Surfing the Radio Waves

Update regarding the UNID station found on 11000 kHz

2012-01-07T09:44:00.002Z

The message which the UNID station found on 11MHz sent, was:

GR35
NO125
MESSAGE
KLPAS BDMGC SPADM SPILB KADCC SBAPP OCMZO PADZZ SPAIK CISBK
QUVAD APCNS SBAAA NOZII KKQUS CAPAA NBOKF EPFFZ PACCM SBADN
KLPAS NNCOM SIKSF PCPIF MKQZF SQUFB SIMCD SPPGC MSNQU ZOIKF
CEPQU VIIOA FFEKS NZPAC LOPSS

It is a short message for giving trustworthy analysis results. But it doesn't seem too "random". And there are only 19 out of the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet.

The same station reappeared on 10400 kHz, between roughly 1400z - 1600z with the same message, and occasionally classical music . Also, I heard some OM talking (not sure for the language). Unfortunately I don't have any sound samples.

To be honest, I think this is a hoax. But I'll give it a try whenever I have free time, just for the fun of it!

UNID station on 11000 kHz

2012-01-01T14:37:00.005Z

A UNID transmission began at 1429z on 11000 kHz, USB mode. Moderate signal strength with some QSB. Note the noisy background and the funny sounds near the beginning and the distinct pronunciation of the letter v. It faded out at 1503z.

Sound sample

Test transmission on 9450kHz, along with an E25a message

2011-12-17T09:00:00.003Z

A long test session occurred on 15 December, at 9450 kHz. It started at 1303z and lasted for a bit more than a half an hour.

The session began with PC sounds, then a prayer, then again, sounds from the Windows game "Spider Solitaire". At 1317z and after a brief 1000 Hz tone, the YL counted 0-9, each number spoken in both variants. The second variant is used when the number is in the end of a numbers group. After a while, at 1323z a tone and the YL counting 0-6 this time was heard. The carrier stayed up with again some Windows sounds. At 1327z, an E25a message (785 2) was sent, and the session ended at 1335z, with some more sounds from "Spider Solitaire".

And here is the sound file of the whole transmission. Enjoy!

Abdel Halim Hafez - Ahwak ("I love you"), transmitted on 6140 kHz

2011-12-17T08:48:00.003Z

On 15 December, 0837z, 6140 kHz, E25 transmitted this song from Abdel Halim Hafez. The song is called "Ahwak" which means "I love you". Here is a YouTube video featuring the same song,
and some more info regarding the singer can be found in the corresponding Wikipedia article.

Some more peculiar E25 transmissions

2011-12-12T20:58:00.008Z

A lot activity logged yesterday, 12 December. Almost all of the transmissions on 6140 kHz were troublesome. The machine/software which announces the messages from pre-recorded voice samples, had variable speed. Instead of trying to describe what I've heard, I'll provide the samples...

6140 kHz
0800z: 117 7
(This is a so-called E25a transmission.)

0831z: 701 5611 1430 0201 3579 7977 9425 1253 7669 3650 1430 140
Music started at 0838z.

0845z: 169 2140 1540 1056 1721 1721 7560 3997 6991 2217 3402 0474 1634

1000z: 570 4630 1038 9584 6441 0592 2270 2724 5306

1046z: 880 1810 7111 1099 6196 8979 1069 0704 0618 8111 7852 1810
(A usual E25 transmission this time.)

9450kHz
1245z: 555 2121 2021 0110 6422 7056 5601 3046 6436 7646 1768 2820 0110
(Another usual transmission.)

All signals were strong in my QTH. (As I could judge from the (auto)recordings quality.)

There is a chance that the 9450kHz transmission will repeat today, December 13th. Any logs are always welcome!

Two nearly incomprehensible E25a transmissions

2011-12-08T22:36:00.003Z

I have no idea why E25 operators mess things all the time.

The first transmission occurred today at 0802z with the E25a message "364 91" and the second at 0815z with the message "126 48". Both were on 6140kHz and in AM mode.

Strange repeat of yesterday's live E25 transmission

2011-12-07T21:51:00.004Z

Yesterday, a live transmission with ID 360 took place on 6140 kHz at 0801z:

7590 1510 6060 3137 7735 4027 3558 1510 1007

Today, a "shorter version" of the above message was transmitted at 0800z. It wasn't a live transmission; the usual pre-recorded YL voice announced the the first five groups of the above message. Since the original message contains a repeat group (1510) it is obvious that today something went wrong (as usual).

A ringing sound (probably a Windows XP sound) can also be heard.

Another strange E25a message

2011-11-28T21:05:00.004Z

This is another peculiar E25a message recorded today at 0915z, 6140 kHz, USB mode. I am still wondering what is the purpose of the random WinXP sounds.

