Pirate & Unusual Radio Signals

[FrKadash]

Same with my dad. He was a radio operator in the Paras in WW2. Upto the year he died, in his 80s, he could still remember his Morse Code.

Just recently we've started experimenting within my group the O.M. with Morse Code, utilising it ritually and also with sigil engineering. I started by issuing a letter to all members in Code and then audio visual messages to members. 95% of communication between members is done by post because of that nice personal touch it helps provide and because ''snail mail'' seemed to be dying out within occult Orders.

 

[Mythopoeika]

What's wrong with email?

 

[Ermintruder]

What's wrong with email?

Lacks in seals, signata and sigils.

By contrast, a tattered parchment, tied-up with a plait of golden tresses & delivered by a falcon, is unlikely to end-up in your spam filter.

@FrKadash are you also aware of the convention within morse code for using coded shorthand?

This is similar in some ways to rune letter combinations (like 'ng' or 'th'). Such "bar letter prosigns" (ie procedural signs written with a bar above them) have their origins in the original land telegraph system, in the many decades before radio morse.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosigns_for_Morse_code#Prosign_symbol_representations

 

[FrKadash]

What's wrong with email?

It's also that sort of nice physical thing of getting a letter out of the blue, and it shows that the sender put a little bit of effort in to the message, but email is also brilliant for loads of situations where the speed is really required. We also use cassettes a lot for audio messages and that was for some ideas on analogue being better for capturing unusual things in ritual work. Now I see in the news that tapes are making an apparent hipster comeback... :fckpc:

 

[FrKadash]

Lacks in seals, signata and sigils.

By contrast, a tattered parchment, tied-up with a plait of golden tresses & delivered by a falcon, is unlikely to end-up in your spam filter.

@FrKadash are you also aware of the convention within morse code for using coded shorthand?

This is similar in some ways to rune letter combinations (like 'ng' or 'th'). Such "bar letter prosigns" (ie procedural signs written with a bar above them) have their origins in the original land telegraph system, in the many decades before radio morse.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosigns_for_Morse_code#Prosign_symbol_representations
View attachment 2068

Thanks Ermin I'm just reading up on that now you've brought it up, very interesting stuff to try and study up on

 

[Mythopoeika]

Tapes? I don't think I've seen any blank tapes for sale recently.
Good luck!
Or you could just email a link to some MP3 files.

 

[FrKadash]

Tapes? I don't think I've seen any blank tapes for sale recently.
Good luck!
Or you could just email a link to some MP3 files.

The last time I think I saw any for sale was in W. H. Smith and that was about 8 years ago! Do you remember DAT tapes Mytho? I get normal cassettes on ebay, they're 5 quid for 5 tapes. I've always wondered why the police still use them, I was last interviewed when a friend OD'd in my house in about 2011 and they were being used during my interview then!

 

[Ermintruder]

very interesting stuff to try and study up on

They are still used, internationally and interlingually, by radio amateurs, and a shrinking band of radio professionals.

Many of these conjoined letters also made their way into telex (think...'typewriter by phone') and teletype (the early predecessor to email, slow TTY services eventually becoming fax/facsimile and beyond). Can be thought of almost being a post-Victorian version of DOS/machine code, but purely for communications (ie uncompiled, not 'run' like a program)...quite steampunkean.

 

[Doc]

Lacks in seals, signata and sigils.

By contrast, a tattered parchment, tied-up with a plait of golden tresses & delivered by a falcon, is unlikely to end-up in your spam filter.

@FrKadash are you also aware of the convention within morse code for using coded shorthand?

This is similar in some ways to rune letter combinations (like 'ng' or 'th'). Such "bar letter prosigns" (ie procedural signs written with a bar above them) have their origins in the original land telegraph system, in the many decades before radio morse.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosigns_for_Morse_code#Prosign_symbol_representations
View attachment 2068

There is also the Q Code, or Brevity Code; there are different Q Codes for Maritime use, Aero use, and Amateur Radio use. Mainly used in morse, they can also be spoken. The most-used Amateur Q Code is below I've left out a few which would rarely be used by Amateurs.

