WebSDR Hits, Mostly Utility #6:

From WebSDR, U. of Twente, Netherlands:

10043.4 CW Unid Time signals? 05/30/09 2115

10051.0 USB NY Volmet. 05/30/09 2118

10066.0 HFDL 06 Hat Yai ARINC, squitters & wkg many aircraft (also hrd) 01/28/10 0045

10075.0 HFDL Squitters. 06/05/09 1953

10088.0 HFDL Squitters. 05/31/09 2251

10100.8 RTTY DDK9, Deutsche Wetterdienst WX, Hamburg, tx at Pinneberg, 50/450 06/02/09 2100

10107.0 ? ? Weird 1-sec bursts 01/25/10 0651

10110.2 STANAG 4285 Unid 88% confidence but no decode/ Encr NATO? 01/25/10 0650

10114.8 ? ? Sounds like 45 baud diddle, 45/1000, no messages 01/25/10 0657

10115.0 ? Unk mode w/4 tones, sounds like slow RTTY but not 01/22/10 0724

10130.0 RTTY Unk 75/850 encr (Center freq) 06/11/09 2324
10130.0 RTTY Unk 50/450 (Center freq) no decode 01/16/10 0647
10130.0 RTTY Unk 45/500 (Center freq) encr 01/22/10 0722

10147.3 Packet Many 30m APRS gateway 06/13/09 2332

14000.0 R3E ART Israeli Intelligence (E10) "Group 78," msg 01/16/10 0700
14000.0 R3E YHF Israeli Intelligence (E10) Callup, something that sounded like "9-2-Foxtrot," two messages in phonetic 5L with voice "message message message" and "end of message." 01/27/10 0730

WebSDR Hits, Mostly Utility: #5

4965.2 STANAG4285 Unid, no decode 01/17/10 0442

4970.0 USB 3 stns in RR(?) using procedures 01/14/10 0701

4996.0 CW RWM, Russia, time pips 01/14/10 0644

5000.0 AM WWV, standard time/frequency stn, CO 01/14/10 0647

5021.0 CW 2 stns Cyrillic QTC 4F groups many fills 01/16/100658

5025.0 AM Radio Rebelde, Cuban mx, annr in SS, amazingly loud! 01/14/10 0641

5953.0 ??? Like 3750.5 01/14/10 0652

7018.0 ??? Center freq of 1000-Hz reversals 01/08/10 2151

7037.9 FSK Packet TA2BBS-4 wkg TA7BB 03/01/09 2016

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

7039.8 CW gx7v, Russian mil, clg: xwr8 xwr8 xwr8 qtc ar, 768 19 23 2306 768 1966 =, then Cyrillic 5F msgs 03/23/09 2022

7040.00 CW AUXA 2 stns, CIS? mil, QSK w/Cyrillic 4F QTC, then "DYYK DE AUXA QTC K" 04/08/09 1710

7054.00 Center freq of 50-baud reversals, sounds military, on frequently, moves +/- 2 kHz, Russian? 03/01/09 2000

7054.85 RTTY Encrypted, no decode 75/200 02/28/09 2019

7098.0 RTTY Center freq, 75/240 no decode 01/25/10 0741

7196.0 ?? Unk 12-band PSK military style mode, tones between messages 01/17/10 0556

9/14 COTHEN and USACE Logs

Propagation conditions have tanked here in The Land That Shortwave Forgot. This will have to be the last log for a while:

5327.5 WUK437-US Army Corps Of Engineers, CA, ALE sounding, also on 6020 and 6785, at 2052.

7527.0 LNT raised J31 in ALE, then USB voice at 2149.

8912.0 CRB raised D31 in ALE, then secure PARKHILL comm in USB, at 2120.
8912.0 LNT raised K15 in ALE, link quality analyses at 2124.
8912.0 CNT raised D31 in ALE, then clear and secure USB voice, at 2137 and 2142.

11494.0 USDAEOC2-US Dept of Agriculture Alternate Emergency Operations Center, MD, ALE sounding at 2306. Station is not in the COTHEN net, but this frequency is common to both.


