IARUMS Intruder Report

International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 Monitoring System (IARUMS) volunteers continue to document many of the same signals intruding on Amateur Radio bands — some of them audible in other parts of the world, according to the latest editions of the IARUMS Region 1 newsletter. IARUMS Region 1 Coordinator Wolf Hadel, DK2OM, reported last month that his own band monitoring activity has been hampered by interference from a neighbor’s LED lamp, and that Germany’s telecoms regulator was not helpful in resolving the situation, which Hadel says affects all bands from 80 through 10 meters. Nonetheless, he has worked around the local interference to document many of the same bad actors that show up in the IARUMS Region 1 newsletter month after month. IARU Region 1 includes Europe and Africa.
These usual suspects include a Russian Navy F1B RTTY signal on 14.180 MHz in Sevastopol in Crimea, “still active, not regarding official complaints.” Last fall IARUMS had reported that complaints were successful in silencing the intruder. Another Russian F1B RTTY signal had been showing up on 7.051 MHz, “mostly idling and every evening,” Hadel reported in May. German telecoms regulators registered an official complaint, apparently successful in that instance. Hadel also reported “daily” transmissions of music on 7.050 MHz (LSB), possibly originating in Russia.
The “mysterious beacon ‘D’” from Asian Russia has been reported on CW on 7.093.3 kHz, with spurious transmissions on 7.078.6, 7.117.9, and 7.157.2 MHz, as well as outside the band.
Broadcaster Radio Hargaysa in Somalia continued to be reported on 7.120 MHz (AM) daily. Hadel indicated that the signal is audible in Australia and Japan, as well as in Europe and Africa. On 7.175 MHz, Radio Eritrea continues to be jammed daily with white noise transmissions attributed to Radio Ethiopia. IARUMS reported jamming of Radio Taiwan on 7.200 MHz, apparently originating in China and audible “every evening” in Europe. The Chinese “foghorn” over-the-horizon radar (OTH-R) continues to intrude on 20 meters, with signals on 14.211 MHz “jumping to 14.290 and 14.302 MHz.” The Russian “Konteyner RLS” OTH-R remains a problem on 14.280 MHz
In late April, DK2OM monitored a Chinese wideband OTH-R on 15 meters between 21.280 and 21.458 MHz. “No woodpecker, as some hams believe,” Hadel noted. Several OFDM transmissions originating in Moscow have been heard on 20 meters.

Brazilian “pirates” again have been observed on 21.000 MHz (USB). “They are abusing this [frequency] like a telephone between Rio and northern Brazil,” Hadel reported in April. “We suppose fishery traffic.” Just below that signal and barely outside 40 meters (6.999 MHz) was USB interference attributed to Spanish fishing interests, splattering up into the low end of the band. An Iranian radar was reported back on 28.960 MHz, heard in Europe via E-skip.
(ARRL/Larry Van Horn/Teak Publishing)