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Author Topic: UPDATED unknown station is WRMI, 17790 and 17795 kHz, 06 DEC 2020, 1726 UTC  (Read 2178 times)

Offline MDK2

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I'm posting this in Shortwave Broadcast because this is right in the 16m band, it's very strong suggesting licensed broadcast originating in North America, and it sounds like an interval signal. It's on both frequencies simultaneously, and it's still going on as of 1812 UTC. I've copied it on SDR's around the country. Does this sound familiar to you? There's nothing listed in any online reference for this time for either frequency.
https://youtu.be/OKiaozWlY5g

UPDATE, I heard WRMI ID in Spanish at 1900z. Per comments on my video it seems to be a promotion of an upcoming video game, interested parties can watch this livestream from a gamer that aired around 1730 UTC for information.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyM68qzUrk4
« Last Edit: December 06, 2020, 1916 UTC by MDK2 »
Denver, CO.
SDRPlay RSPdx & RSP2pro, Airspy Discovery HF+, Icom IC-7100, Grundig Satellit 750, Realistic DX-300, Tecsun PL-600.
MLA-30 active loop, G5RV dipole.
eQSLs appreciated wickerjennie at gmail

Offline autovon

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Re: Unknown station, 17790 and 17795 kHz, 06 DEC 2020, 1726 UTC
« Reply #1 on: December 06, 2020, 1830 UTC »
Now it's just on 17790.  S9+30
Default RX location is Wisconsin using various wire antennas. Other RX will be noted.

Offline Ct Yankee

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Excellent reception on 17790

1938 Repetitive tones as if video game.  There are broadcasts from Santa Maria di Galeria on this frequency, perhaps WRMI and/or their programming is looking to transmit from there and this is a test.  Several years ago it was speculated that NHK might buy the site, though Vatican Radio still broadcasts.  https://swling.com/blog/2017/03/could-nhk-japan-purchase-santa-maria-di-galeria-site/

2000 OM in foreign language, not decipherable perhaps ID - reception got markedly worse but still audible.  I am wondering if this correspondens to an antenna direction switch which heightens the likelihood of a test.

2015 Reception much better now, same tune, another antenna switch?

2030 Off or signal under noise
« Last Edit: December 06, 2020, 2030 UTC by Ct Yankee »
Tecsun H501x (broadcast received on this unless noted), Zenith T/O G500, Zenith T/O Royal 7000, Emerson AR-176, Zenith 8S154, T/O 7G605 (Bomber), Tecsun PL-600, Tecsun PL-880, Zenith 5S320, Realistic DX 160 using 40 feet of copper wire.  With apologies to Senator Gramm for his thoughts on firearms, "I have more radios than I need but not as many as I want."
QTH:  Durham, Connecticut (rural setting, 15 miles north of Long Island Sound)
qsl please to:  jamcanner@comcast.net  (Thank you)

Offline MDK2

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It changed to VORW at 2100 but that went off after about 30 seconds. Clearly WRMI. I've heard in other forums that there will be another special broadcast on 17790 tomorrow 1300-1700 UTC. It's going to be tricky to see if that will reach me at the start, given the frequency and time of day at my QTH.
Denver, CO.
SDRPlay RSPdx & RSP2pro, Airspy Discovery HF+, Icom IC-7100, Grundig Satellit 750, Realistic DX-300, Tecsun PL-600.
MLA-30 active loop, G5RV dipole.
eQSLs appreciated wickerjennie at gmail

Offline Ct Yankee

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The Youtube video (which unveils a PL 880) makes mention of something happening at 10 am eastern (1500 utc).
Tecsun H501x (broadcast received on this unless noted), Zenith T/O G500, Zenith T/O Royal 7000, Emerson AR-176, Zenith 8S154, T/O 7G605 (Bomber), Tecsun PL-600, Tecsun PL-880, Zenith 5S320, Realistic DX 160 using 40 feet of copper wire.  With apologies to Senator Gramm for his thoughts on firearms, "I have more radios than I need but not as many as I want."
QTH:  Durham, Connecticut (rural setting, 15 miles north of Long Island Sound)
qsl please to:  jamcanner@comcast.net  (Thank you)

Offline MDK2

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The Youtube video (which unveils a PL 880) makes mention of something happening at 10 am eastern (1500 utc).

