During the Cold War in the 1980s, I listened to Warsaw Pact naval stations in the Bundeswehr Navy. The Morse code of the beacon "P" meant that the transmitter was stationed in Kaliningrad, Russia. It may still be the case today
No Idea what the beacon means today. Back then we had to pay attention to this beacon (e.g. "P") and stay on standby at this frequency. Broadcasts usually came out at certain times in plain text (Russian) or were followed by encrypted messages with groups of 5. The sender of the messages was the call sign "RMP" (Kaliningrad Coastal radio station) That was my job back then, to listen to Kaliningrad, all in Morse telegraphy CW. Mostly on shortwave but also longwave (submarines), with a kind of "timetable" (band plan) that changed cyclically and always had to be adjusted Other workplaces next to me in the bunker had other tasks, such as listening to Polish stations, stations from the GDR or Warsaw Pact maneuvers. It was a very exciting time!
Using the Kiwi SDR as shown, click on the box Extension, there are several drop down options to decode many of the modes in this video, NAVTEC, HFFAX, HFDL etc...
XSL or the Slot Machine is said to be Japanese Navy. It is a HF radio modem network that occupies quite a few frequencies simultaneously. What you showed in your example is the system in it's idle state and not passing traffic. If you listen for a while, you will hear it change state when passing traffic with a characteristic whooshing sound, then back to idle. All traffic will most certainly be encrypted.
A very cool & informative video, thank you 😄 I can confirm 8 MHz is incredibly interesting, it is a mixed bag of everything. And while some signals that used to be a staple (such as South African Navy Saab Grintek MHF-50 modem on 8580 kHz USB) or many maritime beacons, others are still active :) this band seems to be quite popular among fishermen, especially in more exotic locations, so you gonna want your antenna installation be as good as possible 🤓 Those non-beacon CW transmissions are usually naZi ruZZian military... Well, they are everywhere across HF. And as for the aeronautical portion of the band, apart from Shannon Volmet on 8957 kHz, I'd recommend listening to Mumbai Radio on 8879 kHz. They're always very busy covering flights between Middle East and South Asia 😅
@@shortwavelistener if you do mate, nothing was heard during the day around 8pm West Aussie time proved viable, I'm using an HF radio and a 41m long end feed wire antenna, the current solar cycle is proving for some great listing on all bands, on 28.350-28.600 USB is drawing in hf stations from all parts of Europe and Asian countries it is not uncommon for me to work both ways on contacts from 13.000km-17.000kms. weekens are best for hf. all the best mate
13:04 a lot of beacons like the ones at this timestamp I used as channel markers, RDF references, propagation prediction and testing tools, navigation tools, and many other uses.
@@desfletc personally I use the Par EF-SWL 40 ft antenna. But, what you use does depend a bit on what kind of receiver you have. If your receiver doesn’t have an antenna port then just some long wire attached to the whip or coiled up and near the whip works.
Great video -subscribed! I’ve monitored HF Air, VOLMET etc. I recently recorded a EAM: ruclips.net/video/bsT5bCirVhg/видео.htmlsi=Pkxczqneyw88xV72 I just don’t know what Blackout meant (2m 10s in) on this one, I thought maybe location reference but did not find anything. I’ll use VOLMET frequencies from different locations to see how propagation is to Europe at times.
Be sure to check out the previous "Scanning the Bands" video about the 170 meter band --> ruclips.net/video/EYbq_fPxHB4/видео.html
Really enjoying this series exploring the bands. Thanks for making these videos, looking forward to the next one.
Thx! More to come!
This was excellent!
Thank you!
Great video. An excellent path into the depth and complexity of current day HF radio!
Thanks!
Great video. I have been watching this entire series.
@@357Shakey Thanks!
During the Cold War in the 1980s, I listened to Warsaw Pact naval stations in the Bundeswehr Navy. The Morse code of the beacon "P" meant that the transmitter was stationed in Kaliningrad, Russia. It may still be the case today
Interesting! Do you know what the beacons were actually used for?
No Idea what the beacon means today. Back then we had to pay attention to this beacon (e.g. "P") and stay on standby at this frequency. Broadcasts usually came out at certain times in plain text (Russian) or were followed by encrypted messages with groups of 5. The sender of the messages was the call sign "RMP" (Kaliningrad Coastal radio station) That was my job back then, to listen to Kaliningrad, all in Morse telegraphy CW. Mostly on shortwave but also longwave (submarines), with a kind of "timetable" (band plan) that changed cyclically and always had to be adjusted Other workplaces next to me in the bunker had other tasks, such as listening to Polish stations, stations from the GDR or Warsaw Pact maneuvers. It was a very exciting time!