QRA What is the name of your station? The name of my station is ___.
QRB How far are you from my station? I am ____ km from you station
QRG Will you tell me my exact frequency? Your exact frequency is ___ kHz.
QRH Does my frequency vary? Your frequency varies.
QRI How is the tone of my transmission? The tone of your transmission is ___ (1-Good, 2-Variable, 3-Bad.)
QRJ Are you receiving me badly? I cannot receive you, your signal is too weak.
QRK What is the intelligibility of my signals? The intelligibility of your signals is ___ (1-Bad, 2-Poor, 3-Fair, 4-Good, 5-Excellent.)
QRL Are you busy? I am busy, please do not interfere
QRM Is my transmission being interfered with? Your transmission is being interfered with ___ (1-Nil, 2- Slightly, 3-Moderately, 4-Severly, 5-Extremely.)
QRN Are you troubled by static? I am troubled by static ___ (1-5 as under QRM.)
QRO Shall I increase power? Increase power.
QRP Shall I decrease power? Decrease power.
QRQ Shall I send faster? Send faster (___ WPM.)
QRR Are you ready for automatic operation? I am ready for automatic operation. Send at ___ WPM.
QRS Shall I send more slowly? Send more slowly (___ WPM.)
QRT Shall I stop sending? Stop sending.
QRU Have you anything for me? I have nothing for you.
QRV Are you ready? I am ready.
QRW Shall I inform ___ that you are calling? Please inform ___ that I am calling.
QRX When will you call me again? I will call you again at ___ hours.
QRY What is my turn? Your turn is numbered ___.
QRZ Who is calling me? You are being called by ___.
QSA What is the strength of my signals? The strength of your signals is ___ (1-Scarcely perceptible, 2-Weak, 3-Fairly Good, 4-Good, 5-Very Good.)
QSB Are my signals fading? Your signals are fading.
QSD Is my keying defective? Your keying is defective.
QSG Shall I send ___ messages at a time? Send ___ messages at a time.
QSK Can you hear me between your signals and if so can I break in on your transmission? I can hear you between my signals, break in on my transmission.
QSL Can you acknowledge receipt? I am acknowledging receipt.
QSM Shall I repeat the last message which I sent you? Repeat the last message.
QSN Did you hear me on ___ kHz? I did hear you on ___ kHz.
QSO Can you communicate with ___ direct or by relay? I can communicate with ___ direct (or by relay through ___.)
QSP Will you relay to ___? I will relay to ___.
QSU Shall I send or reply on this frequency? Send or reply on this frequency.
QSV Shall I send a series of Vs on this frequency? Send a series of Vs on this frequency.
QSW Will you send on this frequency? I am going to send on this frequency.
QSY Shall I change to another frequency? Change to another frequency.
QSZ Shall I send each word or group more than once? Send each word or group twice (or ___ times.)
QTA Shall I cancel message number ___? Cancel message number ___.
QTB Do you agree with my counting of words? I do not agree with your counting of words. I will repeat the first letter or digit of each word or group.
QTC How many messages have you to send? I have ___ messages for you.
QTE What is my true bearing from you? Your true bearing from me is ___ degrees.
QTG Will you send two dashes of 10 seconds each followed by your call sign? I am going to send two dashes of 10 seconds each followed by my call sign.
QTH What is your location? My location is ___.

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

Lacks in seals, signata and sigils.

By contrast, a tattered parchment, tied-up with a plait of golden tresses & delivered by a falcon, is unlikely to end-up in your spam filter.

@FrKadash are you also aware of the convention within morse code for using coded shorthand?

This is similar in some ways to rune letter combinations (like 'ng' or 'th'). Such "bar letter prosigns" (ie procedural signs written with a bar above them) have their origins in the original land telegraph system, in the many decades before radio morse.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prosigns_for_Morse_code#Prosign_symbol_representations
View attachment 2068

TBH if you use BT email the chances are it is delivered by a falcon (on Durin's Day).

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

Is there anything that can jam or interfere with amateur radio signals? And does amateur/ham radio affect things like broadband/TV/electrical devices in the neighourhood?

The moment the amateur radio enthusiast moved onto this street, everyone's broadband signal fell through the floor. Us and the other neighbours have often wondered if it was related, or a coincidence? I heard having BT Vision can interfere with their signal if it's close by. Is that the case? We asked BT but actually got totally contradictory answers from different people.

 

[Mythopoeika]

It might interfere with broadband if somewhere along the line there is a microwave antenna carrying the broadband data (this is called 'last mile' data transmission).
The radio enthusiast may have a sufficiently powerful microwave transmitter on a band that overlaps with the one that BT is using, and pointing at the BT antenna.
I can't imagine that it would affect any cable or fibre services.

Unless...the radio enthusiast is using the BT broadband and transmitting a huge amount of data?

