[MilCom] 8992.0 - ANDREWS with another "garbled" EAM

[Jeff Haverlah]

1544z  02 Feb 06

     8992.0 was active at 1421z with ANDREWS bcsting another garbled
EAM, the 18-character 5T7SV["item 06 garbled"], with items 6, 12, 15,
16, 17 and 18 "garbled".

     8992.0 was active at 1426z with ANDREWS bcsting the above
18-character EAM, this time ungarbled: 5T7SVM. (Garbled characters: M,
K, P, 3, S, R).

     8992.0 was active at 1503z with ANDREWS bcsting a 27-character
EAM (KEZ577).

     Rhetorical question: are these things internally sent via
NOVA/AUTODIN in "record format" (hardcopy) as phonetics instead of
characters? This sudden and new "garbled" HFGCS message traffic
activity coupled with that unusual in-the-clear VLF slightly garbled
RTTY TACAMO 28-character EAM logging of Trond Johnsen at WUN is an
interesting coincidence.

     In the past decade(s) the GCCS/GHFS would occasionally be heard
with an EAM string that would be resent later (sometimes hours later)
that would indicate slight differences between the two strings,
apparently correcting an incorrect character or two or three; and, the
NIGHTWATCH net has been heard with discussions of incorrect strings
that had to be resent both via their net and the GHFS. During major HF
exercises involving the USN (and sometimes selfdescribed in their
chatter as POLO HAT exercises) the trigraphs would spend hours sending
strings that would "mutate" over time into variations of original
strings.
But nothing was ever described as "garbled".

     The recent memoir/book "Big Red: Three Months on Board a Trident
Nuclear Submarine" has a small section devoted to EAM traffic in which
the author stated that during exercises the USN would deliberately
send garbled EAM transmissions in some sort of reconstruction test for
the receiving crews. Has a form of this finally come to the public
world of the HFGCS?

     Also, there have been numerous 18-character (+/-) EAM strings
over the past couple of days. Strings less than 20 and greater than 6
are not unheard on the GHFS/HFGCS but are usually very rare, but not
this week.  However over the past 10 years or so (rise of the
internet) UK monitors have reported ABNCPs over the eastern Atlantic
in which the players often send EAM strings that are often greater
than 15 and less than 20 characters, plus other strings of "odd"
lengths (using static 2-character beginning groups that were different
from what was normally being heard in the states at that time, and
none of which were heard via CONUS GHFS stations but maybe heard from
non-CONUS GHFS stations). It was often heard in Jan/Feb of each year.
I always think "Europe" when I hear odd length activity such now.

     Sudden heavy EAM activity on the HFGCS, new "garbled" EAMs, an
interesting VLF logging, and an E6B catching the eye of European
spotters. None of it may be related but it catches the ear and eye.


Jeff Haverlah
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Jeff Haverlah               Coastal Texas
     Drake R7 (Gilfer Mod)  Drake R8B               Ten-Tec RX320/GNRX320
     Panasonic RFB-65       JPS NIR-12/ANC-4        "wires" and loops
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