!

Alexandr from the Ukraine writes that he heard an unid station at +/- 9910 kHz. Time: 2255-2330 UTC. Date: 29 June 2000. Very loud signal in Kiev.

Characteristics:

Id :	4-character callsign (e.g. `M7D8`)
Voice :	Male (English with strong accent -Hindi? Urdu? other?-
Mode :	AM (badly modulated)
Format :	5LGs; messages separated by 'messages ends' + callsign. It is unknown if the station uses a callup or header.
Example:	`UCIVI ATPWV WCGBD HDFMX ULCYU OLPUV ... MESSAGE ENDS, THIS IS M7D8`

North Korean stations

Our Japanese correspondent Takashi reports a number of North and South Korean stations.

3250 kHz, North Korean female numbers in AM. Started with 'Red Flag Song', followed by Korean female numbers at 1400 UTC. Also noted on 621, 657, 702, 720, 855, 6400 kHz. 621 and 3250 kHz are famous Radio Pyongyang frequencies beamed to Japan. These stations went QRT in August.

4770 kHz, North Korean female numbers in AM. Started with an arranged version of the 'General Kim Ill Sung' melody, the same interval signal as Radio Pyongyang beamed to overseas, then the melody of 'Cantata to Marshal Kim Sun', followed by Korean female numbers. Also noted on 5879 kHz. This station also went QRT in August.

Most active AM numbers from North Korea went QRT except for 3320, and 6250 kHz. The result of Southern and Northern harmony? M40 and M82, both North Korean CW numbers, are still active.

South Korean stations

6215 kHz, South Korean female numbers in distorted AM. Started with a Korean pop song, followed by Korean female numbers. Ended with 'That is all. Thank you' in Korean.

6215 kHz is still active, and usually starts at H+00 or H+30 at mid-night in East Asia. Similar transmissions are very occasionally heard on 4600, 5450, 5715, and 6715 kHz.

See also Newsletter 32.

Israeli intelligence [E10]

Harald in Germany reported that CIO transmitted a message string instead of its normal routine. He heard the station on 4360 kHz at 1936 UTC on 22 Nov. with the following message: CIO42127. Nice catch, Harald and thanks for the sound sample.

Download your copy here.

John Maky updated his E10 schedules document. If you are interested, feel free to ask John for a copy.

See also Newsletter 32.

Cherry ripe [E03A/E04]

Cherry Ripe apparently changed its schedules. The station was heard on the following frequencies during the past few weeks.

UTC	Frequencies
0000	18864 // 21866
0100	19844 // 21866
1100	18864 // ?
1200	18864 // 23461
1300	18864 // 21866
2200	? // 24644
2300	18864 // 21866

See also Newsletter 32.