That may have been when it started. I didn't notice until I went hunting for the Spurs/Arsenal match on BBC after 1700z. Or is that specifically about tomorrow? I only scanned through that video, didn't watch the whole thing. Definitely missed that bit either way.
Denver, CO.
SDRPlay RSPdx & RSP2pro, Airspy Discovery HF+, Icom IC-7100, Grundig Satellit 750, Realistic DX-300, Tecsun PL-600.
MLA-30 active loop, G5RV dipole.
eQSLs appreciated wickerjennie at gmail

Offline Ct Yankee

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7 Dec 2020....very good reception

MDK2 - Nice win by Spurs yesterday to go top but City are lurking  ;D.

1358 Tones are back in repeating fashion
1400 WRMI ID in Spanish (?) by accented OM with Okeechobee location given
1429 Reception not as good as 1400, very faint reception on 7570 per RW's mention below
1450 Signal has had significant degradation in past 5 minutes.
« Last Edit: December 07, 2020, 1504 UTC by Ct Yankee »
Tecsun H501x (broadcast received on this unless noted), Zenith T/O G500, Zenith T/O Royal 7000, Emerson AR-176, Zenith 8S154, T/O 7G605 (Bomber), Tecsun PL-600, Tecsun PL-880, Zenith 5S320, Realistic DX 160 using 40 feet of copper wire.  With apologies to Senator Gramm for his thoughts on firearms, "I have more radios than I need but not as many as I want."
QTH:  Durham, Connecticut (rural setting, 15 miles north of Long Island Sound)
qsl please to:  jamcanner@comcast.net  (Thank you)

Offline SW Observer

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The Interval Signal also seems to be on 7570 kHz // 17790 kHz.

Receiving both with fair reception in Florida, 7570 kHz coming in slightly better at my QTH.
Florida, always listening via my Tecsun PL-660 receiver.

Offline poecile

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Very strong to Vancouver Island at 14:44 UTC.

https://youtu.be/0Hl8WImYGxQ

French Creek, Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada
NRD-525, Yaesu FRG-7, Yaesu FTdx3000
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Offline Ct Yankee

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Good reception

1500 Same ID as 1400, YL reading numbers in English 1, 5, 8, 6, ? with Spanish/Italian accident. (This must have been "event at 1500" talked about in Youtube video")
1502 Tones, numbers alternate.  In video presented by MDK2 above, Youtuber holds scroll with numbers printed on it.
1505 Very long string of numbers 1,5,8,6,8,  5,5,3,3,3  0,9,6,7,7  7,5,2,9,2,  Tones and same sets of numbers repeated with pauses in between groupings.
1555 Tones, numbers continue
1600 Recorded OM ID in foreign language with new and larger set of numbers: 03023 24776 67317 99775 98652 01394
1622 Reception dipping under noise floor at times.
1700 No ID...... tones and new numbers 20831 49801 43606 54506 67124 16976
1744 Tones for several minutes, no numbers
1800 Same ID again, some tones then off abruptly during tone sequence
« Last Edit: December 07, 2020, 1801 UTC by Ct Yankee »
Tecsun H501x (broadcast received on this unless noted), Zenith T/O G500, Zenith T/O Royal 7000, Emerson AR-176, Zenith 8S154, T/O 7G605 (Bomber), Tecsun PL-600, Tecsun PL-880, Zenith 5S320, Realistic DX 160 using 40 feet of copper wire.  With apologies to Senator Gramm for his thoughts on firearms, "I have more radios than I need but not as many as I want."
QTH:  Durham, Connecticut (rural setting, 15 miles north of Long Island Sound)
qsl please to:  jamcanner@comcast.net  (Thank you)

Offline jfarley1

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same here in nj s9+30 very clear strange.

