** BANGLADESH. 15505, August 11 at 1358, BB very poor with tone test, 1358:26 starts IS, timesignal ends at 1400:02.5, opening Urdu (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** BRAZIL. 11915+, August 11 at 0059, fair signal with music, 2 or 3 time pips ending about 5 seconds late, and Brazoguese announcement, mentions Porto Alegre, so it`s certainly ZYE851, R. Gaúcha there. I haven`t heard this in a long time in the evenings, and suspect it has not always been active. Slightly on hi side of frequency. No sign of 11925v Bandeirantes now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. CNR1 jamming on Sunday evening happens to consist of Western classical music, making it slightly more palatable, if we don`t think of what all it`s blocking. August 11 at 1329, Ravel`s ``Bolero`` is playing, which also makes this very easy to spot in bandscanning:
9810, poor at 1335 with flutter; none audible in the 8s or 7s
11785, very good at 1329, best here with least QRM from victim
11805, good at 1329
11990, fair at 1329
13795, fair at 1331, here only mixed with Firedrake in drumming: bad
13830, fair at 1331
15115, very good at 1331, but heavy CCCCI
15195, good at 1331 with less CCI; none higher up to 19 MHz
Bolero runs to climax at 1344, then heavy applause, so live performance by Chinese orchestra? If so, they are doing a fine job. I could also hear some audience noise during quiet passages. Announcement and 1345 starts ``William Tell Overture`` by Rossini, which finally reaches the ``Lone Ranger`` part at 1352, but announcers talk over it, and cut it off completely at 1355 before it`s finished! Thumbs down now to ChiCom treatment of serious music!
With CNR1 back to hypetalk, find another couple at 1357:
15560 & 15540, poor with hets from V of Tibet; these were not audible when I was searching at 1331+ (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 11840, August 11 at 0102, RHC has bigsig but suppressed and somewhat distorted modulation, still R5 if you put up with it, but why bother? // 11760 is much better, with 11680 in between qualitywise (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GREECE. 9420, August 11 at 0605, Byzantine chant from the unauthorised ERT, at the moment high-pitched YL voice or maybe VYM, later more conventional intoning, so back to this after missing last Sunday morning (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAN. 12080, August 11 at 0104, poor signal with nice harmonies, whistling, ME music of course in minor key. It`s VIRI`s 13-hour Arabic broadcast starting at 1630, 500 kW, 289 degrees from Zahedan, much of it colliding with China and/or Australia, but nothing from 10 kW Brandon audible now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH. 9435, August 11 at 1326, VOK English with self-imposed choral crossmusic, i.e. the simultaneous Chinese program // 11735, and also mixed with noise jamming bleed, same situation as // but better 11710. Later in hour, both services are in similar but clashing choral music. Seems to me that 9435 had been absent lately, tho can`t say I`ve missed it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOMALILAND. 7120, August 11 at 1323, JBA AM carrier amid hamband, presumed another trace of R. Hargeisa when we can imagine it`s in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 9930, August 10 various chex from 1400 past 2200, it`s always Brother Scare now on WTWW-2; recheck 2302 dead air, 2308.4 resumes with music past 2335, and no WORLD OF RADIO at 2330, nor after 0000 QSY to 5085, still BS past 0055 and later, but off the air at 0601 check.
George McClintock tells me that WTWW-2 will soon be 24/7 Overcomer, once a satellite receiver is installed to replace the internet feed. So, goodbye to all the other programming which has been on this transmitter, unless something can be carved out from the BS. Then perhaps he will start working on getting a #4 transmitter up and running.
