From VMSSERV@arecibo.aero.org Mon Mar 29 14:02:06 1993 Received: from arecibo.aero.org by cs.tut.fi with SMTP id AA16853 (5.65c/IDA-1.4.4 for ); Mon, 29 Mar 1993 14:02:01 +0300 Message-Id: <199303291102.AA16853@cs.tut.fi> Date: 29 Mar 93 02:44:00 PST From: "VMSSERV Mail Server" Subject: UWO9210.TXT To: "rko" Status: OR ================================================================= ===== SPEEDX's Utility World Electronic Edition ==== ===== Specializing in Utility Signals ==== ========== Vol. 1, No. 3 October 1992 ============== ================================================================= Chuck Yarbrough, Editor Johnson's Mobile Court, Lot 29 Route 6 Statesboro, Georgia 30458 Phone: (912)681-9526 (voice/FAX) CompuServe: 70544,2566 Internet: socomcy@gsvms2.cc.GaSoU.EDU Greetings once again! We're back with a bumper crop of ute news for you. Thanks for all the letters--you've really been finding some great stuff on the bands. This month also marks the arrival of the new and improved Ferrell's Confidential Frequency List from Gilfer. Everyone is encouraged to contribute what you are hearing by e-mailing (or USPS mail) to the editor. Ute World Goes Online This past month your local ute column expanded its services by commencing the Utility World Online Edition. It is dist-ributed to the SWL-L network on the Internet (which also means the rec.radio.shortwave database as well). The Internet serves governmental, commercial, educational, and military customers worldwide. Over one million people check in with the Internet each day, according to official figures. Don't worry about your SPEEDX sub-scription going obsolete, however. I am publishing all the information in the magazine format FIRST and THEN in the online edition. Also, I'm not including any loggings in the online edition. Since the first issue went online, over 250 people from all over the world have contacted me requesting the newsletter on a regular basis. The first issue contained the articles you read in February's edition. If you would like to receive the first two issues of the newsletter please e-mail me at the above addresses. AP FAX is Back Longtime reader Dan Wright checked in this month with information regarding the reappearance of the Associated Press Photo Facsimile service, broadcasting out of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Dan found station LRO26 on 5775.3 kHz transmitting between 2330 and 0000 UTC Monday thru Friday. The settings are 60/288 Negative. Dan asks, "Is it normal to send a negative instead of a positive picture?" The answer is yes. The intended customers for these pictures are newspapers in South and Central America. AP sends the photos as a negative so that the paper may use the negative to "print" the picture in normal polarity in the paper. Remember those photo negatives you received with the vacation photos? That is the equivalent of what the AP transmits to your FAX decoder. This is not a problem, however. Most decoders today make some provision for switching the polarity simply by pressing a button. Dan also asks if there is any info on skeds for FAX test charts. Good news, Klingenfuss' Guide to Facsimile Stations contains listings in its Schedules Section. This book is far and away the best info source on facsimile transmissions. Foghorn Revisited Mike Hardester has made a little progress in attempting to identify the source of the 'Foghorn' signal located on 4625 kHz and several other frequencies. Mike's radio-location efforts from his home in Eastern North Carolina, USA indicate that the signal is transmitted on a Northeast/Southwest axis. That path would include a Northern Europe to South Pacific path. I'll add Geoff Halligey's comments this month when he reports the 4625 frequency to be very loud at night (after 1600 local in winter) from his location in Southern Wales, UK. Geoff also reports weak foghorn signals of the same type on the following frequencies: 13875, 18500, 23125, 27750, and on 32375 and 37000. All of these frequencies are (coincidentally?) harmonics of the original 4625 frequency. The only harmonic frequency not heard is 9250. Perhaps there are other pieces to this puzzle? The Hall Report Robert Hall of Capetown, South Africa, provides us with some of the good things he is currently receiving at his station. On the FAX front, he is currently hearing the U.S. Navy at Diego Garcia very clearly on 20300 and 20910 kHz during daylight hours. The first frequency also transmits in the typical USN RTTY 75/850 format. This is almost always encrypted, so its probably NOT your machine or tuning Robert! A rarer catch Robert reports is the Soviet SAAM base at Moldezhnaya, Antarctica. This is now officially called the Sovereign Republics Antarctic Meteo Service. SAAM transmits two charts most days at 1200 and 1225 UTC on 