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

Thanks, Myth. Different BT engineers gave us different answers to that question - we kept calling them out to find a fault which they never could succeed in finding. Since it very recently changed to a fibreoptic cable, it has been pretty well back to normal, so your answer makes sense. He doesn't have BT (or no router showing here, anyway). We are very close to the junction box thingy, whatever BT call it. Engineer after engineer tried to find a fault. One of them heard something on the line actually whilst he was talking to me, and all he could say was it was an 'intermittent fault' - ie: there, but not there when they came out to find it...

 

[Doc]

Thanks, Myth. Different BT engineers gave us different answers to that question - we kept calling them out to find a fault which they never could succeed in finding. Since it very recently changed to a fibreoptic cable, it has been pretty well back to normal, so your answer makes sense. He doesn't have BT (or no router showing here, anyway). We are very close to the junction box thingy, whatever BT call it. Engineer after engineer tried to find a fault. One of them heard something on the line actually whilst he was talking to me, and all he could say was it was an 'intermittent fault' - ie: there, but not there when they came out to find it...

The people to contact over possible Amateur Radio interference are OfComm. They will investigate the case including looking at his equipment. An amateur radio licence is issued only on the understanding of not causing interference to other services.

 

[bakelite brain]

Is there anything that can jam or interfere with amateur radio signals? And does amateur/ham radio affect things like broadband/TV/electrical devices in the neighourhood?

The moment the amateur radio enthusiast moved onto this street, everyone's broadband signal fell through the floor. Us and the other neighbours have often wondered if it was related, or a coincidence? I heard having BT Vision can interfere with their signal if it's close by. Is that the case? We asked BT but actually got totally contradictory answers from different people.

It's possible but unlikely that a radio frequency (RF) signal will slow down broadband. If it did it would be because the RF had got into the copper cable. (Fibre optic is immune to this.)

Any competent linesman should be able to diagnose the problem with the help of the radio amateur (by ascertaining which frequencies were causing a problem) and then put an appropriate RF filter into the broadband line. But the broadband equipment should be designed so that it does not respond to RF signals. The radio amateur is quite legally transmitting RF. It's the badly-designed broadband equipment that's at fault.

As you have discovered, the main problem is finding a competent linesman who has any idea what he/she is doing and understands the RF issues.

The microwave transmissions (post 102) is a fair point. I may be wrong, but I don't think there are amateur radio frequency allocations adjacent to those used by BT. In any case microwave transmissions are very directional and are unlikely to be line of sight of each other. And again, the BT gear should not be responding to out-of-band signals anyway.

The interference to domestic equipment from radio signals is a whole can of worms. You've got those who have just paid thousands of pounds for some fancy hi-fi or TV, complaining the 'radio chap' is causing interference. The truth is that the domestic equipment is so badly designed (even the very expensive stuff!) that it responds to signals that it shouldn't respond to. Rectifying this at the design stage costs only pence, but manufactures won't spend 20p on a few strategically placed capacitors when they won't be needed by 95 per cent of their customers!

Ofcom still have a department that resolves these kinds of problems. But beware, if the fault is your equipment (regardless of how much it cost) and not at the radio amateur's, you'll have to pay for the problem to be fixed to your satisfaction. This could be a few pounds for a filter, or complicated negotiations with the TV manufacturer who either won't understand the problem, of insists there's nothing wrong with their equipment because "it meets all EU regulations", without them having a clue what that actually means!

Bakelite Brain

 

[Doc]

KIPM in America is one of the strangest I regularly monitored.

https://soundcloud.com/doc227/kipmcontrol

Intro to KIPM show "Monsters of the Mind".

https://soundcloud.com/doc227/kipmmonstersmind

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

The people to contact over possible Amateur Radio interference are OfComm. They will investigate the case including looking at his equipment. An amateur radio licence is issued only on the understanding of not causing interference to other services.

Thanks, Doc. We did try Ofcom and they told us it was nothing to do with them and they wouldn't help... It has since not been such a problem, and the improvement did coincide with us getting fibreoptic cables in this area. But that could be a coincidence..?

My friend who recently got into this radio stuff, checked neighbour out and he does have a call sign which I'm guessing means he is supposed to know what he's doing? Saw a delivery man on Friday struggling down his drive with him, carrying two massive things that looked like speakers and a huge black box, so there's a lot of £s being expended. (I'm not that nosey, it's just my dog barks every time a car or van pulls up and we were expecting my husband home from work so the kids went to look and asked me what all the stuff was...)