Unless he drops the other station(s), this means that BS will be on *three* Tennessee 3/5/9 MHz SW stations with overlapping coverage for much of the day, 24/7 on WWRB 9370/3185, 24/7 on WTWW 9930/5085, and long hours but not 24/7 on WWCR 9980/5890 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. 15160, August 11 at 0106, I find REE is playing clips of Radio España Independiente, the Communist clandestine of yesteryear, but this is not the DX program; what seemed CCI at first turned out to be embedded music, better on // 9535 (Glenn Hauser, oK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5050, August 11 at 0109 I tune in WWRB to find Dave Frantz ad-libbing a request for business, by calling 931-728-6087; he puts down Big $$ Religion as opposed to individual ministers; ``hope I haven`t offended anybody --- have I become your enemy because I told you the truth?`` --- a fine motto. 0110 into big band music, i.e. his favorite filler for unsold time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1681 monitoring: confirmed good on 5830, WTWW-1, UT Sunday Aug 11 at 0400.5. We can no longer expect any broadcasts on 9930/5085 WTWW-2; see SOUTH CAROLINA [non] (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 11159-USB, the mystery-site VOLMET continues to be heard just about any time of day I try it: 0103 August 11 fair vs local noise level; 0609 August 11, copy some more locations mentioned: Tampa(?), Trondheim, Keflavik, Hannover, Adana-Incirlik, Budapest, Bucharest, Porto, Tenerife-South, Dakar, Ascension Island, Recife, Mombasa, Nairobi, Brize-Norton [UK base]. The Porto to Dakar ones were repeated only a few minutes later, but maybe their timestamps were updated.
``ID`` every few minutes such as at 0616 sounds like ``Military One Time Lot 3 information broadcast``. Also audible at 1412 with Budapest, etc. After some of the QNH numbers at the end of each item, sometimes ``she`` says a couple more words, sometimes not, can`t make them out.
I wasted considerable time hunting thru the RAF and MOD websites for *any* info about VOLMET with nothing to show for it; classified, I supposed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Meanwhile, my original news of this has prompted more monitoring from others, first from the DXLD yg:
The ID, such as it is, at 0346 UT Aug 11 was "This is military one time lot 3 information broadcast". Lot could possibly be block but I'm leaning to lot; later I heard the 3 replaced by a 4, and later a 5.
Also strong up here near Edmonton, Alberta. Signal best on several omni loops and dipoles, not resonant anywhere near 11 megs as opposed to either of the log periodics that do cover this range - one of the logs is SW to eastern USA, and the other is NE to Europe. I turned one of the logs and found the signal peaking into the SW, (and now 10-20 db stronger than before) which from here is Pacific Northwest or British Columbia. Since one of the place names mentioned was Aldergrove, I am thinking perhaps the transmissions might be from there or the nearby Chilliwac transmitter site. Both are in the Vancouver general area. None of the remote Perseus receiver sites in that area are up tonite so no further data there. Perhaps someone more local there can check. 73 (Don VE6JY Moman, AB, August 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Frequency 11159 was audible here this morning (Aug. 11) at tune in 0630 UT, but a poor signal with nothing registering on the S-meter. I didn't - but I should - check if it is in sync with 11253 and 5450. 11253 was stronger than 5450 today, which is unusual. At re-check 0800, 11159 was not audible, and still isn't at 1030 UT.
In my copy of Airwaves - from 2008 - 11159 lists US HF Global Comms SYS at Andrews, Ascension Island, and Offutt/Nebraska and US Military HF Discrete - USAF/Mystic Star so there has obviously been a change for a British transmission to appear on this frequency.
Wellington-UK is in Shropshire (NW of Birmingham), but there are several Wellingtons shown in my atlas, including six in the US of A, but maybe a likely candidate is the best known one in NZL.
My best guess so far is that 11159 could be from Ascension as it fits in with current propagation, but more monitoring is required (Noel R. Green (NW England), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
I also sent previous logs to Bill Hepburn, proprietor of dxinfocentre, and he replies:
``Hi Glenn, Thanks for letting me about the new RAF broadcast on 11159 kHz. I slowed down the audio to 85% and it sounds like a male voice that is much more understandable then the speeded-up voice heard live over the air. The ID sounds like "Military (one-time?) Lot 1 Information Broadcast" with Lot 1 advancing to Lot 2 thru Lot 5 for each half-hourly broadcast segment. I cannot make out what the words that sound like "one-time" actually are. I also noticed that RAF Volmet has changed its ID to the same one, although the automated voice is different.
After listening for a while, it's clear that the same airports are broadcast on both stations and during the same 6 minute broadcast segments. I've updated my 'volmet-wx' website to list what I've been able to determine. There have been DXer reports that suggest that this station is located in the Western USA. RAF does have operations at Creech AFB in Indian Springs, NV - I wonder if the new broadcast originates from there? Or if not, at another Western U.S. USAF HF facility. According to the RAF website, they operate unmanned long endurance reconnaissance aircraft from Creech.