18488.4 kHz (120/576). No other transmissions have been monitored from SAAM. Finally, Robert reports great Swedish Diplomatic traffic over the past month. I'll let him take it from there. "Great activity in the SWED-ARQ mode was noted during March with many transmissions logged between SAM and SIDA Stockholm (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and various Swedish Embassies in Africa. Some of the stations reported were Kinshasa, Nairobi, Dar-es-Salaam, Harare, Addis Ababa, and so on. Swedish language 'en clair' is often used but there is also plenty of crypto and five-letter groups. "Each embassy seems to have its own assigned frequency which is used for signals in both directions. Signals from Stockholm are addressed to embassies by name and usually signed "Cabinet--UD Stockholm". Signals to Stockholm are addressed to SAM or SIDA, followed by a named person. No callsigns have been seen so far. "The most active frequencies are 20607, 20699.9, 20919.6, 20987.1, 23078.9, 23593, and 23547.7 kHz. Speeds are all 100 baud and the shifts were 370/425 (nothing at 170, which was preset into the M-7000!). "The Swedish frequencies are most active between 1000 and 1600 UTC--nothing was heard outside these times. SWED-ARQ seems to be called 'UDTEX' by the Swedes themselves." Thanks a lot for that most informative bit of info about the transmitting habits of the Swedish Minstry of Foreign Affairs. Apologies are in order to Robert as well for not publishing his magnificent Pretoria Meteo FAX image he sent, but our photoreduction techniques here at SPEEDX don't really treat graphic images very well. That's why you don't get a lot of pretty pictures in this column! Thanks for the info Robert. Ross' CFARS Update David Ross of Ontario, Canada provides us an update of the Canadian Forces Affiliate Radio Service (CFARS) frequencies we published in the March column. David writes, "I have several minor changes to the CFARS frequencies...printed in the March column. One frequency change is 6977 kHz (ex 13971) due to facsimile interference and three newly located frequencies being the Juliet, Kilo, and Lima channels that I had previously mentioned. I have heard another channel mentioned as being the Hotel frequency that is somewhere near the 10-meter amateur band. I will keep listening and let you know when I find the frequency. "I have heard CFT mentioned on the air as being in Costa Rica, Guatemala, and San Salvador, El Salvador. I have also heard mentioned that CHL in Western Sahara has either 62 or 63 mobile units "running around the desert" using that callsign with an individual station number following the CHL callsign. So it looks as though there are mobile units assigned to each of the main stations. This will take some investigation to check this out." The CFARS frequencies David reports are as follows: Hotel (UNID 10-meter frequency) Lima 20976.0 Fox 20970.0 Golf 20962.0 Delta 14461.5 Charlie 14458.5 Juliet 14452.5 Kilo 14448.0 Echo 14445.0 Bravo 14385.0 Alpha 6977.0 (ex- 13971) David also provides us with an updated list of new CFARS callsigns he has accumulated off air over the past month. Several of the callsigns are currently involved in United Nations efforts worldwide. Callsigns CFC (Cambodia) and CIW3100 (Angola) are new UN operations, while the CHL callsign is currently used by some 31 mobile stations in the Western Sahara. David advises us that we can probably expect more CFARS stations to start popping up due to Canadian participation in the ongoing peacekeeping mission to Yugoslavia. Thanks for the updater David. We will look forward to future updates. By the way, my offer to you if you want a copy of David's CFARS list still stands. If you want one, simply drop me a line with a SASE and I'll send one (with the updates) to you. OOPS!!! Well, even haggard Utility Editors aren't perfect. I was reminded of this fact by Randy Minnehan of Columbus, Ohio in a letter this past month. In our January 1992 issue we published the QSL address for the VOA Bethany Relay station as "Marion" Ohio. I'll let Randy correct us, "Regarding the address for the VOA Bethany relay station, the city was given incorrectly. The proper city should be Mason, Ohio, not Marion, Ohio. The P.O. Box is correct as well as the zip code that you published, but not the city. Marion is a city in Ohio, located just north of us here in Columbus, but the Bethany relay receives its mail in nearby Mason, Ohio (near Cincinnati, about 100 miles southwest of Columbus)." Incidentally, Randy says the best time to catch the Bethany relay is at 1600 UTC on 17800 kHz. By the way, VOA Bethany WILL QSL their transmissions. For addresses within the United States, the Washington office will NOT QSL. Thanks for clearing that up Randy. Believe it or not, you WERE the first person who caught that