Night of Nights VIII - Official Announcement

All ships and stations please copy...

HISTORIC MORSE CODE RADIO STATION KPH
RETURNS TO THE AIR FOR "NIGHT OF NIGHTS VIII"

Plus...

o Station KFS will return to the air!

o MRHS station KSM will be on the air.

o Coast Guard station NMN to be heard for the first time since
USCG ended the use of Morse!

o Coast Stations WLO, KLB, NMC, NOJ and NMN may join in.

o Amateur station K6KPH, with commercial operators at the key, will
be QRV signal reports.

If you're not already a member, join the MRHS mailing list for late
information. Just send an email message to:

Radiomarine-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

------------

It's hard to believe that this will the eighth annual Night of Nights.
What began as a modest effort on the part of a small band of dedicated
enthusiasts has grown into a truly global event.

Listeners around the world wait with their earphones on to hear the
first signals rise up out of the static. Many write wonderful
letters with phrases like "It was tough going there for a while but
I stuck with you through to the end!". Words like those let us
know that we're on the right track and that this event is as close
to the hearts of many other "true believers" as it is to ours.

In this eighth annual "Night of Nights", historic Morse code radio
station KPH will return to the air in commemoration of the closing
of commercial Morse operation in the USA.

Frequency and reception report information for all stations appear
below.

KPH, the ex-RCA coast station located north of San Francisco, will
return to the air for commemorative broadcasts on 12 July at 1701 PDT
(13 July at 0001 GMT), 8 years and one minute after what was thought
to be the last commercial Morse transmission in the US. Now the
Maritime Radio Historical Society's own KSM carries on the tradition
of commercial Morse.

These on-the-air events are intended to honor the men and women who
followed the radiotelegraph trade on ships and at coast stations
around the world and made it one of honor and skill.

Transmissions are expected to continue until at least midnight PDT
(0700GMT).

Veteran Morse operators, including former KPH staff members, will be
on duty at the receiving station at Point Reyes, CA listening for
calls from ships and sending messages just as they did for so many
years before Morse operations were shut down.

The transmitters are located 18 miles south of Point Reyes in
Bolinas, CA at the transmitting station established in 1913 by the
American Marconi Co. The original KPH transmitters, receivers and
antennas will be used to activate frequencies in all the commercial
maritime HF bands and on MF as well.

Many of the KPH transmitters will be 50s vintage RCA sets. KFS will use a 1940s vintage Press Wireless PW-15 transmitter on 12Mc. This is the transmitter that was in service at KFS on the "last day" of American Morse and is thought to be the last PW-15 in service in the world. The transmitting antennas include a Marconi T for MF,
double extended Zepps for 4, 6 and 8Mc and H over 2s for 12, 16 and 22Mc.

KPH will send traffic lists, weather and press broadcasts as well as
special commemorative messages, some of which will be sent by hand.
At other times the KPH, KSM and KFS "wheel" will be sent to mark the
transmitting frequencies.

Members of the public are invited to visit the receiving station for
this event. The station will be open to visitors beginning at
1500PDT (3:00pm). The station is located at 17400 Sir Francis Drake
Boulevard and is on the route to the Point Reyes lighthouse. Watch
for a cypress lined driveway on the right about a mile past the entry
to Coast Guard station NMC.

KPH and KSM are operated by the Maritime Radio Historical Society in
cooperation with the Point Reyes National Seashore, part of the
National Park Service.

Further information may be found on the Maritime Radio Historical
Society Web site at http://www.radiomarine.org or by contacting
Richard Dillman at +1 415-663-8982 (email: ddillman@igc.org).

BT

Station Information follows...

------------

KPH

KPH will transmit on 426, 500, 4247.0, 6477.5, 8642.0, 12808.5, 17016.8 and 22477.5kc.

These frequencies and those for KFS have been made available through the generous cooperation of Globe Wireless, the current owner of the KPH and KFS licenses.

KPH operators will listen for calls from ships on ITU Channel 3 in
all bands. The Channel 3 frequencies are 4184.0, 6276.0,
8368.0, 12552.0, 16736.0 and 22280.5kc on HF and 500kc on MF.

Reception reports may be sent to:

Ms. DA Stoops
P.O. Box 381
Bolinas CA 94924-0381
USA

Denice is a former KPH operator and was the first female telegrapher
hired at the station.

------------

KFS

KFS will transmit on 12695.5 and 17026.0

KFS will listen for calls from ships on HF Channel 3 (see
KPH listing for frequencies).

------------

KSM

KSM will transmit on 426, 500, 6474 and 12993kc.

(We don't have enough antennas to accommodate the other KSM
frequencies.)

KSM will listen for calls from ships on 500kc and HF Channel 3 (see
KPH listing for frequencies).

Reception reports may be sent to:

Ms. DA Stoops
P.O. Box 381
Bolinas CA 94924-0381
USA

------------

WLO

(NOTE: This information has not been confirmed by WLO
at the time of this announcement.)

WLO will transmit on 438, 500, 8514.0 and 12660.0kc

WLO will listen for calls from ships on 500kc and HF Channel 3 (see
KPH listing for frequencies).

Reception reports may be sent to:

WLO/KLB
7700 RINLA AVENUE
MOBILE, ALABAMA 36619
USA

Or via email to: wloradio@wloradio.com

------------

KLB

KLB will transmit on 488, 500, 6411.0 and
12917.0kc beginning at 0030 GMT

KLB will listen for calls from ships on 500kc and HF Channel 3 (see
KPH listing for frequencies).

Reception reports may be sent to:

klb@wavecable.com

------------

NMN

For the first time since the USCG ended Morse operations NMN
will be back on the air!

NMN will transmit on 448, 468, 500, 8471, 12718.5 and 16976kc

NMN will listen for calls from ships on 500kc and HF Channel 3 (see
KPH listing for frequencies).

No reception report information has been supplied for NMN.

------------

(NOTE: As of this writing operators are unavailable to put NMC on the
air. But it will be worth listening in case there's a last minute
change.)

NMC

NMC will transmit on 448, 472, 500, 6383.0, 8574.0 and 17220.5kc

NMC will listen for calls from ships on 500kc and HF Channel 3 (see
KPH listing for frequencies).

Reception reports may be sent to:

COMMANDING OFFICER
ATTN ITC ERIC SIMMONS
COMMUNICATIONS AREA MASTER STATION PACIFIC
17000 SIR FRANCIS DRAKE BLVD
POINT REYES STATION, CALIFORNIA 94956-0560
USA

------------

NOJ

(Note that NOJ will be operational on MF this year!)

NOJ will transmit on 416, 470, 500, 8650.0, 12889.5
and 16909.7kc.

NOJ will listen for calls from ships on Channel 3 (see
KPH listing for frequencies).

Reception reports may be sent to:

COMMANDING OFFICER
ATTN OSCM WILLIAM KECKLER
US COAST GUARD COMMUNICATIONS STATION KODIAK
PO BOX 190017
KODIAK, ALASKA 99619
USA

------------

K6KPH

Amateur station K6KPH will transmit and listen on 3550, 7050 and
14050kc for KPH, KFS and KSM reception reports. Professional
operators will be at the key and commercial procedures will be used.
But please don't hesitate to call, not matter what your code speed
or experience level may be.

K6KPH verification reports may be sent to:

Ms. DA Stoops
P.O. Box 381
Bolinas CA 94924-0381
USA

BT

BV ES VY 73 TO ALL,

MRHS

KFS Testing on 17026 kHz CW

In preparation for Night of Nights (12 July) KFS/A is testing on 17026kc, running a wheel as of 1930 GMT. For Night of Nights a 12Mc KFS frequency will also be available.

KSM is on the air as usual running a wheel with the traffic list scheduled for 2100 GMT and high seas weather at 2130 GMT on:

4350.5kc
6474.0kc
12993.0kc
16914.0kc

The traffic list and weather will be announced on 500kc and sent on 426kc.

VY 73,

Richard Dillman
Chief Operator, MRHS

(A weak QRU? marker is audible on 17026 CW in Southern California at 2159 UTC.

KSM has wx in progress at 2202 UTC. 4350.5 and 6474 are S8, 12993 is S2, and 16914 is in and out of the noise. This is consistent with skip over this distance. -Hugh)

STS-117 Landing Today

Gulfstream aircraft have just taken off at EDW and KSC to evaluate weather by shooting approaches to the runways. The first landing opportunity at KSC was waved off, now there is an orbit allowing either depending on when the deorbit burn is done. Landing would be around 1945 UTC in either case.


[EDIT 1752 UTC:]

The decision has just been made to go to Edwards AFB on the desert northeast of Los Angeles. The shuttle will come from almost due south, and the loudest sonic booms will be in San Diego and east of L.A.. Landing is on EDW runway 22 at 1949 UTC.

[UPDATE #2 1819 UTC:]

NASA's WB-57F aircraft (NASA 928) has been heard making patches on HF. It is a high-altitude research plane with various missions. It is used on shuttle missions for photo-recon of the descending spacecraft.

Some More Google Earth Coordinates

38.379126, -121.762193
Google Earth recently added high-res imagery of the Dixon, CA area. The HFDL ground station is on the old VOA site, along with some Globe Wireless assets. Nice antenna farm!

56° 4'56.40"N 37° 5'25.71"E
Russian station UVB 76, source of The Buzzer (S28), a numbers station which emits only an intermittent buzzing sound 24/7/52 on 4625 kHz. We know it's a channel marker because it has been interrupted 3 times (that we know of) for short voice messages in Russian. Possibly military. Note the little roads extending away from the transmitter building and dipole antenna, leading to other antennas in the woods, or ??????

Russian Cluster Beacons Are Up

They've been reported for a couple of days now. Active clusters are (at least) 5, 7, 10, 13, and 16. Look up and down around 1 kilohertz from 5154.0, 7039.0, 10872.0, 13528.0, and 16332.0 kHz CW.

The Rain In Spain

According to NASA TV, STS-117 remains go for launch at KSC. However, the weather at the Zaragoza, Spain TAL site has turned rainy, making the launch a no-go at this moment. The countdown remains in a planned hold for the approximately 8 minute window either side of 7:38 Eastern. We'll see what happens.

STS-117 On Schedule

NASA TV has just reported that the launch is still on schedule for 7:38 EST (2338 UTC) Friday evening (tonight). Weather is clear and seems to be well within launch constraints at KSC, and at one TAL (Trans-Atlantic Landing abort) site.

Has This Blog Been Censored?

