Unusual signals on 40m

[ZL3MF]

Hi everyone, interested in knowing more regarding some interesting signals on 40m (LSB) which sounds like people singing and chanting, sound like African tribes or something similar?? they come through most nights around 3am NZ time and range from 7Mhz to around 7.,1Mhz they are even amongst the CW portion. Last night on 7.0450Mhz there what seemed like 100rds all calling at once some singing and using 3 letter callsigns and where using phonetic Alphabet with callsigns like ACE or BDK etc. I don't believe these signals are licensed operators. When they sing it is though they are trying to compete against each other and who can sing the longest!!!
Idea's anyone....

Can anyone also shed some light on the strong over horizon radar (think that is what it is) seems to be 2 different types sound very similar to the "Russian Woodpecker" they randomly cover the whole HF band.

Cheers

Mike ZL3MF

[VK4TI]

Last night I had a quick swing across 40 around midnight , two bands of voices/music as mentioned across the lower segment and complete chaos , no interest once identified as obviously complaining wont do a thing imho . I suppose a concerted effort might get some result ?

[VK4WDM]

"Can anyone also shed some light on the strong over horizon radar"

I have been told that it is OHR from Cyprus and/or Gibraltar being used to detect illegal migrant boats in the Mediterranean. This makes sense because it is usually strong when bands are open to Europe.

Not sure about the the 40m sigs. The main QRM up here is from Asian pirates.

73

Wayne VK4WDM

[ZL3MF]

Last night I had a quick swing across 40 around midnight , two bands of voices/music as mentioned across the lower segment and complete chaos , no interest once identified as obviously complaining wont do a thing imho . I suppose a concerted effort might get some result ?

This is an interesting subject..the singing goes on for ages, there is a big group on 7Mhz exactly (LSB) and heaps more scattered wright up to 7.1.
They sound like African's??
Signals are quiet strong here in ZL
To me it sounds like some form of ritchual trible event....
Going to record some of it tonight...
Mike

Zl3MF

[VK3HJ]

I see a lot of SSB pollution, apparently from non-amateurs in the CW sub-band of 40 m, extending below 7.000 MHz.

The language sounds to me like Bahasa Indonesia. Transmissions include, talking, singing, music, sound effects, etc.

It's often loud all night, even off the side or back of my beam.

73,
Luke VK3HJ

[ZL3MF]

Got up 3am to have a wee listen around last night and there was not much happening, the "woodpecker" was S9+++ (just below 40m) Will try again tonight

Cheers

Mike

ZL3MF

[ZL3OZ]

As the dog woke me for a pee at 5am (1600UTC) I had a listen. For me the OTHR was strong about S7 and stretching below 40mtrs from 7Mhz down to about 6.7Mhz. Interesting I could hear the voices at intervals within the OTHR (at least the stronger ones and faint evidence of weaker) which possibly means they are somewhere which isnt bothered by it. The voices all seem to be same language which sounds distinctly middle eastern to me or some arabic derivative. The lowest one I could find was 6.965 and they are always in 5Khz steps (I carefully checked that) all the way up to 7.120 where there is a AM broadcaster at about S7 which appears to be talking in the same language. There are none above the AM stn. They were fading (including the AM stn) during the half hour I listened and were getting weak with the dawn light at 5:40 local.
If they are all competing for air space then they are obviously not using tunable HAM gear by evidence of the tidy 5Khz spacing so this might give some clue re who makes channelized SSB equipment on those frequencies and for what purpose.

I did hear a lot of ritualistic chant type speech and a bit of animated talk and some laughing amongst it but no singing or music. They are all to my ear talking the same lingo. Some, mixed up with HAM CW, seemingly oblivious of the CW so makes me wonder if they are actually listening. i.e. there were a few freq slots nearby which were clear and not being used yet they hadnt shifted to them.
To me its some sort of religious activity and not communication one to the other. I heard nothing which could be interection between two of them but I didnt listen on one prticular freq for very long wanting to go back to sleep.

