Firedrake changing habits or reduced use?

[Token]

Hello all,

Over the last couple of days I have noticed that many time slots and frequencies that are normally the Firedrake Jammer have switched audio to CNR 1. For example, at 1340 UTC today (April 21, 2013) the frequencies of 14700, 15115, 16160, and 16920 all had CNR 1 audio on them, but normally they have Firedrake in this time slot.

Not only is the CNR 1 audio being used on these frequencies instead of Firedrake, but the way they came online to cover the stations they were jamming is the same way Firedrake does it.

For those not familiar, Firedrake has 2 basic modes of operation, “on at the top of the hour” and “on later”. In the “on at the top of the hour” mode Firedrake typically comes on like any other SW station at the top of the hour or slightly before. In the “on later” mode Firedrake comes on sometime after the station to be jammed starts, typically Firedrake audio starts anything from 5 to 40 minutes after the hour, with about 10 to 20 minutes after the top of the hour being average.

For the last few days I have seen the CNR 1 audio start displaying the “on later” habits of Firedrake and on frequencies that Firedrake has normally hit. In the last 12 hours I have found NO Firedrakes active, and normally I find them at will.

In the 1400 UTC time slot only two CNR 1 audio jammers appear to be active at this time (1445 UTC), on 12230 and 12370 kHz, both regular Firedrake targets. All other outlets of Sound of Hope and other regular Firedrake targets are in the clear and have been for the entire hour.

Could the Chinese, in response to the recently publicized jamming articles and complaints, have reduced usage of Firedrake? I suppose they could be having technical issues.

T!
Mojave Desert, California, USA

 

[Boombox]

Looks like Firedrake is back. Heard it tonight (6/6) on 13790, around 0650 UTC. Was off by 0705. And it looks like others have also recently heard it on the bands today.

 

[Token]

Firedrake may have never gone away totally. My original post was to point out that Firedrake was not being seen on its formerly active frequencies and if it was still active it was at a greatly reduced rate.

As it turns out, after I posted this thread I personally could not find Firedrake for over 2 weeks on any frequency, but then I was not really looking for it all that time either. I eventually did find it on a single frequency. Since about a month after my original post here I have been finding it pretty much daily, but so far never more than 1 or 2 transmissions at any one time. Prior to April 19, 2013 it was a daily occurrence for me to see 8 or more at one time almost any time I went looking for it, at one time I saw 18 transmissions occurring simultaneously.

Today at 1125 UTC I found Firedrake hitting Radio Taiwan Int. on two frequencies, 9680 and 7385 kHz. On both frequencies not only Firedrake was hitting RTI but also the CNR 1 audio jammer was hitting both of those freqs.

There has been a definite change in operating habits for the Firedrake, but it does still appear to be in very limited use.

T!