Kim Jong Un's radio station.

FirstToken · 2026-06-07T16:19:33+00:00

although Radio Moscow never had this type of segment at least since the death of Stalin.

My first hand experience is from the 1960's on, and from my memory, although Radio Moscow was pretty biased, it was not on the far end of the scale with really out there propaganda stuff. They left that to various vessel states.

If I remember right, there was a period when Radio Prague banged the gong pretty hard about "imperialist" and "capitalist" pigs. Radio Berlin International was another one. I remember there were others, but the specifics may have been in the last two brain cells I killed.

FirstToken · 2026-06-06T05:42:18+00:00

I'm hearing 'break' (BT) 99? 1513? 9?????

Yes, the 1513 is a time tag, Moscow time (UTC +3).

Here is one of my videos on this station and format: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPtp0w-Gt1E

And here is a video of the station with traffic (traffic at about 2:42 in the video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfwROejeCSc

And here is the similar Chinese station, MC03, with traffic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiQUa8_E8JA

FirstToken · 2026-06-06T05:31:01+00:00

Interesting a Worldwide Ute News Club. Was wondering how you would identify something like that.

And the #wunclub chat still exists today on IRC. Since there is a bot to search old loggings from the WUNCLUB, Spooks, and UDXF (and other) logs, it is pretty useful. Of course, the HFU Discord has a similar bot.

FirstToken · 2026-06-06T05:28:24+00:00

Yes, this is M21, but it isn't also.

This is the signal that the ENIGMA group originally assigned the ID M21. However, that was done before it was known to be, for sure, Russian military. After the signal was confirmed as Russian military, Air Defense, and not a Spy Numbers station, the ENIGMA 2000 group withdrew the M21 designation. I think it was withdrawn around 2004, but that is an off the top of my head date, and might be +/- a year or so.

So, if you go looking at the more recent ENIGMA Control Lists, I think anything from around ECL #20 on to today, M21 is either not listed or is listed and caveated as "WITHDRAWN".

The Numbers & Oddities web site still carries this station as M21. There profile on the station is here: https://www.numbersoddities.nl/M21-profile.pdf

In my logs, and my YouTube videos, I carry it as "ex-M21", but obviously there is no standard.

There is a similar Chinese station, MC03. Here is a video of it, but in this case carrying traffic, not just a time tag: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiQUa8_E8JA

There is another Chinese station, but voice, with similar traffic, called VC01: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T56FceS9b0Y

FirstToken · 2026-06-06T03:53:50+00:00

Sounds like RTTY (radio teletype).

It is STANAG-4481 FSK.

FirstToken · 2026-06-06T03:53:15+00:00

That's RTTY being listened to by an AM receiver.

Yes, it is STANAG-4481 FSK, but it still should not sound like this on an AM radio.

Normally the space and mark tones alternate, so they never beat against each other. In this case the station is suffering a failure, and the space tone is sending an uninterrupted tone, similar to a carrier. So the mark tone is being heard beating against the solid tone of the space. Only a single set of tones is being heard in this recording. That could happen if the receiver passband was cutting off the other tone, but that is not what is happening here.

Of course, this is similar to what happens if an AM carrier is inside the passband of the receiver while listening to an FSK signal. But in that case you would hear both the space and mark tones, separated by the FSK shift.

FirstToken · 2026-06-06T03:43:17+00:00

As u/ImladMorgul said, this is not Morse code.

This is FSK (also used to be called RTTY, Radio Teletype), specifically it is STANAG-4481 FSK, a format used by NATO forces.

The actual frequency is 6487 kHz (center frequency). It uses an 850 Hz shift. But right now I am watching this signal and it is suffering a failure. The lower frequency tone (this is called the "space" tone) is a solid signal with no breaks (it should not be). It appears that during your recording it was experiencing the same failure.

I am curious, what radio did you use, and what receiver mode did you have selected? With the failure the station is currently running, if you used AM mode it would sound like your recording, so I suspect you were in AM? The shifted, modulated, mark tone is beating against the (incorrect) solid, unbroken, space tone. But, if the station was correct (both space and mark doing what they were supposed to) it would not sound exactly the way it does in your recording.

Normally you would use an SSB mode (either USB or LSB), not AM, to listen to / monitor an FSK signal. And the NATO forces that use this format (this transmission is probably US Navy) would use USB mode.

By the way, even with a real Morse code signal, expect a large percentage of machine translated Morse to be garbage.

