[MilCom] MIL: 11175.0 - ZIMBALIST/FIRE ANT exercise activity

[Jeff Haverlah]

0312z 20 Oct 24

     ZIMBALIST's UTC 19 Oct 24 day began at 0101z with 3-count test count.

     At 0102z ZIMBALIST made his "Standing by for traffic statement" and
continued with the same every 30 minutes (H+00/H+30) through 1700z. Nothing
heard at 1730z and 1800z. At 1834z ZIMBALIST was back with his SBFT
statements through 1930z. Nothing heard from 2000z through 2100z. ZIMBALIST
then gave the statement at 2133z; 2233z; and, 2300z, with nothing heard at
2330z.

     There had been no HF message traffic since the 0513z 18 Oct 24 UTC
broadcast of C6FHDS. Outside of the SBFT sessions, a notably quiet 33 hours
of time. [Quiet times can be as meaningful as busy times during
major exercises.]

     That changed at 1432z.

1432z ZIMBALIST 30-character P53JAT "FOR ALPHA FORCE."
1452z ZIMBALIST 30-character P55662 "FOR ALPHA FORCE."

     I've seen a bunch of preambles over the past few decades but this is
the first instance of seeing the 4-character set after the
preamble's prefix consist entirely of numerics.

     And, correlation is not causation; but, the 1432z timestamp of the
first EAM coincides with the Atlantic 18 (and 19) Oct 24 NOTAM reservations
for the OAK ALPHA at the unusual start times of 1430z. (Time/time
windows/etc are a feature in these systems, but probably coincidence,
maybe.)

1702z ZIMBALIST 30-character EAM P572BL "FOR ALPHA FORCE; FOR CHARLIE
FORCE."  1718z ZIMBALIST 30-character EAM P5EIJL "FOR ALPHA FORCE; FOR
CHARLIE FORCE."

  1923z ZIMBALIST began a broadcast for the 30-character EAM P5X2SW "FOR
ALPHA AND (with spoken emphasis on the "and") CHARLIE FORCE" but
disregarded the string. He tried again at 1924z with the string "FOR ALPHA
AND CHARLIE FORCE" but disregarded in mid preamble.

1925z ZIMBALIST 30-character EAM P5X2SW "FOR ALPHA FORCE; FOR CHARLIE
FORCE."
1942z ZIMBALIST 30-character EAM P56DTR "FOR ALPHA FORCE; FOR CHARLIE
FORCE."

 2112z ZIMBALIST 30-character EAM P5T26D "FOR ALPHA FORCE; FOR CHARLIE
FORCE."
2128z ZIMBALIST 30-character EAM P5JZ2E "FOR ALPHA FORCE; FOR CHARLIE
FORCE."

2337z ZIMBALIST 30-character EAM P5ITHJ "FOR CHARLIE FORCE."
2344z ZIMBALIST 30-character EAM P5UGGA.
[0006z FIRE ANT 30-character EAM P5UGGA rebroadcast. Heard well on CONUS
sdrs. Unheard/unseen on UTwente SDR. It's a noticeable pattern: Globally
broadcast by HFGCS; then rebroadcast by the same callword but CONUS
centered, maybe only on 11175.0, and maybe from only one transmitter site
(often apparently ANDREWS based on signal strength at DC area SDRs). It's
unclear.]

     There's a pattern to the above. The 1400z, 1700z, 1900z and 2100z
sessions had 20-minute(+/-) gaps between strings. The 2300z session had a
10 minute gap.  The 1400z and 1700z sessions were separated by 3 hours. The
1700z, 1900z, 2100z and 2300z sessions were separated by 2 hours. And if
you step back and look at the preambles as a group, they seem to favor
their twos (2) in those preambles, and their placement in a few.

     The UTC new day (20 Oct 24) began with FIRE ANT (HFGCS) H+00/H+30
standing by for traffic statements at 0006z and continuing through 0300z
and counting.

Jeff
-- 
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Jeff Haverlah               Coastal Texas
     Various CONUS SDRs
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