Sixty-ninth edition of the N&O column / Spooks newsletter

(Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2004 21:58:35 +0100)

Unid stations

Tick

The following info was sent to us by Wolf (IARU Monitoring Service). He says "During the last weeks I found mysterious ticking pulses on 14.000 and 21.000 spreading over +/- 12 kHz. There were 3 pulses per second and 1 kHz space between the pulses. QTE about 100 degrees from Germany. The pulses were in parallel on 14.000 and 21.000 MHz. Signals were strong, S 9 + 20 dBs. The location of this signal is Iran, close to Tehran. Testing such systems on Ham-bands is rather effective because lots of complaints can be expected. I heard the "ticker" for the first time on 2 January. It is possibly a new radar system from Iran."

You can found a sound sample on the N&O home page.

Thanks for the info, Wolf. Much appreciated.

UXSF

Remember this one from last month?

"SFUX" repeated for 3 minutes on 4993 kHz.html/radio/nsnl/nsnl89unid.html

It is actually "UXSF" that is repeated for 3 minutes daily at 1600 UTC. Fritz sends us a note in which he says "I guess other QRGs are used as well, he always tunes his equipment a few minutes before tmx starts." Hand keyed.

VWGZ

Fritz also send us the following unid:

8634 kHz	VWGZ	20-1	2050 UTC
8646 kHz	VWGZ	21-1	2040 UTC

VWGZ ii nr bn 375/21 nr bn 375/21 ii zfg zfg
bnr 736/20 bnr 736/20 sjk sjk kan kan blo blo ii pp ii 20 1950
gr 86 gr86 = five one six nine juliet one seven three zero
6720 6984 4FG ....= gr 86 +

HWK7

6998 kHz

HWK7

16-1

1610 UTC.

Messages like: =pontificia basilica de la santa casa - santuario internazionale = loreto = servizi informatifi - semino italia = de HWK7 +

Fritz writes about this oddity: "Loreto is situated near Ancona (NE Italy). It is hard to believe a religious fanatic keeps transmitting his texts for over 5 years."

It is indeed hard to believe, Fritz. However, I once received a note from an Italian radio amateur who claims that he know this guy. He uses a fake Vatican callsign and transmits indeed from NE Italy. I know that this fellow often gets on the wrong side of HAMs on 7000 kHz when he causes interference.

Pirate beacons

Chris Smolinski recently sent out a call for info about the US pirate beacons. The following was posted to Spooks and Chris' Spynumbers website at http://www.spynumbers.com/USSWbeacon.html If you can supply more info, please send us a note.

Chris says:

"This message was posted some time ago on one of the pirate radio mailing lists. I've listened for these beacons here in Maryland without luck, but perhaps some other folks closer to the SW USA can pick them up. I have seen reports of a mystery "C" beacon on 6925 before."

A number of people reacted to Chris' e-mail:

"Greetings from the US. A group of us here in the US Southwest have been operating pirate beacons for a few years now. They are located at remote sites in the southwestern deserts in Arizona and California. They are all solar powered with a 12V gel cell (lead-acid) battery with the exception of one that operates with a solar panel only and transmits daytime only. The typical power output is about 100 to 200mW using a CMOS crystal oscillator and a 2N2222 or similar output transistor.

Here is a list of the beacons and frequencies:

8000.55 kHz: Sends Morse code letter "S"; daytime only from about 1500 to 0000 UTC. Located in western Arizona. Dipole antenna, 250 mW at mid-day.

4095 to 4096 kHz: A "cluster" of 5 beacons mostly sending either "dits" or long dashes. They operate 24 hours. One periodically sends Morse "W" between series of dits. Located in Arizona and Southern California deserts. About 150 mW each.

6700 kHz. Sends a series of "dits". Located in California. Operates 24 hours."

More reactions:

4 Jan 2004. From William in Berkeley, CA:

"At 4095.7 kHz there is a beacon that is a series of long dashes."

From "scanner_dude" in Cochise County AZ:

"4095.5 I can copy one becon for sure... a series of 2 "dit's", it's mixed in with another, weaker signal that appears to be sending just a series of dash's.... I have a good copy on the one thats doing the "dit dit"... 1756 local Az time, 0056 Zulu."

5 Jan 2004. Ben in Colorado:

'These were heard after dark in Colorado - both the dit dit dit beacons and the one that sends W."

12 Jan 2004. From Jeff in NW Oregon:

"I also heard a cw beacon last night on 4096 at 0108 UTC. Repeated 'w'. Reception was poor but readable at times in my location."

From Tom in Manchester/Tullahoma, TN:

"Finally heard the "W" beacon on 4095.55 at around 0342Z 11 Jan Not a bad haul for a 150mW beacon. See recording of beacon http://www.fernblatt.net/Recordings/4095_01_11_04_0342Z.zip Nothing on 6700 but a carrier and nothing on 8000.55 during the day."

13 Jan 2004. From Glenn in CO:

"4096.25 has long dashs no other ID"

18 Jan 2004

"On a somewhat related note, I've managed to hear N2UHC's 30m beacon on 10146 kHz CW. He's running 2 watts, and is in Frontenac, KS. I'm in Westminster, MD. I caught him as soon as I tuned in, so 100 milliwatts is certainly enough to get halfway across the US under conditions which are not the best. Quite a bit of UTE QRM, which sounds like PACTOR."

19 Jan 2004. From KUMD:

"I can say that 6700.4 (was 24 hrs, A1A, about 62 dashes/min. is QRT for some reason - this beacon from s.e. CA's Colorado/Mojave Desert boundary, went suddenly silent in mid-Nov '03 after 4 years on-air. One of the "4096 cluster" bcns about 30 miles from 6700 seems to have suffered from lack of winter sunlight - it was strong until late Nov after a battery swap and a charge controller addition, then faded down again to very weak levels on 4096.09 kHz with a 4 sec. dash A1A. the 5 others are there as usual. Best bet for DX east of MS River is "S" 8000.55 (day-only) and "W" 4095.5 (24 h with huge signal in southwest.)"