This is going to be a tough station to pin down since as you point out, even the location of the regular RAF volmet has been hard to verify. Regards, (Bill Hepburn, Aug 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
My post to the UDXF yg led to many more replies among its 2721 members: I have tried to put into order:
Volmet on 11159 at 0800 Z heard 9 plus from RAF Ascension Island.
Included weather and seas for Africa, and Indian Ocean (Feraltex, Aug 10, UDXF yg via DXLD)
The 11159 kHz Aviation WX has been heard here (Mojave Desert, California, USA) essentially 24 hours a day for the last couple days, although it has been weak at times. Sampling remotes around the World (Europe, Asia, South America, North America) the signal is by far strongest in Colorado much of the time. However, remotes in SA are few and far between, so the sample set from there is less than optimal. Beam bearing from my location is roughly 060 to 085; however, the peak
is ill defined and I would be careful putting to much faith in that bearing. I personally take that bearing as a "maybe".
The audio on 11159 kHz slightly leads the audio on 11253 kHz, but the
information is the same. Also the voice and information are the same as what is heard on 5450 kHz in Europe. All 3 of these frequencies seem to be simulcast with very slight time deltas.
I am thinking possibly 11159 kHz is sourced either in the USA or near it. I know the content argues against that, but unless conditions are being somewhat unusual, the signal level / frequency combination here locally hint at US / near US. Like I said, I have been able to detect it locally every time I have checked the frequency in the last 30 or so hours. Sometimes it has been fairly strong, other times it has been weak, but always audible.
Right now, at 1100 local time (1800 UT) the 11159 signal is 10 over S9, 11253 kHz not currently heard, naturally for this time of day neither is 5450 kHz. Looking at the 31 and 25 meter bands (the SWBC bands either side of 11159 kHz) I have very few signals that are not sourced in the US. (T! [original token], Mojave Desert, California, USA, August 10, UDXF yg via DXLD)
Mid-afternoon Saturday in Norway 11159 was weak, hardly readable, while the usual transmissions on 11253 were strong, good copy here.
Meaning widely different transmitter locations, or perhaps widely different quality of hardware used on the two frequencies? (Geir Stokkeland, Vestnes, Norway, August 10, ibid.)
1400 local here, same time zone as Token, I have 11159 weak with fading in and out. RAF VOLMET is on 11253 as heard on the U of Twente WebSDR. Obviously, I cannot make any accurate determinations of time latency due to the different means of reception, but it sure sounds like the same broadcast. I'll have to check at other times of day before I'm even close to making a serious guess as to location. Right now the information presented here, and the tendency for 11 MHz skip zones to lengthen out in our local afternoon, tend to suggest an origin in the western US (Hugh Stegman, 2124 UT August 10, ibid.)
Still audible in Northern California at 2309 Z, noise floor about 120 dbm (Vincent, August 10, ibid.)
11159 Volmet very very low but readable at times. QTH here is Tampa
Florida at 0115Z (Tony N2QHC Agnelli, UT Aug 11, ibid.)
At 0210 UT the VOLMET weather station on 11159 kHz is heard in Athens, Greece with low signal strength. 73 (Costas SV1XV Krallis, UT August 11, ibid.)
Very nice signal here in Ohio +9 (Bill [Matthews?], 0241 UT August 11, ibid.)
0400 UT, strong signal into western Canada. Lady with British accent
VOLMET for UK region; heard Shanghai now. I'll record until there is
an ID of some type (Ken Keeks?, Aug 11, ibid.)
Down from its peak at S9+ which happened around 0000. Now about S7 into Southern California, at 0400. WWV and WWVH are both strong on 10 MHz, the lady and the guy about equal loudness.
Say, any of you folks know what "she" is identifying as? I can't get
the middle part hard as I try. Closest I can get is, "This is military
on timed lot for information broadcast" (Hugh Stegman, 0407 UT Aug 11, ibid.)
The ID comes across so fast. I've attached a recording if anyone can pick it out. It's around the 16 second mark. Still around s7 to s8 here in Florida (Tony N2QHC Agnelli, 0427 UT Aug 11, ibid.)