 

[Doc]

I've flown on some unusual missions, and I've eavesdropped on many more, but possibly the scariest non-combat missions I've listened in on are the USAF ICE flights to Antarctica, McMurdo Sound and other bases on the ice, staging through New Zealand and heard on the FltSatCom satellites. Flying standard USAF transport aircraft supported by tankers, C-130's, C-17's etc, except they are equipped with SKI's, not wheels (and therefor no brakes). Weather on-site changes hour by hour. They put down and take off on bulldozed strips of ice. KUDOS

https://soundcloud.com/doc227/ice15

 

[Coal]

Is there anything that can jam or interfere with amateur radio signals? And does amateur/ham radio affect things like broadband/TV/electrical devices in the neighourhood?

The moment the amateur radio enthusiast moved onto this street, everyone's broadband signal fell through the floor. Us and the other neighbours have often wondered if it was related, or a coincidence? I heard having BT Vision can interfere with their signal if it's close by. Is that the case? We asked BT but actually got totally contradictory answers from different people.

Some power-line adaptors can interfere with amateur radio signals, but it depends on the technology used in those devices. These devices typically transmit data over a series of orthogonal tones from 2-30MHz (and a some up to 75MHz). 'Tones' that corresponded to licensed frequency slots are usually 'masked out' so they shouldn't be a problem and they do conform to the radiated and conducted EMC requirements, so even if they do interfere with something, there might be little you can do.

As I recall, the problem for amateur radio is that they don't 'own' the frequencies used, so there is little you can do if there is noise in 'your' frequency.

It might we worth seeing what technology BT are using for the 'last mile'. ADSL/VDSL or whatever and then seeing what frequencies bands that operates over and comparing this with amateur radio bands.

(ADSL is typically 26.075 kHz to 137.825 kHz for upstream communication, while 138 kHz – 1104 kHz is used for downstream).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asymmetric_digital_subscriber_line

It's also worth considering the contention ratio.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contention_ratio

That is, that your street might only have a 50mbs 'pipe' but 20 subscribers are signed up for 10mbps. If someone is hogging the full capacity of their broadband full-time, the remainder will be divided up between you and it will look like you've all lost bandwidth.

It can be hard to get BT to pay attention to any problems. I simply don't pay them if I need tech support. They soon sort things out then. Even then they want to fix thing on their terms in my time, I don't play along. They're a typical monopoly organisation and so don't need to understand 'customer relations' at all.

 

[bakelite brain]

It's true, amateur radio operators don't 'own' frequencies, they have bands of frequencies in which they are permitted to operate. The examinations required to get an amateur radio licence are intended to maintain a minimum technical standard and to understand the relevant regulations.

If the amateur station transmits on frequencies he/she is not authorised to use (like TV, radio, taxi, aircraft, etc.) either deliberately - or more likely accidentally - he/she can be closed down, fined or both. The exams are required so that the radio operator understands all this.

The problems come when the radio amateur's equipment is found to be operating well within the law, but some piece of nearby badly-designed domestic equipment is susceptible to signals it is not supposed to be.

Not only that, if someone's equipment (for example cheap phone chargers!) causes interference to any licensed radio equipment, they are likely to be required to fix the problem at their expense.

I was at a technical conference when the new form of internet-though-house-mains was being discussed, since it causes horrendous problems in the RF spectrum. Some engineer (quite rightly) ranted that just so that people could get their internet from one fu***ng room to the next, it was wiping out frequencies used for international broadcasting! Luckily this ghastly HomePlug technology is largely replaced by Wi-Fi.

(Mains wiring is unbalanced an not designed to carry large amounts of data. When pumped with internet data, this radiates from the wiring for tens or hundreds of yards causing radio interference and of course can be 'intercepted' by someone so equipped.)

 

[Coal]

It's true, amateur radio operators don't 'own' frequencies, they have bands of frequencies in which they are permitted to operate. The examinations required to get an amateur radio licence are intended to maintain a minimum technical standard and to understand the relevant regulations.

If the amateur station transmits on frequencies he/she is not authorised to use (like TV, radio, taxi, aircraft, etc.) either deliberately - or more likely accidentally - he/she can be closed down, fined or both. The exams are required so that the radio operator understands all this.

The problems come when the radio amateur's equipment is found to be operating well within the law, but some piece of nearby badly-designed domestic equipment is susceptible to signals it is not supposed to be.

Not only that, if someone's equipment (for example cheap phone chargers!) causes interference to any licensed radio equipment, they are likely to be required to fix the problem at their expense.