COTHEN callsigns heard: 501, 716, A39, CNT, CRB, D31, D45, J01, J09, K15, LNT, T16
Freqs: 7527.0, 8912.0, 10242.0, 11494.0, 13907.0, 15867.0, 18594.0

501 = Coast Guard 1501, HC-130H, E-City
716 = Coast Guard 1716, HC-130H, Sacramento, CA
A39 = US Customs & Border Protection AB139, reg. #N139HS
CNT = CBP Central Regional Communications Node
CRB = CBP Caribbean Regional Communications Node
D31, D45 = CBP P-3 patrol a/c
J01 = Coast Guard 6001, MH-60J helo, E-City
J09 = Coast Guard 6009, MH-60J helo, E-City
K15 = USCG rescue helo, probably Coast Guard Rescue 6515
LNT = Camslant Chesapeake
T16 = CBP Piper PA-42-720R, reg. #N9116Q, FL

9/12 SoCal Federal Logs

Noteworthy COTHEN & Misc Federal ALE hits:

8912.0  CRB TO T9A 22:49:40
11494.0 USDAEOC2 SND 22:58:05
13446.0 FC6 TO TX6 23:18:23 (LQA)
15867.0 T9A SND 21:41:49
15867.0 RDC SND 22:03:00
18594.0 RDC SND 22:03:00
20890.0 RDC SND 22:03:43

COTHEN
ALE Addresses: 500, C06, CRB, D70, F33, I08, J01, J10, J19, J23, J30, J31, LNT, OPB, P03, P21, PAC, RDC, T16, T47, T72, T9A, TSC
Frequencies: 5732.0 7527.0 8912.0 10242.0 11494.0 13907.0 15867.0 18594.0 20890.0 23214.0 25350

500 = USCG Coast Guard 1500 (HC-130H)
C06 = US Army Corps of Engineers Rapid Response Vehicle #6, TX
CRB/T9A/T16/T47 = Probable US Customs & Border Protection, Caribbean
F33 = USCG HU-25, Corpus Christi, TX
FC6 = FEMA Region 6, TX
J01 = USCG 6001, MH-60J helo, E-City
J10 = USCG 6010, MH-60J helo, Clearwater, FL
J19 = USCG 6019, MH-60J helo, Clearwater, FL
J23 = USCG 6023, HH-60J helo, Mobile, AL
J31 = USCG 6031, HH-60J helo, Mobile, AL
LNT = USCG Communications Area Master Station, Atlantic, Norfolk, VA
OPB = US Drug Enforcement Agency OPBAT (Operations, Bahamas And Tortugas), Nassau
P03 = Possible USCG Air Station, E-City
PAC = USCG Communications Area Master Station, Pacific, Pt. Reyes, CA
RDC = USCG Cutter Campbell (WMEC-909)
TSC = COTHEN Technical Service Center/ Remote/ Natl Law Enforcement Comm, FL
TX6 = FEMA, unknown Texas, possible truncated address
USDAEOC2 = US Dept. of Agriculture Alternate Emergency Operations Center, MD
(11494 is also a USDA freq)

Note: Coast Guard aircraft are already working rescues as of Friday afternoon.

Federal ALE Logs 11 Sep 08

5732.0 22:25:46 TO J23 TIS LNT
5732.0 22:27:16 TO J23 TIS LNT
5732.0 22:57:36 TO J23 TIS LNT
5732.0 23:07:14 TO Z299 TIS J37
5732.0 23:08:07 SND  TWS J37
6809.0 21:49:01 SND  TWS FC8FEM
6809.0 22:48:56 SND  TWS FC8FEM
7348.0 22:48:47 SND  TWS FC8FEM
9106.0 20:41:05 SND  TWS 43NCS
9462.0 19:48:18 SND  TWS FC8FEM
9462.0 22:48:24 SND  TWS FC8FEM
10194.0 21:48:14 SND  TWS FC8FEM
10588.0 22:48:01 SND  TWS FC8FEM
12164.0 20:18:48 SND  TIS 119CDCS05
12164.0 22:12:26 SND  TIS 119CDCS05
12216.0 19:47:33 SND  TWS FC8FEM
12216.0 19:57:34 TO FM8FEM3 TIS FM8FEM4D
12216.0 21:47:28 SND  TWS FC8FEM
13488.0 22:12:50 SND  TIS 119CDCS05
14776.0 21:09:58 SND  TWS FC6
              

119CDCS05 = US Centers for Disease Control, National Public Health Radio Network (NPHRN)
43NCS = SHARES National Communication System liason, probably KNR43
FC6 = FEMA Region 6, Denton, TX. FEMA National Radio System (FNARS)
FC8FEM = FEMA Region 8, Denver, CO. FNARS
FM8FEM3, FM8FEM4D = Unknown FEMA Region 8 mobiles
J23, J37 = Probably USCG aircraft on COTHEN
LNT = USCG Communications Area Master Station, Atlantic (Norfolk, VA)

