[SW] 6230, 7210, 7310 & 7730 kHz - Firedrake Jammer - another one that became rare, Aug 12 2024
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- Опубликовано: 10 сен 2024
- Once a powerful tool to drown out "enemy" stations, Firedrake Jammer's use had been limited mostly to nighttimes several years ago, as co-channel CNR1 transmissions became China's preferred method of shortwave radio jamming. And now, despite the number of frequencies found in this video, Firedrake became an even rarer catch.
These four Firedrakes are on some of the multiple frequencies usually used by low-power transmitters of Sound of Hope, an opposition station associated with the Falun Gong movement. For these jammers, CNR1 is an almost-exclusive source of audio, although some noise jammers may be used too. The only exception is on Monday nights, when CNR1 takes a break between 18:05-20:25 UTC. That's when Firedrake is used.
Until early July 2024, Firedrake could be heard on daily basis targeting Radio Free Asia in Chinese, typically between 18:00 and 21:00 UTC, sometimes until 22:00 UTC, regardless whether CNR1 was broadcasting or not. At all other times, again, CNR1 was the preferred method.
However, Radio Free Asia (and USAGM in general, as this concerns Voice of America as well) had made drastic cuts to their SW schedule to China, ditching as much as 80% of their broadcasts. As a result, there are no more broadcasts between 17:00 and 21:00 UTC - which means the last daily opportunity to catch Firedrake on SW is now gone. We may still try getting it at 21:00 UTC on 7435 & 9685 kHz, but that, and the Monday excursions on anti-Sound of Hope jammers, is all.
So, that's one of the symbols of SW listening hobby fading away, as others fade away too.
This caption recorded in NE Poland, received with Airspy HF+ Discovery, this time hooked up to my 5-element, vertically polarised LFA Yagi for the FM band.