Two or three posts to this blog regarding STS-117 seem to have vanished. Given the intense security surrounding this launch (such as the 50-nm radius TFR), I am currently wondering if this was a simple mistake, server glitch, or something far more intentional.

The posts were straight relays of official press information from the KSC Public Affairs Office, as sent out on their public mailing list. They were obviously carefully vetted and cleared for publication. I don't know why they would go away.

[UPDATE: The posts turned up on another blog. I didn't post them there, but that's where they went. Looks like software weirdness, not any kind of censorship.]

Booster Recovery Vessels up on 5211 kHz USB

STS-117 appears on time for the launch this evening... watching the weather...

Space Shuttle Launch Set for Next Week

STS-117 EVENTS SCHEDULE
(All times are Eastern)

L-4 Days - Monday, June 4
6:30 p.m. - STS-117 crew arrival at Shuttle Landing Facility

L-3 Days - Tuesday, June 5
9 p.m. - Launch countdown officially begins (Not on NASA TV)

L-1 Day - Thursday, June 7
10:30 p.m. - Rotating Service Structure moves to launch position

Launch Day - Friday, June 8

9:42 a.m. - Tanking commences (Not on NASA TV)
1:30 p.m. - Live launch commentary begins
3:17 p.m. -- Astronauts don flight suits
3:47 p.m. -- Depart for launch pad
4:17 p.m. -- Arrive at white room and begin ingress
5:32 p.m. -- Close crew hatch
7:38 p.m. -- Launch

NECN Quarterly Exercise in Progress

10493.0 kHz is active with the quarterly National Emergency Coordination Net drill. A FEMA station with callsign WGY ??? is working Army MARS at 1854 in USB.

It's worth checking out the alternate primary frequency on 5211.0, or maybe 13956 and 14567, USB and LSB.

Night of Nights 2007 - Mark Those Calendars

Amateur station K6KPH will be on the air for this year's Night of Nights event. Professional operators will be at the key to receive signal reports for commercial coast stations.

Night of Nights is an annual event held on 12 July by the Maritime Radio Historical (MRHS) Society to commemorate the history of maritime radio.

Once the maritime mobile bands were populated edge to edge with powerful coast stations operating from virtually every country on every continent. Once the ships of world trade and the great passenger liners filled the air with their radiograms - and with their calls for help when in danger on the sea. Now those bands are largely silent.

But once a year the the MRHS returns stations KPH, KSM and KFS to the air. Other stations including WLO, KLB, NMC, NOJ and, we hope for the first time this year, NMN often join us. Calls from ships at sea make the event seem like we have returned to the golden age of maritime radio.

This year, for the first time, we plan to have K6KPH on the air on several frequencies to receive signal reports from amateur stations. The operators at K6KPH will be seasoned commercial operators with years of experience "sitting the circuit". This will give us information about how well the stations are being heard and will give amateur stations the experience of what it was like to work a real coast station.

Details of Night on Nights VIII will follow, including times, frequencies and QSL information for all stations. But we wanted to get this notice out early so you can mark your calendars for this year's event.

VY 73,

Richard Dillman, Chief Operator
Maritime Radio Historical Society

WHRI Starts Frequency War With CHU

Listeners to the 40 meter band might have noticed that World Harvest Radio has added 7335 kHz to its frequency schedule between the hours of 0600 and 1100 UTC (2 to 7 AM in the Eastern time zone). This is part of its "Angel 1" schedule, beaming toward South America from Cypress Creek, SC with a claimed effective radiated power in the tens of megawatts. (All this is fully documented on their web site.)

Even though the beam is southward, this has been pretty well obliterating CHU, the Canadian standard time and frequency station near Ottawa. Many people actually use CHU for the same purposes as WWV/WWVH/WWVB in the USA, including sensitive automated timing applications. Needless to say, they are somewhat less than thrilled.

Unfortunately, under the new ITU international allocations that took effect two months ago, CHU is technically a broadcaster, not a utility, and does not have any kind of priority on the frequency the way it would if it were still operating as a government service. It's a legal technicality, but one being exploited quite effectively by WHRI.

While WHRI does have a legal right to transmit here, IMHO it's pretty tacky. Even HAARP listens first.

Here's the e-mail sent by someone at CHU in reply to correspondence from the Ontario DX Association:

Hello Brian,

I am aware of this situation.

CHU has a licence to broadcast on 7.335 MHz and this frequency has been
registered with ITU, HFCC, FCC and other broadcast authorities. This,
however, does not guaranty that we own this frequency, for all international
purposes. We must now fight for it, with the FCC.

I have sent several letters to WHRI, but their chief engineer has not
replied to me. I have also sent a letter to the FCC stating the use of our
service on this band and our long standing service at this frequency. They
have yet to respond.

We must now go through all politically correct channels to resolve this
dispute. But the members of your association can use other mean declare
their dissatisfaction with the interference from WHR. Have your interested
members send email to WHR ( lsarkisian@lesea.com ), and the FCC (
thomas.lucey@fcc.gov ).

This may have more impact.

Regards,
Raymond Pelletier
============================================
Frequency and Time
Institute for National Measurement Standards
National Research Council Canada
M-36, room 1026
1200 Montreal Road
Ottawa, Canada K1A 0R6
Tel: (613) 993-3430
Fax: (613) 952-1394
raymond.pelletier@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
Government of Canada
========================================
Fréquence et temps
Institut des étalons nationaux de mesure
Conseil national de recherches Canada
M-36, salle 1026
1200 chemin Montréal
Ottawa, Canada K1A 0R6
Tél: (613) 993-3430
Télécopieur: (613) 952-1394
raymond.pelletier@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
Gouvernment du Canada
========================================

As Drudge would say, developing......

DX-Tuners is QRT

Nigel Hammond of DX-Tuners reports that, after 10 years of fine service to the radio listening community, his World Wide Web based network of remotely controlled radio receivers is no longer available.

Users of this network know how extensive it was. It included several receivers with huge antenna systems and/or quiet rural locations that all of us urban DXers could only dream about. I used it quite often to verify that frequencies were active, or just to receive clear signals from stations seldom heard here in The Land that Shortwave Forgot.

Nigel reports that DX-Tuners will refund unused portions of subscription fees. Instructions are at http://www.dxtuners.com/.

Far as I'm concerned, DX-Tuners can keep my balance. They earned it, to say the least.

More SK01 Variants

On May 3rd, SK01, the PSK version of the Cuban Morse code numbers (M08a), was heard on 6826 kHz at 0600 UTC with yet another new format using lines of "1" characters as a separator without the "2." Mode is PSK125, another one which can be received with MultiPSK. I have also noticed that the SK01 on 17 mHz has also occasionally dropped to PSK125. (Multipsk can autobaud these.)

PSK125 is a faster version of the better known PSK31 used by hams. PSK220F is a sped up PSK125 (220.5 baud) with convolution coding.

V2a On 17478 @ 1600

Recent improvements in propagation have made V2a's morning (our time) skeds audible here in The Land That Shortwave Forgot. No PSK mode is being used today as of 1630. We seem to be in a pattern where voice is used early in the week, PSK later.

USCG Seeking Input on HF Services

Here we go again. The frequently threatened HF services from the US Coast Guard are once again up for review. Users are requested to let the CG know how they use the service, and presumably if there is insufficient interest the services will be discontinued.

Reason given is that the equipment has reached the end of its service life, and new stuff costs money.

The following notice was recently published in that US Government catch all called the Federal Register:

Notice [USCG– 2007– 27656] in Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 80 / Thursday, April 26, 2007

"High Frequency (HF) Radio Broadcasts of Marine Weather Forecasts and Warnings" (Summary below) for complete text, see: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/waisgate.pdf

This is a necessary step in the Coast Guard's justification of
recapitalizing their HF equipment for continued operations.

Details of USCG weather broadcasts via HF radiofacsimile, voice and SITOR may be found at: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/home.htm#dissemination

As a service to mariners, please inform potentially affected users of this Notice. It is very important that mariners reply via the Docket Management system or postal mail as called for in the Notice, or their input will not be taken into account.

Federal Register: April 26, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 80)] [Notices] [Page 20863-20865] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr26ap07-72]

And here's the accompanying letter from the Coast Guard:

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

Coast Guard

[USCG-2007-27656]


High Frequency (HF) Radio Broadcasts of Marine Weather Forecasts and Warnings

AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS.

ACTION: Notice; request for public comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Coast Guard is soliciting public comment on the need to continue providing high frequency (HF) radio broadcasts of weather forecasts and warnings. Public comment is necessary in order to assess the demand for the HF radio broadcasts of weather forecasts in each of three forms: (1) Radiofacsimile; (2) voice; and, (3) Simplex Teletype Over Radio (SITOR), also known as Narrow Band Direct Printing (NBDP). The infrastructure necessary to provide these services has exceeded its life expectancy; the equipment is no longer manufactured, repairs are difficult to accomplish, and spare parts generally are not available. Because of the very significant costs involved to continue these specific HF radio services, the Coast Guard requires information on the extent to which these services are used by the public and what alternative services are being used or are available to obtain weather forecasts and warnings.

DATES: Comments and related material must reach the Docket Management Facility on or before August 24, 2007.
for complete text see a copy of the Notice at:
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/om/marine/waisgate.pdf

As we have seen before, the fate of USCG HF broadcasts is now in the hands of the users. The fax/weather/MSI you save will be your own.

Solar Flux Is Up

After a dismal couple of weeks, solar flux has jumped to 81, with an immediate effect on HF propagation. At 0345 UTC, Hawaii is still S9 on 20 meters.

SK01 up at 1701 on 17436

Signal is weak here in The Noise Capital of the World, but it's definitely in there.
Mode sounds like PSK220F again.

SK01 up at 1721 in PSK220F

After being absent for a few days, SK01 is in progress right now with cut numbers (letters) and regular figures (numbers) on 17436.0 in PSK220F.

Signal is fading, but strong on peaks, and Multipsk decodes it just fine. Look for a buzzy noise centered around 1000 Hz. Speed is 220 baud, much faster than PSK31.

Northwood UK Fax Via DX-Tuners

DX-Tuners is a global network of receivers tunable by the Internet. A couple of these are free, then you get a lot more by subscribing at different levels. A few of these are "DX" receivers, with good antennas and audio of sufficient quality to achieve good decode of many digital modes. HF weather FAX, for example, is a snap. [I know, FAX is analog, but you get the point.]

