[MilCom] Orderwire?

Fri Nov 11 20:12:18 EST 2005

Last I checked, we Amateurs do not have any operating
privileges inside the MilAir bands.  :-)

However, a point well made is that a satellite signal
will exhibit a Doppler Shift, e.g., (for those who don't
know this) if the satellite is moving towards you the
frequency will be slightly higher than what is being
transmitted and when the satellite is moving away from
you the signal will read lower.  BUT - I have a hard time
imagining this if it only makes ONE cycle up then down 
over a six hour period.  The thing would have to be moving
so slowly that it would be unlikely to stay in orbit OR
it would have to be so far away as to render Doppler
Shift negligible and/or irrelevant unless I am missing
something.

I suspect that there is some other explanation.  And 
I am guessing that there IS a reason, because the thing
repeats the same pattern on more than one day.  This tends
to rule out weird "local transmitter interactions".  

I had a case a few years back where a local paging company
was on a tower with some other services; if a page would
go out on that frequency at the same time that one of the
other services was transmitting it generated a completely
spurious image that happened to be right on a military tower
frequency.  But it had some variability to it and was one
of the keys to solving the mystery.  The tower for both
services is within visual range of my house, and in order
to hear the spur you had to be fairly close because the
actual signal strength was pretty low.  Somebody with one
of these new-fangled Amateur Transceivers that has the 
spectrum display watched for me and figured it out.  I never
saw the display but apparently he'd see two signals come up
on known commercial frequencies and then noticed the low-level
spur at the same time.

Sigh, wish I had the money........

Duane
WB9OMC

-----Original Message-----
From: milcom-bounces at mailman.qth.net [mailto:milcom-bounces at mailman.qth.net]
On Behalf Of Steve Douglass
Sent: Friday, November 11, 2005 2:11 PM
To: milcom at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Fwd: Re: [MilCom] Orderwire?

I've now been monitoring this mystery signal for almost 3 days now. 
It seems to by cyclic, moving first up in frequency then down in frequency
over a range of six hours.  One monitor suggested it was from a HAMSAT, but
I can't find any frequencies listed anywhere near the center frequency which
now seems to be 229.560 MHz.

Another suggested it might be an image or a harmonic from a signal out of
band, but since I've had various confirmations now from many sources spread
out all over the Texas/Oklahoma/New Mexico area I think it's actual.

No voice or data traffic has been heard in the last 12 hours, but the
carrier remains strong. As I right this it is centered on 229.6048 MHz.
This is pure speculation but in may be a SATCOM channel, UFO (no not a
flying saucer but the UHF Follow On Satellite) that is near geo-stationary
orbit but must have some slight movement to due to what I perceive is a
Doppler shift in frequency.

Speculation welcome!

_Steve Douglass

>Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2005 10:00:16 -0800 (PST)
>From: LLL BBB <bartoshl at yahoo.com>
>Subject: Re: [MilCom] Orderwire?
>To: Steve Douglass <webbfeat at 1s.net>
>
>Hello Steve:
>
>I am periodically seeing the same thing in the Galveston/Houston area 
>on 271.34.  I don't have a scope so I can't see a great deal of info.
>but, it will be a full scale, full quieting for long periods (hours) of 
>time and then just go away.  Have not heard any form of traffic.
>Just the carrier.
>
>Best regards,
>Leslie Bartosh, kd5yyr
>Galveston Island, Texas
>
>PS
>Sorry to write direct, but I can't figure out how to get this e-mail 
>account to send plain text like the qth mail program wants.
>Best regards
>Steve Douglass <webbfeat at 1s.net> wrote:
>
>
>Very interesting signal indeed. I watched it on my scope until it 
>disappeared right on the dot of 1:00 AM CST.
>
>Just went off of as if someone flicked a switch. Over three hours it 
>slowly drifted up and then down in frequency several megahertz from 
>what seems to be the center at 229.560.
>
>It recently came back on again at 10:00 CDT AM on 229.5465 MHz and is 
>drifting slowly up the band again.
>
>-Steve Douglass
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>>More on the mystery wide=band frequency.
>>
>>I've been watching it on my spectrum scope for a couple hours and it 
>>beginning to look like it might be from a geo-syncronous (or near) 
>>satellite since it seems to wobble in frequency a bit. The signal 
>>(which sounds like a dead carrier now) started out (center
>>frequency) on 229.6180 has now moved steadily (and slowly) up the band 
>>to 230.650 MHZ. Doppler shift maybe? Since it doesn't completely 
>>disappear (as a fast orbiting satellite would) I'm tempted to think 
>>its stationary.
>>
>>Although the frequency shifts, signal strength stays rather constant 
>>with only occasional fading.
>>
>>I can clearly pick it up with full quieting on several scanners 
>>connected to different antennas and a friend of mine who lives 20 
>>miles away can hear it (equally as well) too.
>>
>>More later.
>>
>>_Steve Douglass
>>--
>>Attention: You are on the Global Frequency
>
>
>--
>Attention: You are on the Global Frequency 
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