The following is an exchange of emails concerning Armed Forces Network popping up on 14, 000 kHz. It is possible, this new frequency is as a result of the ongoing RIMPAC maritime exercise. AFN, in the past has brought up programming on a new frequency during an exercise. See posting for RIMPAC touted as Largest Maritime Exercise in World at Milcom Monitoring, posted 16 July, 2008 athttp://mt-milcom.blogspot.com/search?q=rimpac
Gayle VH
Greetings fellow shortwave aficionados. I have a great copy on Armed Forces Network here in Kansas City USA, on LSB 13997, UTC 0300 July 18. This is mew to me, I'm not a hard core utility listener, but I often drop in here for 20m CW Ham, and I've never heard this broadcast here before. It is coming from due west of my location. Could this be Guam on an different
freq? Anyone else copy this?
Thanks!
Ron Hauser
Kansas City USA
Ron.
It might be Guam, I can hear it at the moment, and I am not far away, in
South Australia.
It is on 14000.00 kHz, LSB.
Eddy Waters
South Australia.
Hi Eddy, thanks for the listen... I agree it is on 14.000 LSB, my ham receiver has better resolution on frequency. I'm looking at an azimuth map... I have two antennas, one is a moxon due west the other is a long dipole with lobes NW/SW/NE/SE. It is definitely stronger on my due west,not NW/SW. Would you be able to tell the difference in azimuth between Hawaii and Guam from your QTH? Guam is NW of me, so it should be Hawaii which is due west of me. I am copying 15 MHz WWV in Hawaii right now too.I don't see anything else on the web to say this is a freq for AFN.
Ron Hauser
Ron.
Guam is at 8 degrees from me, Hawaii at 57 degrees.The signal at 57 degrees seems to be maginally better than the one at 8 degrees.In other words, Hawaii is the more likely location in my opinion.
Eddy.
(They are talking about baseball i think.)
Yep, the stuff that is tagged ESPN Network is sports network stuff that is on broadcast AM all over the US. I tuned around to see if the same actual show is on a local station, which would be ironic to hear it on shortwave from Hawaii and also local BCAM.
Thanks for listening.
Hi,
in 2000 the USN used 14000 kHz (USB) from their NAS Sigonella, Sicily in Italy for an AFRTS feeder.
See a explaining and detailed QSL letter:
http://freenet-homepage.de/dl8aam/QSL_AFRTS-14000kHz_h.jpg
Interesting is (these feeders are) "in existence for a limited time until a new technology, which is currently tested, allows for reception of AFRTS via satellite" - that was 8 years ago ;-))
But hopefully they will do their HFs test for "ever", as I often just enjoy to listen and QSL them :-)
And nowadays these USN relays are nearly the only possibility to get these NAS and "radio countries" QSLed. But maybe - hopefully - the US MIL (and other nations too) will change
their QSL policy again some day in the future. I remember the good old times when I started this great hobby back in the 80s, when nearly "all" of these MIL COMSTAs have even own printed QSL cards for us "(very) ill persons".
I think there were and there are absolutly no security risks in doing that, and I'm sure there are clever persons in the "MIL" services knowing that. The "bad people" even know all about the
"signals" in any case (often more as "we") and they are no QSL-hunters.
I think QSLing is a way of public relations, to transfer a kind of positive feelings into the "public". But maybe our scene is too small for them just to think about it today... ... and not many of us
try to get QSLs from them (as we "know" they do not QSL noways), so maybe that let them think that there is no interest in this topic these days.
But that do not hold me in sending each week a lot of eRRs to many "stations" for each new Reach flight, USCGC, MARS, WGY, TnZnnn & "GOV" station logged...hi
Hoping they might will re-think this "no-QSL policy" when they get again more reports ? The hope die at the very last. And sometimes you are even lucky, sometimes...
73, Tom - DL8AAM
(Source: UDXF yg/Larry Van Horn, Milcom)