The AM Forum

Anybody know what the CW on 3885 is about?

All I'm seeing is a wandering freq. birdie on 3884.
9:00 pm EST


wow , look what i'm getting now around 3885.  9:11 pm EST

continuous with pings every six seconds or so.
tough double digital mod.

second shot, later dig. variation. An Am'er was testing on top of it a minute or so ago.  See bottom right of GUI to see real UTime on these.  & BTW as we all know, This board is still on EDT

I heard it on at about 5:30 PM eastern time and DF'd it.

It's coming from W3-land, SW of CT.  Similar to the episode last week.


BTW, on 3881 there is a "spy" CW station coming from NE of CT, probably located in Maine, sending 5 character groups. I will have to DF it after EU sunrise to be sure it is not from Europe.  I've heard it on and off there and on other freqs for years.... not always coming from Maine NE, however. Sometimes from Caribbean.  Used to be called the "Cuban spy" station back in the 1990's sending the same character groups.

Interesting that the WWII  German and Japanese codes were also sent in 5 character groups, both numbers and letters.  Think of how easy and "safe" it would be to blend in and  receive your instructions from a handheld shortwave RX.

T

Yeah, we need that neat " isotemp" colored strength region map.
Wonder if it's Penn State stuff again.

now it's off.
= a guy's gotta be quick.

Sounds neatest in DSB.  Picks up entire signal.

the spy CW is mixed 5 letter code groups....in Europe.  Get on one of the kiwisdrs over there and much stronger.  Its possible to DF it using the kiwi tdoa function.

peter

As of 3:45am EST, that interference QRM signal is still on 3885kc.

Al VE3AJM

Sounds like the pulsing hash generator is back.

5:30 CT noise on 3885 is S8 to S9 in Chicago.   As of 5:40  pinging

Lou

I believe the 3881 CW (that is there every night) is coming from France - a CW practice station from what I've been able to determine.

Sometimes here, that CW station is the strongest thing on the band when 75 meters goes really long.

You are correct, Steve.   A simple Google search shows it as a CW training station by the French military.

I came across it when I heard you mobile last night around 3885.  The band was already going long which was a clue it probably was coming from Europe rather than Maine or VE1.

It was originally believed to be a numbers station but later classified as CW training in 2005.


[Although... wouldn't CW practice be the perfect cover in the open? All nations have spy communication schemes.  Considering how obsolete CW practice is, I don't buy it 100%.]

T



GOOGLE:

Station Summary

Name: FAV22
Activity: Active
Emission Mode: CW
Believed Country of Origin: France


FAV22 and M51 are sister stations that are used by the French Military and transmits in parallel on both 3881 and 6825 kHz.  FAV22 is a station that has been active since the early 1900’s. [ECL Pg. 20]

M51 was first noticed in 1996 and was given an ENIGMA ID.  It was originally considered a numbers station but was identified as a military station in 2005.  The network operates on frequent schedules and usually on parallel frequencies.

French Mil Morse Training Network

Hearing the CW sigs S-8 in Ohio. Five character groups with mostly letters and some numbers. Sounds like its about 25 wpm.

That's probably too fast for a spy/numbers station.