Here's an especially good surface weather chart from the UK Royal Navy, received on 8038 kHz USB dial reading on a large wire antenna in Alma, Sweden, then sent over the net to my computer here in The Land That Shortwave Forgot:

New Drippy Pirate Beacon

A pirate beacon on 6626.0 kHz (dial freq in USB mode) has been reported. It produces a low chirping noise approximately 3 times per second. It is said to sound like a quickly dripping faucet.

The beacon is audible here right now, way down in the noise that has been S5 ever since yesterday's wind storm. Propagation points to the usual SW US location, perhaps the California or Arizona desert.

UPDATE 15 Apr: All bets are off on this signal. It's being heard in places where propagation would simply not happen from the SW US at that time of day on 6 Mhz. One person suggested it's a Link-11 that is so weak all you hear is the pong, pong, pong tone of the bursts. However, most Link-11 has different burst lengths, and this one's regular.

Gander Takes Over Canadian NAT-D Control

NAT-D is a North Atlantic Major World Air Route Area (MWARA) net for aircraft flying over the Arctic regions. Its frequencies are 2971, 4675, 8891, 11279, and 13291 kHz USB. A good map appears at Arcticpeak.com.

Effective March 15, NAV Canada, the agency responsible for Canadian communication on this net, has dropped HF services from Cambridge Bay and Iqaluit. It was decided that operation could be more efficient combining everything in a master station at Gander. Aircraft are being told that Cambridge Bay and Iqaluit must now be called on VHF.

Here's the text:

ICAO High Frequencies and Remote Communications Outlet
North Bay, Ontario
Change of Ground Station

NAV CANADA, the country’s provider of air navigation services, recently reviewed the provision of ICAO High Frequencies (HF) and Remote Communications Outlets (RCO) provided by the North Bay Flight Information Centre (FIC). The review concluded that the ICAO 4 HF frequencies (2971, 4675, 8891, 11279) at Cambridge Bay and Iqaluit and the 1 RCO frequency (126.9 MHz) at Iqaluit could be provided more efficiently from the Gander International Flight Service Station (IFSS).

Accordingly, Gander Radio will serve as the Ground Station and provide the ICAO 4 HF frequency monitoring at Cambridge Bay and 1 RCO (126.9 MHz) and 4 HF coverage at Iqaluit.

This change will take effect March 15th, 2007 at 09:01 Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Amendments will be made to the appropriate aeronautical publications.

For further information, please contact:

Marcel Pinon
Manager, Level of Service and Aeronautical Studies – East
NAV CANADA
77 Metcalfe Street
Ottawa, ON
K1P 5L6

Phone: (613) 563-5630
Fax: (613) 563-5602
pinonm@navcanada.ca

Bad Dream

I keep trying to like Digital Radio Mondiale. A couple of broadcasts are pretty loud into The Land That Shortwave Forgot aka California. They sound really cool. They don't use IBOC, so there's no analog signal at all. It sounds like the old SELSCAN tones they used to use on the COTHEN net, only more so.

Good ute DXers refuse to be told they cannot extract intelligence from every weird noise out there, so of course I went looking to see what I'd need to hear the digital quality audio on my own little short wave radio. I found out that what I'd need is to modify the radio to send a 12 MHz IF directly to the computer. No thanks. I like my NRD-545 the way it is. Thank you.

If it is true that the implementation of DRM that the industry intends to use is completely incompatible, and there will never be a US $29.95 converter board for analog receivers that can be installed with two wires and an AA battery, we have a problem. Every short wave receiver in the world may someday be useless. This bodes ill for the future of the medium, since the installed receiver base in places like Africa is all that keeps it alive. People who use wind-up radios because they cannot afford batteries are not going to afford new radios either. Bye bye shortwave broadcasting.

And then, of course, there is digital SSTV.

I heard someone complaining on the digital SSTV frequency that he can never decode the pictures. No matter how loud the signal is, he misses segments and everything goes blooey. They asked him what program he was using, and laughed when it wasn't EasyPAL Lite, since that's all they ever use.

Since EasyPAL Lite seems to have a new version out every couple of weeks, I downloaded today's beta (literally dated 4/8), and started it up. Crash-o-rama. I guess it's improving, though. It doesn't hang the computer any more. It just tries to write to nonexistent addresses, and goes quietly.

Sometimes, I am told, things improve if you turn off hyperthreading. Unfortunately, I am very much of the old school, and will go to my grave convinced that good programmers do not ask their users to make BIOS changes. I guess that leaves Digtrx and HamDRM as the working programs, and I will have to be content with sending files to myself.

C'est le guerre.

V2a In Voice Today

At 1711 UTC, the Cuban transmission remains standard voice V2a, on 17436.0 kHz AM. The signal is fading badly in California, but I imagine I should be glad to hear it at all. Some kind of weird QRM or ???? keeps cutting in and out.

Listening...

Cuban PSK Tries New Mode (PSK220F)

On April 5, the 1600 and 1700 UTC schedules of the new Cuban numbers using phase-shift keying gave us yet another surprise. The transmissions were in a relatively unknown mode named PSK220F, not the more normal PSK31 used by amateurs. The main difference is that PSK220F is much faster. As a result, the transmission was in both ordinary numbers and the "cut" numbers where letters are substituted.

The frequency used at 1600 UTC was 17478.0 kHz, and at 1700 UTC it was 17436.0 kHz.

A brief transmission in computer generated voice using the normal V2 mode preceded these PSK220F skeds, as if to let receiving stations know that something new was going to happen. Perhaps this other callup was a coded announcement.

Most amateur freeware does not decode PSK220F. One that I know does is the latest version (4.2) of MultiPSK. This is an amazing program for free. Don't let the old-school user interface fool you. It does a creditable job on a huge number of modes, with only a few of its advanced features disabled until it's paid for. MultiPSK is available at a couple of sites. The main site is F6CTE, with a US mirror at N8KBR, and UK here.

Updating PC-HFDL for New System Tables

We've had some confusion over how to copy the new pchfdl.dat file into PC-HFDL's configuration folder to update its frequency list (ARINC System Table #31 / 0x001F hex).

The file linked from this blog is identical to the one available on the PC-HFDL Yahoo! group. That's where I got it. I thank this group for making it available.

Not everyone can access the files sections of Yahoo! groups, since a Yahoo! login is needed, while a mailing list can simply be read in e-mail. Therefore I have been posting copies of these files to the Utility World web site.

Here is the procedure for installing pchfdl.dat as the new frequency file for this excellent program. This is how I have done it for several system table changes now, and it has worked every time:

How to update the PC-HFDL System Table with pchfdl.dat:

Background:

This file updates the internal system table used by Charles Brain's commercial version of PC-HFDL, a program for the Wintel PC which decodes ARINC's High Frequency Data Link signals.

The HFDL system stores its frequencies in a common list called the System Table, which is changed every few months as HF propagation conditions change with the seasons. The system table number, which is transmitted by the ground stations, is incremented by one.

Ground stations transmit the new list until everyone has it, and no aircraft has a table number mismatch. This usually takes only a few days. PC-HFDL cleverly grabs these transmissions to update itself, and stores them in a file called pchfdl.dat. When PC-HFDL detects a new version of the System Table, it automatically updates this file.

An issue exists where, if PC-HFDL is not running or there is no clear reception at the right times, it will not receive the transmissions needed to update this file. This causes the display of frequencies in the squitter screen to change back to numbers rather than kilohertz, making the program much harder to use. Therefore, the user is told how to update this file manually.

Procedure:

1. Get a copy of a pchfdl.dat file that someone else has made with the program since the new frequencies were transmitted. There is usually one on the Yahoo! HFDL group within a few days, which I change on my site at the same time. This file should be treated as a binary, whether or not it is. If it is read on the screen, it will look more or less like total nonsense, but the program knows what to do with it. Download the file to your disk by right-clicking on the link, then choosing "save target as," "save link as," etc. Make sure it downloads to the desktop or some other place where you can find it quickly.

2. IMPORTANT! Close PC-HFDL before going any farther!!! You won't break anything if you don't, but the frequencies won't update.

3. Find the directory that PC-HFDL runs from. This is usually C:\Program Files\PC-HFDL. Change to this as the active directory.

4. In this directory, there should be a subfolder named configs. Change to this as the active directory.

5. In configs, find a file named pchfdl.dat. It should be around 24K. Rename this file something like oldpchfdl.dat, or pchfdlnn.dat, where nn is the number of the former system table.

6. Copy the pchfdl.dat you have just downloaded to this subfolder. It should now contain your old data file, your new pchfdl.dat, and three other files. It's safe to open these others, but don't change them! One of these, systable.txt, is a human-readable version of the System Table that is written out once pchfdl.dat is processed. Another, pchfdl.txt, lists the ground stations. The third, pchfdl.ini, is the binary initialization file that stores the previously used configuration of the program.

7. Go back to the desktop or start menu, and run PC-HFDL. Find a nice loud ground station with the squitters and click the box. The numbers should once again be replaced by frequencies.

Good listening!

New HFDL Frequency Table 31 is current

I got busy for three days and look what happened. ARINC changed its HFDL System Table of frequencies used for its GlobalLink system.

This is done periodically, usually when the season changes. The new System Table is number 31, or 1F in hexadecimal.

The pchfdl.dat file on this column's web site has been updated. Close down PC-HFDL, then find the directory it runs from. Change to the configuration subdirectory, find pcfhdl.dat, and rename it. Copy in the new file, then start the program. The numbers should change to frequencies again.

I have done this procedure on my own computer, and the file works. Thanks to the HFDL Yahoo! group for putting this up.

Meanwhile, here's what's being transmitted in New York's squitters at 2218 UTC. Obviously other times of day are different:

SAN FRANCISCO - CALIFORNIA UTC
8927 KHz 5508 KHz

MOLOKAI - HAWAII UTC
21937 KHz 13276 KHz 11312 KHz

REYKJAVICK - ICELAND UTC
8977 KHz 6712 KHz 5720 KHz

RIVERHEAD - NEW YORK UTC
11387 KHz 6661 KHz

AUCKLAND - NEW ZEALAND UTC
13351 KHz 6535 KHz

HAT YAI - THAILAND UTC
10066 KHz 5655 KHz

SHANNON - IRELAND UTC
8843 KHz 6532 KHz

JOHANNESBURG - SOUTH AFRICA UTC
8834 KHz 4681 KHz

BARROW - ALASKA UTC
11354 KHz 6646 KHz

KRASNOYARSK - RUSSIA UTC
6596 KHz 5622 KHz

AL MUHARRAQ - BAHRAIN UTC
8885 KHz 5544 KHz

AGANA - GUAM UTC
13312 KHz 11306 KHz

CANARIAS - SPAIN UTC
11348 KHz 6529 KHz

Give Us This Day Our Daily SK01

17436 PSK31 in progress at 1708 UTC. Began like clockwork at 1700 with 10x 11111, missed some of callup due to operator stupidity (mine, not theirs), middle message is NNTWI, 3rd GTWGI. The signal is strong s7-9 but with frequent deep fades. The audio is way overdriven for PSK31 with heavy distortion causing missed characters at times.