At the speed she reads at, I can't see the VOLMET info being very useful. The speed Trenton Military reads at is much better especially for HF. Poor pilots have to be writing and listening furiously (Tony N2QHC, 0436 UT Aug 11, ibid.)
Yes, there's a WELLINGTON in the UK also NZ and USA. Volmets also come up on marine channel's at times (usually relayed). But this one is RAF, and here in the South Pacific it`s on 11159 (seemed to be a relay of MKL on 11253 at Ascension [sic]) and over a 24 hour period the QRM was too strong to relay decipher, in full. Never ever heard MKL on 11253 mention Wellington. Also on 11156 is a Russian Navy CW transmission at times, with splatter, up to 1.5 kHz each side (believed to be in the Vladivostok area (near Olga) (Feraltex, Aug 11, ibid.)
11159 khz USB. Volmet broadcast with many locations, begins at 0600 UT. Currently signal is S3. Possibly this broadcast is from Guam. Strongest signal is at 10 degrees from my location in Australia. Same signal as on 11253 kHz which is much weaker. S1 (Eddy Waters, South Australia, Receivers: Drake R8, Japan Radio NRD 525, Watkins-Johnson HF1000A, Ten Tec RX 340, SDR 14. Antenna. Log periodic 8 element covering 5-25 mhz inclusive. Rotator. Yaesu G-1000DXC. Decoder. Hoka Code 300 Ver 3.095. (Extended version), ibid.)
Nil here in the Netherlands, Eddy (Ary Boender, 0726 UT Aug 11, ibid.) Now (0727) I hear a very faint voice. Unreadable (Ary, ibid.)
Re VE6JY: ``The ID, such as it is, at 0346 UT Aug 11 was "This is military one time lot 3 information broadcast". Lot could possibly be block but I'm leaning to lot; later I heard the 3 replaced by a 4, and later a 5.``
S L O T. Time slot. Ascension relaying the Swanwick broadcast. 73 de (Jim (MPJ), ibid.)
Hi Jim, I doubt 11159 is being sent via Ascension - see the following screendumps made over several hours, comparing 11159, USAF Ascension with soundings on 11226 and the RAF VOLMET broadcast via the UK transmitter on 11253:http://signals.taunus.de/PUB/11159.jpg
I think West Coast of North America is a pretty good bet for 11159. 11159 was audible this morning with similar signal strength as the RATT signal from NPG on 10430. Fade out matched the typical behaviour of West Coast stations. The TX sites at Matsqui (BC) or Dixon (CA) could be good candidates. BRGDS (//Leif Dehio, near Munich/Germany, Website: http://www.signals.taunus.de/ 1039 UT Aug 11, ibid.)
Leif, The signal seems to be inland from me, beam bearing maybe 065 to 080 (yeah I know, a single station beam cut on HF is only a "maybe" indicator). So I think maybe not west coast, but probably western half of the US. It seems to be pretty consistently strong in the Colorado remotes. Not saying it is in CO at all, just that wherever it is there is more steady propagation into the CO area. Here localy it seems I can hear it 24 hours a day (every time I have checked, no matter what time, it has been there), but sometimes it gets pretty weak, other times it is well over S9 for extended periods. (T! Mojave Desert, California, USA, Aug 11, ibid.)
Just spent a couple of hours this morning monitoring on various receive platforms the RAF Volmet on 11159 kHz. I`ve posted some observations on my blog. So I will throw my two cents into the where is this transmission coming from discussion.
Based on monitoring over the last couple of days I think a very likely candidate for these transmissions is one of the CanForce bases in Canada (maybe central or western Canada).
Also looks like there are 5 time slots being broadcast. I haven`t snagged all the stations being reported, but have quite a few nailed down. Now it`s time to go to work on time stamps for each of these time slot broadcasts. 73 all and good hunting. Chief Larry (Larry Van Horn, N5FPW, Brasstown, NC USA, ibid.)