Ken
ZL3OZ

[ZL3MF]

As the dog woke me for a pee at 5am (1600UTC) I had a listen. For me the OTHR was strong about S7 and stretching below 40mtrs from 7Mhz down to about 6.7Mhz. Interesting I could hear the voices at intervals within the OTHR (at least the stronger ones and faint evidence of weaker) which possibly means they are somewhere which isnt bothered by it. The voices all seem to be same language which sounds distinctly middle eastern to me or some arabic derivative. The lowest one I could find was 6.965 and they are always in 5Khz steps (I carefully checked that) all the way up to 7.120 where there is a AM broadcaster at about S7 which appears to be talking in the same language. There are none above the AM stn. They were fading (including the AM stn) during the half hour I listened and were getting weak with the dawn light at 5:40 local.
If they are all competing for air space then they are obviously not using tunable HAM gear by evidence of the tidy 5Khz spacing so this might give some clue re who makes channelized SSB equipment on those frequencies and for what purpose.

I did hear a lot of ritualistic chant type speech and a bit of animated talk and some laughing amongst it but no singing or music. They are all to my ear talking the same lingo. Some, mixed up with HAM CW, seemingly oblivious of the CW so makes me wonder if they are actually listening. i.e. there were a few freq slots nearby which were clear and not being used yet they hadnt shifted to them.
To me its some sort of religious activity and not communication one to the other. I heard nothing which could be interection between two of them but I didnt listen on one prticular freq for very long wanting to go back to sleep.

Ken
ZL3OZ

Interesting Ken yes heard those guys on 7mhz joking etc. band was very quiet last night and you are right no singing etc...I will be listening again tonight and if anything of interest comes through I will rercord it.
The night before they where communicating with each other infact on two frequencies there was a dog pile....
Lets see what happens tonight
You could be right about the "religious" aspect, the singing and chanting is very odd indeed...

Mike

ZL3MF

[ZL3RC]

I was listening around 9:00pm last night and heard what I think you are talking about as it was in USB.
Someone started dumping CW on top of them and after a while it all disappeared so that may be the answer.

It wasn't nice CW either, had piss and off in it

Roger ZL3RC

[VK4TU]

You could try using one of the websdrs to listen in from another part of the world which may help to narrow down location. Of course, finding one in the right part of the world and covering the frequency of interest is a little harder.
73,
Joe VK4TU

[ZL3MF]

I was listening around 9:00pm last night and heard what I think you are talking about as it was in USB.
Someone started dumping CW on top of them and after a while it all disappeared so that may be the answer.

It wasn't nice CW either, had piss and off in it

Roger ZL3RC

Interesting Roger, 9.00pm seems a bit early, the stations I hear are on LSB and hear them around 2am in the morning...there are 100rds of them.....they also give out random letters ands numbers in phonetic with singing and chanting.....similar to the "numbers stations" in the cold war.

Mike ZL3MF

[ZL3OZ]

You could try using one of the websdrs to listen in from another part of the world

Thats an excellent suggestion Joe.

At the least all this makes a bit of fun in an unexciting Es season.

And Mikes thoughts re the numbers thing might b relevant. It might all b a smoke screen for the likes of us Hams but the ones in the know will listen to the "right" channel and thereby copy the Code message after say a particular "song" or similar tip off.

OZ

[VK5ZLR]

As the dog woke me for a pee at 5am (1600UTC) I had a listen. For me the OTHR was strong about S7 and stretching below 40mtrs from 7Mhz down to about 6.7Mhz. Interesting I could hear the voices at intervals within the OTHR (at least the stronger ones and faint evidence of weaker) which possibly means they are somewhere which isnt bothered by it. The voices all seem to be same language which sounds distinctly middle eastern to me or some arabic derivative. The lowest one I could find was 6.965 and they are always in 5Khz steps (I carefully checked that) all the way up to 7.120 where there is a AM broadcaster at about S7 which appears to be talking in the same language. There are none above the AM stn. They were fading (including the AM stn) during the half hour I listened and were getting weak with the dawn light at 5:40 local.
If they are all competing for air space then they are obviously not using tunable HAM gear by evidence of the tidy 5Khz spacing so this might give some clue re who makes channelized SSB equipment on those frequencies and for what purpose.