error! Time Signal Stations? Staying for the moment in the great state of Ohio, USA, Michael Fanderys writes in asking for the latest info on the stations OLB5 in Czechoslovakia and EBC in Spain. Anyone have any information for Michael? I normally don't chase Time Signals, so I'm a bit out of my depth on this question. However, I know that these stations do inspire a considerable following among SPEEDX'ers, so drop me a line with your advice. Product Review: HOKA Code3 Decoder As we saw last month in the first part of this review, the HOKA Electronics Code3 RTTY/FAX/CW decoder has recently been released to the North American market. To recap, the requirements for this new decoder are that it must be used with an IBM PC, XT, AT, or 100% compatible computer. It can run off of either a floppy or hard disk and only requires 640kb of RAM memory. It will perform well with any graphic adapter, but the FAX function is much more satisfactory in either EGA or VGA mode. On March 3, 1992 Hoka Electronics of The Netherlands announced the release of version 4.00 of their Code3 decoder. From the product documentation, it appears that many of the earlier 'problems' with the unit have been corrected. The biggest problem with the old versions of this program was the lack of 'user- friendliness'. Horst Diesperger, owner of HOKA Electronic, and company have appare-ntly solved this by programming a new interface which is completely menu-driven. From all appearances, once you have adjusted the program parameters for your receiver and computer, the program exhibits a very friendly and straightforward design. The interface is not the reason to buy this machine, however. In my book, there are two major factors which favor the Code3 program. First, the number of modes included in the machine is phenomenal. 24 modes are included in the basic unit. I will list these a bit later. In addition, six additional (and exclusive) modes are also offered as options. The second plus for the Code3 is its price. The basic machine (software and hardware) lists for $375.00. There are six different options available as well. Option one provides a tuning 'Oscilloscope' ($45.00). Option two provides for saving ASCII text to a disk ($50.00). Option three offers Piccolo Mk VI mode decoding ($75.00), while option four allows you to decode the French Coquelet mode ($75.00). Option five gives you four additional ARQ and FEC modes (ie. TORG-10/11, HC-ARQ, ROU-FEC, RUM-FEC). This option costs $95.00. The final option (six) is an 'Auto-classification' module which allows for automatic selection of the correct tuning mode. If this works it will be a most useful tuning help. Despite the fact that you have to order the machine directly from the manufac-turer (at least in the United States), all prices are in US Dollars, no currency conversion is necessary. The decoder comes with a one-year guarantee and a six-month free upgrade policy. In other words, if Hoka comes out with a new version within six months after you purchase your Code3, they will upgrade your program disk for postage costs alone. So what does one get in this package? Plenty. The following modes are incorporated in the basic unit. Packet Radio AX.25 Sport 300 (German Sports Press) Press 300 (German News Press) Wirtshaft 300 (German Weather) Autospec (Oil Rigs and S.African Navy) DUP-ARQ Artrac (Hungarian Diplo) Baudot RTTY, ITA-2 (Multiple Users) Twinplex ASCII, ITA-5 SITOR A (maritime traffic, Diplo) ARQ-S (Austrian Diplo) SWED-ARQ (Swedish Diplo) ARQ-E (French Military) ARQ-N (Italian Military) ARQ-E3 (French Military) ARQ-M2 (mulitple users) ARQ-M2-242 ARQ-M4 (multiple users) ARQ-M4-242 FEC-A (German Press) SITOR B (NAVTEX and maritime users) FEC-S (Malaysian Diplo) Morse Code (multiple users) Facsimile (Weather and Press Photos) Hellscreiber (German Ham Facsimile) AUTOR (Automatic SITOR A/B switch) ARQ6-90/98 POL-ARQ (Polish Diplo) In addition, the following modes are also available as options. Piccolo Mk VI (British Diplo) TORG-10/11 (Russian TELEX) HC-ARQ (Red Cross traffic) Coquelet Mk I (French, Algerian Diplo) Quite an impressive lineup of modes, you must admit! In addition, Hoka claims that they have other modes available as well, but you must specially request them. In addition to the wide range of modes, the Code3 also sports an impressive list of helpful tuning and data analysis features. One of the features I think I might find most useful is the high resolution of the 'auto-speed' function. When this function is invoked ([F1] button), the program measures the incoming baudspeed to three places past the decimal (ie. 96.045 baud!). With the exception of the WAVECOM W4010 from Germany, this is the highest baud-rate resolution of any commercially available decoder today. (Since my new RTTY DATACARD from Tiare Publications