True. They are a major problem, but approvals is a self certified business. No-one actually reports anyone else. Cheap mains power supplies are one of the worst offenders, chargers come into this category.

I was at a technical conference when the new form of internet-though-house-mains was being discussed, since it causes horrendous problems in the RF spectrum. Some engineer (quite rightly) ranted that just so that people could get their internet from one fu***ng room to the next, it was wiping out frequencies used for international broadcasting! Luckily this ghastly HomePlug technology is largely replaced by Wi-Fi.

(Mains wiring is unbalanced an not designed to carry large amounts of data. When pumped with internet data, this radiates from the wiring for tens or hundreds of yards causing radio interference and of course can be 'intercepted' by someone so equipped.)

Not strictly the case. In the first place the 'internet-over-mains" (specifically IEEE 1901) has to conform to radiated and conducted emissions standards like anything else and any products made from that technology have to pass, for sale in (say) the EU.

Power levels onto the mains wiring are very precisely set and although mains wiring is never going to be completely balanced, it's still transmitted as a differential signal, impedance matched to a practical extent to the wire and at the receiving end(s). In the early days of digital TV PLC technology was an order of magnitude better at video streaming than Wi-Fi and easier to install, which is why it took off.

It doesn't matter what data is sent, the data is multiplexed (OFDM) over a range of tones from 2-30MHz and to conforms to the above standard licensed radio frequencies in the country of deployment are generally locked out in firmware. In truth, if a radio carrier was operating in one (or several) of the tones and killing the signal-to-noise ration, that (those) tone(s) would stop carrying data.

Some early versions of this technology didn't do this stuff, it caused quite some problems early in the technology's life.

IEE1901 uses 128 bit AES encryption using a key not visible to the end users as well as a network encryption key for the virtual network made with the units. The chances of anyone cracking the 128bit AES encryption AND working out which tones contain which data with which OFDM encoding level, which are varied real time, is remote, even if you can receive the signal as RF at a distance.

Certainly no-one using IEE1901 to stream paid for video had any qualms about the security of the streamed data.

It would be simpler (and quicker) to burgle the persons house and reprogram their network to gain access.

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

My house is Poundland Charger City, with 2 teenagers who are constantly breaking their decent chargers. No wonder the radio ham next door loathes us.

 

[Coal]

My house is Poundland Charger City, with 2 teenagers who are constantly breaking their decent chargers. No wonder the radio ham next door loathes us.

The system for approvals has been 'flexible' for some time. You only have to get ONE item tested and through, by a gnat's cock of a dB and you're good to go. There's still a good bit of the 'sticky copper tape' stuff going on, which somehow doesn't make it to full production...

The rules are changing soon, with the 'authorities" being able to insist on product for re-testing on a half yearly basis with production line items...which will be a shock for the non-statistically minded entrepreneur, as well as tighter rules and liabilities for importers and distributors.

As ever though it'll be enforcement that matters.

 

[Doc]

Smoky, my hide & seek playing, ghost-spotting radio cat snoozing on warm rigs listening to late night skip ...

 

[Doc]

Take It Easy Radio .. very "Eagles" themed music radio from the States in the 80's & 90's

 

[bakelite brain]

The HF pirates (mostly around 6 MHz) still operate at the weekend from the UK and Europe - at least they were last year.

 

[Doc]

View attachment 2076 Smoky, my hide & seek playing, ghost-spotting radio cat snoozing on warm rigs listening to late night skip ...

When the USAF did test launchings of ICBM's from Vandenburg AFB, the data from the ICBM's was monitored by heavily-instrumented ARIA (Advanced Range Instrumentation Aircraft - see pic), based at Edwards Air Force Base, until the ICBM impacted with the mid-Pacific ocean. This is a section from a fully-monitored test launch from lift-off to impact (14 recordings - I don't have room for them all).

https://soundcloud.com/doc227/aria10

 

[Doc]

The HF pirates (mostly around 6 MHz) still operate at the weekend from the UK and Europe - at least they were last year.

And they always will - Silence is Defeat!

 

[bakelite brain]

Many years ago, running a converted Heathkit DX40 with a 6245 kHz crystal into an inverted-V antenna from somewhere in North Wales and getting reception reports from across Europe, would be quite fun - I expect...!

 

[Jim]

Many years ago, running a converted Heathkit DX40 with a 6245 kHz crystal into an inverted-V antenna from somewhere in North Wales and getting reception reports from across Europe, would be quite fun - I expect...!

I haven't used Heathkit in 35 years. Brings on a few memories from my early days. Are the kits still around?