WebSDR Utility Hits

WebSDR is a remote Software Defined Radio at the University of Twente, Netherlands (grid locator JO32KF). It runs a Java applet that displays three waterfalls for amateur band segments, and allows multiple Internet users worldwide to listen to different parts of these at the same time.

While the amateur signals are interesting enough, the real fun is the utility reception at this location. It gives those of us trapped here on the US West Coast (aka The Land That Shortwave Forgot) a chance to hear some of those utilities that Europeans keep reporting on UDXF.

Here's a short log of some recent stuff I heard. Keep in mind that some of the frequencies are offset from where you'd hear them on your own equipment. Others are not (because I looked them up).

3589.7 (Indicated on WebSDR)
Unid - BPSK250 Weather obs in GG 01/30/09 0636
This unidentified station appears to dump files from various sources on a regular schedule. At 250 baud, it's pushing the limit of what the rubbery Internet timing can pass undistorted. Garbled characters are common. However, there's never been anything resembling an ID.

One file included many amateur callsigns and sets of coordinates, perhaps an APRS dump. Another one, passed frequently at hour +15, contains Deutscher Wetterdienst (German Weather Office) warnings and formatted marine safety bulletins from "NAVTEX-Hamburg."

80 meter Russian single-letter HF beacon cluster:
3593.7 CW SLHFB "D" Sevastopol 02/04/09 0431
3593.8 CW SLHFB "P" Kaliningrad 02/08/09 2142
3593.9 CW SLHFB "S" Severomorsk 02/04/09 0431
(frequencies are actual, from records)

3607.0 Unid Link-11 (idling) 01/04/09 0427
3610.0 Unid Link-11 (busy) 01/04/09 0427
(On pretty much nightly. Unknown NATO. Other Link-11 comes and goes. Frequencies are WebSDR readings.)

Other utilities abound in the band 3500-3700, which by the way is legal for their use in region 1. There are several very strange fax-like digital signals. Also, several old fashioned analog weather fax stations can be copied here, though the SDR's timing makes sync difficult.

40 meter Russian single-letter HF beacon cluster:
7038.7 CW SLHFB "D" Sevastopol 01/30/09 0650
7038.8 CW SLHFB "P" Kaliningrad 01/30/09 0659
7038.9 CW SLHFB "S" Severomorsk 01/30/09 0650
7039.0 CW SLHFB "C" Moscow 01/30/09 0650
7039.1 CW SLHFB "A" Astrakhan? 02/03/09 2050
(Actual freqs, from lists.)

Annual VLF Alternator Transmission Coming Up

The Alexanderson Alternator was the first continuous-wave CW transmitter. It is literally a large electric motor-generator that makes RF. A global network of these huge stations was rapidly replacing "King Spark" for maritime coastal radio, when vacuum tubes replaced both.

A working example is at SAQ, Grimeton Radio. RF power is on the order of 200 kW, but the frequency is so low (17.2 kHz, not MHz) as to make it a real catch in North America. From the web site in Sweden:

GRIMETON RADIO/SAQ TRANSMISSION

The annual transmission on "Alexanderson Day" with the Alexanderson alternator on VLF 17.2 kHz will take place Sunday 29th June 2008 at 09:00 UTC (tuning up from after 08:00 UTC) and will be repeated at 13:00 UTC (tuning up from after 12:00 UTC).

The station will be open to visitors.

Amateur Radio Station with special event call "SK6SAQ" will be QRV 09:15 -12:00 UTC on the following frequencies:

- 14.035 kHz CW
- 14.215 kHz SSB

>From 07:00 UTC also on:

- 3.755 kHz SSB.

QSL via SK6DK or direct to address below.

QSL-reports to SAQ and SK6SAQ are kindly received:

- E-mail to: info@alexander.n.se
- or fax to: +46-340-674195
- or via: SM bureau

- or direct by mail to: Alexander - Grimeton Veteranradios Vaenner,

Radiostationen
Grimeton 72
SE-430 16 ROLFSTORP
S W E D E N

VP6DX: Not Really Ute, But Interesting

The last couple of nights, the gray line has really been blasting in here. For example, the first major ham radio DXpedition of 2008, VP6DX, is right now S6 on 10106 kHz CW into L.A. for the second evening in a row. (Never understimate gray line... It's how I nailed Clipperton on 100 watts to a simple inverted vee...)

VP6DX is on Ducie Island. It's an uninhabited piece of land to the east of Pitcairn Island, the place the Bounty ended up. Any time a place makes Pitcairn look like civilization, you KNOW you are nowhere. He'd actually worked 30 meters out for a time, but now he's running stations again, and actually getting stronger. Come on you guys in SoCal, you've got to have a signal, here's a new one.

More at ARRL.

UPDATE 0321 UTC: VP6DX is also on RTTY, 10148.9 kHz, taking calls down 10. You have to love ham radio.

More XSS

16 November (UTC):

10420.0 XSS sounding at 0017, 0047, 2358.
14782.5 XSS sounding at 0044.

17 November (UTC):

14728.5 XSS sounding at 0025.
10193.5 XSS sounsing at 0029.

Other times and frequencies are no joy. The fact that the best signals seem to come in the late afternoon local time in November would tend to rule out the UK as a source. Perhaps XSS/ DHFCS/ TASCOMM is continuing to add transmitters as the network is built out and used by the UK military.

XSS Finally Heard in Western US!

XSS is the Automatic Link Establishment address (ID) for the probable control station of the UK's new Defence High-Frequency Communication System (DHFCS). The control location is Forest Moor, England, though remotes are possible. It has been heard widely in Europe and the eastern US, but not out here on the Left Coast.

Not until today (UTC date 15 November), anyway. Several ALE soundings have been received on 14728.5 kHz. Here's the PC-ALE output:

[01:03:16][FRQ 14278500][SND][TWS][XSS ][AL0] BER 28 SN 02
[01:03:13][FRQ 14278500][SND][TWS][XSS ][AL0] BER 24 SN 02
[01:03:11][FRQ 14278500][SND][TWS][XSS ][AL0] BER 16 SN 01
[01:03:10][FRQ 14278500][SND][TWS][XSS ][AL0] BER 20 SN 01
[00:33:02][FRQ 14278500][SND][TWS][XSS ][AL0] BER 21 SN 07