Digital Signals FAQ Version: 4.0 +--------------------------+ | | Last Update: May 21, 1996 | | | | | | ||| ||| | | Copyright (C) 1995,1996 Stan Scalsky | ||| ||||| ||||| ||| | Copyright (C) 1995,1996 Mike Chace | ||||||||||||||||||||||| | sscalsk@atc.ameritel.net | ------------------------ | mikec@praxis.co.uk | D I G I T A L R U L E S | +--------------------------+ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Changes made for Version 4.0 * New modes info, 36-50, 4+4, 1200-FSK, NATO, VFT, PSK and mystery modes * New Reordered VHF info, added new FLEX, POCSAG, ERMES, NEC-D3 info * New info added for Amateur modes * Expanded Alphabet Tables * SELCAL info added w/New Table * References section updated Changes made for Version 3.0 * major reorganization of document * added new info/corrected info in modes section * added new mystery signals section * added new info/corrected system parameters section * added new information to the decoder manufacturers section * Expanded references section --------------------------------------------------------------------------- This Signals FAQ is a collaborative effort, maintained by Stan Scalsky and Mike Chace. Any questions, comments or corrections will gladly be accepted. The authors imply no guarantee on this information and do not claim to be experts or professionals in the field of signal monitoring. All information has been gathered from public domain sources, manufacturers documents, decoder documentation, real time analysis and any radio related publication that cares to write about digital signals. We have tried to research for correctness each mode listed but it must be said that there are a lot of inaccuracies and dis- information present in the mainstream press. It is therefore a safe assumption to assume that those inaccuracies could also appear here. Many thanks to those of you who post logs, information and answer stupid questions in the various forums that cover digital signals - you know who you are. I would like to solicit material, to be included later, on any other analysis techniques and/or DF techniques the utilities community is currently using. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * A word of Caution: the rules about listening to signals not intended for you applies here. The contents of many signals might be considered sensitive by the party sending and the reception of such signals may be illegal in your country. The authors neither condone or encourage such acts * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * --------------------------------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS ----------------- Section 0 - Introduction Section 1 - Modes on Shortwave 1-A. Single tone systems 1-B. Synchronous data block systems 1-C. Packet-like systems/Asynchronous data block systems 1-D. Multi-tone systems/MFSK systems 1-E. FAX-like systems 1-F. SSTV modes 1-G. Synchronous bit stream systems 1-H. Asynchronous bit stream systems 1-I. Multi-channel systems 1-J. Phase Shift Keying systems 1-K. Mystery systems Section 2 - Modes on VHF 2-A. VHF Data Signals 2-B. Special Amateur Digital/Video Modes 2-C. VHF SELCAL and Analog Paging Systems 2-D. VHF Digital Paging Signals 2-E. VHF Two-Way Paging Signals Section 3 - Baud Rate Summary Table Section 4 - System Parameters Summary Tables Table 4-A - Synchronous Data Block Systems Table 4-B - Asynchronous Data Block Systems Table 4-C - Asynchronous Bit Stream Systems Table 4-D - Synchronous Bit Stream Systems Table 4-E - Multi-tone/MFSK/PSK Systems Table 4-F - Twinplex Parameters Table 4-G - Alphabets Table 4-H - Piccolo Tone Pairs and Alphabet Table 4-I - 5/6 Tone Paging Parameter Tables Section 5 - What decoders are available 5-A. Professional Units 5-B. Hobbiest Units 5-C. Public Domain Units 5-D. VHF Specific Units Section 6 - References 6-A. WWW Resources 6-B. Magazines and Books 6-C. Frequency Databases 6-D. Tape & CD References --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 0 - Introduction This Signals FAQ is designed to give utility listeners a sampling of the kinds of signals and sounds available on shortwave/vhf radio today along with information on the available equipment needed to understand, analyze or identify these signals. Our primary focus is to present the parameters that define the most commonly heard systems as an aid for utility monitors and not an exhaustive discussion of HF digital signalling theory. It is also our intention to give monitors a best guess clue as to who the user of an unconfirmed signal may be. With conditions being dismal over the last few years coverage of Utility Listening, especially Digital Utilities, has been dropped from most of the main stream shortwave magazines. But in and of itself, Digital Utility listening is inherently more difficult than regular shortwave listening. The possibility of decoding the signal received adds another level of complexity. This FAQ is an attempt to let those beginners who are thinking of or wondering what digital signals can be received and decoded and maybe provide the more advanced listener with a little more information to identify those unknowns. Here in lies the basic problem with digital utility listening - lack of information. Many systems are used by Military or Diplomatic Services and information on the specifics of a particular mode are impossible to find, even from the manufacturer. Many are considered proprietary, but that doesn't mean that a signal can not be identified! With the proper tools a given signal can be identified via the way it sounds (aurally) or how it looks (visually). Most decoders that include some kind of signal analysis can ID a signal by bit-pattern or baud rate. Many signals have a unique baud, i.e. 300 baud packet, 240 baud HC-ARQ or 164.5/218.3 ROU-FEC. Once a signal is identified there are many decoders that can print the traffic for you but keep in mind various kinds of encryption are commonly found in use with these signals. Encryption types include figure group or letter group messages and even random bit-masking or bitstream encryption, which looks like a continuous stream of random characters. You may often read the term "on-line" and "off- line" used in conjunction with various encryption schemes. Generally, off-line encryption is taken to mean groups of letters or numbers (most usually groups of five), whereas on-line schemes just appear as a continuous stream of random characters. And now a word about decoders... There are many kinds of data decoders available ranging from public domain packages to professional dedicated units. Prices vary from free up to very expensive and price is dependent on how much you want to be able to decode and what tools are