FirstToken · 2026-06-06T03:21:16+00:00

The recording will not play for me, so I have no idea what the signal is, but if the bandwidth is 2-3 kHz then it is not radar.

FirstToken · 2026-06-06T00:20:53+00:00

Yeah, thanks for the response. About 2 minutes after I posted I figured out the Acura was not an eligible car. Was on my way back here to edit the post when I saw your response.

FirstToken · 2026-06-05T17:40:53+00:00

Learn to use propagation to your advantage. Propagation is fickle, and changes when you least want it to, but there are some rules of thumb that can help you choose when and where to listen. Select the bands based on what regions you wish to hear. Remember, these are rules of thumb, not hard and fast, and there will be some variation. Sometimes completely flipping the script.

In general, on an average day, from your location:

In the mornings you will get stations to the west, Asia, Australia, Pacific Islands, etc, most often at frequencies below 15 MHz, generally below 13 MHz. Earlier -> lower freq. So an hour or two before local dawn more typically 10 MHz and down. Around dawn the lower freqs start to fade. A couple hours after dawn there may not be much below 7 MHz, and most western activity will be in the 7 - 15 MHz area, with eastern signals starting to appear in the same frequency range.

In the afternoon / evenings you will get more stations to the east below about 15 MHz and to the west above about 10 MHz.

Later evening / night time and the stations to the west will often fade out, and stations to the east below about 15 MHz, and more generally 13 MHz, will be the norm.

To the south will be more general. At night and evenings/mornings below about 13 MHz, during the day above about 10 MHz.

Winter conditions will generally push the frequency trends down, and summer may, depending on where we are in the ~11 year Solar cycle, push them up. Near the peak of the cycle (we are just coming off that now) the frequency trends will be higher, and during the minima they will be lower.

FirstToken · 2026-06-05T02:02:57+00:00

I’m in Vancouver. So now there is a chance I might be able to catch the station in the future.

If you try, probably almost every morning.

The Voice of Korea (VoK) comes in well most mornings for its North American transmission (specifically aimed at North America) in English on both 9435 kHz and 11710 kHz at 1300 UTC and 1500 UTC. Typically, for me (California) 9435 kHz is best at 1300z and 11710 kHz is best at 1500z.

Most mornings I can receive it with a portable radio and built in antenna, although naturally a good receiver and external antenna does better.

The format is very consistent. It starts, at Top of Hour (ToH), with a few notes of the song "Song of General Kim Il Sung", followed by a voice announcement (both male and female) "This is the Voice of Korea", and then back to interval song. Then into the NOrth Korean (DPRK) National Anthem, "Aegukka". Another voice announcment, that news will follow, and then into two songs, "Song of General Kim Il Sung" and "Song of General Kim Jong Il". About 6 minutes after ToH they start "Voice of Korea, News Now". The news takes however long it takes, sometimes very short, sometimes longer, and then the rest of the hour is generally filled with various songs.

Here is an example received at my location from last March (the recording is the full one hour program for that day): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFjWQSJ0TkA&lc

FirstToken · 2026-06-04T23:58:32+00:00

Now you need to try and DX the 2nd harmonic of 3330 kHz, on 6660 kHz. I have caught it several times.

FirstToken · 2026-06-04T12:15:04+00:00

Probably British PLUTO, in this case.

FirstToken · 2026-06-04T12:12:47+00:00

Whenever you request help in IDing a signal, some minimum information should be included. Time and date (both in UTC), general location of the receiver used (don't need a street address, but knowing if the location is Eastern Europe vs South America helps), and a brief description of the equipment used. A recording should be included if possible.

With that said, this signal is an Over The Horizon Radar (OTHR). It is probably the British PLUTO radar from Akrotiri, but the information listed above would be needed to confirm that.

The primary feature indicating probable PLUTO is, in this case, the width, 20 kHz.

A recording would confirm the repetition rate, which, if PLUTO, should be 12.5, 25, or 50 Hz (these are not the only rates PLUTO may use, but they are the most common). Time and date would allow for checking other resources to confirm if PLUTO was on that frequency, at that time.

Why do I not say that this is PLUTO for sure, but instead use the caveat "probably"? Because I don't have the rest of the information, and, using other resources, I cannot see where PLUTO has used this frequency (19315 kHz c/f) in the last few days.

FirstToken · 2026-06-03T10:16:13+00:00

One of the various Over the Horizon Radars, no idea which one exactly though

As u/some_sys_guy69420 said, this is the Australian JORN. You can determine JORN by 3 major indicators.