Federal ALE Logs 1 Sep 08

All USB ALE, Times UTC

31 Aug 08

11217.0   043NCS      SND            23:40:31

1 Sep 08

3345.0    WUK437      SND            06:05:53
4757.0    494FEMAUX   TO  5CDCS16    04:11:38
5140.0    401MT       SND            02:12:32
5140.0    401MT       SND            04:27:44
9414.5    494FEMAUX   TO  033CDCS22  03:16:26

043NCS = SHARES/ National Communications System
401MT = Unknown FEMA Region 4
494FEMAUX = FEMA WGY 9494, Region 4 Auxiliary Station
05CDCS16 and 033CDCS22 = National Public Health Radio Network stations, Centers for Disease Control

Pre-Gustav FEMA ALE Logs

All heard in Southern California. Times UTC.

30 Aug 08:

6809.0 FC8FEM SND 22:48:40
7348.0 FC8FEM SND 20:48:29
7806.4 FC8FEM SND 22:47:33
8050.0 FC8FEM SND 20:48:15
9462.0 FC8FEM SND 20:47:58
9462.0 FC6 SND 21:10
9462.0 FC8FEM SND 21:48:28
10194.0 FC6 SND 21:10
10588.0 FC8FEM SND 20:47:33
11108.0 FC6 SND 22:10:47
11217.0 043NCS SND 20:40:23
12216.0 FC8FEM SND 20:47:11
12216.0 FC6 SND 21:10
13446.0 FC8FEM SND 20:46:56
13446.0 FC6 SND 21:10
13446.0 FR5FEM SND 22:18:31
14450.0 FC6 SND 23:09:59
14776.0 FC8FEM SND 20:46:41
14776.0 FC6 SND 21:10

FEMA regions:

5 Chicago
6 Maynard, MA
8 Denver

Review: Two ACARS Log Analyzers for Windows

(This was originally part 1 of the post below, but I split it off to make the posts shorter.)

Along with the Dynamic Data Exchange path described in the post just below, some listeners are adding ACARS log analyzers to crunch the data from acarsd.

What you do here is run acarsd with yet another DDE server active, and add yet another client application! That's five simultaneously running programs, for those with the courage to keep count, and yes, you still have to start them in order of the data flow. It all works, at least on my hot dual-core XP Professional system with 2 gig of RAM. All these ones and zeroes churn around inside the machine. Messages appear on screens at various intervals, and ultimately get written to the analyzer database.

I'm not sure these analyzers are worth it for HF, though. I tried two of them. Some people love each of them, so they obviously work well enough to fill their needs. Once again, the price is right, as in free. However, I'm more oriented to DXing and finding new catches than plane spotting, and I'm not sure either program added that much more to acarsd to justify the increased level of complexity.

For a start, neither program seemed to contain an easy way to display the ICAO 24-bit hex addresses, though I understand from various Internet chatter that this may be added soon. My real problems seemed to come from both programs' heavy reliance on various data handling features in the Windows operating system itself. Those of us who have spent years fighting with these know what a mess THAT can create!

After the glowing review that another MT column gave the first one I tried, known as ACARS Log Analyser (British spelling), I couldn't wait to get it going. For whatever reason, though, my results weren't as good as his.

It's possible that my problems were caused by Windows DLL conflicts. It's fine for radio freeware to want to replace multiple shared DLLs with older ones. However, it's also my policy not to let these installers do so, because the resulting unpredictable problems with other, more important (or expensive!) apps can really be a mess.

Perhaps this is why the Log Analyser was so fussy, not to mention prone to all manner of arcane error messages, some of which crashed the program. After working through several truly bizarre logic bombs, I finally got the DDE working, sort of.

I never did get my older logs to import. Only one format worked at all, and this one corrupted all the records to have dates 20 years from now. Since I doubt even the NRD-545 can hear into the future, I finally put this program out of its misery with a full uninstall. Since this is Windows, there were a few harmless dregs left in the Registry, but nothing too critical.

Next up, I tried Acars Analyser (Australian spelling). It's right here. This one is a bit slicker, with pretty little icons and an interface generally more to my personal liking. Even better, its installer didn't ask to change any DLLs at all.

I also like the way the software is structured into two parts. One of these is a DDE client, which (like acarsds) connects to any number of programs and then sits happily in the background. The setup screen for this client is accessible, and comprehensive. The other part is the actual analyzer. It works with an external database using Jet (the MS data engine, not an aircraft type). Many items are stored, and these can be massaged in a truly impressive number of ways.