UPDATE 1751 UTC: The signal cut abruptly without the usual 10x 22222 at 1730, back up at 1733 in mid-message, still going at 1052, much later than normal.

SK01 Makes Both Skeds

17436.0 kHz at 1700, started promptly in PSK31 with the 10x 11111 starting signal, then callup and message in modified M8a format, using the letters. Still in progress at 1720.

UPDATE 1732 UTC: SK01 abruptly changed to V2a at 1732, finished transmission in voice, "Final, final" at 1744 and gone.

Digipan has trouble with very long PSK transmissions, being designed for short amateur exchanges. Will try it with SkySweeper next time.

Cuban PSK 3/14

17478 5-figure group message in progress right now at 1605 UTC, weak into California. Appears to be the modified V2a sked.

Cuban PSK Continues

Today, two schedules.

1600 UTC 17478 kHz, modified V2a format. Repeats group 11111 at message start, 22222 at end. Three messages.

1700 UTC 17436 kHz, modified M8a format with the letters!!!! These are essentally meaningless in a Varicode direct printing mode, where they save a few bits per character, as opposed to cut-number Morse, where they save a huge amount of time. Presumably, Cuban spies and/or their software are used to them.

Both times in PSK31 mode, and audible worldwide. The ENIGMA 2000 designator is SK01. Apparently the PSK is here to stay.

Digital SSTV Saga Ends

After another day of watching the grass grow, I have decided to go back to utility and leave the digital SSTV experimenters to it. I received a couple more nice pictures, with missing segments, from an amateur in Mexico, who was sending dramatic pictures of women in body paint obviously applied as some sort of art show. These were great stuff, and make me want to look around Google Images for more examples of same.

To see real content is, of course, is rather refreshing, considering the one-note samba that is American analog SSTV. You have the guy that wants us to get Jesus, the one who never met an airplane photo he didn't like, and the one with "YL" in his call who sends pictures of, uh, YLs in rather scanty clothing.

Come to think of it, that third guy can keep on with what he's doing. That scanty clothing thing is fine with me.

Must... think... about... radio... .

Digital SSTV, of course, is not a very good name for it. Digital file transfer would be better, since that's what's going on, and the data could really be just about anything. That's the advantage and disadvantage.

The advantage is that, if everything is received, you have the same file that left the transmitting station, not a grungy decode of a scan of its contents. The disadvantage is that Digital Radio Mondiale in its present state is an audio broadcast mode, and better ways exist to transfer files. There is no repeat procedure for missing information transfer units (packets, segments, whatever), because in audio broadcasting there does not need to be. Segments failing the CRC check are simply discarded, and you don't hear that part.

Of course, the receiving station of a file transfer can always ask for, and get, the missed segments. They've sort of automated this process, with bad segments being logged and requested manually by clicking a button for a "BSR" (Bad Segment Resend?) transmission. This is fine, but obviously the retransmission will probably not be the same segments that people listening on-channel missed. For that, you need redundancy, like in FEC mode. In digital SSTV, real redundancy consists of transmitting the whole file more than once, but that means very long transfer times.

There is also the problem that DRM might not be the best mode for amateur equipment, which at least in the US is not allowed to exceed 1500 watts peak envelope output power. DRM's peak to average ratio is awesome, something on the order of 10 dB. In amateur service, this means that your typical 1500 watt PEP linear cranked to the max will be reading about 120-130 average watts at "full legal output."

Somehow I doubt that we will be seeing whole screens of Internet SSTV widgets showing reception worldwide, as we've had in the analog mode for some time now. (A great one is Worldwide SSTV Cams.)

Now, back to utilities...

GULP!

Waterfall, 14232.975, 2331 UTC:




2342:

2343:

MY FIRST PICTURES!!!!!!

Two days of sitting at the receiver have been rewarded. At 2226 UTC today, W9CY sent a file named UP7.jp2. Amazingly, something appeared in my rx window. I darn near spit my coffee all over the keyboard.

Here is NV6H Digital SSTV First Light:



I wonder what it is. Looks a bit like a Chrysler Air Raid Siren. I think there was something on the orderwire about its being in Hawaii. I missed about 20 segments. Obviously the Irfan View partial feature is working. All in all, not much worse than most of the analog SSTV ends up looking in California on the typical wire antennas used for ute DX.

A mere nine minutes later, the miracle repeated itself! Another picture appeared in my rx window! It's called dq2.jp2. I only lost 11 segments this time. Here's the awesome result, as seen on my very own computer:



This time I know what it is. Thanks to W9CY on the orderwire, I know that it is a Dairy Queen in Illinois!

Conditions seem quite good today. There is no telling what further miracles of human communication await.

UPDATE 2313UTC:

OH MY GOD! There is an AMERICAN EAGLE in my WATERFALL!

The possibilities for conceptual art are endless...........

Digital SSTV Saga Continues

14233 remains active whenever the band is awake to propagate it.

The DRM has drifted slowly back on-channel, last one being measured at 14232.995, accounting for known receiver errors but not unknown computer clock ones.

One file received toward the end of the UTC day, when signal strengths tend to peak on 20, was reported as received perfectly - no bad segments, no CRC errors, full file integrity. It was a picture, according to the voice orderwire. Nothing happened. Irfan View did not start, DIGTRX did not display anything, and no file was saved anywhere. It is presumably in bit heaven.

Wonder what it was.

Seeking verification, I downloaded WinDRM, which worked, but no joy there either. Another try of a newer version of EasyPAL Lite crashed even harder than the last one, not even making it through its first initialization, while giving streams of errors about writing to nonexistent memory addresses before hanging altogether and being killed from Task Manager. Obviously some underlying runtime module is wrong, missing, or corrupt. Probably not EasyPAL Lite's problem, but radio is about communication, not troubleshooting your operating system.

I note from the Yahoo! group that this is not exactly the turnkey program of all time anyway.

While the quest continues, good old grungy Scottie 2 and Scottie DX look better all the time.

UPDATE 2125 UTC:

Discovered the local loop-back test mode. I am now quite good at sending jp2 files to myself. Software appears fine, and the Irfan View preview works.

Still no decodes here. Most stations are in the Midwest. As most people who live here know, short wave listening in California is often like watching grass grow.

Cuban PSK Second Day

For the second day, March 7, the voice schedule on 17436 kHz at 1700 was transmitted in PSK31 instead, using the slightly altered format. The message was a repeat of March 6, this time with a little Radio Havana Cuba program leaking in.

20 Meter Digital SSTV Continues

This activity is pretty much continuous during Western Hemisphere daylight hours, up from 14233 kHz, going as high as maybe 14233.35 at times. They continue to transmit the callsigns in the waterfall. Despite a continuous voice chatter (some kind of orderwire, plus a guy talking about his '53 De Soto) no signals have been anywhere near strong enough here for a decode.

UPDATE 1930 UTC: Currently the USB voice orderwire is on 14320.0, but the correct tuning for the digital signal is 14233.24 +/- around 200 Hz. Mention was made (following the '53 De Soto discussion) of another program called EasyPAL. This apparently implements another widely used mode called HamDRM (Presumably Digital Radio Mondiale). Unfortunately, it crashes and burns if you are using hyperthreading on dual-core Wintel machines with XP Service Pack 2. You have to turn this off in the BIOS, and I didn't feel like doing that, since I use the feature a lot with other processor-eating apps to still have a usable computer for things like radio, while they're thinking away.

UPDATE 2036 UTC: Still nothing even close to decodeable signal levels. Apparently the mode needs a good steady S8 or 9 for perfect reception, and not too much lower for any decode at all. Unless someone local transmits, that is not going to happen on 20 meters at this time of day at this point in the cycle. This explains why I seem to be the last hard core radio hacker ever to hear of digital SSTV. Like so much of HF amateur radio, it is just not that rewarding without the use of large rotary antennas on tall towers, of a sort that will get you sued in most decent US neighborhoods.

This is in contrast to analog SSTV, which will decode even when below the noise, though you don't get much. At least you know your software is trying.

So it goes in the exciting world of digital radio. I knew there was something to be said for R-390s and straight CW.

UPDATE 2205 UTC: Downloaded a new DRM DLL for DIGTRX. For some inexplicable reason, the entire folder is set read-only, perhaps because the program is running. Resetting it only causes it to be set back. An effective work-around was to rename the old DLL while out of DRM mode, then copy in the new one. Now DRM mode of DIGTRX does not crash with hyperthreading enabled. (Of course I could always have tried exiting the program...)

DRM has the advantage that you can indeed watch your software try to achieve a decode, complete with a nice phase constellation to show how things are going. At least the listener knows something's happening.

Still no decodes, however. Dial reading when on-channel in this mode is 14232.95.

More Ham Funny Noises (This time 20M and legal)

I was trying to track down this weird noise on 20 meters. It sounded a bit like STANAG 4285, a bit like MT63, and at times a whole lot like the backscatter radar. It seemed to be centered around 14233.3 kHz. SkySweeper wouldn't do anything with it, and MultiPSK wouldn't do anything with it.

So I'm watching it on the waterfall, trying to figure out the mode - pilot tones followed by multitone 8PSK - and just then a stronger transmission started up. Here's what appeared on the waterfall:


That's right. There was writing in the waterfall, transmitted by just the right modulation of the signal. (This, in fact, is what sounds like the backscatter radar.)

See something new every day.

Other bursts had different amateur callsigns, signal reports, roger/no copy messages, and finally a smeary little identifier of a program named DIGTRX 3.11.

Google is a wonderful thing. I grabbed DIGTRX and ran it, and found out it's a digital file transfer mode popular with amateurs in South America to send SSTV pictures without the analog noise and grunge. That certainly explains why they were on 14233. The letters are called a "waterfall message," and there are also "waterfall pictures." Yes, real monochrome photos, in the waterfall. Little faxes, sort of. This is all just too cool.