available for signal analysis and identification. Public domain packages, while good, can not compete with the capability provided by the more expensive dedicated data decoder unit. It is safe to say that price goes up with increased capability in this market - be prepared to spend some big money if you want to cover a lot of modes. A good rule of thumb is that a top-spec decoder will cost as much as a top-spec radio, i.e. upwards of 2,000 dollars. You'll also need to decide upon whether to buy a stand-alone decoder or one that requires a computer to run. The latter option will of course increase the cost if you don't already possess a machine, but does add flexibility to a decoder. See the Decoders reference for unit specifics on capability and pricing. What should you look for in a decoder? Some useful features include: * Signal Identification * Accurate baud rate measurement * Correlation Bit Analysis * Variety in modes decoded/identified * Ability to save captured text (disk and printer) You can't beat a good Signal Identification Mode - both the Wavecom units and Hoka units include this option. A good Signal Identification mode simplifies the task of figuring out what mode is currently tuned, but keep in mind that even the best Identification mode is not always 100% correct. A common problem is that some keying systems share common idle characteristics (for example: SWED-ARQ, SITOR-A and TWINPLEX or SITOR-B and POL-ARQ) and active traffic is needed to correctly identify the exact mode. Also the presence of local interference, various propagation effects, or a noisy signal can make it difficult to correctly identify. Universal decoders do not include an Identification mode. Accurate measurement of baud rate is another vital capability. Many modes can be accurately identified on baud rate alone because many rates are unique to a keying system. It also provides the opportunity to "fingerprint" a signal, system or the user. For example, the Hoka decoders can measure baudrate accurately to 3 decimal places in the presence of a quality signal but also do well on marginal signals, eventually settling down on a reasonable measurement. If your signal is full of noise you might not see 3 decimal places but at least on Hoka decoders you will have displayed those decimal places that make sense - a very nice feature. Universal decoders have trouble with accurate baud rate measurement on the faster keying systems (for example: 192 ARQ-E) and noisy signals can be particularly confusing resulting in some very odd numbers. I don't have any direct experience with the Wavecom line of decoders so I will not offer a comparison here. See the Baud Rate Summary Table for further information. Auto-correlation Bit is a technique that samples the incoming digitized bit stream and presents the data as a graph of bit occurrences plotted against time. This will show when patterns occur within a signal giving you another piece of information when working out an unidentified system. This kind of analysis tool can reveal cycle period and show when there are NO patterns in a signal indicating an encrypted or random bit-masked signal, allowing you to move quickly onto more productive signals. Hoka and Wavecom decoders include auto-correlation bit modes. Mode variety is a personal preference. I would like to have a module for any mode I can receive in the spectrum! While not possible or realistic I will take as many as I can get. I find there is nothing more frustrating than being able to receive a clean signal and then not being able to identify or decode it (ignoring the problem of encrypted signals for the moment). As of this writing it seems that Hoka offers the largest variety of modes, followed by Wavecom and finally Universal. See the manufacturers listing for the modes decoded by various units. The ability to save decoded output to a file and/or the printer should be considered a very important feature of any decoder. Having some form of hard copy, on disk preferably, allows for archiving for later reference or later analysis and independent printing and editing. Hoka decoders have the ability to save decoded text to disk or output to the printer. I believe Wavecom units have a similar ability. Universal decoders support direct output to a printer and with some software can capture to disk. I also like a responsive manufacturer who regularly updates their decoder in line with developments "on the air". Variations on existing systems and completely new systems are still appearing today. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 1 - Modes on Shortwave What modes are currently on shortwave? This section attempts to present a little information about each kind of signal that can be heard within the shortwave spectrum. Signals are grouped together by the way they sound. This is an attempt to narrow the field of possible signals when trying to identify an unknown. The typical baud rate(s) of the signal is mentioned, if known, and any other synonyms or possible names are given. But ... don't make the assumption that these are ALL the modes you will ever hear. There are many signals that remain unidentified. 1-A. SINGLE TONE system. Yup - still there, didn't know where else to stick this. Can't miss it, very distinctive sound but can it be decoded? Most decoders say they can decode morse but fast machine generated or slow, uneven hand generated morse can be difficult to decode clearly. CW Morse code still used by the Amateur community and Marine operations. Speed varies depending on whether hand generated or machine generated. 1-B. SYNCHRONOUS DATA BLOCK signals. Signals of this type generally sound like SITOR-A - a distinctive chirping sound is their main characteristic. Short SWED-ARQ sounds and is exactly like Sitor-A. Idling TWINPLEX is the same as Sitor-A. To identify these signals by ear may be impossible depending on which mode they are currently in. A decoder that can determine signal type may need active traffic to correctly identify the mode currently tuned. ARQ6-70 A simplex ARQ system with a 70 bit block length using the ITA3 alphabet. A regular user is unknown but the French Diplo service has in the past. No loggings have been found for quite some time and no loggings have been reported in the previous year via WUN. ARQ6-90/98 6-character-block simplex ARQ used by French and Italian Diplo services, typically 200 bd. ARQ-6/90 and ARQ-6/98 differ in their inter datablock timing. G-TOR Golay Transmission over Radio. An amateur system developed by the engineers at Kantronics, Inc. G-tor's "claimed" main advantage is speed - up to 4x faster than pactor. It also incorporates a data-interleaving system that assists in minimizing