colombia

Had some interesting Spanish language satcom traffic last week on 265.250 between several stations including Moldavia 10, Mérida, and Rangún 10. Lots of test counts and making attempts to establish communication. The station identifying as Mérida mentions being located in the Bellavista sector.

Additional comms regarding a maneuver and discussion about initiating movement towards a specific point based on OP-0010. Mérida mentioned being with Rangún 15 at the location.

During all of this activity, I also logged Mako 93 calling JIATF South.

Last week, I observed unusual radio traffic on the 260.475MHz frequency. The transmissions were likely from a Colombian military or law enforcement operation. The callsigns used were Copán, Pulpo, Mammoth, Aquiles, and Jerónimo. The operators were active for several days and mentioned carrying out police searches, taking photos and videos, and operating a drone. They also provided latitude and longitude coordinates that placed them in the remote jungles of the Darién Gap, along the border between Colombia and Panama. One of the units sounded digital, suggesting that some of the radio traffic may have been patched through a terrestrial radio system. Another clue was dropped when one of the operators said, “Copán, le confirmo la salida en el Black Hawk, en el UH-60 PNC 0625.” This translates to, “Copán, I confirm the departure of the Black Hawk, UH-60 PNC-0625.” A check of the tail number confirmed that this particular Black Hawk belongs to the Colombian National Police.

Here is a recording of some of the radio traffic.

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.