Very Fast CW on 3360kHz

[pete0403]

I recorded the file linked below on 10-Nov-2012 at 05:25UTC from my Grundig G6 with the whip. Frequency was 3360kHz and the radio was on SSB mode (nothing heard on AM). I'm located in S. Ontario.

http://www.esnips.com/displayimage.p..._display_media --> Sheesh! Anyone know a good free hosting site that can handle .WAV files?

This is similar to a transmission I heard recently on 5800kHz and I assume it's the same Cuban "Cut Numbers" station...I don't know how anyone could copy Morse Code that fast though. There was an odd pattern of repeating dots every so often.

[Token]

First, I cannot download your audio file to hear what it sounds like. That web site just does not seem to cooperate unless you DL their software, and I am not going to do that. If you can't find any other way to do it you might make the audio file into a video file, with a single still picture as all of the video frames, maybe with text on it describing the freq, date, time, etc. Windows Live Movie Maker is built into the Win 7 OS and should be able to do this. Then the video file could be uploaded to YouTube, everyone should be able to access that.

The M08a numbers station does not use very fast CW. In fact it is pretty slow. Here is an example of the station on 5800:
Numbers Station, Cuban, M08a CW, November 10, 2012, 0600 UTC, 5800 kHz AM (MCW) Mode - YouTube

M08 has used 3360 in the past, but that was years ago. I think you probably, but not definately, heard something else this time. Hearing it only in SSB mode and not AM also supports it was another station.

T!

[zl2taw]

you could try SoundCloud - Share Your Sounds

thats what I use, very easy

oh btw I couldn't download it, and like Token I will not download apps to play stuff

[k9rzz]

Originally Posted by pete0403

I recorded the file linked below on 10-Nov-2012 at 05:25UTC from my Grundig G6 with the whip. Frequency was 3360kHz and the radio was on SSB mode (nothing heard on AM). I'm located in S. Ontario.

SW Utility Recordings - 3360 0530 10nov 2012 - eSnips --> Sheesh! Anyone know a good free hosting site that can handle .WAV files?

This is similar to a transmission I heard recently on 5800kHz and I assume it's the same Cuban "Cut Numbers" station...I don't know how anyone could copy Morse Code that fast though. There was an odd pattern of repeating dots every so often.

I've been using Morse Code (CW) on the ham bands for the past 37 years and I can honestly say that you don't even think about it after a while ... you hear it and you know what's being said. It's fun!

[Token]

There was something really annoying about the motion of the waterfall in that first M08a, 5800 kHz video I uploaded, so I have uploaded a second one. All the same transmission, I just hope it is a bit smoother for most viewers.

Numbers Station, Cuban, M08a MCW, November 10, 2012, 0600 UTC, 5800 kHz AM (MCW) Mode - YouTube

Note that in this video I start out with the receiver in CW mode and tuned to 5801 kHz. I then shift to CW and 5799 kHz, then to AM on 5800 kHz, and later USB and LSB are also used, tuned to 5800 kHz, and I do the majority of the video in AM mode and tuned to 5800 kHz. The purpose of this is to show how many modes can be used to "correctly" receive a signal sent in MCW.

T!

[kb2vxa]

CW sent so fast a human can't copy it is an old trick used by spy stations. The German HOMAAG ELW transatlantic transmitter on Tucker's Island (now Mystic Island) outside Tuckerton, NJ built in 1912 with the receiving station on Long Island was one. "Machine Morse" as it's called goes so fast it's barely distinguishable from a continuous tone. When the Navy got wind of it they seized the station and operated it until 1955 when it was demolished.

"I don't know how anyone could copy Morse Code that fast though."

It's still done today with computers. I forget what the program is called that hams use for fleeting contacts such as meteor scatter.

Here's a picture taken in 1916 of the 820 foot tower that was actually an umbrella antenna better described as a big capacitor. The feed was through a base loading inductor, you couldn't build a 1/4 wave tower big enough for 16.3KHz. The lower guys were insulated as you can see but the top ones were connected to the tower forming the umbrella. It was fed by a 200KW Goldschmidt alternator and that stack is the power generator.