E25 transmission with severe problems

2011-10-13T18:48:00.004Z

A transmission with a lot of problems happened today on 6140kHz at 1114UTC. Just listen for yourself. (Note: a constant buzz sound that appears occasionally is due to local QRN)

UNID signal on 9344 kHz

2011-09-16T10:43:00.004Z

A whistle-like signal is currently present on 9344 kHz, USB mode 1051z:

Spectrogram image

Signal strength is low but clear.

Sound sample.

Any ideas?

E25 test transmission this morning on 9450 kHz

2011-07-31T15:02:00.002Z

This morning I was lucky enough to receive an E25 test transmission on its "noon" frequency, 9450 kHz. It began approximately at 0800UTC till 0827UTC. Most of the time it was only a carrier, but occasionally there was the 1000 Hz test tone, which surprisingly, at 0819UTC and 0824UTC varied in frequency. This recording is from 0817UTC onwards. At 2min 40s and at 6min 40s of the recording, the operator varies the tone frequency (no, I didn't change my receiver's frequency!)

Chile HF-Fax service log

2011-07-31T14:48:00.003Z

And here is a HF-Fax log!

This is the schedule transmission logged from Chile CBV HF-Fax service, logged on 29 July 2155UTC, on 17144.59 USB:

171446.4 kHz 2155z

Many thanks to Nairam for providing the tip! He had better reception than mine as you can check his images here (schedule) and here (+36h prognosis). The transmission ended before the completion of the full schedule image.

73!

E25 transmissions

2011-06-22T19:56:00.005Z

There were two transmissions on 6140kHz today. The first one ended just before the final two numbers of the message, while the second one was an E25a transmission.

Here is the 0833z transmission, and here is the E25a transmission at 0848z.

Also, two test-like transmissions occurred on 9450 kHz, the first at 1209z and the second on 1239z. The former was just the usual 1000Hz test tone while the latter, except from the tone, had ~10 seconds of music, which was something new this time.

Here is the sample from the second transmission on 9450kHz.

E25a transmission at a furious speed

2011-04-22T07:19:00.003Z

Yesterday, a very strong carrier appeared at 1304 UTC on 9450 kHz and after ~10 minutes (1315z) the usual E25 lady announced an E25a-type of message:

785 56 788 49 52 53 55

Initially the YL said "788 9" instead of "788 49". That was her mistake. It still needs practice and patience to follow her. It is odd that sometimes, when the number which follows is the same, the pause in between is bigger.

The strange (and funny) thing is that after the end of the transmission, at 1321 UTC, the YL started again, in a frantic pace. Then, at 1323 UTC, she was repeating "78" and then "Message" x3, "Rebeat" x3, "End of message, end of transmission" and a couple of WinXP sounds (the kind you get when you are browsing with Explorer" were heard.

Anyway, here's yesterday's recording (trimmed for brevity).

Two E25 transmissions on 9450kHz, with lots of PC sounds

2011-04-09T20:42:00.006Z

The recording starts at 1315z on 9450 kHz, AM mode. After the first transmission and during the second transmission, a lot of PC sounds are heard. Any ideas?

Another transmission occurred on 9450 kHz at 1244z (a message to 440, which is the same since 22/02). Also, earlier this morning, a transmission occurred on 6140 kHz, at 0800z:

6421 4880 3351 9836 8953 3361 4186 6507 3344 4586 4880 5390

The station was up at least since 0753z with OM music. WinXP sounds were heard again, the YL ended with “EOM 3...”. It was a strong signal.

WinXP shutdown sound after an E25a transmission on 9450 kHz

2011-04-02T14:14:00.007Z

Today there was a transmission on 9450 kHz at 1313z. The strange thing was, while being an E25a transmission (which means no message body), the YL said "Message" three times, and continued to call "785 46". Usually, a runaway "Message" can be heard during E25a messages but in the end of the transmission. After calling "785 46" a couple of times, the YL said "Message" twice, and the WinXP shutdown sound was heard.

Here is the recording of the full transmission.

E25 transmissions today on 9450 kHz

2011-03-05T15:19:00.005Z

This day we had three E25 transmissions, all on 9450 kHz.

Here are the message details and recordings:

1st transmission:
1219 UTC Carrier in progress
1228 UTC The song "Arouh Le Min" from Umm Kulthum was heard
1230 UTC Th YL started calling "555", with irregular spaces between numbers, sometimes the numbers are not "spoken" as a whole.

1232 UTC "Message" x3
9104 6031 8741 0413 3253 8882 6157 7803 8487 0312
8828 2497 8741

1235 UTC "Rebeat" x3
1237 UTC "End of message, end of transmission"

Recording (note, I accidentally switched to USB)

2nd transmission:
1242 UTC Carrier
1244 UTC YL calling "440"
1245 UTC "Message" x3
8237 4031 4710 2377 1161 8115 5905 2141 0105 3069
1730 7939 4710

1248 UTC Pause till 1249 UTC, then "Rebeat" x3
1252 UTC Ended with "EOM" only, carrier QRT at 1308 UTC

Recording

3rd transmission:
1342 UTC Music, "Arouh Le Min"
1345 UTC YL calling "227 17, 220 18 19 20, 222" irregular spaces between numbers
1350 UTC "222" repeated, then "Message" x3
5279 4411 0810 5897 2744 2999 2440 4217 0585 4482
0810

Recording

Note that during the third transmission, a BC station was on the same frequency, but here in my QTH, E25 is much stronger (+20dB or +30dB, while the BC station peaks S7)

Hooray! A new edition of rfax.pdf from NOAA!

