120 Meter Shortwave Band - Digital Desert and the Russians

[@shortwavelistener]

Watch my previous videos - 11 Meter band (kzbin.info/www/bejne/g3qke3SIlN6qfa8), 23 & 22 Meter bands (kzbin.info/www/bejne/oYXMd2Wkp7uEipY) , 35 Meter band (kzbin.info/www/bejne/f5vJdHupppqXba8) , ad 170 Meter band (kzbin.info/www/bejne/e4rFopKchd17eJY)

[@RJDA.Dakota]

I remember when in the middle 1980s I could pick up stations from all over Latin America, Africa in the late afternoons, and Pacific Ocean Stations in the morning. It was a great time.

[@shortwavelistener]

I remember that as well. Times have changed!

[@justinreynolds3411]

When I was in the Navy, I could pick up an amazing number of stations while the ship was a few hundred miles offshore. It was a good time listening to them.

[@f4r__]

Thanks for putting the time and effort in to making these videos, they're really enjoyable and interesting.

[@shortwavelistener]

@@f4r__ Thank you!!

[@josephbovio3447]

I am so glad I found your channel. I have viewed and thoroughly enjoyed all of your content! Thank you for the time you have invested in creating this for us.

[@shortwavelistener]

@@josephbovio3447 Thank you!!!

[@woodtooth32]

Russians have been operating in 3,0-3,2 MHz already in 1960s. The frequency was chosen because it provided compromise between getting reasonable RF power out of audio tubes, the antenna size and propagation. Power levels can be anywhere from 5 W to 10 kW and they build their transmitters usually by themselves. Most of them keep contacts with each other and sometimes they transmit music.

[@shortwavelistener]

@@woodtooth32 Wow - that is really quite interesting! I keep wondering if I heard them as a kid in the 70s/80s

[@don_cc123]

Thanks for making this series, very enjoyable! The first "mystery CW" signal is particularly interesting to me, as there are some characters that are not part of the International Morse code - or at least, not any characters that I learned! Strange!

[@shortwavelistener]

@@don_cc123 yes! same here - very weird cw.

[@AusProbiz]

Its Cyrillic (e.g. Russian) CW encrypted messages, e.g. military.

[@shortwavelistener]

@ Thank you!!

[@MidlifeRenaissanceMan]

The character you heard was a reverse C a dit dah dit dah. I’ve heard that on other CW Nets between 6666KHz and 6668KHz It’s a Cyrillic CH character from memory. That was a 5 character encoded message. I’ll poke around that old Echo Charley band around 6700KHz and I’ll often hear CW number style stations and CW Nets. As far as I can tell, they’re located in either Asiatic Russia or China I hear them in the evenings aussie east coast time.

[@MidlifeRenaissanceMan]

Ok. I spent a bit more time with it TLAS EVTMA TUYB я(dit dah dit dah) AIVHU VBQTJ YFK ш (dah dah dah dah)S MUFTU B ч (dah dah dah dit) MC ю (dit dit dah dah) 5 letter groups. The other station sounds like 4XZ. Israeli Navy station

[@youtubeaccount931]

Good vid, I had no idea about the Russian free banders. I've been scanning the low bands alot lately, I usually leave my receiver on 630 or 160M wspr when I'm not using it just to track propagation. Ok so I ended up getting a LZ1AQ loop amplifier made by a ham N4CY, that and a length of soft aluminum tubing on amazon for the loop portion. I'm going to set it up the next time I have some time off.

[@shortwavelistener]

@@youtubeaccount931 That’s great!! Let ya know how amp and loop work out!

[@Anon-fv9ee]

Re: Symban Radio. Their 2370 kHz licence is current but inactive. They have a secondary licence broadcasting locally in Sydney on 151.675 MHz (narrowband FM) which is active and also via streaming apps.

[@shortwavelistener]

@@Anon-fv9ee Thank you for the update!! Much appreciated!

[@mikkohhh]

There's some russian railway dispatch channels on FM down there (Yes, FM). At least 2130 and 2150 KHz are actively used.

[@shortwavelistener]

@@mikkohhh Thanks for the info! I haven’t covered the 140/130 meter band yet - I’ll add that tip when I start it!!

[@ocsrc]

I remember when cordless phones in the house were 1.8 mhz AM and had long extending metal antenna. If you had the base antenna extended and the base on the 2nd floor, you could go 1/2 mile during the day I remember walking down my road carrying the handset and getting calls even up to a mile if I was downhill from the house There was no encryption or security. You actually could take the handset and drive around the city and get dial tones from other people who had cordless phones The old days were really cool

[@shortwavelistener]

@@ocsrc Wow! I didn’t realize they were at 1.8mhz in that time. I remember hearing them somewhere in the 20-30mhz range for a short while.

