RRR-34 Moscow 1 Radio Freq Plan Posted

Jim (MPJ) posted the frequency profile below on the UDXF newsgroup. It is from a 2003 Russian translation. Thanks to Jim and UDXF for the profile.

RRR34 MOSKWA-1 RADIO Schedule

Morse
0800-2000   RRR34  12967   Ship  12474
                    6490   Ship   6293
            Ship Transmissions

0930/1700   RRR34  12967/6490
            Schedule Transmissions
     1300   RRR34  12967/6490
            Announcement Transmissions

ARQ/FEC
0000-2400   3756/RRR34 ARQ AUTO  8403    Ship  8390
0700-2200   3756/RRR34 ARQ AUTO 12590.5  Ship 12488
0700-1700   3756/RRR34 ARQ AUTO 16840.5  Ship 16717.5
1700-2400   3756/RRR34 ARQ AUTO  4310    Ship  4204.5
     1400   FEC Announcements 16840.5/12590.5/8430
            Note: FEC schedule is transmitted hourly
            on all frequencies.

USB
0000-2400   MOSKWA-1  8773   Ship  8249
0000-2400   MOSKWA-1 13188   Ship 12341
0800-1220
  and       MOSKWA-1 17275   Ship 16393
1330-1830
1200-1330   MOSKWA-1 22819   Ship 22123
1830-2100   MOSKWA-1  8767   Ship  8243
2100-2400
   and      MOSKWA-1  3679   Ship  4146
0000-0800
0800-2000   Unknown Service *  12577.5
2000-0800   Unknown Service *   8415

* This service is given as "Identification of ships by TsIV in requests for radiotelephone conversations 002733756" and the frequencies seem to be marked as 'Receive'. They are marked 'Prm' in Cyrillic. 
TsIV is Digital Selective Calling (DSC) which is very probably what this service is.

2007-023A: Delta-II launch success, Italian space community rejoices

by Staff Sgt. Raymond Hoy, 30th Space Wing Public Affairs

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- History was made for the Italian space community with Vandenberg's successful launch of a Delta II rocket June 7. The rocket took off at 7:34 p.m. from Space Launch Complex-2 carrying the Thales Alenia-Space COSMO-SkyMed Satellite.

This was the first of a constellation of four Italian satellites -- the first of two to be launched from Vandenberg. The constellation will be an end-to-end Earth observation system composed of four, medium-sized (1,100 - 2,200 - pound) satellites. It will support ground stations for orbit control systems and data reception and processing.

The system will take imagery of the Earth using an X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar instrument at the request of institutional and commercial users, including members of the defense, civil and scientific communities.

Thales Alenia Space-Italia developed the COSMO-SkyMed program for the Italian Space Agency and the Italian Ministry of Defence. While more than 50 Italians have been working on base to prepare the satellite for lift off, another 150 flew in from Italy to observe the event.

"It is very emotional," said a tearful Francesca Sette, Thales Alenia Space-Italia. "We worked very hard for six months on this event; and during the last six months, we began to work 24 hours per day to ensure we completed this project on time."

The group from the Italian launch community used the Pacific Coast Club here to observe the event. An extravagant undetaking, it included everything from 30 plasma screen televisions, to a live broadcast from Rome with a speech by Italian Minister of Defense, Arturo Parisi.

After watching the rocket lifting off the pad during a live broadcast in the PCC, an Italian train of 100 people went hurrying through the door to observe the Delta II rocketing through the sky outside. People were jumping up and down and hugging each other in celebration.

"It was so beautiful," said Mara Midealo, the wife of a Thales Alenia employee. "This was my first launch, and it was a great event."

Col. Steve Tanous, 30th Space Wing commander, was the spacelift commander for this mission, and final go-for-launch authority.

"This was a testament to the tremendous team effort between the 30th Space Wing and our industry partners," he said. "Teamwork was the backbone to the success of this launch and getting the Italian satellite into orbit."