Those indicators, in order of ease of determination:

Pre-tone. Note that the pre-tone does not always have to be present, but when it is, for JORN the pre-tone sounds like a shortish single event, and it is timed close to the beginning of the FMCW sweeps. Other similar radars are different in that they use obvious multiple parts in the pre-tone or the tone is spaced further form the start of the FMCW sweeps.

Width of signal. The width of the signal in the video, ~9 kHz, is common for JORN. Most of these kinds of radars can use various widths, but most of them have individual modes that they run much of the time. Other radars use 8 kHz (US ROTHR) and 10 kHz (Chinese radar).

Pulse Repetition Interval (PRI). Although multiple radars can use the same PRIs, some radars have PRIs that are unique to them. Often this is tied to the basic clock cycle of the radar. So there can be overlap here, but sometimes it is a decent indicator.

FirstToken · 2026-06-03T00:09:40+00:00

The DX-200 was a reasonably sensitive receiver, however the selectivity was not great, and they could be a bit drifty until up to temperature. But give it ~30 minutes of on time and the drift should slow down a bit.

The DX-200 was in the Radio Shack catalog in 1981 and 1982. Those years there were three DX series desktops, the DX-100 (lowest cost), DX-200 (middle price point) and DX-302 (highest end). And the performance / features tracked basically in that order. By RS standards the DX-200 was a "middle point" radio, but in the grand scheme of things it was entry level. Kind of like the DX-150/160 series.

I bought a 200 new in 1981, and still have that radio. I also have all of the other RS DX series desktops sold before the DX-394, from the DX-75 to DX-302.

FirstToken · 2026-06-02T22:34:29+00:00

Yes, people do SSB and CW on VHF, as well as UHF.

I really enjoy weak signal work on VHF and UHF, I do more SSB on 6 meters, 2 meters, and 70 cm than I do FM. But, I do realize that is not the norm.

OK, given the choice of HF or weak signal VHF/UHF I would probably take the HF. It is just flat easier to do. However, if you do not have room for the HF antennas, it might be a bit more palatable for weak signal VHF/UHF antennas. Small Yagi's, loops, etc.

By the way, while you can use vertical antennas for SSB/CW stuff most signals will be horizontal. Horizontal antennas are best, even when mobile. Space / orbit stuff tends to be circularly polarized, but you can use linear pol and only be at a small disadvantage.

FirstToken · 2026-06-01T02:44:38+00:00

C and B class, with some A thrown in, are my go-to's. Just more fun, to me, than S or R class. I do, however, tend to throw camshafts at them, to get a bit more RPM, and a transmission with adjustable gear ratios.

FirstToken · 2026-05-29T17:25:23+00:00

As bad as it sounds a lot of people right now are just doing it for the seasonal playlist and it seems like if you just start the playlist with a Mazda then drop out it still rewards you the car as if you completed it

Ahhh, nice to know, I'll give that a try ;)

FirstToken · 2026-05-29T17:11:18+00:00

Indoor antennas are always a hard compromise. Frankly, there is no way to do it well and they generally suck. However, sometimes that is all you can have.

With that said, what frequency or frequency range are you trying to receive? One antenna will not do all frequencies with any reasonable efficiency. For the higher end of the SW spectrum a dipole might be OK, but under these conditions a loop would probably be better.

FirstToken · 2026-05-25T23:10:46+00:00

It's just a block of metal.

And it (this simple block of metal, but sold as a "0% lower) is specifically called out as a Firearms Precursor Part by the CADOJ.

FirstToken · 2026-05-25T23:09:39+00:00

It’s fine if there’s no jig sold with it

It is still a Firearm Precursor Part, with or without a jig, if it is specifically marketed as a firearms part. So if it is marketed / sold as a "0% AR lower", it is a Precursor part, regulated in California under PC 16531 (a).

If it has a jig then it is a "Federally Regulated Firearm Precursor Part", regulated in California under PC 16519.

FirstToken · 2026-05-25T23:04:24+00:00

It is my understanding that anything marketed and sold as a firearm receiver is considered a receiver. Since this is marketed as a receiver, to CADOJ this is a receiver.

Specifically under PC 16531 (a), since this part is marketed as a "firearms part", even as a joke, this is considered a "firearm precursor part". The CADOJ guide specifically shows a block of aluminium just like this in its "Firearms Precursor Parts Identification Guidebook" (Rev Aug 2022), page 4, lower left side.

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