[@ocsrc]

@shortwavelistener 46 to 50 MHz, the base was on 46.5 to 47 and the handset was on 49.5 to 50 Baby monitors, wireless mics, a lot of things used the 46 to 50 MHz in the 80s and early 90s The 900 MHz was switched to in the mid 90s Then 2.4 GHz and they even had 5.8 GHz cordless phones But nothing worked as well as the 1.8 MHz ones

[@Richard_K1630]

I bought my Hallifcrafters rig in the summer of '68. Now THOSE were great times. I honestly don't remember what I used for an antenna back then.

[@shortwavelistener]

@@Richard_K1630 I had 2x Hallicrafters - an old S-41 and my favorite TW-500. I wish I had one now! Maybe I’ll eBay one someday.

[@thehappywanker4298]

Excellent content! Thx THW

[@shortwavelistener]

@@thehappywanker4298 Thanks!!

[@DCDura]

I've never heard of Automatic Link Establishment pronounced as "Ale", like a beer. It's always been A-L-E, letters pronounced individually.

[@shortwavelistener]

@@DCDura Ha!! Guess it’s my bad - I don’t have much experience with ALE - but I do with ale 🍺😁

[@wa1ufo]

120 meters is medium wave not shortwave. Shortwave starts at 3 megahertz.

[@shortwavelistener]

@@wa1ufo Absolutely true - if you’re being precise on definitions. Most “shortwave” listeners start at 1711 khz since shortwave radios delineated that break (with medium wave under 1711). Just an artificial thing I suppose.

[@axi6ne8us]

Do you need a specific receiver for those frequencies, cause my FT-710 isn't picking up any of those?

[@shortwavelistener]

@@axi6ne8us not if you have a 710 - that’s an excellent receiver. It depends more on your location, time of day and antenna. 120 meters is in the low bands so a very long beverage antenna, 100-300 ft delta loop antenna or long wideband dipole (example - 100-200ft doublet) or a very long wire on the ground. Take a look for 160 meter antennas or lowband antennas on KZbin or Google. If you’re in the US then you might have luck with Australian or Korean stations in the winter very early mornings. For the Russians on 105m - more luck in the summer early evenings (look up Gray Line propagation). That’s just a general guide. Propagation can vary widely at any time. Just note that 120 meters is basically a night band and is dead in the daytime.

[@marcisberzins]

The first CW transmission is well within Russian CW alphabet.

[@shortwavelistener]

Thank you! I'll have to learn some Cyrillic cw!

[@pyrlik6968]

Interessant 👍👍👍

[@shortwavelistener]

Thanks!

[@SX1R]

Check also Haifa Naval Radio, ISR, callsign 4XZ on 2680 kHz CW.

[@shortwavelistener]

@@SX1R Interesting!! Thx!!

[@adamselepin6657]

The Russian freebanders are using some old USSR military transmitters and are big lovers of the USSR from what i know.

[@shortwavelistener]

@@adamselepin6657 Yeah - it seems like most are on AM with those old transceivers!

[@AnyoneSeenMikeHunt]

I live near the tropics in Au, need to look into the 120m 'Tropical Band'. Guessing tropical it will be evangelists.

[@neilforbes416]

The spelling is *Metre!* not Meter. Meter is the *DEVICE* while *Metre* is the measurement!

[@shortwavelistener]

True in Europe but not in the US

[@neilforbes416]

@@shortwavelistener *TRUE EVERYWHERE!* But *IGNORANT, ARROGANT AMERICA* is like the two-year-old toddler that claims to know more than its grandparents!

[@r2dtxradiobushcrafting]

That's a pirates. They transmitting on 6660 and 10460 mHz as well.

[@shortwavelistener]

@@r2dtxradiobushcrafting Thx!

[@fretlessfender]

Yeah! Got the Russians here in Holland!

[@shortwavelistener]

@@fretlessfender Nice!! Hope to catch them here in the US.

[@AxelWerner]

Please use a audio high pass filter to remove all the pop sounds from your recordings before posting. It's annoying

[@shortwavelistener]

Oh yes! Forgive me - it's a new mic and interface - good to know! The audio spectrum on it is much better. I will fix that!

[@stargazer7644]

I would think the highs are what you'd want to block in this case. Perhaps a low pass filter?

[@shortwavelistener]

@@stargazer7644 yes! I was trying to get the mixer loopback to the virtual equalizer working- but it just didn’t work. So I need to alter the recording settings (I see now I had an equalizer in my video editor). New equipment….sigh

[@tlogesbr]

Great content! 73 de PU3TLG

[@shortwavelistener]

@@tlogesbr Thanks!!