@@Soundfactory24 that is pretty amazing! Thanks for sharing your experience!
Bundeswehr is German not Soviet. The Soviet Navy had those one letter beacons all over the place.
@@wa1ufo he was saying he was in the Bundeswehr navy listening to the Soviets not that the Bundeswehr was transmitting.
Very entertaining and instructive, this video makes me want to dig into this band more that I usually do. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.
Thanks!!
Thanks for this tutorial! I didn't know that on-line SDRs had decoder software built in to them for Fax and other digital modes!
Using the Kiwi SDR as shown, click on the box Extension, there are several drop down options to decode many of the modes in this video, NAVTEC, HFFAX, HFDL etc...
@@johnnorth8924 Yes! That’s in the video - but I should have said it in the narrative. Thx!
Great video…. Would love to see more like this
@@johngarry7098 thx!! Started the next one already!
Great stuff. Very interesting.
Thanks!
XSL or the Slot Machine is said to be Japanese Navy.
It is a HF radio modem network that occupies quite a few frequencies simultaneously.
What you showed in your example is the system in it's idle state and not passing traffic.
If you listen for a while, you will hear it change state when passing traffic with a characteristic whooshing sound, then back to idle. All traffic will most certainly be encrypted.
A very cool & informative video, thank you 😄 I can confirm 8 MHz is incredibly interesting, it is a mixed bag of everything. And while some signals that used to be a staple (such as South African Navy Saab Grintek MHF-50 modem on 8580 kHz USB) or many maritime beacons, others are still active :) this band seems to be quite popular among fishermen, especially in more exotic locations, so you gonna want your antenna installation be as good as possible 🤓
Those non-beacon CW transmissions are usually naZi ruZZian military... Well, they are everywhere across HF.
And as for the aeronautical portion of the band, apart from Shannon Volmet on 8957 kHz, I'd recommend listening to Mumbai Radio on 8879 kHz. They're always very busy covering flights between Middle East and South Asia 😅
Awesome information! Thanks!
Great series so far, looking forward to more as a new subscriber.
@@steveowens6862 Thanks!
This was a great episode I do have a collection of data sounds over the years, but this was refreshing.
@@alcampbell Thanks!!
thanks for the info, I just heard Indonesians and Filipinos and the digital stuff but very active from 8000-9000 in VK6
I need to listen more down under!! Thanks!!!
@@shortwavelistener if you do mate, nothing was heard during the day around 8pm West Aussie time proved viable, I'm using an HF radio and a 41m long end feed wire antenna, the current solar cycle is proving for some great listing on all bands, on 28.350-28.600 USB is drawing in hf stations from all parts of Europe and Asian countries it is not uncommon for me to work both ways on contacts from 13.000km-17.000kms.
weekens are best for hf.
all the best mate
very interesting band... ive heard alot of strange things on it over the years..
thanks I will be on there now awesome great for a beginner like me 👍
Hope it helps!
13:04 a lot of beacons like the ones at this timestamp I used as channel markers, RDF references, propagation prediction and testing tools, navigation tools, and many other uses.
The single letter CW beacons were/ are used by the Soviet/Russian Navy for navigation purposes.
A lot of those digital signals are from city utilities and signals for trash pump stations.Its good skip sometimes to pick them up
Interesting! Do you know of any examples?
New subscriber here! Great video
Thanks!!
Hi, what antenna do you use please
@@desfletc personally I use the Par EF-SWL 40 ft antenna. But, what you use does depend a bit on what kind of receiver you have. If your receiver doesn’t have an antenna port then just some long wire attached to the whip or coiled up and near the whip works.
Great video -subscribed! I’ve monitored HF Air, VOLMET etc. I recently recorded a EAM: ruclips.net/video/bsT5bCirVhg/видео.htmlsi=Pkxczqneyw88xV72 I just don’t know what Blackout meant (2m 10s in) on this one, I thought maybe location reference but did not find anything. I’ll use VOLMET frequencies from different locations to see how propagation is to Europe at times.
I need to look into the EAM messages more - I'm sure someone has done a lot of sleuthing on the topic. That's a great idea for propagation as well!
I listen to volmet as well, and time signals... Once you start digging your be surprised how many there are.
👍
Your voice sounds very much like "Todderbert" am I correct??
It does a bit - but I'm not Todd
hickups???
The 10 metre ham band ends at 29.700 Mhz not 30 Mhz.
@@wa1ufo Yes! Correct for ham bands - but we’re focusing on shortwave listeners and going to 30 mhz.
Maritime. Australia maritime weather 8113khz.