Can't wait to get some amateur signals loud enough to decode the content. Terrestrial radio survives because people keep re-inventing it.

More 7000 kHz Strangeness

This comes from Brazil, describing unlicensed CB-style 40-meter activity in that country:

Regarding your last post ('7000 kHz Is Getting Weird') I would like to
say, perhaps, brazilian RF users are helping on this weirdness.

Unfortunately it is increasingly common to see truck drivers installing
'27MHz->7MHz' transverters on their CB radios. This would explain the
use of words 'cambio' and the whistle (a 'roger beep' signalling the end
of QSO). It is very common to see unlicensed voice traffic between
6900-7000KHz. Here, they call this space as 'faixinha' ('little band').

This page (
http://www.zamin.com.br/principal.php?id_menu=produtos&categoria=10 )
has CB transverters for 6, 40 and 80 meters (25-50W) costing
US$100-US$200. Although the company's objective is to help licensed hams
operator to start on 6, 40 and 80 meter bands with short budget,
unlicensed CB owners are using this devices to get better coverage, but,
sadly, whithout any licensing and control.

Best regards,

ZZ3HAG Huelbe Garcia
member of DX Club of Brazil

7000 kHz Is Getting Weird

For the last several days, there has been a real zoo on 7000 kHz, right at the lower end of the 40 meter band. Some people have heard a STANAG 4285 signal that decodes to the usual French Navy testing loops complete with Voyez le brick and identification as FUV (French Navy, Djibouti). Parameters are 300/L/5N2/ITA2.

It may or may not be coincidental that Djibouti and the African "horn" in general is a world trouble spot you don't hear much about, with several important oil fields, tanker routes, and natural gas pipelines at stake. Military activity is greatly increasing there as of late.

Other signals being heard are hours of conversation in Spanish, using procedures such as "Cambio" for "Over." There is a little of the whistling which seems to be a test tone down there, and a little of the hooty sounding multiband inversion scrambling used by the Mexican Army and/or ???.

Finally there are at least two ALE signals, one from the Italian Carabinieri phone patch net which passes an AMD string of "DIAL4," another with short alphanumeric IDs which are still unknown.

This is not counting a weird artifact that has been transmitting on a wide range of 40 meter frequencies for years, producing a short beep every minute or so. It is a weird dual-frequency beep resembling a DTMF tone but not one. I suspect it's local to Southern California.

It is not known whether any of this is legal on 40 meters. I personally suspect it is not, but it's a grey area. However, hams who tune up or send CW on 7000.000 in an effort to drive all this stuff off must have a lot of faith in their VFO calibration.

Cuban PSK Broadcasts Again

The new Cuban PSK31 numbers broadcast (SK01) is back. It substituted for the normal voice sked on the new 1700 UTC frequency of 17436 kHz. The message format was not the standard V2a, but it seemed close, and much longer than the previous transmissions.

It ended with 10 repetitions of the group "22222," then the equals sign (=, meaning break) and then "tt," possibly an end-of-message signal ("todo, todo"?) , perhaps not.

SK01 will bear watching. It is straight PSK31, same type amateurs use. If you don't have a PSK31 program, Digipan is good, and it's free. MultiPSK is also good, and free. MixW is a nice comprehensive package including PSK31, but it is low priced shareware, not free.

CHU Won't Have to Move

Canadian standard time and frequency station CHU will not have to change the frequency of its 7 MHz signal, which is by far the most frequently used. The station was able to modify the conditions of its licence (Canadian spelling) to continue broadcasting on 7335.0 R3E (upper sideband with a partial carrier). CHU will not leave the air any time in the forseeable future.

Remember that US daylight savings are earlier this year, and all your devices that reset as per the old formula will need manual updating or firmware modifications. This is an expensive pain in the butt, and if I may editorialize for a second, I wish they'd stop screwing around with the time. Pick two dates and stick to them, regardless of who lobbies Congress.

The change is March 11, but many short wave schedules will change on the first.

Yet more V2a Changes

I can't keep up with them all. I need to do some listening to verify some of what I'm reading. There appears to be a new format, and of course we've already mentioned the new frequencies, which are creating loggings of the Cuban numbers worldwide.

More as it is verified.

New Internet "Numbers" Weirdness

Someone on a text-messaging social site called Twitter.com has created an account called ReadyReady, with a buddy icon that definitely resembles some kind of code pad and/or decrypt key.

Sure enough, all ReadyReady's postings are short streams of single-figure numbers, usually at 6 and 12 AM and PM. Presumably they are texted in from mobile phones using SMS.

"Ready Ready" is of course the attention signal of an old (long gone) numbers station, ENIGMA designator E01, family VII (AIDA).

Cuban V2a Numbers Frequency Changes

If you haven't been hearing the daily V2a skeds on 7975/8010 at 1600 and 1700 UTC, there is nothing wrong with your radio. They have not transmitted these for several weeks.

Various listeners have found the new frequencies for these skeds:

1600: 6867 and 16178
1700: ???? and 17436.

Major US Government Exercise This Weekend

COMMUNICATIONS EXERCISE DEEP FREEZE ’07 - 10 FEBRUARY 2007

PURPOSE – To practice operating in an austere environment, gathering information, reporting Essential Elements of Information to NORTHCOM and FEMA, and assisting with the arrival of responding military units and federal agencies using long range HF communications frequencies.

PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS – MARS (Air Force, Army, and Navy/USMC), Air National Guard, Air Force Research Labs, NY State Police, Civil Air Patrol, Amateur Radio Emergency Service, Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Service.

SCENARIO – Major winter storm affecting the entire AO [Northeastern US plus mid-Atlantic and northern midwest -Hugh] with heavy rain, flooding, mudslides, ice accumulation, high winds, and heavy snow cutting communications, transportation routes, and severely affecting the urban and rural populations.

The leadership may activate their members as early as 9 FEB to organize communications nets and make preparations for deployments in order to commence full disaster response operations at 0900 on 10 FEB.

For amateur try 3925 Khz LSB and 7237 Khz LSB. Also check SHARES and the usual places.

Decode (Not Decrypt) of Cuban PSK31 Numbers Message

Note the format, which is different from M8a and V2a. It has a date stamp and repeats the message.

[111]11 28/12/2006 11111 28/12/2006 11111 28/12/2006 11111
50243 50243 50243 50243 50243 55382 48612 00640 24267 24845
51614 30063 43610 02482 60566 72540 52116 86043 22252 73082
57167 84370 87754 61884 00771 44486 16407 36583 34861 82130
33277 06236 26402 44864 52731 01556 06414 03318 23254 88217
38101 26360 53635 66443 57122 00331 38057 56732 05111 70613
52354 08535 67380 67578 23836 64731 63336 82745 02237 83875
86244 55566 76248 24765 44434 88523 47743 38301 04874 33015
14660 17023 54050 75828 66880 11110 63854 46211 01128 86381
61307 57251 18082 35115 12125 25561 40724 23441 22373 82888
84715 86311 42277 80846 63500 78347 00232 32578 64112 57315
05805 27615 14644 48835 37533 16671 35056 85134 47543 51788
76516 45144 03107 54325 83762 44181 07617 67360 03857 86202
65716 03213 10888 08631 58184 52211 51575 64736 60022 18607
62231 60124 81184 51302 64013 70334 78528 62346 41628 31267
67763 58047 67071 38647 70853 67567 67600 31008 75603 25764
05548 81014 68577 77543 71268 + + + 50243 50243 50243 50243
50243 55382 48612 00640 24267 24845 51614 30063 43610 02482
60566 72540 52116 86043 22252 73082 57167 84370 87754 61884
00771 44486 16407 36583 34861 82130 33277 06236 26402 44864
52731 01556 06414 03318 23254 88217 38101 26360 53635 66443
57122 00331 38057 56732 05111 70613 52354 08535 67380 67578
23836 64731 63336 82745 02237 83875 86244 55566 76248 24765
44434 88523 47743 38301 04874 33015 14660 17023 54050 75828
66880 11110 63854 46

-recording ends early-

Thanks to Ary Boender for posting this sound file at his web site.

FCC No-Code Takes Effect February 23

The FCC has published its rule change to eliminate amateur Morse code exams in the Federal Register. It will take effect after the usual 30 days.

Summary:

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Part 97

[WT Docket No. 04-140, WT Docket No. 05-235; FCC 06-178]


Amateur Service Rules

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Final rule.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In this document, the Commission amends
its Amateur Radio Service rules to remove the
requirement that an individual must pass a Morse
code telegraphy examination to qualify for a
General Class or an Amateur Extra Class amateur
radio service operator license. The Commission also
revises the frequency segment of the 80 meter amateur
service High Frequency (HF) band on which amateur
stations are authorized to be automatically
controlled when transmitting RTTY and data emission
types, and it make other conforming amendments to
the amateur service rules.

DATES: Effective February 23, 2007.

Full Text

Addition to Enigma Control List #22

The PSK31/BPSK transmissions from the Cuban family responsble for V2x and M8x have been assigned their own designator.

From ENIGMA2000:

Hello Group

With reference to the Cuban BPSK transmissions associated with M08a /
V02a the designator will be :-
SK01,(SK Zero One) effective from 00.01z, 20 Jan 07

Please add to your copies of ENIGMA Control List No 22

73

Paul, MikeL and the Moderators

Current PC-HFDL Data File for System Table 30

A working pchfdl.dat file has been uploaded to the Utility World web site. It is the one being used here.

If you haven't done so already, copy it to the "configs" subdirectory under the one containing the commercial version of PC-HFDL. Restart the program, and the squitters should once again show frequencies instead of numbers.

Don't worry if the file looks like gibberish in a text editor, because it's supposed to.

We thank the HFDL group on Yahoo! for this file.

Cuban PSK31?

Several recent M8 schedules have been replaced by transmissions in a phase-shift-keying mode known as PSK31. This mode is popular with hams, and can be heard daily on 14070 kHz. Many computer programs decode it. Digipan does a good job, and it's free.

If you hear a funny warble instead of the usual Morse in CW or MCW, this is what you have.

It is not known whether this signals a switch away from Morse code. Anything is possible with Cuban intelligence communications.

Review: Creative Live! 24-bit External Sound Card

This USB sound card, model SB0490, is apparently intended for use with high-end multimedia computers feeding home theaters with surround sound and subwoofers. It comes in a neat little silver box about the size of a Palm Pilot, with two handy volume pots on top (one for mike, other for speaker output and incorporating an instant mute switch). There are inputs for mike and line, and outputs for several different speaker configurations. These include DIN, digital, optical, headphones (thank goodness!), surround, and the standard 2-channel or 2.1 amplified computer speaker system with subwoofer. There's also an IR port for a remote control (not included).

