6970 khz.. Firedrake

[fleef]

Unless the pirates have changed their taste in music.. strong firedrake on 6970 AM @ 11:53UT. No breaks, just pure clang and bang non-stop since 11:00UT.

OK, now they've suddenly ended transmission abruptly at 12:00UT on the dot.


location SW Arizona

 

[Token]

OK, now they've suddenly ended transmission abruptly at 12:00UT on the dot.

The Firedrake does stop at the top of the hour most of the time. It may or may not come back up on the same frequency, depending on the actions of the target station.

While I do not know for sure the reason for this stop, I strongly suspect that the stop at the top of the hour is “listen time” for the jammers. They kill the jammer, confirm that the target station is on the desired frequency, and then bring the jammer back on air. In the case of the Firedrake this return time is often anything from 5 to 25 minutes after the hour.

T!

 

[fleef]

Thanks Token

The Firedrake does stop at the top of the hour most of the time. It may or may not come back up on the same frequency, depending on the actions of the target station.

While I do not know for sure the reason for this stop, I strongly suspect that the stop at the top of the hour is “listen time” for the jammers. They kill the jammer, confirm that the target station is on the desired frequency, and then bring the jammer back on air. In the case of the Firedrake this return time is often anything from 5 to 25 minutes after the hour.

T!

I was not aware of the "peeking in for a listen" time at top of hour. I wonder who they were trying to jam? Commander Bunny? lol unaware of any broadcasters on or around 6970k.

 

[Token]

I noticed Firedrake came online on 6970 kHz at about 1518 UTC today, 11/30/2012. When the Firedrake dropped at 1600 UTC I did notice another carrier under it. The other startion does appear to be a Chinese language station, but I have nothing on any of my lists so I have no idea what station it is.

T!

 

[kilokat7]

In strong right now with a 20 KHz wide signal, 1140 UTC on 6970.

 

[gpsblake]

I've never understood why Firedrake shows up so often out of band, sometimes way out of band like on 13.9mhz.... Unless they are trying to jam military HF transmissions.

 

[Token]

I've never understood why Firedrake shows up so often out of band, sometimes way out of band like on 13.9mhz.... Unless they are trying to jam military HF transmissions.

Firedrake is not jamming military transmission. The SW broadcast stations that Firedrake is jamming often, but not always, choose out of band or edge of band frequencies, to be clear of other strong station interference. Firedrake jams where it jams because that is where its targets are.

For example, Sound of Hope uses (among others) 13920, 13970, and 14400 kHz, and so Firedrake can be found on those frequencies.

The thing that started this thread was the frequency that was being jammed, 6970 kHz, and the fact that no one reporting it was hearing a station under the jammer and no list showed a station there. I was sometimes hearing a weak station when the jammer dropped off-line at the top of hour, but could not ID the station. Since then it has been determined the station is probably Firedrakes favorite target, Sound of Hope and the most current B12 shows SOH on that freq.

So, Firedrake is jamming 6970 kHz whenever Sound of Hope is on that frequency, or when it is scheduled to be on that frequency. So far the schedule for SOH’s outlet on this frequency is not well defined.

T!

 

[Rob_]

Not to mention, they use something like 500KW to send that out.. Gotta love China

-Rob

 

[Token]

Not to mention, they use something like 500KW to send that out.. Gotta love China

500 kW is just not that unusual on HF. At least half a dozen broadcasters use that kind of power, including Voice of America, several outlets in France, Iran, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Russia, and of course China (for other than Firedrake broadcasts). Dozens more are in the 250-300 kW range, only 3 dB down in power and essentially an indistinguishable difference on the RX end, in theory it is half an S unit on the meter if transmit antennas are comperable.

Jamming is an interesting world and at times it takes a different thought process to get your head around. I have often heard people say “this or that jammer is not very good, I can still hear the station”. However, jammers almost always have a specific target region in mind. They are denying that signal in a specific region that may be very tightly defined. Unless you are in that specific region you are in no position to judge the effectiveness of the jamming. The J/S (jammer to signal ratio) is an important part of the equation, and this plays into modulation techniques, location, beam steering, polarization, etc, etc.

T!

 

[Rob_]

I know VOA out of Marathon (1.180) uses 100KW but Cuba is on the same frequency broadcasting the same thing!

-Rob