I totally agree, Western Canada. I just used a Global Tuners online
receiver in Northern Alberta for a recording (Ken Keeks? ibid.) (all via Glenn Hauser, DXLD)
** BRAZIL. 11915+, August 11 at 0059, fair signal with music, 2 or 3 time pips ending about 5 seconds late, and Brazoguese announcement, mentions Porto Alegre, so it`s certainly ZYE851, R. Gaúcha there. I haven`t heard this in a long time in the evenings, and suspect it has not always been active. Slightly on hi side of frequency. No sign of 11925v Bandeirantes now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CHINA. CNR1 jamming on Sunday evening happens to consist of Western classical music, making it slightly more palatable, if we don`t think of what all it`s blocking. August 11 at 1329, Ravel`s ``Bolero`` is playing, which also makes this very easy to spot in bandscanning:
9810, poor at 1335 with flutter; none audible in the 8s or 7s
11785, very good at 1329, best here with least QRM from victim
11805, good at 1329
11990, fair at 1329
13795, fair at 1331, here only mixed with Firedrake in drumming: bad
13830, fair at 1331
15115, very good at 1331, but heavy CCCCI
15195, good at 1331 with less CCI; none higher up to 19 MHz
Bolero runs to climax at 1344, then heavy applause, so live performance by Chinese orchestra? If so, they are doing a fine job. I could also hear some audience noise during quiet passages. Announcement and 1345 starts ``William Tell Overture`` by Rossini, which finally reaches the ``Lone Ranger`` part at 1352, but announcers talk over it, and cut it off completely at 1355 before it`s finished! Thumbs down now to ChiCom treatment of serious music!
With CNR1 back to hypetalk, find another couple at 1357:
15560 & 15540, poor with hets from V of Tibet; these were not audible when I was searching at 1331+ (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** CUBA. 11840, August 11 at 0102, RHC has bigsig but suppressed and somewhat distorted modulation, still R5 if you put up with it, but why bother? // 11760 is much better, with 11680 in between qualitywise (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** GREECE. 9420, August 11 at 0605, Byzantine chant from the unauthorised ERT, at the moment high-pitched YL voice or maybe VYM, later more conventional intoning, so back to this after missing last Sunday morning (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** IRAN. 12080, August 11 at 0104, poor signal with nice harmonies, whistling, ME music of course in minor key. It`s VIRI`s 13-hour Arabic broadcast starting at 1630, 500 kW, 289 degrees from Zahedan, much of it colliding with China and/or Australia, but nothing from 10 kW Brandon audible now (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** KOREA NORTH. 9435, August 11 at 1326, VOK English with self-imposed choral crossmusic, i.e. the simultaneous Chinese program // 11735, and also mixed with noise jamming bleed, same situation as // but better 11710. Later in hour, both services are in similar but clashing choral music. Seems to me that 9435 had been absent lately, tho can`t say I`ve missed it (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOMALILAND. 7120, August 11 at 1323, JBA AM carrier amid hamband, presumed another trace of R. Hargeisa when we can imagine it`s in English (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SOUTH CAROLINA [non]. 9930, August 10 various chex from 1400 past 2200, it`s always Brother Scare now on WTWW-2; recheck 2302 dead air, 2308.4 resumes with music past 2335, and no WORLD OF RADIO at 2330, nor after 0000 QSY to 5085, still BS past 0055 and later, but off the air at 0601 check.
George McClintock tells me that WTWW-2 will soon be 24/7 Overcomer, once a satellite receiver is installed to replace the internet feed. So, goodbye to all the other programming which has been on this transmitter, unless something can be carved out from the BS. Then perhaps he will start working on getting a #4 transmitter up and running.