Unfortunately, that's all I can really say about this program. It never got a fair trial on my machine. It, too, seemed fussy. I never got past the initial stages of file not found errors and an occasional hang when I tried to access the database.

This might have been my fault. I became confused during the installation, and later I was able to find multiple database file paths in the Registry. It's possible the code became confused too. Also, according to the programmer, the public databases that make several of the better features work suddenly stopped being maintained, crippling these until an alternative is found.

At this point, I decided that I really wasn't going to use this program very much for what I was doing, and I uninstalled it. The end of this project is at hand, with Posfix and acarsd doing the job just fine. I've come to like these a lot.

Happy buzzing on HF!

Review: Several Windows ACARS Programs

It all started when the hard core HFDL enthusiasts on the Yahoo! group told me that you could connect Charles Brain's great PC-HFDL program to other data processing applications via Windows DDE.

If this last sentence is total gobbledygook to you, well it would also have been to me about three months ago. I would imagine one of the fancy (and pricey) high-end ACARS packages would do all this stuff with a fraction of the geeking, but fortunately I like to geek. After all, this is amateur radio.

Acarsd and PC-HFDL

I'd read good things about a free program suite called acarsd. You can download it at acarsd.org. It's a rather comprehensive ACARS package, with all the features that the hard core aviation geeks have come to expect, such as real-time fetching of aircraft data, including photos, from plane spotting sites.

Acarsd contains a decoder, but for HF I really wanted to continue using PC-HFDL for the transport layer. You need the commercial PC-HFDL version to do DDE. It's a nice little program, especially in its newest 2.041 beta, which adds some features and generally improves the decode.

Unfortunately, Vista broke it, along with most other shareware/freeware sound card radio decoders. This is a problem since Charles, as of last year at least, didn't have access to a Vista box to develop the fixes. Users of GOOD operating systems, such as Windows XP Pro, will have no problems, though it definitely likes some sound cards more than others.

Getting back to acarsd, it's a remarkable package for the price (free, though donations are encouraged). It also has a Linux version. It is configurable to do just about anything, mostly by manually tweaking the self-documenting .ini file. Other documentation is pretty minimal.

In order to send PC-HFDL decodes to Acarsd, you need the "SkySpy Socket Collector," an accompanying DDE server application which is called acarsds. This program, which is bundled with newer versions of acarsd, works like a charm. Its documentation, though, is extremely out of date.

For example, you are told to download acarsds separately, and install it to its own directory. You don't have to. You are told that you need a specific Visual Basic runtime library. Unless your Windows is ME or older, you almost certainly don't. Finally, you are told not to even bother downloading it if you have Windows XP, because this OS isn't supported by SkySpy. Even if, years later, this is still the case, it's irrelevant for us.

The DDE setup is a complete no-brainer. Soon, you have this neat little server happily passing your ACARS messages to the cool acarsd graphic user interface. Not long after, you notice that many of the interesting HFDL downlinks don't display, because technically they are HFNPDU PERFORMANCE messages, not ACARS. Too bad, because most of these have the position of the aircraft.

POSFIX

Fear not. This is where POSFIX comes in. It's also free, and you get it right here. The latest version in January 2008 is 2.34, though a newer version that adds SBS and some other features is in beta. Posfix is also minimally documented at best, though the help does tell you how to make the program work.

What Posfix does is to reformat the HFDL positions into pseudo-ACARS messages which get sent to acarsd and displayed. Acarsd gets a lot more interesting, and your logs get bigger faster, though you also get a lot of NO-REG for missing registration numbers.

What you do is to set Posfix as a DDE client for PC-HFDL, and then set acarsds as a client for Posfix. This results in the following DDE path:

PC-HFDL > Posfix > acarsds > acarsd.

Also, things crash if you don't start servers first and clients second. This means you start PC-HFDL, get it going on a frequency, then work left to right along the path shown above. Posfix connects to PC-HFDL, and messages start appearing in its window. Acarsds connects to Posfix, and messages appear there. Acarsd connects to acarsds, and messages appear there, in its slick formatting, and including the position checks. Also you can plot with Posfix, though unless you're monitoring the North Atlantic run you'll want to make some more maps. Fortunately, this is stupidly easy.

This took me a couple hours of tweaking to get right, but the results are worth it.

UPDATE: This post has been split into two parts to decrease its length. The second part should be above.