I did hear a lot of ritualistic chant type speech and a bit of animated talk and some laughing amongst it but no singing or music. They are all to my ear talking the same lingo. Some, mixed up with HAM CW, seemingly oblivious of the CW so makes me wonder if they are actually listening. i.e. there were a few freq slots nearby which were clear and not being used yet they hadnt shifted to them.
To me its some sort of religious activity and not communication one to the other. I heard nothing which could be interection between two of them but I didnt listen on one prticular freq for very long wanting to go back to sleep.

Ken
ZL3OZ

One of my dogs does that, hops up on the bed and sits on my head, quite hard to ignore.........

Also heard the very strong AM station on 7120. And all the chatter a bit further down, about 04:30 local SA time.

[VK3QI]

With a 6 part series of the X files about to re-appear on VK television screens, could it be extra-terrestials you are hearing?

Cheers

Peter VK3QI

[ZL3OZ]

Im sure the answer is out there.

OZ

[VK2AOH]

Just send CQ's or other ham type messages with an autosender and the most powerful amplifier you can lay your hands on and eventually they will get the message.

[ZL3OZ]

[quote]Just send CQ's or other ham type messages with an autosender and the most powerful amplifier you can lay your hands on and eventually they will get the message.

I dont think so. This is developing fast and serious. There are hundreds of them like Mike said. Its like an invasion. There are more of them squeezed into every 5Khz from 7120 down to 6950 than all the other real hams audible during the DX window on the rest of the band.

Im listening to them now at 0910. They are mainly on 7010 at the moment but many others are audible still way down in strength. That means its for the whole of the dark hours, no need to wait till 2AM.
Someone is valiantly trying to block the 010 ones with big carriers just now.

OZ

[VK4TU]

Weak USB 7.005MHz in UA0 http://85.15.65.38:8901/ - sounds Russian.
Not hearing anything in PA0 http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/
Joe VK4TU

[ZL3OZ]

Hi Joe.
Have a look at websdr.org there are over a hundred of them round the world now.
I just been both ends of Russia, Kazakstan, Melbourne, Chile, Sth Africa, Israel and Spain listening on 40mtrs and no where do I hear what Is on 40mtrs here right now starting just after dark.

Mike I am pretty certain as suggested by a few VKs on chat today that it is Indonesia. First of all that place is going into greyline on PNG just as we do and the night creeps across Indonesia as it covers us and moves across Australia. On all the web sdr just now I heard either nothing much at all or typical local to the region stuff. The band area in question was clear. Disappointingly the Melbourne unit must be in a builtup area with high noise and poor aerial as nothing but noise and a single srtong VK was heard there. In Chile a couple of stations in Spanish. In Russia east just gone into night, just russians in the part of the band they should be in. In Spain Europeans. In Africa nothing and its full day there. The closest I could get georaphically to Indonesia otherwise was Kazakstan where some excited and heavily overmod signals were shouting in a completely different tongue to the interferance, and they were in the phone section. Theres a SDR in Thailand but its only VHF and 10mtr.

That means we can hear it best mainly in ZL and probably in NEast VK even better and will do while night covers them and us. I recon its inter village and island chatter in a CB sort of channelized manner. would be interesting to see what sort of gear they using and where its from. Probably got B...feng written on it.

OZ

[VK4WDM]

I just had a listen. Some sigs very strong here - over S9. The language is Indonesian - I can recognize some words. Some appear to be using call signs of some sort. It sounds like some sort of prayer service or the like.

Certainly worth reporting to WIA intruder watch and whatever the NZART equivalent is as they input into a regional ITU intruder service that can take the matter up with the YB authorities. What will happen then is anyone's guess but it is worth a try.

73

Wayne VK4WDM