Unless he drops the other station(s), this means that BS will be on *three* Tennessee 3/5/9 MHz SW stations with overlapping coverage for much of the day, 24/7 on WWRB 9370/3185, 24/7 on WTWW 9930/5085, and long hours but not 24/7 on WWCR 9980/5890 (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** SPAIN. 15160, August 11 at 0106, I find REE is playing clips of Radio España Independiente, the Communist clandestine of yesteryear, but this is not the DX program; what seemed CCI at first turned out to be embedded music, better on // 9535 (Glenn Hauser, oK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. 5050, August 11 at 0109 I tune in WWRB to find Dave Frantz ad-libbing a request for business, by calling 931-728-6087; he puts down Big $$ Religion as opposed to individual ministers; ``hope I haven`t offended anybody --- have I become your enemy because I told you the truth?`` --- a fine motto. 0110 into big band music, i.e. his favorite filler for unsold time (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
** U S A. WORLD OF RADIO 1681 monitoring: confirmed good on 5830, WTWW-1, UT Sunday Aug 11 at 0400.5. We can no longer expect any broadcasts on 9930/5085 WTWW-2; see SOUTH CAROLINA [non] (Glenn Hauser, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
UNIDENTIFIED. 11159-USB, the mystery-site VOLMET continues to be heard just about any time of day I try it: 0103 August 11 fair vs local noise level; 0609 August 11, copy some more locations mentioned: Tampa(?), Trondheim, Keflavik, Hannover, Adana-Incirlik, Budapest, Bucharest, Porto, Tenerife-South, Dakar, Ascension Island, Recife, Mombasa, Nairobi, Brize-Norton [UK base]. The Porto to Dakar ones were repeated only a few minutes later, but maybe their timestamps were updated.
``ID`` every few minutes such as at 0616 sounds like ``Military One Time Lot 3 information broadcast``. Also audible at 1412 with Budapest, etc. After some of the QNH numbers at the end of each item, sometimes ``she`` says a couple more words, sometimes not, can`t make them out.
I wasted considerable time hunting thru the RAF and MOD websites for *any* info about VOLMET with nothing to show for it; classified, I supposed (Glenn Hauser, OK, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Meanwhile, my original news of this has prompted more monitoring from others, first from the DXLD yg:
The ID, such as it is, at 0346 UT Aug 11 was "This is military one time lot 3 information broadcast". Lot could possibly be block but I'm leaning to lot; later I heard the 3 replaced by a 4, and later a 5.
Also strong up here near Edmonton, Alberta. Signal best on several omni loops and dipoles, not resonant anywhere near 11 megs as opposed to either of the log periodics that do cover this range - one of the logs is SW to eastern USA, and the other is NE to Europe. I turned one of the logs and found the signal peaking into the SW, (and now 10-20 db stronger than before) which from here is Pacific Northwest or British Columbia. Since one of the place names mentioned was Aldergrove, I am thinking perhaps the transmissions might be from there or the nearby Chilliwac transmitter site. Both are in the Vancouver general area. None of the remote Perseus receiver sites in that area are up tonite so no further data there. Perhaps someone more local there can check. 73 (Don VE6JY Moman, AB, August 10, dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
Frequency 11159 was audible here this morning (Aug. 11) at tune in 0630 UT, but a poor signal with nothing registering on the S-meter. I didn't - but I should - check if it is in sync with 11253 and 5450. 11253 was stronger than 5450 today, which is unusual. At re-check 0800, 11159 was not audible, and still isn't at 1030 UT.
In my copy of Airwaves - from 2008 - 11159 lists US HF Global Comms SYS at Andrews, Ascension Island, and Offutt/Nebraska and US Military HF Discrete - USAF/Mystic Star so there has obviously been a change for a British transmission to appear on this frequency.
Wellington-UK is in Shropshire (NW of Birmingham), but there are several Wellingtons shown in my atlas, including six in the US of A, but maybe a likely candidate is the best known one in NZL.
My best guess so far is that 11159 could be from Ascension as it fits in with current propagation, but more monitoring is required (Noel R. Green (NW England), dxldyg via DX LISTENING DIGEST)
I also sent previous logs to Bill Hepburn, proprietor of dxinfocentre, and he replies:
``Hi Glenn, Thanks for letting me about the new RAF broadcast on 11159 kHz. I slowed down the audio to 85% and it sounds like a male voice that is much more understandable then the speeded-up voice heard live over the air. The ID sounds like "Military (one-time?) Lot 1 Information Broadcast" with Lot 1 advancing to Lot 2 thru Lot 5 for each half-hourly broadcast segment. I cannot make out what the words that sound like "one-time" actually are. I also noticed that RAF Volmet has changed its ID to the same one, although the automated voice is different.
After listening for a while, it's clear that the same airports are broadcast on both stations and during the same 6 minute broadcast segments. I've updated my 'volmet-wx' website to list what I've been able to determine. There have been DXer reports that suggest that this station is located in the Western USA. RAF does have operations at Creech AFB in Indian Springs, NV - I wonder if the new broadcast originates from there? Or if not, at another Western U.S. USAF HF facility. According to the RAF website, they operate unmanned long endurance reconnaissance aircraft from Creech.