[trsundstrom]

Wirelessly posted (Moto Droid Bionic: Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 4.0.4; en-us; DROID BIONIC Build/6.7.2-223_DBN_M4-23) AppleWebKit/534.30 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/534.30)

Originally Posted by pete0403

Sheesh! Anyone know a good free hosting site that can handle .WAV files?

Token, to have others listen to an audio (wav, mp3 or ?) or video file that will soon be disposed of, try this. Both Dropbox.com and Box.com allow the owner -- you -- to make a file "public" through a URL. Moving a file from your computer to your Dropbox or Box folder is quick and easy. Just delete the file when done with it, the ID was made, whatever. If there is no need to make something permanent on the 'net, for me this is a solution. Additionally, an Evernote.com can share files. I like Evernote for all that it can do, but using Evernote only to temporarily share files is overkill. HTH.

[Token]

Originally Posted by trsundstrom

Wirelessly posted (Moto Droid Bionic: Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 4.0.4; en-us; DROID BIONIC Build/6.7.2-223_DBN_M4-23) AppleWebKit/534.30 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/534.30)



Token, to have others listen to an audio (wav, mp3 or ?) or video file that will soon be disposed of, try this. Both Dropbox.com and Box.com allow the owner -- you -- to make a file "public" through a URL. Moving a file from your computer to your Dropbox or Box folder is quick and easy. Just delete the file when done with it, the ID was made, whatever. If there is no need to make something permanent on the 'net, for me this is a solution. Additionally, an Evernote.com can share files. I like Evernote for all that it can do, but using Evernote only to temporarily share files is overkill. HTH.

Thanks for the heads up on that.

For myself, if I want share an audio or video file, I would just drop it in my server. I host several web pages and lots of files on my server, and have about 3 TB of drive left on the public side of the server.

I have about 140 vids up on YT and add more about each week, but they are things I intend to leave up until YT is gone. I was suggesting YouTube to the OP as an easy to access option. The nice thing about YT, and why I use it for some radio videos, is that you can leave it up forever, there is no size limit, and most business firewalls alow access to it. For example at work my corporate firewall kills most file sharing sites, such as Dropbox and SoundCloud.

T!

[pete0403]

Thanks...I didn't even think of using my cloud drive.

http://ubuntuone.com/1DguJkMYLoYi89N8PKbQqT

[trsundstrom]

Wirelessly posted (Moto Droid Bionic: Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 4.0.4; en-us; DROID BIONIC Build/6.7.2-223_DBN_M4-23) AppleWebKit/534.30 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/534.30)

Pete, the file above plays like a champ in the Dolphin browser on my phone. I can't copy code at that speed.

Glad the idea works for you

[Token]

Originally Posted by pete0403

Thanks...I didn't even think of using my cloud drive.

http://ubuntuone.com/1DguJkMYLoYi89N8PKbQqT

This is not CW. This is RTTY, or rather one of the two tones of an FSK RTTY signal, the other tone was probably outside the bandpass of your receiver.

Specifically there is an 850 Hz shift RTTY signal on a center frequency of 3359 kHz (3360 kHz LSB or 3358 kHz USB would tune it), this is probably the signal in your recording.

T!

[majoco]

I agree with Token, that's RTTY. Even if you could decode it (there's a lot of frequency jumps in there) it would still be encoded gobbledygook.

You can listen to a whole load of digital radio signals here....

http://www.nonstopsystems.com/radio/radio-sounds.html

...so that you can have a rough guess at what you're hearing.

[pete0403]

Originally Posted by majoco

I agree with Token, that's RTTY. Even if you could decode it (there's a lot of frequency jumps in there) it would still be encoded gobbledygook.

You can listen to a whole load of digital radio signals here....

