11.175

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RohnsRadio

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hearing several messages on 11.175. call sign "lady fair" one message was 100+ characters long.
just came back and "calling..(several tactal calligns)" them more characters.
listened for many years and this is strange. located in Eastern NC
 

DeepBlue

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I have always told folks that just because you can't decode a message doesn't mean there isn't a bit of intel there. The number of messages, the number of agencies they are sent to, the frequency and length all say something about what is happening. If we start getting all day messages to a lot of folks - duck and cover. I also want to know what radio frequencies are used for command and control of drones, just so I can know when there is one overhead. Stuff like that.

S.
 

majoco

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The fact that there is suddenly an increase or even a decrease in encoded messages doesn't mean a thing. A long time ago when I was involved in military comms the circuits were almost constant with encoded traffic, either morse or teleprinter and then you sat down and decoded each message that was addressed to you only to find that it was the soccer results or the front page of the newspaper - sometimes a question about something totally irrelevant just to keep the messages flowing. IMHO the busy circuit is a blind, the frequency with the real info was sent to the desired addresses with a time to listen that was used only once.
 

DeepBlue

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I respectfully disagree, but we can still be friends. :)

This is the US military we are speaking of. Having served I can say all traffic I have ever dealt with heard or passed has been offcial and important. There may have been some reporting of scores for various things in the past but I doubt people would be using official channels that reach globally, and encrypted to pass along an NFL score these days. Now then, the exception I can understand would be if there was an effort at disinformation by sending many messages of jibberish just to make the other side wonder what the heck was going on, I could get that.

Again, disagree. Also, in the case of aircraft, drones and troop movements, any locally discovered radio transmissions would mean something even if it were a routine troop movement to training.

Sean, 7 years prior US Airman and 11-B (ground pounder) US ANG.
 

krokus

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The comms paths for nuclear launch had messages, sent multiple times a day, that were coded, and on encrypted circuits/broadcasts. Most of those were "test message, disregard" type of things. That kept the paths busy, and would obfuscate the existence any actual messages sent.
 

RadioDitch

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Late to the party but for what it's worth:

HFGCS, and the entire 789th Communications Squadron, exists for command and control. Hence why HFGCS operators have the AFSC of 1C3X1 Command & Control Operations. While the traffic they handle is referred to on the internet as Emergency Action Messages, not all the traffic they handle are EAM's. It's a mix of headlines, phone patches, sitreps, commands, and of course...EAM's.

Most of the traffic are just routine commands or guidance for STRATCOM, REACH, or Exec air missions, all the way to surveillance missions. For example, those surveillance missions pushing the authority of China in international airspace over the South China Sea, etc. Then of course there's null messages to monitor propagation to a given receiver, there are sitreps for on-going tensions and world events, there are training messages. As many boring and routine messages as there are critical commands and time sensitive information.

That said, the length and frequency of repetition of a single message, or a series of messages, is in fact an indicator as to it's legitimacy or it's urgency. A 30 character message can be assumed to be routine depending on it's repetition. Over 40 characters should raise eyebrows. Over 0 you should sit up in your chair. Over 80 characters turn on the news, your favourite ADSB monitor, and wait.

Basically the same thing with Skyking, Skybird, or Skymaster messages. If the command word is a band on your iPod, it's probably nothing crazy. If it's a sports reference, cypher or Foxtrot message, it should get your attention. And it's not automatically for an E-6B either.

Just some stuff you learn when you've been into OSINT and HFGCS long enough, and have met people on the other side of the mic.
 
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Xray

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Do they still do phone patches on SW or is that long a thing of the past ?
 

RadioDitch

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Do they still do phone patches on SW or is that long a thing of the past ?

They still perform airborne phone patches on HFGCS. Normally they will be called up for on the main day or night frequency as appropriate, but are performed on a secondary frequency to avoid clogging up 11175kHz.
 

RadioDitch

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Two stations on 11.175 just sent 242 character EAMS, one sounded like it was coming from an airborne location based on the background noise. This was at 10:50 AM Pacific Time.

It was a relay by Fruitful 01. In a traditional HFGCS Mainsail-Air-Mission relay, Andrews transmits the originating message across the network transmitters with a Skymaster mission aircraft as the initial target recipient. The Skymaster mission aircraft will then relay that to the flight or single aircraft for whom the Command & Control orders / sitrep / message is for. The intended recipient will not acknowledge it's receipt via RF as to maintain radio silence, but will do so by compliance to the order or another unknown indication to the Skymaster mission aircraft and not Andrews or any other station on Global.

There were multiple interesting occurrences during this message. A flight of (2) USAF C-40B's on a SAM was entering Irish airspace. Barksdale AFB damn near got hit by a tornado, and there was a KC35R hanging around the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border.

For my fellow OSINT and HF-MILCOM nerds, this was the message:

45RLIXTBNJUFC47H43CVH3RHUPLS22CVNOD4EE3GKVZKXZQYYYYKGNBAWGO77CI7GGK4TLLLLX3E7TJS4TTODTXXKTXTTTTPXSIFXKNNKBD5HHSIQEEEEMOG23GRWARY7F2RC27D3EMURGN43UJRLBMYAAALXP333NP4444L2QKAYIIYGJT7MM7MM2222QPKLUMGRRAEBJIJGGJKKKKC5UVECIAEIEBNXBMXAKKKKGB32AQYBI

Sent by: PUPILLAE (Andrews) / Relayed by FRUITFUL 01 (Unknown Skymaster Mission)

Link to recording: EAM.Watch
 
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RadioDitch

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"Fruitful" has been repeating the EAM every few minutes.

Thanks for the info.

It's repeated multiple times by the Skymaster mission aircraft to ensure reception being the intended aircraft cannot acknowledge via RF. The number of times it is repeated is a safe indication as to it's priority.
 

RadioDitch

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Longest I've ever heard.

Record for me stands at 596 characters. It was March 19th, 2003. Sent by callsign Vengeance, relayed by Skymaster callsign Seraphim. Just 34mins later the 160th SOAR and 22nd STS made a beeline into Iraq to begin the invasion.

1927UTC I just heard an EAM of 242 characters being rapidly fired off on 11175/8992.

Same message, just being repeated and relayed yet again. Something's up.
 
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