Here is a strange one. Spanish speaking bootlegger conducting extensive test counts and radio testing on 252.150 MHz. He even got into the American spirit and utilized McDonalds as his callsign while calling out to Burger King 😀
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English-speaking satcom pirates were active on 258.650 MHz earlier. One operator had a Southern U.S. accent and had an end-of-transmission tone after keying up, and they also discussed using a Trivec antenna. Definitely freebanders and not legit U.S. mil stations. I’d also watch for them on 256.850, as they mentioned that frequency as well.
English-speaking freebanders have been noted recently on several CONUS downlinks, specifically 252.150 and 258.650. Based on their traffic, they know they are using military satellites, as one station said, “F*** you military.” He also mentions switching to “digital encryption” in the coming days, so this may be worth watching for more activity.
Caught some English speaking freebanders with American accents on 252.150. The conversation was a radio check between two operators testing their satellite communication equipment. Both confirm that their audio is coming in “loud and clear” and “super clear,” verifying good signal quality. They establish that the connection is routing through a satellite, with one station mentioning the need to reposition their equipment to align “right through the satellite,” noting that the signal is currently “shooting right through the trees.” The other party confirms they are also “talking to the satellite.” To test performance further, one station talks about adding an extender to his antenna setup.
Accented pirated station from Colombia testing on 268.150 MHz.
“Hello satellite, hello satellite, hello satellite. Hello satellite. Testing Fleet Satcom. Flight Satcom testing satellite. Testing satellite Flight Satcom. Do you copy Colombia? Over. Satcom, Satcom testing. Satcom testing. 1-2-3, 1-2-3. Do you copy Colombia? Over. Testing satellite, testing satellite. Do you copy Colombia? Over. Testing, testing satellite, testing satellite. 1-2-3-4-5. 1-2-3-4-5. Do you copy?”
This same station has also been monitored before on 263.675 and 269.950 as documented here: 263.675 Colombian Satcom Pirates.
Last week I caught a bunch of pirate activity from a station in Colombia who was testing on various satcom frequencies. Interestingly the station was actually doing most of transmissions in English and had a very good signal. Here are a few of the intercepts of this traffic. It will be interesting to see if more of them start to pop up.
263.675 MHz – A pirate station from Colombia is testing military satellite communications on UFO-7 in both Spanish and English. Another pirate from Brazil responds, telling him to get off the radio and go take care of the cocaine plantation 😂😂😂. He also makes a few more vulgar comments toward the Colombian station. What a clown show!
269.950 MHz – The same person is testing in English and reciting a METAR report: “Automatic weather observation Papa, time 2300 Zulu, wind 350 at 10, visibility 10 miles, scattered 7,500, broken 1,200, overcast 300, temperature 24, dewpoint 15, altimeter setting 3002.” I also logged the same operator on other downlinks, including 263.925, 265.250, 266.750, and others. Quite odd, to say the least.
Satellite pirate from Colombia on 269.950 MHz with testing on “UFO-7” and repeating “hola satélite, hola satélite” over and over. It also sounded like he was talking to his kid as a child’s voice could be heard talking and referring to the operator as “papi”.
The same station was also doing test counts and radio testing on 268.450 MHz.
Logged a satcom pirate station from Brazil speaking some English. He was calling another station asking if anyone could hear them.
Caught an English speaking satcom pirate “November Alpha” on 263.925 MHz. They were doing 12345 test counts, sending DTMF tones and said to be calling from the United States of America. Interesting…
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.