267.050 radio check from Grumman AA60 (sound like) via CONUS.
Tags: CONUS
Spanish language traffic from “Ejército 2106” (Army 2106?) conducting radio checks and test counts.
Wire 06 attempting contact with Wire 78 for radio check on 251.850 “Sat Bravo”
Tags: CONUS
11098.5 USB 0520Z: MARS Comm conducting test count.
13927 USB 1820Z: Aussie 559 attempt contact with MARS Radio but no joy.
Clear voice on Pacific SATCOM freq 260.525 w/ Ironhorse Mobile conducting a comms check. I have logged “Iron Horse” quite regularly over the years on this frequency. Good to see it still active in 2023 🙂
Tags: APAC
Lately, I’ve been hearing a regular amount of Spanish chatter on different UHF SATCOM frequencies. Here are several stations using 252.150 conducting radio checks and exchanging information. What caught my attention on this intercept was the mention of a camp in the sector of Kilómetro 41 and the mention of a specific point 500 meters below the point where Río Chinchiná and Río Cauca meet. These are very specific locations and after a bit of Googling, I was able to find an approximate location on this map. This puts them in the Caldas Department of Colombia, which is located a bit north of Pereira. Definitely interesting and bears watching.
251.850 CONUS: Draco 77 calling Draco 99 on “sat 2” for radio check.
Tags: CONUS
11282 USB 0130Z: Raider 28 wkg San Francisco Radio with position report FLITY at 0130, FL240, estimate for FIZEL at 0249, FOMAS next.
11282 USB 0133Z: Bowie 04 wkg San Francisco Radio with position CUNDU at 0133, FL350, estimate for CREAN at 0225 and CINNY next.
I recently heard some ham traffic being relayed by pirates on UHF SATCOM (263.675) – Someone was rebroadcasting: “CQ CQ CQ Parks on the Air KE8WLW in K-6803” which sounded like it was coming from HF SSB. A quick Google Search found that Parks on the Air (POTA) is a program that encourages amateur radio operators to get outdoors and operate from state and national parks. The park identifier “K-6803” is Vestaburg State Game Land according to the POTA website. Obviously these hams probably don’t realize pirates are rebroadcasting their traffic across US military satellites. As to why they would retransmit ham radio comms is a total mystery to me and quite strange. In addition, there was a lot of the other usual shenanigans, whistling and inappropriate noises being transmitted on the frequency. Here is a recording of the intercept. Caution: Use headphones if in public setting otherwise you might get strange looks from those around you. The ham stuff starts around the 1:55 marker.
5574 USB 0624Z: Yukon 7002 wkg San Francisco Radio reporting position ETECO at 0621, FL350, estimate for EDSEL at 0713 and ENTOO next. Boeing 767-300 operated by Northern Air Cargo en route from Honolulu to LAX.
5574 USB 0738Z: Air France 078 wkg San Francisco Radio. Signal likely was very garbled due to the geomagnetic storm. Boeing 777-200 en route from LAX to Papeete.
5574 USB 0744Z: CSS7532 wkg San Francisco Radio. Signal likely was very garbled due to the geomagnetic storm. Boeing 747-400 operated by SF Airlines en route from LAX to Shenzhen.
5574 USB 0841Z: San Francisco Radio attempting comms with Dynasty 007 – signal extremely garbled at first! Most likely related to the geomagnetic storm conditions causing aurora at lower than normal latitudes. The China Airlines flight sounded just fine though, but said he was unable CPDLC. Eventually both sides of the communications became a bit clearer as it progressed.
5628 USB 0904Z: Pearl 18 flight in comms with Tokyo Radio – cleared direct ADGOR and PUTER – will have Mask 11 come up on freq. Mask 11 cleared direct PASRO in the block FL280.
6929 USB 0038Z: 1361BPA sounding in ALE.
8843 USB 0541Z: ATN 3394 wkg San Francisco with position estimate CEBEN at 0552, FL390 and estimate CIVIT at 0637. Amazon Prime Air Boeing 767-300 from Honolulu to Ontario.