Lack of pirates on satcom

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mancow

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Anyone else notice a lack of pirate traffic on satcom lately or is it just me? All the transponders seem very quiet.
 

rbm

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Yep. I've noticed that for the last month or so.

I thought maybe they all went home for the holidays.

The one frequency that's still active almost constantly is 245.800 MHz.

Rich

Edit: In fact, it's still active right now. ;)
 
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mancow

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I can't think of any technical reason for the reduction can anyone else? The transponders appear to still be there for the CONUS and look to be operating with some secure and other timing stuff being relayed.
 

eorange

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Maybe the 255.550 rigs finally burned up from being in use 24/7/365.

They've had unfettered access for all these years; hard to believe a technical change booted them off.
 

SCPD

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plenty of pirates

a lot of pirates
245.800nfm--pirates
250.350nfm--open carrier
250.450nfm--open carrier
250.550nfm--open carrier
252.050nfm--open carrier
252.150nfm--pirates
253.900nfm--pirates
257.050nfm--pirates
258.650nfm--pirates
261.280nfm--pirates
262.420nfm--pirates
269.650nfm--encrypted
294.075nfm--loud encryption
forty foot high ds-150s comet discone
lmr400 coax
bcd996xt
goodplumb
lagrange Georgia
no amps--no filters---barefoot
 

rbm

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250.350nfm--open carrier
250.450nfm--open carrier
250.550nfm--open carrier

These are Fleet Broadcast Channels.
If you can receive any SatCom, you should always receive some subset of them.
You can use them as beacons for antenna testing etc.

The narrowband transponders are also useful for antenna testing.

Rich

Edit:
Fleet Broadcast Channels:


Narrowband Transponders:
 

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brandon

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Heavy pirate activity today on 269.950, 265.550 and 252.150.
 

rbm

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Heavy pirate activity today on 269.950, 265.550 and 252.150.

269.950 MHz used to be one of the hot frequencies.
It was often used by AF1, AF2, and a lot of SAM flights.

After Korean Airlines flight 007 was shot down in 1983 ..............
Secretary of State, George Shultz, used that frequency while flying to the UN Security Council meeting.
He directed setting up audio/video equipment so they could play tapes of the Russian pilot's communications proving they deliberately shot the plane down.

It was also used by Dick Rutan for his Voyager flight around the world in 1986.
I have tape recordings of that somewhere around here. Yes, on actual tape. ;)
I don't know how, or why they had SatCom clearance, but they did.

Rich

The Truth about Korean Airlines Flight 007
The Truth about Korean Airlines Flight 007 - ALVIN SNYDER

Rutan Voyager - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
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mancow

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I bet there was some good stuff to listen to back in the day. I wonder what it would have been like scanning that band with a modern receive back then. I would imagine encryption was not 100% like it is now.
 

rbm

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Actually, encryption was closer to 0%. (Well maybe not quite that low, but close to it. ;)

In 1985 Leon Klinghoffer (a disabled American) was murdered and thrown overboard by Palestinian terrorists in the hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro.

President Ronald Reagan ordered a U.S. fighter plane to force the terrorist's get-away plane to land at Naval Air Station Sigonella in Italy.
He gave that order over the SatCom in clear voice.
He had a hearing problem that made it difficult for him to hear encrypted communications.

Up until at least some time after Geo. H. W. Bush's term, most of the phone patches from AF-1, AF2, and the SAM flights were in the clear.

I can't say what happened after then because I was too busy working and out of the country to have much monitoring time.
It was quite a few years before I got back into it.

Rich

Edit: Several other things that come to mind that were in the clear on SatCom.
The invasion of Panama
And the invasion of Grenada to rescue some medical students
 
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mancow

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I would be house bound and have to go on disability with meal delivery. Now way could you tear me away from the radio if it were still like that.
 

eorange

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a lot of pirates
245.800nfm--pirates
250.350nfm--open carrier
250.450nfm--open carrier
250.550nfm--open carrier
252.050nfm--open carrier
252.150nfm--pirates
253.900nfm--pirates
257.050nfm--pirates
258.650nfm--pirates
261.280nfm--pirates
262.420nfm--pirates
Thanks for this. I did hear activity on most of these last night (and the open carriers). My Satcom freqs have become somewhat neglected over time, so last night I started to get them back in order, and soon will have them programmed on my 8200.

I can say that 255.550 and 265.550 have been silent; these were my quick "go to" checks.
 

SCPD

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fleet broadcast

Thank you for the info but,
I have monitored milsats
for a long time.
I always include those
open carriers in my logs,esp.
good for beginers to see
if they can get a hit on them
Not my first milsat rodeo.
mike
lagrange gerorgia

see my military,federal and milsat logs at
milradiocomms@yahoogroups.com
been a member for over seven years there.
 

eorange

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I get what you're saying. I didn't know about the open carriers and will definitely use those as checks from here on out.
 

prcguy

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I remember listening in the mid 80s to US personnel in Nicaragua and heard the live announcement back to DC of the first US causality who was an observer. Then there was the group looking for US remains in Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos and they used the satellite like a CB radio.
prcguy


I would be house bound and have to go on disability with meal delivery. Now way could you tear me away from the radio if it were still like that.
 

SCPD

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Here is what I am monitoring this morning on the East Coast. Time 1427 UTC

265.450 UFO-7 Pirate activity
256.600 Skynet Pirate activity
245.800 Skynet Pirate activity
255.450 UFO-6 Pirate activity
255.550 Fltsat-8 Carrier/No Voice *
250.550 Fltsat-8 Beacon Sounding
253.900 Skynet Pirate activity
253.750 UFO-7 Pirate activity
252.150 Fltsat-8 Pirate activity
269.950 Fltsat-8 Pirate activity
253.800 Fltsat-8 Pirate with an Echo Box
250.450 Unid Sat Beacon Sounding
261.450 Fltsat-8 Pirate activity
258.650 Fltsat-8 Pirate activity
 
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rbm

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In addition, at the present time:

253.980
261.750
261.900
268.440 rebroadcast of a commercial station that's almost always active

Rich
 
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