relies on this function, you can tell that I might like it!) In addition to the baud-speed analysis feature, the Code3 users guide lists eleven other analysis features available to the RTTY monitor. It is not necessary that you know what to do with these tools, the machine will work fine even if you never look at them, but they are there if you like to get into the data structures of each mode. I must provide the reader a word of warning. I personally have not used this machine. I am going to order a copy for my own personal use, but I cannot endorse this product until I have actually used the machine for several months. It does appear to be a very attractive offering. The price makes it competitive with the other PC board decoders currently on the market. The modes offered make it comparable to the WAVECOM W4010 decoder alone. I have learned to develop a level of scepticism when it comes to electronic products, and even more when it comes to computer programs. I will offer a more complete review after I have used the machine for a while. Stay tuned. New Book Review: Ferrell's CFL, 8th ed. Well, moving on to something I HAVE actually used--the new and improved Ferrell's Confidential Frequency List, 8th edition finally arrived. My first impression was quite favorable. Having cut my 'eye-teeth' on the seventh edition of this classic, I was pleased to see that author Geoff Halligey and the folks at Gilfer Shortwave had retained all of the more useful features of the earlier edition, while providing some very useful new ones. The number of actual pages in the frequency section have increased from 325 in the 7th edition to 387 in the new edition. All of the MMS changes which occurred last July 1 have also been incorporated in the 8th edition as well. We have all come to EXPECT a high quality frequency section from the CFL crew. They do not disappoint. There are a number of new or expanded features in the new edition as well. First, the Callsign List section of the book has been increased dramatically, from 24 to 114 pages. In addition, the entire Callsign List section has been printed on blue paper for ease of use. I find this feature extremely useful. Some new features which will appeal to the serious utility monitor are: continuous frequency coverage from 1600-28000 kHz; a listing of Swedish Embassy callsigns and frequencies; RAF UKADGE "Architect" Stations; INTERPOL Stations and frequencies; an excellent collection of "Numbers" callsigns and frequencies (as well as signature tunes!); Channel marker frequencies; International Callsign Allocation Groups; ICAO Location Indicators; as well as Location Indicators used in the TELEX service. Everyone can find something of interest in the indexes in this book. One further improvement in the new Confidential Frequency List is in the design of the book. It is designed with the user in mind. The book is spiral bound, so it lays flat when open without breaking the binding (which is what happened to my 7th edition!). The layout of the entire work is straightforward and uncomplicated. The two major sections, the frequency pages and the Callsign List section, are printed on different colored pages, so turning to the needed section is a breeze. While the fine folks at Gilfer expanded most of the features and listings in this edition, one thing they DID NOT expand was the price. The Confidential Frequency List, 8th edition costs $19.95 US, the same price as the much smaller 7th edition (which sold orignally in 1988!). Pound-per-pound the new edition is a MUCH better buy than the previous one! Can I recommend this book for the utility buff? The answer is an unqualified YES! This listing is Gilfer's best effort yet. Every listing has been reviewed and updated from the previous edition, and the thoroughness of Geoff Halligey's work shines through. This new edition is destined to become a classic in every shortwave utility monitor's library. Ferrell's Confidential Frequency List, 8th edition can be obtained from Gilfer Shortwave, 52 Park Avenue, Park Ridge, NJ 07656 USA, telephone (201) 391-7887. Tell them SPEEDX sent you! _______________________________________________________________ Tune in next month for a review of Peter Rouse's new book Shortwave Communications from England, plus much more. Keep the cards and letters coming!! 73 and Gud DX, If you would like to learn more about the SPEEDX radio club, please write to Bob Thunberg, Business Manager, SPEEDX, P.O. Box 196, DuBois, Pennsylvania 15801-0196. Club dues are as follows: USA and Mexico $23.00 Canada (AO Airmail) 25.00 Central/South America, Carribean (airmail) 29.00 Europe (AO Airmail) 33.00 Africa/CIS/Asia/Oceania (AO Airmail) 37.00 Outside North America (Surface Mail) 23.00 All prices are in US funds. Tell Bob you heard about us from the Electronic Edition!