Sound samples examples digi modes

...so that you can have a rough guess at what you're hearing.

Very nice resource to have in my bookmarks. Thanks!

[ab3a]

Just so you know, there have been people who could copy Morse code at speeds in excess of 60 WPM.

I have also heard rumors in my days as a young ham (I was first licensed in 1975), of some who trained up on the baudot code and could actually copy the slower RTTY (some sent at speeds of only 45 bits per second) by listening to the mark tones.

[n4yek]

I was at a hamfest one time and they were having a CW copy contest, prize was a 2 meter HT.
The winner topped out at 92 WPM, that was fast.
(Which he sold before he left, always used CW for communications)

[kb2vxa]

The ARRL used to have CW proficiency awards, the highest being 120WPM, I knew a ham who had all of them. Then I knew another who could do 20 on a straight key but it was a bit of a strain, normally he cruised at 18. BTW he was champion of the Left Foot Contest for several years running. Contestants can get very inventive fashioning keys for it, I've seen monstrosities I just can't describe. Still all he did was set a Speedex bolted to a small piece of wood for stability on the floor and bang away at a good 10WPM and never missed a beat.

I'm thinking of a Field Day situation a few years ago, one of the fill in overnight ops couldn't use a "sidewinder". No problem, he held it on its side and used the dah paddle as a straight key. For those who don't know about paddles, can't use the dit side because if you hold down that paddle to make a dah you'll get a series of dits.

[Token]

Originally Posted by ab3a

Just so you know, there have been people who could copy Morse code at speeds in excess of 60 WPM.

I have also heard rumors in my days as a young ham (I was first licensed in 1975), of some who trained up on the baudot code and could actually copy the slower RTTY (some sent at speeds of only 45 bits per second) by listening to the mark tones.

I have met a few of those ops who claim to be able to copy RTTY by ear. Some in the 60's when I was first licensed and some in the military. One thing I have found they all have in common...they can't copy RTTY by ear

What many of them could do was copy specific things they were used to hearing with high accuracy, say the call-up of the station they were at. But when it came to blind copy of characters, like you used to have to do for the CW portion of the ham test, they simpy could not step up.

I am not saying no one has ever done it, I simply don't know if anyone has. But I can say for sure every one I ever saw who claimed the ability could not prove it.

T!

[k9rzz]

Quite a few years ago, I was working the CW tent at Field Day and had another guy logging for me. It was the middle of the night, and my logger was sound asleep. SNORING, asleep. I worked 3 guys, wrote down the info and nudged him. "HEY! I just worked 3 guys ... " "I know, he said, and he wrote down all the info." He copied all that in his sleep! N9SO was his call. Silent Key - R.I.P.

(interestingly, after his passing, I learned that he used to tell that same story! Field Day is great).

[majoco]

Then I knew another who could do 20 on a straight key but it was a bit of a strain,

Not bragging or anything , but when I did my Radio ticket waaay back in the 60s, the pass marks for the 2nd class ticket was 20wpm on a straight key, 1st class 25wpm, 5 letter code groups were 18 and 22wpm - receiving and sending.

After a few years practice I used to take the WCC Chatham Mass. press broadcasts straight on to a typewriter - it would be machine morse at about 35wpm. Fortunately it was plain language so you could cruise a few words behind and compose your own text if a big lightning crash obliterated the signal!

Couldn't do it now, but maybe with a bit of practice....

[k9rzz]

I never seem to have enough time to listen at home, so having a HF rig in the mobile has helped me keep my speed up over the years. Even if it's just running in the background as I'm driving home from work seems to help.

The hardest practice I ever had was trying to copy a weather station out of Colombia down on 3,4?? khz. Not knowing a lick of Spanish made that copy real hard! :^) Not sure if they still broadcast or not, would be nice to know.

Edit: found my old post Copying Morse Code

3488khz Barranquilla Radio around 0400z

Here's some other frequencies that might be nice check: http://www.baq.aero/textos/condiciones_de_usop.htm