Mission Stats from Btown:
Payload Name: COSMO-1 (Constellation of Small Satellites for Mediterranean basin Observation)/COSMO-SkyMed
International Designator: 2007-023A
NORAD SSC#: 31598
Launch Site: Vandenberg AFB, Western Test Range, SLC2
Launch Vehicle: Delta 7420-10
Inclination: 97.86 deg
Period: 97.19 min
Apogee/Perigee: 626 x 622 km

Two line elsets from Celestrak:

COSMO-SKYMED 1
1 31598U 07023A 07169.34521343 .00018670 00000-0 23581-2 0 428
2 31598 97.8569 359.5928 0002891 91.1431 269.0271 14.81929641 1511
DELTA 2 R/B
1 31599U 07023B 07169.25705436 .00170635 27840-5 22601-3 0 223
2 31599 98.3896 357.8877 0306050 243.3717 113.5883 15.55978559 1579

Far WNC VIPER Update

As reported by the NC Viper Waveguide ( http://ncviper800.blogspot.com/) I can confirm that the system ID for VIPER in far western NC has changed since my last report on this blog. Thanks Pboy.

This morning I managed to find a spot on Dog Branch that I could catch both Joanna Bald and Wine Springs VIPER sites. Here is what I am seeing here (Uniden 396 with Austin Condor and walking mobile).

System ID being reported by both sites is now C92Dh.

Joanna Bald is showing site 0008
866.8250 867.0750 867.8250 868.1750 868.3250cc

Wine Springs is showing 0010
866.1375 866.3875 867.3375 868.1125 868.8750cc

According to the VW site above we are now in the new operational Zone 4 of the VIPER system. Now if I could only see some TG activity. ;-))

Russian spies 'at Cold War level'

For you spy numbers fans.

Russian agents are as active in Britain now as at the height of the Cold War, senior Whitehall officials have said. The sources told the BBC's Frank Gardner there were more than 30 identified intelligence officers trying to get secrets by covert means.
Targets include military hardware, scientific know-how and technology, and inside tips on Westminster politics. Businessmen who may have access to sensitive information are also of interest, as are Russian dissidents.

The rest of the story is at http://news.bbc.co.uk:80/1/hi/uk/6452519.stm

Aussie HF Weather Networks

If you are interested in Australian HF weather networks check out the pdf doc at
http://www.bom.gov.au/marine/MWS_brochure2.pdf.

Atlantis in Orbit

Atlantis is now on Space-Track with catalog number 31600.

TWO LINE MEAN ELEMENT SET
SHUTTLE
1 31600U 07024A 07169.81825089 .00014500 00000-0 95600-4 0 9137
2 31600 51.6311 95.4540 0008781 328.8712 31.1933 15.78690063 1579

KSC Launch Comms Update 1

Here is the latest frequency report related to the STS-117 launch from KSC.

Trunk Radio System Talkgroups
See our Monitoring NASA and Space Communciations Guide for more details online at
http://www.monitoringtimes.com/html/Monitoring%20NASA%20and%20Space%20Communications.pdf

208 US Fish & Wildlife patch
272 US Park Service patch
336 Comm 107
672 Alarm Techs / ALPHA ##
688 Alarm Techs
976 Fire 116
1104 Fire Inspector
1136 Fire Tac 1
1248 911 Emergency
1296 KSC Medical 117
1616 Safety 105
1648 Safety 110
1680 Safety 205
1760 Safety B Net
1936 Security 103 (KSC)
1952 Security 203 (CCAFS)
5392 EH Base Y Net
6736 Timing G Net
6800 Metrics 102
7760 Unidentified users/Usage
9936 PAO 108
10576 Payload 500
10896 Rail
11600 NASA Tower
12176 Unidentified users/usage
12192 Security Base / Security 1, ENI lab all secure; mention of Direct 8
12240 Unidentified users/usage
12496 Support 104
12528 Elevators
13136 Transportation 206
14096 Utilities 101
14256 Utilities 301
18064 PROJECT VAN (supporting STAVE flight, 229.000 ground side simulcast here)
18144 Timing
18192 Weather Base
18272 Base / EMC 1; EMC 4
18608 "main crane to the north"
20208 READY BASE / Weather Warning on B Net, Utility 1, Utility 2, Y Net
34896 Patrick "COSO"
35856 Patrick Tower