the effects of atmospheric noise and has the ability to fix garbled data. G-tor tries to perform all transmissions at 300 bd but drops to 200 bd if difficulties are encountered and finally to 100 bd. All acknowledgments (ACK's and NAK's) are sent at 100 bd. SWED-ARQ Swedish Adaptive simplex ARQ used by Swedish Diplo services, typically 100 bd. Comes in the 3 packet lengths: 3, 9 and 22. Universal literature refers to this as short, medium and long. The system is able to change packet length in mid transmission, depending on conditions, giving SWED-ARQ its adaptive capability. Also known as ARQ-SWE. TWINPLEX 4 frequency diplex system used by organizations such as Interpol and United Nations and the government Diplo services of countries such as Australia, Denmark, Holland, Norway, Pakistan and Spain. Typically runs at 100 and rarely at 200 or 300 bd. This 2 channel system supports several different shift parameters and word, bit, character or not-interleaved of the channel characters but is easy to identify because of its 4 peak signal. Reference Table 4-E for all the parameters. This system was developed by Thrane and Thrane of Denmark. Also known as F7B4. SITOR-A The most common ARQ signal used by Amateur, Marine and some Gov. Diplo services, typically 100 bd. Also known as ARQ or TOR. SI-ARQ Siemens Simplex ARQ used by Austrian and Indonesian Diplo services, typically 96, 144, 192 or 200 bd. Also known as ARQ-S or ARQ-1000S. MERLIN/ALIS/ Rohde & Schwarz simplex ARQ used by German, Italian RS-ARQ and other Diplo services, typically 228.5bd and 240bd but reports of 457.0 have been noted. There appears to be no "real" name for the data system. Now referred to in Klingenfuss documents as ALIS but stricly speaking, ALIS is only the automatic link processor and frequency management system. It is not responsible for generating the traffic. ALIS is therefore somewhat of a misnomer. The actual modems generating the traffic are the GM857 and GM2000. Our suggestion is to stick with RS-ARQ as the system name. Many of the diplo users actually control their networks with MERLIN, the name for the R&S complete data-over- radio and message handling system that can transparently deal with many types of data. Consequently it has many modes. See Klingenfuss Radio-teletype Code Manual 13th Ed. under "ALIS" for more information. Formerly referenced as RS-ARQ in the 12th Ed. DUP-ARQ A semi-duplex ARQ system used by the Hungarian Diplo- matic service and at least one Far Eastern Diplomatic service but this system is not unique to the Hungarians. Baud rate is typically 125 bd. If a DUP-ARQ system detects interference it will change frequency in 400Hz steps. If a 3kHz channel is full of interference the system will select another frequency. Also known as ARTRAC, or 125-ARTRAC. DUP-ARQ-2 An ARQ system with the same block timing as DUP-ARQ but runs at twice the baud rate - 250 bd. Also known as ARTRAC II. First listed in Klingenfuss 14th Ed. Utility Guide. This system has been monitored sending foxes de stc. IRA-ARQ Duplex ARQ with IRA (ITA-5), used by Czech/Slovak Diplo stations, typically 171.42, 200.2, or 300.3 bd. A tip for monitors is to remain on frequency with the decoder set to ASCII/ITA-5 at the same speed that the ARQ is sending. Once the transfer is complete, operator chat often takes place in standard ASCII or BAUDOT. PACTOR A system designed with a combination of packet and sitor techniques used by amateurs, MARS stations and many quasi-governmental organizations. Mutually incom- patible variations are becoming common with changes made to the packet structure to support privacy re- quirements of the various quasi-governmental users. Commonly referred to as UN-pactor or ICRC-pactor. The developers of Pactor, Special Communication Systems (SCS), have actively pursued commercial acceptance of this protocal and as many as 5 different variants have been noted. Code 30 defines the following variations: Common User Label -------------- -------- Pactor 1 Amateur PACTOR Pactor 2 ICRC PACTOR-I Pactor 3 UNHCR PACTOR-U Pactor 4 IFRB Pactor 5 is found on the Wavecom 41pc unit but the user of the variant is unknown. ICRC - International Committee of the Red Cross UNHCR- UN High Commissioner for Refugees IFRB - International Frequency Management Board Pactor I is the origional implementation and is also known as FSK Pactor. Pactor II is DSP based and is as much as 8 times faster then Pactor I. A Pactor Level II signal features 2 tones w/200Hz shift using baud rates of 100 or 200 fitting into a 500Hz channel. Pactor II is a half-duplex synchronous ARQ system and designed to be backward compatible with the older Pactor Level I protocol. The system can handle raw 8 bit data and ASCII compression. Depending on band conditions the data throughput can be increased by changing the modulation form used. Maximum throughput is 800 bps. Pactor Level II is operational in Europe and is in the manufacturing stage in the US. format baud rate ------- --------- DBPSK Differential Binary PSK 200 bps DQPSK Differential Quad PSK 400 bps 8-DPSK 8-phase Differential PSK 600 bps 16-DPSK 16-phase Differential PSK 800 bps 1-C. PACKET-like signals or ASYNCHRONOUS DATA BLOCK signals. While packet signals are a non-continuous signal much like SITOR-A their sound is totally different from the regular chirp, chirp sound of SITOR-A. These signals do not have the regular cadence of SITOR-A but have more of a long duration burst sound. HC-ARQ Haegelin-Cryptos simplex ARQ used by UN and Red Cross services. This synchronous system uses a packet like protocol with no defined timing and supports packet/ block sizes of 38, 68 and 188 ITA2 characters but always runs at 240 bd. PACKET A mode used by radio amateurs, and to a lesser degree, UN forces, to allow data communications between PCs and dumb terminals. On HF there are 2 main protocols in use; AX.25 Typically 300 bd on SW. Data is arranged in packets of up to 256 bytes of 8 bit ASCII data. Each packet con- tains a 1 byte start flag, 3 byte address field, 1 byte control field, 0-256 bytes of data, 2 byte CRC and finally a 1 byte end flag. Packets are transmitted with no fixed timing. See the latest specification published by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) for complete details on this system. There is also some 1200 baud PSK work done in the 10 meter ham band. Automatic Packet Reporting System or APRS, is an appli- cation that runs "on top of" AX.25. It was invented by Bob Bruninga WA4APR that utilizes GPS data to plot a packet station's location on a map of a given region, city, state, or even country. Due to the graphics involved, units like the M8000 will not read this data; however, units like the