258.3625? Unauthorized use of Mil Frequencies?

[ScubaJungle]

Im hearing what I think is conversation on 258.3625, although I suppose it could be foreign military(?) - but I can BARELY make out what they're saying, nor what language it is (Portugese or Italian?). I am hearing something similar on 260.48125.
I recorded a portion of it and uploaded it if anyone wants to take a jab at what this is.

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[ScubaJungle]

I got another recording with a filter on it and edited out the static - still not very intelligible.

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[ChrisP]

You are likely hearing Spanish or Portuguese over the US UHF military satellites. They are bootlegging the transponders and have been for years.

- Chris

 

[ScubaJungle]

It definitely sounded Portuguese, but I had no idea this existed/happened
That makes sense now though.. so these people are potentially in other countries, using the military satellites to talk to their friends or whatever in other places?
Thanks for the answer!

 

[PrivatelyJeff]

You are likely hearing Spanish or Portuguese over the US UHF military satellites. They are bootlegging the transponders and have been for years.

- Chris

you would think the military would do something to prevent it

 

[ScubaJungle]

For anyone interested in hearing this - these are some of the frequencies I heard them on. I found some that were fairly clear, and it is definitely Portuguese (Brazilian Portuguese).

260.48125​

260.462​

257.0375​

258.3625​

258.3587​

257.91875​

258.35955​

261.86875​

 

[ChrisP]

you would think the military would do something to prevent it

There were attempts to catch the perpatrators in some South American countries, but since these UHF satellites are basically bent-pipe repeaters, whatever RF goes in the input side, gets downconverted and spit out the output side. I believe they are transitioning to more digital and SHF satellite systems to avoid this.

-Chris

 

[ScubaJungle]

The Great Brazilian Sat-Hack Crackdown

Brazilian satellite hackers use high-performance antennas and homebrew gear to turn U.S. Navy satellites into their personal CB radios. Photo: Divulgação/Polícia Federal CAMPINAS, Brazil — On the night of March 8, cruising 22,000 miles above the Earth, U.S. Navy communications satellite FLTSAT-8...

www.wired.com

 

[devicelab]

Use 5khz steppings on your scanner. There are specific frequencies for UHF SATCOM. Do a search from 250 - 270 Mhz in your scanner using NFM mode and 5khz steps. Keep the squelch setting low.

You can see more of that here: UHF SATCOM Downlinks Receivable in North America

Here's a YouTube video of what SATCOM looks like on a SDR:

 

[devicelab]

That makes sense now though.. so these people are potentially in other countries, using the military satellites to talk to their friends or whatever in other places?

The satellites are 36,000 km from earth and thus can broadcast to a large swath of the Earth at any given time.

If you're in FL then you're likely picking up UFO 7: https://www.n2yo.com/satellite/?s=23967#results

 

[ScubaJungle]

Thanks for the links and info. From looking at the list of frequencies I got real quick, looks like UFO 7 and maybe UFO 5. I never knew about this, wow.
I was using DSDPlus - there's no way I could pick this up on my BCD436HP

 

[devicelab]

I was using DSDPlus - there's no way I could pick this up on my BCD436HP

Do you mean SDR#? DSD has nothing to do with receiving RF.

 

[ScubaJungle]

Nope, I was using DSDPlus fastlane, with source audio monitoring enabled

 

[devicelab]

Yes but what was your receiving hardware? DSD+ is software...

 

[ScubaJungle]

You just asked me if I meant SDR sharp, which is also software, which is why I reaffirmed what I said.
For hardware - Im using RTL-SDR blog v3 dongles with telescopic dipole antennas

 

[devicelab]

Software is useless without hardware.

 

[spacellamaman]

there's no way I could pick this up on my BCD436HP

first time i heard the Mystery Language Speakers i was killing time in a shopping center with a BC125 wearing a RS800 antenna plopped on the roof of my car, bored to death running thru the milair band. i think its do-able with the 436HP, just gotta try a bit harder

 

[ScubaJungle]

first time i heard the Mystery Language Speakers i was killing time in a shopping center with a BC125 wearing a RS800 antenna plopped on the roof of my car, bored to death running thru the milair band. i think its do-able with the 436HP, just gotta try a bit harder

LOL! Never was the wrong word, in reality I mean it's just so easy to find signals with an sdr vs a scanner because you have the waterfall and can mark peaks, etc, so I really use the BCD436 for identified signals.

Software is useless without hardware.

Lol of course! But I didn't think that's what you were asking

 

[brandon]

Podcast about this can be found here

Satcom Piracy - Signals Everywhere

There are hundreds of communications satellites orbiting around us right now and while they provide vital communications around the globe their are hackers amung them. Pirate radio operators Hi-Jacking transponders for their own personal use. Join us as we take a deep dive with an anonymous...

signalseverywhere.com

 

[tyytor]

Hi from what I am hearing they not only do this to the military satellites, they are also doing it to the new qo-100 geo amateure satellite, as well as the fm amature satellites too, for years now not much new there.