Misc freqs from late afternoon monitoring:
118.625 CCAFS Tower
118.900 KTIX Tower
126.650 NASA Tower / STA / WX
128.550 NASA Tower
133.750 Patrick Tower
133.800 CCAFS CAPE CONTROL
148.650 Data / telemetry (also brief open mic with unid background clutter)
152.345 Spaceport USA Security repeater [pl 167.9]
152.405 Spaceport USA Maint repeater [pl 167.9]
154.515 Spaceport USA Tour Control [167.9]
156.800 Ch 16
157.100 Ch 22A
157.150 Ch 23A
157.175 Ch 83 CG Aux
229.000 CCAFS Projects (STAVE 1 test flight)
239.050 CCAFS Tower
251.900 Patrick AFB SAR
255.500 Patrick AFB RESCUE OPS
284.000 NASA Tower

10780.0 kHz USB Ascension Radio calling N41CX (DC-8, Air Transport Inc) for radio check.

As always your reports are appreciated and welcomed for this and future missions. Email address is in the masthead.

Shuttle Launch Support Milsat Comms Monitored

Ron Rensen fires the first monitoring shot for the upcoming Space Shuttle launch of Atlantis on the STS-117 mission. He monitored launch support comms on 261.450 MHz, a UHF milsat downlink. He heard Herky 621 working Wolfhound. Phil Williams also heard some comms on this one. He writes on the Hearsat newsgroup: "Following Ronald's post last night I left the ICR20 on that freq recording overnight and heard 'Variable Variable calling Pantenne' with English accent. along with a lot of keying-up and a 2khz tone and very occasional DTMF."

Many thanks to Ron, Phil and the Hearsat newsgroup for reporting this launch support frequencies. If you hear any launch related comms please drop us some email.

Update - USCG Weather Products Going Away?

If you are interest in USCG HF weather products then this Fax image below is important to you. Or you can check out the link at: http://weather.noaa.gov:80/pub/fax/PLAZ03.gif .

NY ARTCC Letter Available

Those of you interested in monitoring the New York ARTCC frequencies will find the pdf link below extremely useful. It is the latest NY Center Letter to Airmen (06-01) dated July 15, 2006, and it includes VHF/UHF frequencies and sector charts.

http://web.nbaa.org/public/ops/airspace/ZNY_LTA0601.pdf

Now if I could get current sector charts for ATL/MEM/Indy Centers I would be a happy camper.

Thanks to Jack NeSmith for passing along the link for my readers.

It's That Time of Year Again

Courtesy of the ARRL website:

(Jun 1, 2007) -- The 2007 Atlantic hurricane season officially began June 1, 2007, and runs through the end of November. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) in Miami is the focal point for hurricane predictions and advisories once a storm is identified. Information on the storm is gathered from a variety of sources, one being Amateur Radio. When a hurricane comes within 300 miles of landfall, the Hurricane Watch Net (HWN) generally is activated; the net may also be activated for a tropical storm that is expected to intensify to hurricane status. HWN's primary thrust is to provide information to the NHC regarding the position and conditions within the storm area and providing advisories to those in the affected area who might not have any other way to get that information. HWN is not a "check-in" net, and checking in from outside of the affected area is strongly discouraged. HWN is also not a health and welfare traffic net but it will provide information as to frequencies where health and welfare nets are operational. When there is a named storm, feel free to tune to 14.325 and listen, but please don't transmit unless you have good reason. When the HWN is in operation, keep in mind that a clear frequency on either side is appreciated, since reporting stations will often be using makeshift antennas and low power. You can get up-to-date information on the storm, as well as receive the latest outlook and advisory bulletins via e-mail, at the Hurricane Watch Net Web site.