I got interested in the unit when it was recommended by the company making SkySweeper as by far the best performing with their software. None of the stores around here ever heard of the thing, but a quick trip to Amazon turned up a good price (US $44) from TigerDirect.com. The order was picked the same day, despite it being the Friday before Christmas, and arrived by UPS in a timely manner the week after.

I am told that refurbished units are available from Creative, with warranty, for around $25 US.

Once you get the plastic box open (I used a razor knife, a new blade, and lots of caution), there's the card in its little case, the quick start guide, a CD with drivers and other goodies for Mac and that other system out there, a USB cable, and a DIN cable for home theaters. You open up the quick start guide fearing the worst.

However, step one is to insert one end of the cable in the sound card, and the other in a free USB port on your machine (not a hub). No wall wart needed, as the power comes from the computer, which (if you're running a decent OS like XP) should find it right off. Step two is to install the drivers, a media center/player type of app, and (for Windoze) the appropriate version of DirectX. You don't have to install the player, but since I love to push every button on new software, I did.

Step three is to enable DMA and digital CD playback on your computer. Since XP has these both on by default, for me there was no step three. I was up and going.

I gave the player a nice music file with a known high quality that I'd been listening to for Christmas. It had sounded good, but now it sounded better, especially with the digital reverb and enhanced stereo off. It wasn't going to blow away a rack of vacuum tube gear from a good vinyl playback into studio-grade speakers, but then what does? This little box sings.

Even without the inputs padded down with caps, it took some real doing to find the noise floor. I forgot exactly where I measured it, but it probably met the claimed -100 dB. This is way, way cleaner than you'll ever get inside a computer case full of EM fields. Distortion is also way down, due possibly to the 24-bit processing.

Of course I tried SkySweeper, but it had worked well on my old card, so there wasn't much to test. Conditions weren't very good, and noise was up, making too many variables. DGPS, which is less subject to the ionosphere's bad moods, was worse until everything got tweaked in. Then it was detectably better, with fewer missed messages.

For a real test, I fired up the commercial PC-HFDL, which either likes your sound card or it doesn't. It had never liked the internal ones on my last two computers, making the program largely useless. It liked the SB Live! just fine, though. The screen filled right up, with lists of planes quickly appearing down the right. In fact, this might be a marriage made in heaven. This hardware and software really get along. The only problem is that now I will have to pay Charles Brain for his program.

If you think I like this sound card, you're right. It's one of those incremental little improvements that won't impress your friends with your technical prowess, but it does make a difference you can hear and measure. That has to count for something.

Storm Stories

The Weather Channel has this Storm Stories show, with melodramatic re-enactments of rescues and other life and death situations. These often end with lessons on what to do in such situations to avoid winding up like the people in the stories.

Over Christmas, utility listeners heard a couple of incidents that should make it onto this show.

The first one started on December 23, when the tanker Maersk Scotland went dead in the water off Cape Hatteras, NC. The ship was carrying 8300 tons of liquid butane, and its breakup would have posed a major hazard to say the least.

Here's the first automated distress call, as copied on 2187.5 kHz DSC:

UTC Date 12/23/06
UTC Time 23:43:32
RX Station gs3660001-0
Radio # 2
Tag # 03433
Frequency 02.187.5
FS 1 Distress call
FS 2 Distress call
Address All Stations
Self ID 775065000
Msg 1 Disabled and adrift
Msg 2 LAT 34 57 N
LON 074 06 W
Msg 3 23:42
Msg 4 TC1: J3E TP
EOS EOS
ECC OK

This was acknowledged by US Coast Guard:

UTC Date 12/23/06
UTC Time 23:44:35
RX Station 003660003-0
Radio # 2
Tag # 13871
Frequency 08.414.5
FS 1 All ships call
FS 2 All ships call
Address All Stations
Category Distress
Self ID 003669991
USCG BOSTON
TC1 Distress acknowledge
Vessel 775065000
Msg 1 Disabled and adrift
Msg 2 LAT 34 57 N
LON 074 06 W
Msg 3 23:42
Msg 4 TC1: J3E TP
EOS EOS
ECC OK

It was also followed by voice communication on the international distress frequency of 2182 kHz USB. On 12/24, Christmas Eve, the Maersk Scotland called MAYDAY on 2182, getting several responses. They reported broken steering gear and hydraulic failure.

On Christmas Eve, the world could hear the Maersk Scotland working US Coast Guard CAMSLANT on 4125 kHz USB. The ship was in the gulf stream, and drifting northeast at one knot. A seagoing tug, the Katie McAlister, was dispatched for a tow, and also came up on frequency.

On Christmas Day, the Maersk Scotland reported she was under tow to Virginia in rising seas from a bad storm which created tornadoes in Florida. Fortunately, the tow was successful under these worsening conditions, and we were spared a tragedy and/or release of explosive gas.

The next day, the annual Sydney-Hobart yacht race had one of its notorious storms come up. The HF race net on 4483.0 and 6516.0 USB got busy, with the police launch Alert picking up crew from at least two racing yachts in serious trouble. Another boat dismasted, injuring several, and several others requested aid.

Hope everyone else had a far less eventful holiday. Happy New Year from Utility World!

Happy Holidays from Utility World!

FLASH: FCC Drops Code from Amateur Exams!

With everything else that was going on last week, this one slipped under the proverbial radar. On December 15, the US Federal Communications Commission released a Public Notice of its intention to issue a Report and Order that will eliminate all Morse code testing in the Amateur service.

Currently, US Amateur Radio applicants must pass a 5 WPM Morse code test to operate on HF. The FCC's action will eliminate that requirement all around. There will be no code test for General or Extra Class licensing.

This, of course, makes the older Technician Plus license irrelevant, and when the order takes effect, the privileges will be identical for both licenses. In other words, Technicians will be allowed the same limited use of HF as present Tech Plus licensees, who were grandfathered in after new examinations for that class were eliminated.

There is no effective date yet, as these are always contingent on 30 days elapsing from publication in the Federal Register. ARRL estimates that the change will take place sometime next February.

Here's the full FCC text:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 15, 2006
NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:
Chelsea Fallon: (202) 418-7991


FCC MODIFIES AMATEUR RADIO SERVICE RULES,
ELIMINATING MORSE CODE EXAM REQUIREMENTS AND
ADDRESSING ARRL PETITION FOR RECONSIDERATION

Washington, D.C. – Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) adopted a Report and Order and Order on Reconsideration (Order) that modifies the rules for the Amateur Radio Service by revising the examination requirements for obtaining a General Class or Amateur Extra Class amateur radio operator license and revising the operating privileges for Technician Class licensees. In addition, the Order resolves a petition filed by the American Radio Relay League, Inc. (ARRL) for partial reconsideration of an FCC Order on amateur service rules released on October 10, 2006.

The current amateur service operator license structure contains three classes of amateur radio operator licenses: Technician Class, General Class, and Amateur Extra Class. General Class and Amateur Extra Class licensees are permitted to operate in Amateur bands below 30 MHz, while the introductory Technician Class licensees are only permitted to operate in bands above 30 MHz. Prior to today’s action, the FCC, in accordance with international radio regulations, required applicants for General Class and Amateur Extra Class operator licenses to pass a five words-per-minute Morse code examination. Today’s Order eliminates that requirement for General and Amateur Extra licensees. This change reflects revisions to international radio regulations made at the International Telecommunication Union’s 2003 World Radio Conference (WRC-03), which authorized each country to determine whether to require that individuals demonstrate Morse code proficiency in order to qualify for an amateur radio license with transmitting privileges on frequencies below 30 MHz. This change eliminates an unnecessary regulatory burden that may discourage current amateur radio operators from advancing their skills and participating more fully in the benefits of amateur radio.

Today’s Order also revises the operating privileges for Technician Class licensees by eliminating a disparity in the operating privileges for the Technician Class and Technician Plus Class licensees. Technician Class licensees are authorized operating privileges on all amateur frequencies above 30 MHz. The Technician Plus Class license, which is an operator license class that existed prior the FCC’s simplification of the amateur license structure in 1999 and was grandfathered after that time, authorized operating privileges on all amateur frequencies above 30 MHz, as well as frequency segments in four HF bands (below 30 MHz) after the successful completion of a Morse code examination. With today’s elimination of the Morse code exam requirements, the FCC concluded that the disparity between the operating privileges of Technician Class licensees and Technician Plus Class licensees should not be retained. Therefore, the FCC, in today’s action, afforded Technician and Technician Plus licensees identical operating privileges.

Finally, today’s Order resolved a petition filed by the ARRL for partial reconsideration of an FCC Order released on October 10, 2006 (FCC 06-149). In this Order, the FCC authorized amateur stations to transmit voice communications on additional frequencies in certain amateur service bands, including the 75 meter (m) band, which is authorized only for certain wideband voice and image communications. The ARRL argued that the 75 m band should not have been expanded below 3635 kHz, in order to protect automatically controlled digital stations operating in the 3620-3635 kHz portion of the 80 m band. The FCC concluded that these stations can be protected by providing alternate spectrum in the 3585-3600 kHz frequency segment.

Action by the Commission on December 15, 2006, by Report and Order and Order on Reconsideration. Chairman Martin and Commissioners Copps, Adelstein, Tate, and McDowell.

For additional information, contact William Cross at (202) 418-0691 or William.Cross@fcc.gov.

WT Docket Nos. 04-140 and 05-235.

– FCC –

News and other information about the Federal Communications Commission
is available at www.fcc.gov.

Severe Storm In Progress

The expected major geomagnetic event has arrived. The current planetary K index is 8. (9 is as high as it can go.)

WWV was so distorted on 10 MHz that it was barely understandable. Converting the file to a stereo MP3 showed phase distortion so severe that the sound would literally jump back and forth between speakers. A somewhat less dizzying mono MP3 is at the column's web site.

5 MHz was at least intelligible, but the flutter was so severe as to change the audio tone frequency randomly plus/minus several hertz at a rapid rate.

Similar flutter is appearing on 31 meter broadcast stations, even from Cuba.

This is a good night to go out and look for aurora. Current auroral oval plots show a southern limit well into the United States, and this is expected to improve over the next few hours.