2011-02-13T13:45:00.002Z

I just noticed the existence of a newer edition (9 Feb 2011) of NOAA's HF fax guide. Because it took me ages to download it from their site, here is a copy of it!

E25 today on 9450 kHz

2011-02-13T13:17:00.003Z

Hello,

This is the 1230 UTC E25 transmission on 9450 kHz recorded in AM mode. The young lady has a variable rhythm. I suspect that the operators switched to Windows XP since there are reports of that particular OS sounds accidentally escaping to the airwaves. This may be the reason for the varying speech speed.

Nowadays there are more reports of E25 on 9450 kHz probably due to the improving HF conditions.

Enjoy!

An interesting E25 transmision with an exciting ending

2010-12-02T13:53:00.004Z

And another surprise from E25!

The transmission began at 1214z on 9450 kHz, with the song "Inte Omri". Then at 1217z, the mechanical young lady, in a faster-than-usual pace, was calling "830 3 835". Then a message to 835 followed:

830 3 835

835 (repeated)

"Message" x3

1020 5555 x19 (an unusual message)

"Repeat"x3 (fast)

"End of message, end of transmission"

Note that the pace was a bit faster, the gaps between phrases/numbers were a bit irregular and the endings of the number "five" were more abrupt than usual.

At 1226z the message ended with the usual "EOM EOT" and then...the Windows XP shutdown sound followed! (And not Windows 98!) After this little surprise, the transmission ended.

Here is (nearly) the whole transmission (A part is missing from the beginning). The "rattling" sound is the digital station who usually interferes E25 when I use AM mode.

So E25 operators upgraded their OS? But yet, the quality of the transmission wasn't as good as expected!

The Buzzer sounds a bit different this evening

2010-12-01T19:13:00.003Z

The Buzzer (S28) sounds a bit different today, having a higher pitch. This is a recording made today at 1909z, on 4625 kHz, with the receiver in AM mode.

Early E25a on 9450kHz

2010-11-25T11:18:00.003Z

The YL appeared an hour earlier, at 1115z (it is expected to transmit at 1200z-1400z during winter time) on 9450 kHz, with the E25a message "317 3". A carrier was present since at least 1056z, and had a brief break at 1110z. The transmitter QRT after the end of the message, which ended without "End of message, end of transmission".

Recording.

New edition of rfax.pdf

2010-09-10T10:22:00.003Z

I just noticed that NOAA has published a new edition of the rfax.pdf which is a guide/schedule for the HF-FAX stations of the world. The guide is dated 13 August 2010.

The Buzzer, with "The Swan's Lake" and with an OM counting live!

2010-09-02T18:37:00.004Z

This is my first post after a long time. My excitement for what's going on motivated me to finally quit my long silence.

The Buzzer (S28) stopped transmitting two days ago. Since then, several people confirmed its absence. Yesterday I found (among with others) that the familiar buzzing sound was back again.

Moments ago (4625 USB, 1834z), I was lucky to hear a test transmission from S28! An OM counting in Russian, then the buzzing sound and "The Swan's Lake"!

Here is the recording! Enjoy!

The web page http://www.uvb-76.net/ has a live feed from 4625 kHz.

Pedro's buzz: Or what's common between V02a/SK01 and Radio Habana Cuba

2009-11-21T08:31:00.004Z

It is a nice, sunny morning (with 31 sunspots... yeah!) with Radio Habana Cuba on 6140 kHz, the same frequency as E25. It appears that the few sunspots helped a little bit and RHC is a bit stronger than usual. RHC is the BC QRM I sometimes mention when talking about E25 on 6140 kHz at ~0800z, and it is usually stronger earlier in the mornings. Today I could hear a buzz, something like the 50 Hz (or 60 Hz? What does Pedro use in Cuba? LOL!) and its harmonics.

I thought: "Let's try a V02a frequency" and decided to tune to 5898 kHz. Success! There was the V02a YL calling! A similar buzz like RHC was heard.

A few moments later, the YL stopped and a SK01 transmission occurred! Another surprise! Then the YL was back! This is the SK01 transmission. Near the end of the recording I switched to 6140 kHz for comparison. The following spectrogram image compares the two "buzzes":

The left half is from a silent part of the Radio Habana Cuba transmission while the right part is from V02a. There are more harmonics apparent in the RHC part since its signal was stronger. But they seem to match, don't they? Or I'm seeing "patterns" here, like most of my fellow daydreamers (i.e. Numbers Stations fans)?

Back to daydreaming...