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

(Date: Fri, 2 Feb 2001 23:38:50 +0100)

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Voice stations

E03a/E04 - Cherry ripe

The latest schedules, supplied by Simon Denneen.

All transmissions are in the upper sideband.

E11 - Oblique

I received a note from Gert that E11 has a fixed schedule on Thursday at 0800 UTC on 10050 kHz for 232. Mostly null messages.

Thanks Gert, we get not many E11 logs lately.

E17

Ben Mesander reports E17 on 5814 kHz at 0400 UTC on 20 Jan. John Maky found them on 4783 kHz starting probably at 0215 UTC. Ends with 243 243 169 169 00000 at 0245 UTC.

E25 - New station

Recently a new station has come to the air. Although it sounds very similar to E15, there is no evidence that it also originates from Egypt. The station was first reported by Igor and has a fixed daily schedule on 9450 kHz at 1245-1300 and 1345-1400 UTC but it has also been heard at 1330 UTC. Some of the messages were live, not recorded.

- Format

Looking at the various reports I noticed a couple of differences but they were not significant. The following is the most often reported format and probably the correct one. Differences may occur during live transmissions. Sometimes different voices can be heard during one transmission. The language is English.

The transmission starts with ca. 6 minutes of Arabic music followed by a male who reads series of combinations of 2 and 3FGs for 5 minutes, followed by "Message, Message, Message". The message itself consists of 4FGs. After "Repeat, Repeat, Repeat" the message is repeated. Then "End of message". The transmission ends with 2 minutes of combinations of 2 and 3FGs, followed by "End of transmission".

- Example

Arabic music for ca. 6 minutes

440 745 67 68 69 70 (5 minutes)
440 440 440 440 440 440 440 440 440 440

Message message message

1774 0142 2410 5114 0543 7488 9823 7910 4622 4413 1482
7443 8907 5194 2923 8576 5277 2602 4523 2308 7200 8410

Repeat repeat repeat

1774 0142 2410 5114 0543 7488 9823 7910 4622 4413 1482
7443 8907 5194 2923 8576 5277 2602 4523 2308 7200 8410

End of message

444 19 449 20 (2 minutes)

End of transmission

G04 - Three note oddity

Hans-Friedrich's monthly item.

Message :

26735 75568 25551 03110 84224 34217 45558 23458 00150 24415 82348 22284 03708 30787 35170 68170 66085 24238 71368 33777 56025 70007 25080 00186 48520 57186 60352
= 27 groups

Remarks

• On Thursday 28.12.00 Guy Denman heard G04 with its December message on 4890/4990 instead of the normal 4110/4210.
• On 31.12.00 G04 was back on 4110/4210.
• Many groups with three times the same figure:
  ... 25551 ... 45558 ... 22284 ... 33777 ... 70007...
• Two groups with three or four consecutive figures:
  ... 23458 ... 82348 ...
• No "9".
• Very high frequency for January. Usually below 3.500 kHz.

History :

S13 - Russian counting station

3200 kHz, 2230 UTC, 3-12-2000 Russian 10-count 3 mins

S28 - Buzzer / UVB76

Rimantas Pleikys was lucky enough to capture both the December voice transmission of 'the Buzzer' and the maintenance break. Here is his report:

Russian military station UVB-76 ("Buzzer", 4625 kHz, AM) transmitted two messages in Russian on 24-12-2000. Male voice.

09:32-09:34 UTC "UVB-76. 74, 148. Antimonat. 26,37,09,31". (Repeat)
09:45-09:47 UTC "UVB-76. 62, 212. Antimonat. 26,37,09,31". (Repeat)

Reception here in Vilnius: SIO 555.

My speculations about the schedule of control messages of UVB-76:

• (1) Every year on the 24th of December
• (2) Every month on the 24th day
• (3) Every month on the last Sunday

Time: 09:30, 09:45 or 21:30, 21:45 UTC, or other.

About the maintenance break:

« On Monday 25-12-2000 at 08:50 UTC, there was a technical maintenance break: a 1000 Hz tone, pause, 0.1 sec. of a female voice (wrong microphone switched on?), and at 09:00 UTC the buzzer came back. Starting at approx. 06:00, UVB-76 used, as I call it, buzzer "Nr.2", which is slightly different from the usual signal. I think that this is backup equipment. It is used quite often. Possible times for the maintenance breaks are every Monday between 06:00 and 09:00 UTC, or every 4th Monday? »

Wow, and I missed it again :-(

Congrats with the very nice logs, Rimantas! This gives us something to check out in the coming months. Reports about messages and maintenance breaks are very welcome.

V2 - New format

John Maky, Ben Mesander and Greg Hajek all report V2's new format. Ben has recordings on his website, so if you cannot hear the station, check the samples at http://www.hungry.com/~ben/radio/

The format as described by John:

* 238 has been the regular recipient for this transmission

This format doesn't appear in Havana Moon's books; so is something entirely new. It is still using the V2 sedated older-woman voice.

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