Active region 930 produced another X class flare around 14/2210 December UTC. It is not known whether a radio fadeout occurred in the Western Hemisphere.

Magnetic Storming Continues

Looks like we're just going to have to get used to unstable conditions. Active region 930 continues to produce flares. A well-aimed coronal mass ejection from yesterday's X3 event reached the earth at 1400 UTC on the 14th, immediately pushing the planetary K index to 6, followed by 7. Such a short time from ejection to storm commencement indicates a very energetic event, and one that should intensify as the less energetic particles reach the Earth. Unfortunately, a coronal hole is also rotating into position, and will still be visible after region 930 finally rotates out.

An R2 radiation event forced astronauts on the Shuttle/ISS to go to a safe area of the station, as a precaution in case it intensified. Fortunately, it did not. Last I heard, today's EVA is still on.

Auroral propagation fans, or those who just want to watch the pretty show, should have an interesting night tonight. The usual precautions are being taken by pipeline and power grid operators.

The WWV Geoalert predicts a severe geomagnetic storm event. Here's a recent message:

:Product: Geophysical Alert Message wwv.txt
:Issued: 2006 Dec 14 1810 UTC
# Prepared by the US Dept. of Commerce, NOAA, Space Environment Center
#
# Geophysical Alert Message
#
Solar-terrestrial indices for 13 December follow.
Solar flux 94 and mid-latitude A-index 8.
The mid-latitude K-index at 1800 UTC on 14 December was 6 (122 nT).

Space weather for the past 24 hours has been moderate.
Geomagnetic storms reaching the G2 level occurred.
Solar radiation storms reaching the S2 level occurred.

Space weather for the next 24 hours is expected to be severe.
Geomagnetic storms reaching the G4 level are expected.
Solar radiation storms reaching the S1 level are expected.
Radio blackouts reaching the R2 level are expected.

HFDL System Table 30 is Current

As we noted a couple of weeks back, ARINC has been changing to winter frequencies for its High Frequency Data Link system. If you are using PC-HFDL, you might notice that it has changed back to the numbers. Leave it running long enough, and it will eventually acquire and load a system table off the air. At this point, it will start showing the frequencies again. Of course you have to know at least one active HFDL frequency to do this, but fortunately they don't change all of them.

The current system table is number 30 decimal, 1E in hex.

Cool Utility Blog

UDXF members will know Manolis in Greece. He just started an English utility blog, Surfing the Radio Waves. There's already a lot on it, including recordings of oddities, and a CBV fax he received at his QTH, 12500 km from the Playa Ancha point of origin near Valparaiso, Chile.

Shuttle Count Proceeds

Tonight's launch time is 20:47 Eastern Standard Time, or 01:47 UTC. At this time, all weather parameters are Go. Crosswinds stand a good chance of violating constraints at time of launch, but at this time the count proceeds.

DOD Cape is calling Liberty Star on 7833.0 kHz.

DSCDecoder Now Decodes DGPS

Those looking for an inexpensive program that allows identification of mediumwave Differential GPS beacons may be in luck. The latest version of DSCDecoder, a terrific little shareware program available for 25 Euros from the COAA observatory site, now includes decode of several DGPS message types such as the satellite corrections and the almanac.

The download works for 21 days before registration and payment are necessary, and new users are advised to tweak everything in and see if they like the rather minimal user interface before registering. Upgrade is free for current users.

A description of features and link for a download are available at COAA's DSCDecoder page.

Shuttle Will Attempt Launch Saturday Night

Latest dispatch from the KSC mailing list:

Mission: STS-116 - 20th International Space Station Flight (12A.1) -
P5 Truss Segment
Vehicle: Discovery (OV-103)
Location: Launch Pad 39B
Launch Date: Dec. 9, 2006, at 8:47 p.m. EST
Launch Pad: 39B
Crew: Polansky, Oefelein, Curbeam, Higginbotham, Patrick, Fuglesang
and Williams
Inclination/Orbit Altitude: 51.6 degrees/122 nautical miles

...
The orbiter's external fuel tank, which was drained of its liquid
hydrogen and liquid oxygen last night, will be re-filled on Saturday
at approximately 11 a.m., once the go-ahead is provided by the
Mission Management Team.

The current forecast for Saturday shows a 70 percent chance of weather
prohibiting the launch. The primary concerns are crosswinds at the
Shuttle Landing Facility, a low cloud ceiling and isolated showers.
The temperature at launch time is forecast to be 63 degrees, with 90
percent relative humidity.

There are two solid rocket booster recovery ships that are deployed
prior to each launch. The Freedom Star, which was positioned just off
the coast of Cape Canaveral, is back in port and will depart Saturday
at noon if the go-ahead is given for launch. The Liberty Star, which
is positioned 140 miles northeast of Cape Canaveral, remains at sea
awaiting the Saturday launch attempt.

[See below for BRV/DOD Cape/Cape Radio comm reports]

Magnetic Storms Likely

The K index has headed back up to 5 after a period where it settled down to 3. Weak magnetic storming is expected to continue. WWV:

Solar-terrestrial indices for 07 December follow.
Solar flux 96 and mid-latitude A-index 21.
The mid-latitude K-index at 0600 UTC on 08 December was 5 (85 nT).

Space weather for the past 24 hours has been strong.
Geomagnetic storms reaching the G1 level occurred.
Solar radiation storms reaching the S3 level occurred.
Radio blackouts reaching the R1 level occurred.

Space weather for the next 24 hours is expected to be strong.
Geomagnetic storms reaching the G1 level are expected.
Solar radiation storms reaching the S3 level are expected.
Radio blackouts reaching the R2 level are expected.

Next Shuttle Try is Saturday Evening

Friday has only a 30% chance of favorable weather. Saturday is better, but not great. In fact the first really favorable forecast isn't until next week.

Be that as it may, NASA officials have set the next launch attempt for 8:47 p.m. EST on Dec. 9.

The STS-116 mission is the 33rd for Discovery and the 117th space shuttle flight. During the 12-day mission, the crew will continue construction on the International Space Station, rewiring the orbiting laboratory and adding a segment to its integrated truss structure.

No Shuttle Tonight

DOD Cape just announced scrub on 7833.0

Cape Radio Now on 7665.0 & 7833.0 kHz

I am currently copying BRV Freedom star working Cape Radio on 7833.0, at 0208 UTC.

Weather Now Iffy at KSC

Nothing like that changeable Florida weather.

Maybe it will support a launch, and maybe it won't.

We'll find out pretty soon, since a ten-minute launch window starts at 0230 UTC, about 25 minutes from now. No extended waiting on this one.

Shuttle Count Continues At 0130 UTC

With an hour to go before the middle of tonight's launch window, the weather has been cleared of any constraints on the Eastern Test Range or landing sites. At this time, about an hour before launch, the count continues. This is the first night launch since return to flight, and should be pretty spectacular if it goes.

Major Solar Storm Disrupts HF

Solar active region 930 has produced several large X-ray flares, including an X6 which caused an immediate Short Wave Fadeout in the United States. An S3 level solar radiation storm is in progress, and saturation of the sensor on the ACE spacecraft has made solar wind readings unreliable.

An S3-level event is deemed unsafe to astronauts. Further events could complicate space station EVAs that are planned for next week, but the major concern is for more X-level flares in the short term. The probability is around 50% for the next 24 hours.

These flares did eject coronal mass, so there is an enhanced possibility of a Sudden Storm Commencement followed by auroral activity. As always, though, we will have to wait and see if coronal mass hits or misses the Earth's magnetosphere.

So far, HF conditions have remained relatively good, despite a planetary A index of 22, at least after the bands recovered from the initial hit to the ionosphere.

It is obvious that Cycle 23, while nearly at an end, still has a few surprises before going spotnil long enough to allow marking the offical start of Cycle 24.

Possible Shuttle Launch Tonight

The first launch opportunity is Thursday, Dec. 7, with liftoff
targeted for 9:35 p.m. EST. This launch time is approximately in the
middle of a 10-minute launch window.

Booster Recover Vessels Freedom Star and Liberty Star are audible on the US West Coast on 10780 kHz, working Cape Radio at 1842 UTC. Closer to KSC, listeners heard them leave port. Range safety comms are likely on the same frequency as we get closer.

Weather does not look good for a launch today, but we'll have to wait and see.

HFDL Winter Frequencies

ARINC (Aeronautical Radio, Inc.) is changing some of its HFDL frequencies for the winter propagation season. We have reports that a new system table was broadcast last weekend, but we don't have it yet. PC-HFDL has been updating itself. The Barrow station has been reported on 8936 kHz.

More when the table becomes available.

It's Antarctica Time!

This is a good time of year to listen for Antarctica, because it's spring down there, and various people and agencies are setting up for summer, or doing yearly maintenance of equipment.

Here's a cool, in fact probably downright cold, Antarctica blog. It's by David Ruth, a sculptor who has received an NSF grant to study ice textures and forms. He's a good writer/photographer, and this should be an outstanding blog all season.

A relatively up-to-date list of Antarctic HF frequencies is on the Utility World Web site.

Those who like to copy Chilean Navy FAX charts of the Antarctic zone just south of their country will recognize this one in the November 20 blog entry. The copy is sure better than what I get up here in California, but then they're a heck of a lot closer.

When I get them, they look like this, if I'm lucky:



Playa Ancha Radio broadcasts the weather faxes on 4228, 8677, and 17146.4 kHz. Here's the schedule as of 2003. Some times have shifted slightly:

1115 SURFACE ANALYSIS
1130 SATELLITE IMAGE
1630 SURFACE ANALYSIS
1645 SATELLITE IMAGE
1915 SIGNIFICANT WAVE MAP (MTS)
1930 SATELLITE IMAGE
2200 SURFACE ANALYSIS
2215 ICE REPORT
2230 12HR WINDS BARB ISOTACHS FORECAST
2310 12HR SURFACE FORECAST
2325 SATELLITE IMAGE

More info here (in Spanish)

Yes, one of the transmission periods has QRM from USCG COMMSTA New Orleans.

You can also download the Chilean Navy surface chart and satellite image here. The page is in Spanish, but it's intuitive. It's not as much fun as copying them off the air, but at least you'll finally see what's in all those itty bitty letters that never show up.

You know you're a utility monitor if...

I've been adding to Tom Sevart's hilarious list, which is here.