PK232 can read it with the use of special software. Signals utilizing this mode are found in the 40 and 30 meter bands (for example) utilizing 'gateways' into 2 meters. CLOVER A system originally developed by Ray Petit, W7GMH, and now marketed by HAL Communications. The original modem was named CLOVER-I, the latest DSP based modem is named CLOVER-II. It sounds like a "canary" when trans- mitting. A signal consists of a 1s burst + a long 20s data transmission. Clovers key characteristics are band- width efficiency with high error-corrected data rates. Clover adapts to conditions by constantly monitoring the received signal. Parameters which can affect quality and reliability of the transmission such as block data errors, phase dispersion, frequency offset, and signal to noise ratio are monitored. Based on this monitoring, Clover determines the best modulation scheme to use. Clover supports the following formats: format baud rate ------ --------- BPSM 4 pulse binary phase 125 bps QPSM 4 pulse quad phase 250 bps 8PSM 4 pulse 8 phase 375 bps 16PSM 4 pulse 16 phase 500 bps 8P2A 4 pulse 8 phase 2 amplitude 500 bps 16P4A 4 pulse 16 phase 4 amplitude 750 bps Total band width for all modes is a narrow 500 Hz with a symbol rate of 31.25. Also known as 500Hz-CLOVER. 400Hz-CLOVER This is regular DSP based CLOVER packed into a narrow 400 Hz bandwidth. This form of CLOVER is proprietary to GLOBE WIRELESS and was developed in cooperation with HAL Communications for use in Maritime communications. Also known as CLOVER-II or KFS-CLOVER. This form of CLOVER cannot be demodulated with standard CLOVER boards as the DSP programming, power requirements and memory capacity of the board was redone to support the new narrow bandwidth. CLOVER-2000 A commercial form of CLOVER developed by HAL Communi- cations, now in beta test. Supports 4x the speed of standard CLOVER and uses a bandwidth of 2kHz. With the doubling of tones HAL has effectively doubled the rate. Symbol rate is now 62.50. The 8 tones that make up this signal are spaced 250Hz. Maximum bit rate is 3000bps. BPSM, QPSM, 8PSM, 8P2A, and 16P4A with "auto-throttling" are supported. Data packets are long, about 4s in dur- ation. Idle chirps are short, about .3s in duration with about .8s between chirps. Also known as "8-tone CLOVER", Q-CLOVER, or QUAD-CLOVER. format rate ------ --------- BPSM 4 pulse binary phase 500 bps QPSM 4 pulse quad phase 1000 bps 8PSM 4 pulse 8 phase 1500 bps 8P2A 4 pulse 8 phase 2 amplitude 2000 bps 16P4A 4 pulse 16 phase 2 amplitude 3000 bps HF=Datalink An ACARS-like system used between airplanes and ground stations for passing tech info is now operational on HF. Ground stations broadcast system management uplink packets ('squitters') every 32s on 3 or more active frequencies. This assists in finding error free channels. Adaptive rates of 150, 300, 600, 1200 and 1800 bps are supported. See Monitoring Times 6/95 Plane Talk or the Digital Review column in WUN 10/95 (V1/10) and WUN 11/95 (V1/11) for more info. Also known as HFDL or ACARS on HF. 1-D. MULTI-TONE signals/MFSK systems. These signals are distinctive in how they sound. A rapid succession of tones, almost music-like in quality is their main feature. A sophisticated decoder and a rock steady receiver is needed to process these signals. PICCOLO Originally developed in 1957 in Great Britain at the Diplomatic Wireless Service or as it is known today the Communication Engineering Department of the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO). The original system was a 32 tone system and the development team was lead by J.D.Ralphs. This multi-tone synchronous system is used mainly by the British Gov., Australian Gov. stations and some South American Mil. (Peruvian?). A 6 tone system (MK6) using ITA2 operates at 75 baud. A 12 tone system (also MK6) using ASCII/ITA5 also exists but the 6 tone system is the more common. Both systems can still be found on the air and the modern MK6 unit is manufactured by RACAL. Reference the Klingenfuss RadioTeletype Code Manual 13th Edition for the tone pairs and PICCOLO alphabet. COQUELET COQUELET Mk I is an asynchronus 13 tone ITA2 system used by French (possibly abandoned) and Belgian mil./ police. COQUELET Mk II is a synchronous 8 tone ITA2 system used by Algerian Diplo and Customs. COQUELET Mk I is also referred to as COQ13. COQUELET Mk II is also referred to as COQ8. Also note that users of COQ8 seem to be using a hybrid COQ8/COQ13 system (possible COQUELET Mk III?). COQ8 can use a fourth shift Arabic/ Latin keyboard. COQ13 translates each 5 unit ITA-2 character into a sequence of 2 tones out of total of 12. A 13th tone represents the idle condition. The system takes each character and breaks it into a 3 bit piece and a 2 bit piece. The first 3 bits of the character are sent as 1 out of 8 possible tones (1-8) and the second 2 bits are sent as 1 out of 4 possible tones (10-13). The idle tone, tone 9, is heard only during the idle or standby condition. Each tone is 75 ms in length or one character is 150 ms long giving the system a baud rate of 13.5. COQ8 directly translates each character into a set of 2 tones from a total set of 8 tones. The idle condition used by this system is made up of tones 1 and 8 sent alternating. Each tone has a duration of 37.5 ms, with 1 tone taking 75 ms, giving an effective baud rate of 26.67. Reference Klingenfuss RadioTeletype Code Manual 13th Edition for this systems tone mapping and alphabet. CROWD36 A Soviet MFSK system using 36 tones based on British Piccolo MK1. CIS Diplo service is the main user. Typically found at 40 baud. A spectrum analyzer will show the tones arranged in 3 distinct group of 10+11+11 tones. Tones are spaced 40Hz apart and tones 1, 12, 24 and 36 are rarely used so you are likely to see an 80Hz gap between groups. Each of the 32 tones represents one ITA2 character code. Also known as CIS Piccolo, CIS 10-11-11 MFSK or URS multitone. MIL188 An 8 tone MFSK system running at 125 bps. Tones are spaced 125Hz or 250Hz. Also known as NATO MIL188 or MFSK188. NOTE: the only known sample of this system is actually believed to be tt2300b so how this signal really looks and sounds is unknown. TT2300b/TPLEX An 8 tone, 100bd adaptive, synchronous system manu- factured by Thrane & Thrane of Denmark. Primarily designed to be connected directly to the serial port of a computer, the system features auto-dial, subscriber addressing, electronic mail and can also be connected to a Fax machine. The full-duplex, error-correcting (24 unit CRC) link protocol is completely transparent to any type of data coding. Believed to be used by French Diplo and the UK Civil Aviation Authority. This may be logged in some commercial frequency lists as TT2300-ARQ. The manufacturer's name for the protocol/ coding is TPLEX. Probable frequencies: 5028.7, 5109.7, 7716.7, 7719.7. 