This is going to be a tough station to pin down since as you point out, even the location of the regular RAF volmet has been hard to verify. Regards, (Bill Hepburn, Aug 11, DX LISTENING DIGEST)
My post to the UDXF yg led to many more replies among its 2721 members: I have tried to put into order:
Volmet on 11159 at 0800 Z heard 9 plus from RAF Ascension Island.
Included weather and seas for Africa, and Indian Ocean (Feraltex, Aug 10, UDXF yg via DXLD)
The 11159 kHz Aviation WX has been heard here (Mojave Desert, California, USA) essentially 24 hours a day for the last couple days, although it has been weak at times. Sampling remotes around the World (Europe, Asia, South America, North America) the signal is by far strongest in Colorado much of the time. However, remotes in SA are few and far between, so the sample set from there is less than optimal. Beam bearing from my location is roughly 060 to 085; however, the peak
is ill defined and I would be careful putting to much faith in that bearing. I personally take that bearing as a "maybe".
The audio on 11159 kHz slightly leads the audio on 11253 kHz, but the
information is the same. Also the voice and information are the same as what is heard on 5450 kHz in Europe. All 3 of these frequencies seem to be simulcast with very slight time deltas.
I am thinking possibly 11159 kHz is sourced either in the USA or near it. I know the content argues against that, but unless conditions are being somewhat unusual, the signal level / frequency combination here locally hint at US / near US. Like I said, I have been able to detect it locally every time I have checked the frequency in the last 30 or so hours. Sometimes it has been fairly strong, other times it has been weak, but always audible.
Right now, at 1100 local time (1800 UT) the 11159 signal is 10 over S9, 11253 kHz not currently heard, naturally for this time of day neither is 5450 kHz. Looking at the 31 and 25 meter bands (the SWBC bands either side of 11159 kHz) I have very few signals that are not sourced in the US. (T! [original token], Mojave Desert, California, USA, August 10, UDXF yg via DXLD)
Mid-afternoon Saturday in Norway 11159 was weak, hardly readable, while the usual transmissions on 11253 were strong, good copy here.
Meaning widely different transmitter locations, or perhaps widely different quality of hardware used on the two frequencies? (Geir Stokkeland, Vestnes, Norway, August 10, ibid.)
1400 local here, same time zone as Token, I have 11159 weak with fading in and out. RAF VOLMET is on 11253 as heard on the U of Twente WebSDR. Obviously, I cannot make any accurate determinations of time latency due to the different means of reception, but it sure sounds like the same broadcast. I'll have to check at other times of day before I'm even close to making a serious guess as to location. Right now the information presented here, and the tendency for 11 MHz skip zones to lengthen out in our local afternoon, tend to suggest an origin in the western US (Hugh Stegman, 2124 UT August 10, ibid.)
Still audible in Northern California at 2309 Z, noise floor about 120 dbm (Vincent, August 10, ibid.)
11159 Volmet very very low but readable at times. QTH here is Tampa
Florida at 0115Z (Tony N2QHC Agnelli, UT Aug 11, ibid.)
At 0210 UT the VOLMET weather station on 11159 kHz is heard in Athens, Greece with low signal strength. 73 (Costas SV1XV Krallis, UT August 11, ibid.)
Very nice signal here in Ohio +9 (Bill [Matthews?], 0241 UT August 11, ibid.)
0400 UT, strong signal into western Canada. Lady with British accent
VOLMET for UK region; heard Shanghai now. I'll record until there is
an ID of some type (Ken Keeks?, Aug 11, ibid.)
Down from its peak at S9+ which happened around 0000. Now about S7 into Southern California, at 0400. WWV and WWVH are both strong on 10 MHz, the lady and the guy about equal loudness.
Say, any of you folks know what "she" is identifying as? I can't get
the middle part hard as I try. Closest I can get is, "This is military
on timed lot for information broadcast" (Hugh Stegman, 0407 UT Aug 11, ibid.)
