[A-DX] VOA radiogram # 187

[Roger]

u.a.: HTML clipboard
HTML clipboard 15:07 Broadcasters and jammers in the ham bands*


 From ARRL, the US national association for amateur radio ...

Broadcasters, Jammers Wreak Havoc on Amateur Radio Frequencies

10/25/2016

The battle continues between Radio Eritrea (Voice of the Broad
Masses) and Radio Ethiopia, which is said to be jamming the
Eritrean broadcaster with broadband white noise. The problem for
radio amateurs is that the battle is taking place in the 40 meter
phone band - 7.145 and 7.175 MHz - with the jamming signal
reported by the IARU Region 1 Monitoring System (IARUMS) to be 20
kHz wide on each channel. The on-air conflict has been going on
for years; Ethiopia constructed new transmitting sites in 2008
and is said to use two or three of them for jamming purposes. The
interfering signals can be heard in North America after dark.
According to IARUMS Region 1 Coordinator Wolf Hadel, DK2OM, Radio
Eritrea is airing separate programs on each frequency. He said in
the IARUMS September newsletter that telecommunications
regulators in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland have been
informed, so they could file official complaints.

Other AM broadcast intruders on 40 meters include Radio Hargeisa
in Somaliland on 7.120 MHz, which, Hadel said, is even audible in
Australia and Japan. He further reports that the Voice of Iran's
signal on 7.205 MHz is splattering up to 5 kHz on either side of
its channel, while Radio France International, which operates on
the same frequency, is splattering down to 7.185 MHz.

Other odds and ends on 40 meters include the so-called "V beacon"
on 7.091.5 MHz. The looped CW signal, which sends the letter "V"
over and over, is audible every day. Hadel said the signal
originates in Kazakhstan.

Hadel has reported HF radar signals from Russia on 40 and 20
meters, with "long-lasting transmissions, often with many
spurious emissions."

A Russian Air Force frequency-shift keyed signal identifying in
CW as "REA4," has been active on 7.117 MHz, while a Russian Navy
FSK signal "Sevastopol" has been observed on 14.180. Hadel said
Germany's telecommunications regulator has filed an official
complaint. Other Russian military signals have been heard on
7.016 MHz.

Chinese broadband OTH radars on 14 MHz generated some
"Woodpecker" complaints, "but this was not the Russian
‘Woodpecker,'" Hadel clarified. Mario Taeubel, DG0JBJ, observed
11 OTH radars on 40 meters, 40 on 20 meters, 13 on 15 meters and
2 on 10 meters during September.

Hadel reports that signals from Spanish and Portuguese, UK, and
Irish fishing operations, Indonesian and Philippine pirates, and
OTH radar signals are sprinkled throughout 80, 40, 20, and 15
meters, while signals from oceangoing sensor buoys are heard
widely on various discrete frequencies on 10 meters.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

roger