8 tones, 200Hz spacing, ACF=8 MERLIN/ALIS-2/ This is the 240 bd 7 tone burst ARQ mode used in the RS-ARQ Rohde & Schwarz MERLIN modem. The label ALIS-2 first appeared in the Klingenfuss 14th Ed. Utility Guide. Reference the MERLIN/ALIS note above on naming. LINK-11 A US Military/NATO 40 DPSK synchronous system using 15 tones (1 doppler tone + 14 data + 1 sync tone), the 14 data tones are 4-PSK modulated and spaced every 110 hz. The sync tone is 2-PSK modulated. Typical rates are 1364b/s or 2250b/s. This is a ground wave only system, so a signal received via HF will be nearly impossible to decode because the ionosphere messes up the phase. Klingenfuss indicates a baud rate 2400. See also MIL-STD-188-203-1A. Also known as TADIL-A or "alli- gator". Largest manufacturer of LINK-11 equipment is Rockwell-Collins. MS-5 This is the Russian 12 tone vocoder system. MS-5 has a maximum capacity of 4800 bits/s and occupies a band- with of 300 to 3400 Hz. The system operates in 2 modes: 1) FT mode, an FSK mode with a shift of +/- 60Hz. 2) 2AT mode, a 2 tone keying mode with a freq. shift of 1440Hz or 480Hz. FT mode has 6 sub-channels with mark/space freqs of: ch 1: 540/660 ch 2: 1020/1140 ch 3: 1500/1620 ch 4: 1980/2100 ch 5: 2460/2580 ch 6: 2940/3060 each with a freq shift of 120Hz. Data is transmitted over the 6 sub-channels at a rate of 200bd or over 1 channel at a rate of 1200bd. 2 different 2AT modes (2AT is double amplitude tele- graphy) are supported. The first 2AT mode has 3 sub- channels with mark/space freqs of: ch 1: 600/2040 ch 2: 1080/2520 ch 3: 1560/3000 each with a freq shift of 1440Hz. The second 2AT mode also has 3 sub-channels with mark/space freqs of: ch 1: 600/1080 ch 2: 1560/2040 ch 3: 2520/3000 each with a freq shift of 480Hz. Using 2AT mode data is transmitted over the 3 sub-channels at a rate of 200bd or one channel at 600bd. This system has a distinctive pilot tone at 3300Hz above a kHz point. Reference ITU Reports of the CCIR, 1990, Annex to Volume III, Fixed Service at Frequencies below about 30MHz - Report 703-2 "Use of Channels with Bandwidth 300-3400Hz in SSB and ISB Systems". ANNEX 10 An ARINC HF SELCAL system. 1-E. FAX-like signals. These signals are used for transmitting pictures, mostly marine weather maps over the airwaves and make a distinctive scratch-like sound. Press-FAX can still be found but with less frequency as Press services continue to move to satellite. HELLSCHREIBER FAX-like mode used by Chinese Internal Press (still?) now used infrequently by European amateurs on 80m and 40m. FAX A picture transmission mode used by weather (meteo), some Press and less often, amateurs. Pictures are sent line by line and to correctly receive a picture you must, at most, have the drum speeds (RPM) in sync. Usual RPM values are 60, 90, 120, 240. Less important is the IOC (Incidence of Cooperation). Usual values for IOC are 288, 352, 576. For the picture to be received as it was sent both RPM and IOC should match the senders RPM and IOC. It is true that FAX use is in decline and will continue to do so in the near future. A recent wrinkle now appearing in the declining FAX signal arena is the introduction of 'encrypted' FAX transmissions. The start, stop, and phasing signals appear normal but the picture data seems to use some sort of modified code. Current speculation indicates Huffman encoding or a Modified Read Code with lines only including the pixels changed from the previous line. Reference Klingenfuss Guide to Facsimile Stations for a discussion of FAX theory and examples. 1-F. SSTV - Slow Scan TV. A picture transmission mode developed and used by the Amateur community. While these signals are FAX-like in function they do not possess the scratching quality of the FAX signal. The sound of an SSTV signal is more tonal in its composition. I do not believe that each mode can be distinguished by ear. Currently the most popular mode found on the airwaves in North America is Scottie S1, followed less frequently by Scottie S2, Robot 36 and 72 and finally some Martin M1. Europe seems to be mostly Martin M1. SSTV modes ------------ SC-1 and SC-2 were developed by Volker Wraase in Kiel, Germany. Martin was developed by Martin H. Emmerson, G3OQD/England. Scottie was developed by E.T.J. Murpy, GM3SBC/Scotland. Robot was developed by Robot Research. +------------------------------------------- Mode | +------------------------------- Scan Lines | | +------------------------ Color/RBG seq. or B/W | | | +----------------- Time (sec) v v v v Comments +----------------+-----+-------+-----+------------------------------------- |AVT 24 | 120 | Color | 24 | There is a 5s digital header and |AVT 90 | 240 | Color | 90 | there is no horizontal sync |AVT 94 | 200 | Color | 94 | |AVT 188 | 400 | Color | 188 | |AVT 125 | 400 | B/W | 125 | +----------------+-----+-------+-----+------------------------------------- |Wraase SC-1 24 | 120 | Color | 24 | -top 8 lines are grey scale |Wraase SC-1 48 | 240 | Color | 48 | -top 16 lines are grey scale |Wraase SC-1 96 | 240 | Color | 96 | -top 16 lines are grey scale |Wraase SC-2 30 | 128 | R-B-G | 30 | |Wraase SC-2 60 | 256 | R-B-G | 60 | |Wraase SC-2 120 | 256 | R-B-G | 120 | |Wraase SC-2 180 | 256 | R-B-G | 180 | +----------------+-----+-------+-----+------------------------------------- |Scottie S1 | 240 | G-B-R | 110 | -top 16 lines are grey scale |Scottie S2 | 240 | G-B-R | 71 | -top 16 lines are grey scale |Scottie S3 | 120 | G-B-R | 55 | -top 8 lines are grey scale |Scottie S4 | 120 | G-B-R | 36 | -top 8 lines are grey scale |Scottie DX | 240 | G-B-R | 269 | -top 16 lines are grey scale +----------------+-----+-------+-----+------------------------------------- |ScanMate1 | 320 | Color | 391 | |ScanMate2 | 320 | Color | 261 | +----------------+-----+-------+-----+------------------------------------- |Martin M1 | 240 | G-B-R | 114 | -top 16 lines are grey scale |Martin M2 | 240 | G-B-R | 58 | -top 16 lines are grey scale |Martin M3 | 120 | G-B-R | 57 | -top 8 lines are grey scale |Martin M4 | 120 | G-B-R | 29 | -top 8 lines are grey scale +----------------+-----+-------+-----+------------------------------------- |Robot 12 | 120 | Y-C | 12 | Color is sent as Luminance and |Robot 24 | 120 | Y-C | 24 | Chrominance |Robot 36 | 240 | Y-C | 36 | |Robot 72 | 240 | Y-C | 72 | |Robot 8 | 120 | B/W | 8 | Not a true B/W mode. Green element |Robot 12 | 120 | B/W | 12 | sent as B/W image |Robot 24 | 240 | B/W | 24 | |Robot 36 | 240 | B/W | 36 | +----------------+-----+-------+-----+------------------------------------ SSTV VIS code ------------- With the introduction of Robot 1200C, Robot Research introduced the VIS code, which is used to indicate the speed and mode at the beginning of the transmission. The VIS code, when decoded by the receiving station, will let the receiver automatically set the necessary parameters for proper reception. The VIS code is sent as part of the vertical sync pulse and is 10 bits long lasting 10*30ms. The start and stop bits are represented as a 1200Hz tone with the remaining 8 bits (including 1 even parity bit) left for encoding information. This breaks down as 1 30ms start bit at 1200Hz, 7 data bits, each 30ms, sent Lowest Significant Byte (LSB) first (logical '1' is transmitted as 1100Hz, logical '0' is transmitted as 1300Hz). 