The ID comes across so fast. I've attached a recording if anyone can pick it out. It's around the 16 second mark. Still around s7 to s8 here in Florida (Tony N2QHC Agnelli, 0427 UT Aug 11, ibid.)
At the speed she reads at, I can't see the VOLMET info being very useful. The speed Trenton Military reads at is much better especially for HF. Poor pilots have to be writing and listening furiously (Tony N2QHC, 0436 UT Aug 11, ibid.)
Yes, there's a WELLINGTON in the UK also NZ and USA. Volmets also come up on marine channel's at times (usually relayed). But this one is RAF, and here in the South Pacific it`s on 11159 (seemed to be a relay of MKL on 11253 at Ascension [sic]) and over a 24 hour period the QRM was too strong to relay decipher, in full. Never ever heard MKL on 11253 mention Wellington. Also on 11156 is a Russian Navy CW transmission at times, with splatter, up to 1.5 kHz each side (believed to be in the Vladivostok area (near Olga) (Feraltex, Aug 11, ibid.)
11159 khz USB. Volmet broadcast with many locations, begins at 0600 UT. Currently signal is S3. Possibly this broadcast is from Guam. Strongest signal is at 10 degrees from my location in Australia. Same signal as on 11253 kHz which is much weaker. S1 (Eddy Waters, South Australia, Receivers: Drake R8, Japan Radio NRD 525, Watkins-Johnson HF1000A, Ten Tec RX 340, SDR 14. Antenna. Log periodic 8 element covering 5-25 mhz inclusive. Rotator. Yaesu G-1000DXC. Decoder. Hoka Code 300 Ver 3.095. (Extended version), ibid.)
Nil here in the Netherlands, Eddy (Ary Boender, 0726 UT Aug 11, ibid.) Now (0727) I hear a very faint voice. Unreadable (Ary, ibid.)
Re VE6JY: ``The ID, such as it is, at 0346 UT Aug 11 was "This is military one time lot 3 information broadcast". Lot could possibly be block but I'm leaning to lot; later I heard the 3 replaced by a 4, and later a 5.``
S L O T. Time slot. Ascension relaying the Swanwick broadcast. 73 de (Jim (MPJ), ibid.)
Hi Jim, I doubt 11159 is being sent via Ascension - see the following screendumps made over several hours, comparing 11159, USAF Ascension with soundings on 11226 and the RAF VOLMET broadcast via the UK transmitter on 11253:http://signals.taunus.de/PUB/11159.jpg
I think West Coast of North America is a pretty good bet for 11159. 11159 was audible this morning with similar signal strength as the RATT signal from NPG on 10430. Fade out matched the typical behaviour of West Coast stations. The TX sites at Matsqui (BC) or Dixon (CA) could be good candidates. BRGDS (//Leif Dehio, near Munich/Germany, Website: http://www.signals.taunus.de/ 1039 UT Aug 11, ibid.)
Leif, The signal seems to be inland from me, beam bearing maybe 065 to 080 (yeah I know, a single station beam cut on HF is only a "maybe" indicator). So I think maybe not west coast, but probably western half of the US. It seems to be pretty consistently strong in the Colorado remotes. Not saying it is in CO at all, just that wherever it is there is more steady propagation into the CO area. Here localy it seems I can hear it 24 hours a day (every time I have checked, no matter what time, it has been there), but sometimes it gets pretty weak, other times it is well over S9 for extended periods. (T! Mojave Desert, California, USA, Aug 11, ibid.)
Just spent a couple of hours this morning monitoring on various receive platforms the RAF Volmet on 11159 kHz. I`ve posted some observations on my blog. So I will throw my two cents into the where is this transmission coming from discussion.
Based on monitoring over the last couple of days I think a very likely candidate for these transmissions is one of the CanForce bases in Canada (maybe central or western Canada).
Also looks like there are 5 time slots being broadcast. I haven`t snagged all the stations being reported, but have quite a few nailed down. Now it`s time to go to work on time stamps for each of these time slot broadcasts. 73 all and good hunting. Chief Larry (Larry Van Horn, N5FPW, Brasstown, NC USA, ibid.)
I totally agree, Western Canada. I just used a Global Tuners online
receiver in Northern Alberta for a recording (Ken Keeks? ibid.) (all via Glenn Hauser, DXLD)
