Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Space-X Dragon downlinks


Our good friend PJ Marsh posted the following to the Hearsat newsgroup.

"Here is a quick summary of the downlinks detected so far from Space-X / Dragon (All freqs in MHz);

2205.5 Mhz Dragon narrow band telemetry

2216.0 MHz TLM downlink via directional s-band antenna 20W, FFT http://pjm.dyndns.org/twtr/spacex.jpg

2265.0 MHz Dragon wide band telemetry FFT http://pjm.dyndns.org/twtr/spacex4.jpg and
http://pjm.dyndns.org/twtr/spacex5.jpg

2287.5 MHz Reflection of ISS uplink to TDRSS, presumably off Dragon.

The 2287.5 signal is interesting to watch in FFT as you can see significant phasing effects, probably due to the multitude of reflections since the antenna on the ISS will be pointing up to a TDRSS."

Thanks for sharing Paul.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Strange English OM Voice Loop in 6950 kHz








As originally reported on the UDXF newsgroup, a strange English OM voice loop has popped up, first on 6990 kHz USB then yesterday moved to 6950 kHz USB. The loop is sending the following continuously: "She had your dark suit in greasy wash water all year. Don't ask me to carry an oily rag like that. They used an aggressive policeman to flag thoughtless motorists."

You just have to love shortwave for the wonderful and strange things you will hear. Now we need Yosemite Sam to make an appearance.

Friday, May 04, 2012

DC Embassies Open House This Weekend

Chinese Embassy in Washington DC.
(Photo courtesy of Chinese diplomatic service)

Our friend Allan Henney on the Scan-DC list posted the following:

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"It's May -- that time of year for the embassy open houses! This Saturday and the following Saturday 70 embassies will host opening houses. Some use two-way radios, and I've been fascinated by the legal ramifications. If you go, please bring your scanner and share your close-call hits or at least note which embassies have radios and what type/band. Here are a few notes I have captured in past years and would appreciate further confirmation:"

Australia 171.950? Also had a brief close-call hit on 160.08. They used Motorola EX500/600 series.

Canada 463.5250r/s [d306] and 464.6750r/s [d306] (used in past, repeater and simplex)

French had an FRS-style radio in the guard shack, but was not in use.

Germany 160.270 [156.7] odd one, huh? Also 171.7625 and 172.5625 both freq counter hits (not confirmed) and 468.4125 catering (not confirmed)

Iraqi had a Motorola FRS/GMRS radio (not in use).

Italy 461.1125s [67.0], was: 464.5500s [67.0]

Saudi Arabia 468.6500s [141.3] and maybe 466.0625s

Slovak 462.675s(?) [hired security]

Sweden, House of 464.325s(?)

I expected to see some high-end gear last year, at least from the super powers, but mostly saw old analog Motorola business-style radios. One guard at the British Embassy had an old Motorola GP300 or GP350. Would love to pin down their frequency!

Does anybody have other embassy frequency finds to share?

See these Websites for the participating embassies:

May 5: http://www.culturaltourismdc.org/things-do-see/passport-dc/participating-embassies
May 12: http://www.euopenhouse.com/plan-your-trip
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