Offline MDK2

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The Black Ops Cold War "numbers station" is on 17790 kHz, and should be until 1800 UTC. It's looping a simple four-group code, undoubtedly for the gamers who received a free Tecsun PL-880 and other promotional materials. I think they are airing this on one of the westerly directed transmitters based on its strength and the fact that I could hear the test before 1500 on California kiwi SDR's (16m would just be opening so a broadcast directed there would be best for getting through, which seems to be the intent).

https://youtu.be/16LvcWBxbzc

7 Dec 2020....very good reception

MDK2 - Nice win by Spurs yesterday to go top but City are lurking  ;D.

1358 Tones are back in repeating fashion
1400 WRMI ID in Spanish (?) by accented OM with Okeechobee location given
1429 Reception not as good as 1400, very faint reception on 7570 per RW's mention below
1450 Signal has had significant degradation in past 5 minutes.

Hope you get your reception back, the fact that you are having trouble tends to support my hypothesis that this is going out on one of the westerly directed transmitters. Yes, glad for the win and the top of the table position, maybe Mourinho is what Spurs was lacking in the chase for hardware. Since it was their collapse that gave Leicester the League a few years back, it's going to be stressful unless they can put some more points on Liverpool and everyone. But hey, maybe they can win Europa League. 
« Last Edit: December 07, 2020, 1523 UTC by MDK2 »
Denver, CO.
SDRPlay RSPdx & RSP2pro, Airspy Discovery HF+, Icom IC-7100, Grundig Satellit 750, Realistic DX-300, Tecsun PL-600.
MLA-30 active loop, G5RV dipole.
eQSLs appreciated wickerjennie at gmail

Offline poecile

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Signal not as strong on 7.570. Interesting transmission which sounds like a numbers station.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh-BcxsrwBs&feature=youtu.be
French Creek, Vancouver Island, B.C., Canada
NRD-525, Yaesu FRG-7, Yaesu FTdx3000
80 meter delta Loop antenna
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Offline autovon

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S9+30 again with the numbers on 17790.  Pretty neat promotion.  Hopefully it gets some new people involved with the hobby of ours.
Default RX location is Wisconsin using various wire antennas. Other RX will be noted.

Offline MDK2

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Having had a chance to go over everything, I can report the following. I had a recording start at 1300 based on slightly off information, and had seen the actual time but decided to leave that for the start time. WRMI came online with a Brother Stair broadcast in progress at 13:43:37. He cuts out and the interval begins at 13:45:26. This lasts all the way until 1500z. Station ID for WRMI came at every hour in Russian (male announcer), except it didn't come until 1705 for the last hour, and then again at 1720 when the messages ended and the interval resumed, which went on until 1759 just before signoff. The interval played a couple of times at 1800 before the signal went QRT.

Number groups came with repeats during the following times, with the first three notes of the interval being repeated three times between each reading by a female with a Russian accent, in English:
1500-1600:    15868 55333 09677 759292
1600-1630:    03023 24776 67317 99775 98652 01394
1630-1650:    54003 46225 79659 07313 91490 37878
1650-1705:    20831 49801 43606 54506 67124 16976
1705-1715: Here the numbers are in Russian which sadly I don't know. I consulted an online Russian language teaching page for this, but if you know Russian then please confirm. I'm pretty confident that I have the correct numbers, but still... Same YL voice.
                     14321 78598 98275 84361
1715-1720: numbers in Russian, same caveat applies:
                     50737 50791 88377 70595 51082 08086
1720: WRMI station ID in Russian
1720-1759 Back to the interval, with final WRMI station ID in Russia, and a moment of the interval at 1800 before the transmission went QRT

All in all, this was fun and a nice thing to find somewhat at random. I emailed Ary Boender and it's likely going to be logged in the next Numbers & Oddities newsletter.
Denver, CO.
SDRPlay RSPdx & RSP2pro, Airspy Discovery HF+, Icom IC-7100, Grundig Satellit 750, Realistic DX-300, Tecsun PL-600.
MLA-30 active loop, G5RV dipole.
eQSLs appreciated wickerjennie at gmail

 

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