So far I have:

You not only know what WUN stood for, but why it became UDXF.
You actually look for stations sending 9th-pulse LORAN-C.
You can identify particular Cuban numbers transmitters by their respective technical flaws.
You miss those voice loops that began "This is a test transmission for circuit adjustment purposes..."
You know that General Pacheco was not a character in an old western movie.
You've tried to track chirpsounders with the sweep function on the NRD-545.
You added the solar flux extension to Firefox within 24 hours of learning it existed.
You have an old audio cassette around somewhere from the last solar maximum.
You can tell the difference between military RF feedback and Globe Wireless spurs.
You know who to e-mail to get either of these fixed.
You routinely attract the interest of DX-Tuner site operators.
You remember when the WWV Geoalerts were in Morse code.
Your Google Earth placemarks are mostly antenna farms.
Your own antennas are visible on Google Earth.
You walk around gambling casinos looking for the slot machine that sounds most like XSL.

Old Stuff - Remember These?

I was going through some old logs, and found some real Deep Vault Favorites from old utes which are now long gone. Does anyone remember some of these?

(Freqs kHz, dates/times UTC)

83.5: MKL, UK Royal Air Force, Scotland, CW weather codes 5/20/88 at 0625
139.5: TBA, Turkish Navy, CW marker (T13A) 9/8/85 at 1915
464.0: SVD, Athens Radio, Greece, CW marker, 1/12/86 at 1720
484.0: 4XO, Haifa Radio, Israel, CW traffic list, 1/16/86 at 0227
500.0: EAS, Cabo Penas Radio, Spain, CW CQ and XXX (Securite), 1/16/85 at 0148
500.0: SVA, Athens Radio, CW Navarea warnings, 1/25/86 at 1986
1620.0: WKND, "Weekend Radio," pirate AM broadcast, 5/7/89 at 0400
2310.0: Stn identifying "VL8A, Alice Springs, Australia" in USB, 4/9/89 at 1010
2325.0: 72JKL, Spanish Navy (13RG), calling 78EAL in CW, 12/4/85 at 1840
2614.0: DAM, Nordeich Radio, Germany, CW time signals, 3/14/85 at 2355
3000.0: Unid, Mexican Army AM traffic in Radiogramma format, 2/1/88 at 0433
3081.0: CUW, USAF Lajes Tower, working 8-L-F and J-9-0, 1/20/88 at 0750
3109.0: USN? Raspberry Pensacola working Spartan, 3/3/87 at 0038
3186.0: KWS78, US Embassy, Greece, CW markers, 7/4/85 at 2130
3191.0: CIA Counting Station (E5), callup 133 and 4F message, 6/27/85 at 1901
3287.0: CKN, Canadian Forces (C13E), NAWS marker, 7/14/87 at 0416
3366.0: "PUMA," Mexican Army radiogrammas, whistle roger, 2/1/88 at 0500
3379.0: WGY912, FEMA, VA, nightly coded msg in slow CW //4780.5, 7/14/87 at 0420
3977.3: RAN, Moscow, point-to-point USB circuit adjustment loop, 12/14/85 at 1044
4063.0: "Fairsea" cruise ship patching to KMI High Seas on 4357.4, 12/31/87 at 0649
4131.2: "Fairsea," patching to WOM High Seas, 11/10/87 at 0448
4268.0: CKN, Canadian Forces (C13E), CW marker, 11/10/87 at 0517
4623.0: NGR, CW NUKO DE NAR/NGR/NRK/GXH/AOK bcst, 6/30/85 at 1400
4765.0: Unid-Cuban AM "R. Mayak" relay in Russian, 1/5/88 at 0638
4902.7: KKN44, US State Dept/CIA, Liberia, CW marker, 8/19/88 at 0543
4910.0: Clandestine "V. of the People of Kampuchea," s/on, 5/14/89 at 1100
4956.5: KKN39, US State Dept, CW marker, 1/22/87 at 0711
5560.0: "R. Venceremos," FMLN clandestine, 4/11/85 at 0500
5565.0: "R. Quince de Septiembre," CIA clandestine, 4/24/85 0500
5744.0: VOA B8E feeder, Greenville, separate programs, 5/3/88 at 0345
6509.5: "Kamchatskiy" Phone patch operator 1/22/87 at 0646
6510.0: Unid Russian AM, lots of shouting, possible USSR railroad, 3/6/87 at 0602
6802.0: Lowest of old Russian cluster (MX), C, F, slow K, O, L
6890.0: USB Russian broadcast feeder, 2/11/89 at 0421
6925.4: KKN50, US State Dept, CW marker, 10/27/87 at 0711
6995.0: VOA B8E feeder, 5/3/88 at 0325
8989.0: Old GCCS, USN Goldeagle patch to USAF McClellan, 7/31/89 at 2232
9070.0: Australian School of the Air law lecture, USB, 10/28/87 at 0625
9940.0: "La Voz del CID," CIA clandestine, harmonic on 29820, 4/23/88 at 0000
10235.0: VOA B8E feeder, Greenville, 6/2/88 at 0020
10400.0: R. Free Europe B8E feeder, 4/16/88 0724
13267.0: "2V," Russian MI CW net, coded messages, probably Afghanistan, 3/9/89 0656
13372.5: NGR, CW "NUKO DE NMN/NAM/NRK/NGR/NAR/GXH/" 1/7/86 at 0900
13900.0: USAF Abnormal 10, working aircraft, 4/17/87 at 1721
14526.0: VOA B8E feeder, Dixon, 7/15/88 at 2121
14638.0: VOA daily RTTY NX "American Republic File," 1/8/88
14850.0: Russian B8E R. Orbita feeder, 5/11/88 at 0314
15623.5: Pago Pago, Samoa, point-to-point, 11/12/77 at 1810
18756.0: JPA24, INTERPOL, Tokyo, working HSG, Thailand, CW, 11/8/87 at 0023
29745.0: Mexican hotel private FM telephone circuit, whistle-idle, 7/4/88
29790.0: Mexican hotel private FM telephone circuit, whistle-idle, 7/4/88
29835.0: Mexican hotel private FM telephone circuit, whistle-idle, 7/4/88

Auroral Storm in Progress 11/10

Enhanced solar wind and a southward Bz have caused aurora and attendant K indices of 6. Aurora has been bright in the Northern US. Pictures of this and the recent Transit of Mercury are at SpaceWeather.com.

Pacific Joint Task Force Exercise Begins

Two US Navy carrier strike groups are joining a Joint Task Force Exercise (JTFEX) that began November 8 off Southern California. For a real good description of the exercise, with participating units, go to our MT Milcom Blog.

KSM Granted RTTY Frequencies

Forward from MRHS list:

KSM, the coast station of the Maritime Radio Historical Society (MRHS), has been granted two RTTY frequencies by the FCC.

The frequencies, known officially as narrow band direct printing (NBDP) channels, are:

8.4330 Mc

12.6310 Mc

Authorized power is 5kW.

The MRHS will use these channels for broadcasting weather, press and other information to the maritime community using RTTY (Baudot) and SITOR FEC modes.

It will take a while for the MRHS Transmitter Department to bring transmitters on line for these frequencies. But now that we have FCC approval we can begin work on this new project. An announcement will be made when we are ready to begin transmission on these frequencies.

VY 73,

Richard Dillman
Chief Operator, KSM

Propagation numbers for Firefox

N0HC Propfire is a slick little Firefox extension that unobtrusively and silently puts the "WWV" propagation numbers for solar flux, A index, and K index in the status line of your browser. It updates periodically, and you get to watch it change. Clicking the numbers gives a menu and a nifty little chart of recent K indices.

You can get it from the Firefox extension page or the direct link above. It's compatible with Firefox 2.

Fall '06 Neptune Warrior Exercise in Progress

Reception reports have noted HF traffic on 4030-4031 kHz from the annual fall Neptune Warrior exercise which started on 24 Oct and will run until 04 Nov.

Exercise Neptune Warrior, formerly known as the Joint Maritime Course is a major UK led maritime training course held three times a year around the coast of Scotland. The US Navy is participating in the current exercise.

New PC-ALE Version Is Out

PC-ALE version 1.062G is now available from the new HF-Link site, in their beta-testing area.

As always, PC-ALE remains a rather amazing program, originally written by Charles Brain, G4GUO, ostensibly to teach himself DSP. I would say he learned fast, because this was an amazing programming breakthrough when it first came out. It rather seamlessly implemented most of a hardware Automatic Link Establishment controller, sticking close to one of the most complicated communication standards ever devised, while using only a PC and sound card. This was at a stage of the game when most other programmers were having enough trouble with sound-card RTTY and FAX.

In the seven or so years since, PC-ALE has lost some of its rough edges, improved greatly "under the hood," and in general made a good thing better. It remains ham software, meaning it is intended for use by technically sophisticated people, with the controls visible and with documentation that does not always tell you much about what to do with them. Like most great ham software, it also remains free.

The "G" version is in the line of evolution that began with the "MARS version" of PC-ALE. "G" has resolved some of the issues with this version, and greatly improved ease of use. It is coming close to the unthinkable - an intuitive ALE interface!

It remains a beta, of course. I've been giving it a good thrashing out on the NRD-545. There are some major differences from the older and better known "K" series of the program, which is still available on Charles' site, and as simple and reliable as ever.

For example, the QRG (frequency list) file is completely different, and incompatible. On the NRD-545, the G series no longer loads the QRG into your bottom 100 memories, meaning that you don't lose the data in these. Most NRD-545 users have become used to leaving 0-99 empty for PC-ALE to do with as it will, but this is apparently no longer necessary.

The grouping of frequencies is also different, far more intuitive, and generally better. The QRG that comes with the program on the HFLINK site is for use in amateur autolinking experiments, which due largely to the effort of this group have become far more common than before. However, it's easy to modify the file by hand and save it back out.

This particular release fixes a couple of little things. The receiver volume control, which was extremely clunky, is now as good as on the K. There's a new sound card setup screen, though the general interface to the sound card seems buggy. Closing the options screen sets the receive volume to 0 until this new setup is opened, at which point it goes back to where you had set it and you can close the dialogue without doing anything. A little thing, but irritating.

Trace mode is also greatly improved, with its own setup menu. One can now choose to trace every ALE word received without activating the more general debugging trace. This allows insight into the workings of the ALE mode, and can also uncover a few little hidden commands buried in some of the signals.

The program comes with transmit sounding enabled. Unless you want your shack to be a rather noisy place, you'll want to turn this off for receive-only.

ALE is a hobby within a hobby, largely due to Charles' efforts, and we thank him for his contributions to utility DXing.