[Spooks] 3388.2 KHZ MCW Cut Numbers; PV Zecchino; 23 0505Z J UL 04

[Milspec390 at aol.com]

Dear Joe;

   Sorry for late reply, hospitalized last week for severe back trouble. Back 
home at present. 3388.2 sig was MCW, keyed carrier, sending what I believe 
are cut numbers, i.e. numbers zero thru nine are assigned letters. Am by no 
means expert at this. My cw is pretty good for sending, not so good on receiving. 
The Beckman is a Collins R-388A with Beckman Instruments panel, otherwise 
identical to the old Collins 51J3/4 radios.  As with the R-390 radios, plenty 
sensitive and quiet, still beat out newer sets on the tough pulls.

     Sig strong but distorted. Maybe from Cuba? No listings for freq on spook 
lists, some note Cuban Navy on adjacent freqs, nothing for this specifically.

    Hopefully this will prove helpful. On another note, sometimes, while 
listening to Radio Habana on 6000 KHz,  you hear numbers read by a guy in adjacent 
studio. Those sigs are around 6500 to 6800 KHz, if memory serves correctly.

       Nice to know Kerry plans to cut by 80 percent. Why not just cut 100%, 
turn NSA into a production studio for Commies Gone Wild? A good friend, ex-ASA 
now FCC, heard recently at a meeting of his peers from around globe that NSA 
HF sites are all long gone. "Other countries" now providing HF intel. Great. 
He stated that NSGA Imperial long gone, and apparently the Chesapeake site is 
also. Homestead never rebuilt after Andrew. Seems this provides a nice window 
of opportunity for the bad guys to communicate on HF.

   As for FCC, they're only reactive, listen to HF only when complaint is 
received. Otherwise, proactive 'cruising' long gone. Nothing like blinding 
oneself to the enemy's advantage. My friend's cruising, back in the day, provided 
intel which assisted other agencies in nailing drug runners and other bad guys.

    Good to hear from you, stay in touch. Always have receivers up to take a 
look at interesting sigs.

                                                                        Best,

                                                                  -Z.-