TS Barry Forms in the Gulf

And so it begins on the first day of the hurricane season in the Atlantic Basin.

At 5:00 pm EDT Tropical Storm Barry has formed in the Gulf of Mexico.

000
WTNT22 KNHC 012036
TCMAT2
TROPICAL STORM BARRY FORECAST/ADVISORY NUMBER   1
NWS TPC/NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER MIAMI FL   AL022007
2100 UTC FRI JUN 01 2007

AT 5 PM EDT...2100 UTC... A TROPICAL STORM WARNING HAS BEEN ISSUED
FOR THE WEST COAST OF FLORIDA FROM BONITA BEACH NORTHWARD TO KEATON
BEACH...AND A TROPICAL STORM WATCH HAS BEEN ISSUED FROM NORTH OF
KEATON BEACH TO ST. MARKS.  A TROPICAL STORM WARNING MEANS THAT
TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED WITHIN THE WARNING AREA
WITHIN THE NEXT 24 HOURS AND A TROPICAL STORM WATCH MEANS THAT
TROPICAL STORM CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE WITHIN THE WATCH
AREA...GENERALLY WITHIN 36 HOURS.

TROPICAL STORM CENTER LOCATED NEAR 24.2N  85.5W AT 01/2100Z
POSITION ACCURATE WITHIN  30 NM

PRESENT MOVEMENT TOWARD THE NORTH OR  10 DEGREES AT  10 KT

ESTIMATED MINIMUM CENTRAL PRESSURE 1000 MB
MAX SUSTAINED WINDS  40 KT WITH GUSTS TO  50 KT.
34 KT....... 80NE  40SE  30SW  30NW.
12 FT SEAS.. 80NE  60SE  60SW  60NW.
WINDS AND SEAS VARY GREATLY IN EACH QUADRANT.  RADII IN NAUTICAL
MILES ARE THE LARGEST RADII EXPECTED ANYWHERE IN THAT QUADRANT.

REPEAT...CENTER LOCATED NEAR 24.2N  85.5W AT 01/2100Z
AT 01/1800Z CENTER WAS LOCATED NEAR 23.9N  85.7W

FORECAST VALID 02/0600Z 26.5N  84.5W
MAX WIND  40 KT...GUSTS  50 KT.
34 KT... 80NE  60SE  30SW  30NW.

FORECAST VALID 02/1800Z 30.0N  83.0W
MAX WIND  45 KT...GUSTS  55 KT.
34 KT... 80NE  60SE  30SW  30NW.

FORECAST VALID 03/0600Z 33.0N  81.0W...EXTRATROPICAL
MAX WIND  30 KT...GUSTS  40 KT.

FORECAST VALID 03/1800Z 35.0N  78.0W...EXTRATROPICAL
MAX WIND  30 KT...GUSTS  40 KT.

FORECAST VALID 04/1800Z 41.0N  70.5W...EXTRATROPICAL
MAX WIND  30 KT...GUSTS  40 KT.

REQUEST FOR 3 HOURLY SHIP REPORTS WITHIN 300 MILES OF 24.2N  85.5W

NEXT ADVISORY AT 02/0300Z

$$
FORECASTER AVILA

2007 Atlantic Basin Hurricane Names

Andrea
Barry
Chantal
Dean
Erin
Felix
Gabrielle
Humberto
Ingrid
Jerry
Karen
Lorenzo
Melissa
Noel
Olga
Pablo
Rebekah
Sebastien
Tanya
Van
Wendy

Saffer/Simpson Hurricane Scale

          Storm Surge              Cent Pressure
Category  Above Normal Wind (mph)  (inch Hg)
One (1)   4–5 ft       74–95       Great than 28.94
Two (2)   6–8 ft       96–110      28.50–28.91
Three (3) 9–12 ft     111–130      27.91–28.47
Four (4)  13–18 ft    131–155      27.17–27.88
Five (5)  0ver 18 ft  Over 155     Less than 27.17