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

(Date: Sun, 01 Apr 2001 20:59:49 +0200)

Voice stations | Morse stations | Intelligence news | Logs
Index | NS NL Home

Voice stations

Colonel Steve

I received a nice note this month regarding a station that I had mentioned before:

Tuning in the militia hour on 21 March on 3260 kHz USB, 0305 UTC. "Colonel Steve" reading number/letter combinations coded messages ("nancy nancy seven whiskey whiskey; kilo x-ray number six number five zulu"). Each group repeated twice. Followed by 3 and 4 word coded messages (camels are good swimmers; peachy keen wheels; grandma sent grandpa home) also repeated twice. Ended with "End of messages for today, I`m putting this in the burn barrel." Then into the usual drivel. I needed a good laugh today. Thanks, Colonel Steve!
<Dave Hughes, K.C. MO, DX LISTENING DIGEST>

Three note oddity [G04]

Hans-Friedrich Dumrese's monthly show. With logo this time :-)

Message :

06287 80543 12828 21420 03784 06017 31484 08236 52430 76710 30201 66353 26564 03784 52867 46675 32608 85184 84874 83417 01717 76666 61410 22462 16418 58721 30057 36424 66115 67281 25403 37255 41523 41187
= 34 groups

Remarks :

• No "9"
• High GC
• Next month on Summer sked 2005/2035Z (Winter 2105 2135)

History :

.+'''+.
*+HFD+*
 +,,,+'
 

Nancy Susan Adam [E15]

Last month E15 re-appeared after quite a long silence. I wonder if the propagation conditions were to blame for this. Looking at this month's reports it looks like the station is as active as ever.

Reports on various days but all from Western Europe on 18000 kHz at 1100 (BEC), 11170 kHz at 1230 (OSS), 11000 kHz at 1300 (BEC), and on 14000 kHz at 1400 (FYP).

'Ayom' - New Middle East station???

The following report was filed by Robin L. Harwood from Australia. Any information about this station is most welcome.

« There is a new channel for the presumed Farsi clandestine signal, which I have labelled as "ayom". This word or phrase is very often the first word in a sentence and must be a preposition or adjective.

Here is the log entry.

February 27, 2130 UTC, 12450 kHz DSB. "Ayom" heard but with moderate to severe bubble jammers. Female announcer reading sentences which are repeated. // 10080 kHz.

February 27, 2040 UTC, 10080 DSB. "Ayom" is there but completely swamped by very wide bubble jammers in excess of 16 kHz. Earliest I have heard them here which is indicative that they must be on that channel for over 90 minutes.

8600 kHz also had bubble jammers present but no discernible modulation. A few days back there were intermittent snatches of audio so the sender may be experiencing modulation problems. It was also the weakest of the three.

From my monitoring, it is very difficult to determine whether it is a broadcast or a spy numbers station. Yesterday the station concluded with a music bridge yet "Cherry Ripe/ Lincolnshire Poacher" do like-wise. The broadcaster that formerly was on 8850 kHz variable has not been heard lately. This did have speeches and rousing choruses and also suffered from identical jamming but were never as strong as "ayom" nor were they long on any given channel. I think we can deduce that the latter is definitely a different operation from "ayom".

From other observations, it is clear that "ayom" is located in the Middle East possibly even Israel as 4XZ in Haifa is on 10045 at similar times. It clearly is no shoestring outfit compared to the 8850 "Voice of the Mujahaddin" because to be on several frequencies with a stable carrier is indicative of being located at a major site. I am awaiting translation of their audio which may clarify things.

I am somewhat puzzled if it indeed is a spy station, why the presence of several bubble jammers spilling over. They too must be expending quite a bit of energy yet they are spasmodic. Some days they are absent particularly on Sundays (UTC). Anybody else hearing them? What times and/or channels? »

Thanks for the note, Robin.

Voice stations | Morse stations | Intelligence news | Logs
Index | NS NL Home