1 30ms even parity bit and 1 30ms stop bit as 1200Hz. The table is fairly extensive so for now reference the following www page(s): http://www.wincom.net/raarssen/techinfo.txt (valid as of 1/19/96) http://www.ultranet.com/~sstv/modes.html (valid as of 1/19/96) 1-G. SYNCHRONOUS BIT STREAM signals. These signals are distinctive in sound in that they are continuous and possess a trilling quality. The sound of an idling signal is slightly different from a signal actively sending traffic. Many signals idle for long periods of time and send very little traffic, i.e. ARQ-E, ARQ-E3, or ARQ-M2. They can be found all over the shortwave spectrum. Other signals have a short idling phase and move directly into traffic and then terminate, i.e. POL-ARQ, SITOR-B, ROU-FEC or FEC-A. 36-50 A Russian Navy synchronous bit stream system whose real name is unknown at this time. Known system para- meters are as follows: the system is commonly found in Europe but can be heard in the US, traffic runs at 50 bd with no apparent ACF (ACF=0) and then idles with 36 bd (ACF=2). As the traffic switches from 36bd to 50bd a preamble can be detected running with ACF=70. The system appears to be synchronous with 1 stop bit and a shift of 250Hz and sometimes 500Hz. In between, or at the end of messages, FSK CW has been heard using the callsign RDL. 81-81 Russian/URS Military System mainly 81 bd, pseudo random, one or two characters, 12 bits, usually encrypted - operator chatter can sometimes be found in the clear using Baudot w/Cyrillic M2 alphabet. It is mainly a 2 ch system but there is a 40.5 bd signal that is a 1 ch variant. Most commonly found baud rates are 36.5, 40.5 for the 1 ch version and 73 and 81 for the 2 ch version. ARS-GUARD A Saudi National Guard synchronous FEC system, running at 125 bd and 170Hz shift (ACF=48 or 96). Check out the following frequencies:7672.5, 7869.5, 12257.5, 12357.5, 12362.6, or 12457.5. ARQ-E A very common single channel duplex ARQ system, made by Siemens, used by French Military Forces and the German Gov., typically 48, 64, 72, 86, 96, 144 or 192 bd. Also known as ARQ-1000D. ARQ-E3 Another very common single channel duplex ARQ system used by French Military Forces, typically 48, 64, 72, 86, 96, 144 or 192 bd. ARQ-M2 A commonly found full duplex, synchronous, time division multiplex ARQ system w/2 data channels, typically using 87, 96 or 200 bd. French Military Forces are the most commonly found user and this system can idle for long periods of time with no traffic. This system comes in 2 flavors: one is defined by the old CCIR 242 Recom- mendation and the other is defined by the newer CCIR 342 Recommendation. Both forms can still be found. Also known as TDM, ARQ-28, TDM-2, TDM-242, TDM-342 or 96-TDM. See Section 4 for Recommendation differences. ARQ-M4 A rarely found full duplex, synchronous, time division multiplex ARQ w/4 data channels, typically using 87, 96, 192 or 200 bd. This system had been used by Chinese, Vietnamese and Spanish embassies. Loggings within the past year indicate use by some French Military Forces stations. This system can also idle for long periods of time with no traffic. This system also comes in 2 flavors as defined by the same recommendations as ARQ-M2. Also known as ARQ-56, TDM-4, TDM-242, TDM-342 or 192-TDM. See Section 4 for Recommendation differences ARQ-N A single channel duplex ARQ system used by Italian Diplo services, typically using 72, 96, 144 or 192 bd. This system is related to ARQ-E but does not inverse any bits. AUTOSPEC A FEC system used by British coastal stations to communicate with North Sea oil rigs, typically 62.3, 68.5 or 102.7 bd. Also known as Autospec-bauer or Bauer. No loggings have been recorded in the previous year. SPREAD A FEC system, used by Romanian diplo stations, using the Bauer code used by Autospec, with characters spread over a large time span, designed to reduce burst and fading errors. Typically 68.5, 102.7 or 137 bd. Also known as SPREAD-11, SPREAD-21 or SPREAD-51 depending on data spread in effect. CIS A single channel duplex system using 11, 14 or 27 bits. CIS-11 is used by Russian meteorological stations, CIS-14 is reported to be used by Russian PTT stations on links to the former republics. CIS-14 also comes in a 28bit frame variant that consists of 2 14bit frames running at 200 bd. Typical baud rates are: CIS-11 - 50, 100, 150, 200 and 300 bd CIS-14 - 42.1, 47.5, 48, 50, 70.5, 72, 83.3, 84.21, 94.11, 96, 100, 144, 200 and 288 bd CIS-27 - 50 and 100 bd. CIS-11 is also known as TORG-11. CIS-14 is also known as PARITY14. FEC-A/FEC-100 A system used by Turkish and German Press also German, French (P6Z etc), Serbian (DFZG) and Turkish (TAD) Diplo services, typically runs with 96, 144, 192 or 288 bd. Siemens is the manufacturer and refers to this system as FEC-100. There have also been reports of a FEC-101 variant. GMDSS/DSC Digital Selective Calling is a variation of Sitor-B, 100 baud 170 shift, but uses a special set of 127 symbols with a 10 bit error correcting code. The system is defined in the ITU recommendation ITU-R M493-6. A DSC signal is short, about 6-7 seconds on MF/HF and contains the following: station ID, priority, station being called, frequency to use. This system is used to establish the initial contact between ships and shore stations using GMDSS. DSC signals can be found the following frequencies: 2187.5, 4207.5, 6312.0, 8414.5, 12577.0, 16804.5 (also on VHF on Ch. 70 - 156.525 @ 1200bd). See Digital Review column in WUN newsletter Vol. 1, No.12 December, 1995 for a good writeup on GMDSS/DSC. HNG-FEC A FEC system used by Hungarian Diplo services, typically 100.05 bd. See Klingenfuss RadioTeletype Code Manual 13th Edition for teleprinter alphabet used by this system. IRA-ARQ An ARQ system used by the Bulgarian Diplo services, typically 75, 100, 110, 150, 180, 200, 240, 300 or 600 bd. A tip for monitors is to remain on frequency with the decoder set to ASCII/ITA-5 at the same speed that the ARQ is sending. Once the transfer is complete, operator chat often takes place in standard ASCII or BAUDOT. POL-ARQ A single channel duplex ARQ system used by Polish and Italian Diplo services, typically at 100 bd. Can be easily confused with Sitor-B. ROU-FEC A FEC system used by Rumanian Diplo services, typically 164.48 or 218.3 bd. Signals can be encrypted, in the clear or bit-masked (have been known to use 10, 15, 24 or 31). Had been referred to as SAU-FEC in the past and renamed to RUM-FEC by Klingenfuss Publications. SITOR-B A FEC system used by Marine Information services and the Amateur Radio community, typically 100 bd but an odd baud rate of 109.4 has also been monitored. Also known as FEC or AMTOR. SI-FEC A Siemens FEC system used by Austrian and Indonesian Diplo services, typically 96, 192 or 200 bd. Also known as FEC-S or FEC1000 Simplex. TORG-10/11 A Soviet 2 frequency duplex FEC system used to transmit Meteo data, 10/11 bit blocks of ITA2 coded data plus error correction. Typically 100 bd, 500Hz shift. NATO-75 Various NATO members have equipment which generates NATO-100 75bd or (more rarely) 100bd RTTY with a variety of shifts from 85Hz to 850Hz. Within the service, these systems are usually known as RATT or CRATT (Crypto RAdio TeleType). We also have indications of the system being known as "Beaver" (US) or Link 4, although this is unconfirmed at present. Traffic can often be recognised by twice repeated header block of 256 bits which shows an ACF of 64, and by a period of sustained reversals between "messages". The remainder of traffic is pseudo-random. Such a system can be found permanently on 4711, 6702, and 11264kHz. We believe that this system is closely related to the Royal Navy's common "Fleet Broadcast" 75bd or 100bd system which has a message preamble of 16 RYs and VMGTCNJBH in Baudot before switching to encryption. 1-H. ASYNCHRONOUS BIT STREAM signals. These signals sound like the continuous bit stream signals but with a subtle cadence difference to them. They are most often encountered sending traffic. BAUDOT A common signal used by the Amateur community, many military and government services, typically 50, 75 or 100 bd. Inversion is possible but not frequently encountered on the data bits, giving 2^5 (32) possible arrangements. Also known as RTTY or ITA2. ASCII A rarely found signal used by the amateur community typically 110, or 300 bd but has been tested in recent times by VOA. Amateur station W1AW still transmits ASCII bulletins. Also known as ITA5 or IRA. 1-I. MULTI-CHANNEL/BUZZSAW like signals. These signals are obnoxious in the way they sound. They have a very harsh buzz-like quality. Tough to decode because many signals can be transmitted together and even interleaved. Signal Diversity is often used - defined as all channels sending the same traffic but shifted in frequency and shifted in time. The receiving equipment combines the channels into a single channel if 'X' channels agree. Many times the channels are encrypted. A stand alone spectrum analyzer or one incorporated within the decoder can be a great help in identifying the signal arrangement. Hoka Code 3 and Code 30 units have a spectrum analyzer feature. Code 30 has the added ability to target an in- dividual channel for decoding. Wavecom 4100, 4050 and Universal M8000 units also include a spectrum analyzer or spectrum display feature. VFT A general term used to define many kinds of multi- channel signals used by British Military, Canadian Military and US Military. Many configurations are possible. Also known as FDM or WTK. Some common VFT configurations have been noted; * 2 channel interleaved VFT using 50/340 baudot and 96/340 2ch ARQ-M2 * 1 75/340 baudot or 1 50/340 baudot and up to 12 170Hz channels with diversity The following VFT signals are commonly found in use by the named users so the authors have assigned names for use as a starting point in future discussions. * RUS-144: 3 channels of 144bd/200Hz FEC system, with channels spaced at 950Hz. A synchronous system with no apparent ACF. Noted on 8077kHz (nightime) and 14814kHz (daytime) and used by Russian PTTs. Has also been noted in the past on 8063/14327. * 3 ch FEC-100: 3 channels of FEC-100 (possibly FEC-101 too) are known to be in use by Israeli Mil, German Diplo and Serbian Diplo. Usual channel speeds are 3 channels of 144, 96 or 192bd with shifts between 80 and 170Hz. The 3ch 192bd/170 with channel spacing of 680Hz is probably German Mil/MOI. * MOI-VFT: The German MOI and police use a 3 channel VFT comprising 96bd, 80Hz shift ARQ-E on their inter-city links. Commonly heard below 5MHz in Europe. * 3 ch 150 FSK: The German Navy, primarily Wilhelmshaven (DHJ59) has been noted using a VFT configuration of 3 channels running 150bd/170 FSK with each channel spaced at about 700Hz. The 150bd FSK system is UNID. * 3 ch Piccolo: 2 and 3 channel VFT piccolo have been noted. Channel 1 and 2 are usually found sending bitstream encrypted traffic and the Engineers Channel idles or sends plain-text operator chatter. There is also the possibility of a 4 channel configuration. The following 3 channel offsets (measured from the carrier point) are usually found as: Engineers Channel: +0.51kHz offset Traffic 1: +0.91kHz offset Traffic 2: +1.31kHz offset BR6028 6028 Series Diversity is a commonly found VFT system using 7 channels of 50 bd or 75 bd baudot each with 170 Hz shift used by US and Canadian Military. Channels are shifted in time and channels with heavy inter- ference can be locked out causing the transmitter side to stop using the interfered with channel. This accounts for those less then 7 channel VFT's sometimes found. Also known as "BARRIE" or 6028. Belgian Diplo (MFA Brussels and Embassy Beirut) have been noted using what seems to be a modified BR6028 system. Configuration shows: pilot tone, ch 1, NO ch 2, Ch 3 - 7 Channel 2 never seems to be present. All channels carry 100bd/170 Baudot delayed in time by 0.5 secs. This VFT form has been noted on the following frequencies: 11107, 14476 and 14904 most mornings (06-08UTC). MULCAST A system used by the US Military composed of 16 channels each with an 85 Hz shift. 1-J. Phase Shift Keying systems Nearly all of the systems that we have outlined above use Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) of one, two or more tones. However, there are many signals to be heard on HF which are Phase modulated (Phase Shift Keying or PSK) in nature. At present, only the Hoka Code30 is capable of demodulating such signals, and as such, this area of "listening" remains a somewhat uncharted area, and none of the systems known about so far have names like the ones we use above! However, Hoka's Code 30 provides a tool-set that allows the user to determine the characteristics of a PSK system with little more effort than an FSK-based one. This at least allows us ordinary mortals to "fingerprint" certain types of system. In a nutshell, here are the commonly encountered PSK-based systems; 2-4MHz region: Navigational aids sending Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) information using 250bps 4-phase (or Quarternary) PSK (QPSK). Try 2834.0, 2805.0, 3226.0kHz 3-13MHz region: Soviet Mil/PTT system sending 1280bps data using a 4-phase, Offset QPSK scheme. These stations are recognizable in that they are all placed on .081 offsets from a kilohertz or half kilohertz point. At least 20 channels are known to be in almost constant use. Try 9058.081, 7663.581, 5752.081, and 13369.081kHz amongst others. Note: Recently many of these frequencies have been sprouting lower sideband twins. For example 11422.081 is paired with 11417.93, 9209.081 is paired with 9204.93. Presumeably this means the system is operational and adding more capacity. 5-20MHz region: Unknown user and system sending 600bps data using 2-phase, or Binary PSK. Try 10662.8kHz. 1200bps and 2400bps signals of a similiar nature have been found in this region also. 2400-PSK Believed to be a NATO system, now occupying many channels and particularly active since the deployment of IFOR in former Yugoslavia. Sample of frequencies: 2535, 3370, 4578, 6410, 8158, 10480, 16164kHz 1800-PSK A number of signals have been noted sending 1800bps QPSK data. User is unknown but suspect NATO and is much rarer than the 2400-PSK. 1600-PSK Believed UK/US Mil system. Sample of frequencies: 4757, 5237, 10386kHz. 1-K. Mystery systems This section lists signals that have conflicting information. Some may be fabrications, some may be just unknown. These systems will be listed here rather then mix them among the confirmed and better documented systems. DUP-FEC/ A new system appearing with the introduction of the DUP-FEC-2 Wavecom 41pc (DUP-FEC-2) and the new Klingenfuss Radio Data Code book (DUP-FEC). No new signals found on the air as of yet. Suspicion is the system runs at 125 or 250bd. SUI-FEC A new UNID FEC system running at 68.5bd, 85Hz shift used by the Swiss Army. Traffic has an ACF=0 but an ACF=10 at start of messages. 1200-FSK A 1200bps FSK system known to be used by the Italian Military or Diplo service. Always has a distinctive .7kHz offset. Has been heard on 6811.7, 9126.7, 10485.7 and 13904.7kHz amongst other channels. Italian operator chatter in USB on the carrier point can often be heard prior to messages being sent. 4+4 This is an 8 tone MFSK signal with a unique tone arrangement. It is a Chinese Diplo system with most traffic origionating from Peking. Its real name and base modulation mode (FSK/PSK) are unknown although analysis suggests that each of the 8 channels is 150bd BPSK. No estimation of baud rate. The tones are grouped in sets of 4 spaced 300Hz apart with a 450Hz intergroup gap, 4 tones w/300Hz spacing, 450Hz gap, 4 tones w/300Hz spacing. RAC-ARQ Heres a slick little system documented heavily in the Radioteletype Code Manual 13th Edition from Klingenfuss with signal samples available on the Klingenfuss Modulation cassettes on track 38. Also if you read the Wavecom W4100 glossy from the company they list RAC-ARQ as an option. The system is supposed to be used by British Military stations but multiple reports from various sources indicate that this system is probably fabricated by Klingenfuss. Wow. AIRCALL Another system with very little factual information. This 7 tone MFSK system appears on the Klingenfuss recordings cassette on track 32. Sources indicate that this system is also generally unknown so I will list it here pending confirmation. ARTOR Adaptive Robust Transmission Over Radio - an adaptive, error-free mode for HF using QPSK. First mention of this system found in the 13th Edition of the Code Manual. Typical baud rates are documented to be 50, 100 or 200; automatically selected, ARQ and FEC modes are supported. This system has never been logged and probably has not been commercially released by the developer, Ascom Radiocom Ltd, Switzerland. Ascom did advertise the system (as "ARTOR, our new HF-modem") in the June 1992 issue of Signal and probably exhibited at CommunicAsia '92 in Singapore and AFCEA '92 in Washington D.C. QAM A system reportedly used by the Chinese, unknown usual bd rates. A sample of this signal is available on the Klingenfuss CD (CD#2/Trk9) or Cassette (Trk37). This is also the name for the modulation technique Quad Phase Shift Keying with Amplitude Modulation (QAM). No known loggings to date. Real? --------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2. Modes on VHF. There are data signals on VHF, currently dominated by pager systems. This area will continue to grow over time as more capability is added to existing systems. They are included here for reference purposes. Many of the high end professional analysis units include a few of the pager modes. But keep this in mind - according to the ECPA, monitoring of all types of paging signals is illegal and the transmissions are considered private. The ECPA, of course, only applies to the US and there may be different laws covering paging signals in effect in other countries. But...not all modes found on VHF are dedicated to paging, there are also systems used by the Aviation industry, the amateur radio community and some European Security forces/Police. 2-A. VHF Data Signals ACARS Aircraft Communication and Reporting System. A packet- like 2400 bps MSK digital air to ground system for passing plane data and messages. Check the following frequencies in AM mode for signals. 131.550 (US primary) 130.025 (US secondary) 129.125 (US tertiary) 131.475 (Air Canada proprietary channel) 131.725 (Europe primary) 131.450 (Japan primary) GMDSS/DSC DSC on VHF is the same as DSC on MF/HF except that the system uses a 1200 bd and the packet is very short, only about 0.5 sec. Frequency used is Ch. 70 - 156.525Mhz. EMWIN Emergency Managers Weather Information Network is an experimental data service, formerly known as WWIN (Wireless Weather Information Network), run by the National Weather Service that utilizes a 1200 baud ASCII Bell 202 signal to transmit a hypertext system (maps and text together) that lists weather conditions. It is possible to reprogram some of the professional units (such as the M7000) to receive the text infor- mation, but special software is required to fully use both maps and the text. Areas currently supported: Location Watts Frequency MHz ----------------- -------- ---------------- Washington, DC 600watts 163.35 Norman, OK 50watts 169.025 Tulsa, OK 250watts 165.0125 Oklahoma City, OK 300watts 150.525 Wichita Falls, TX --- KTEO/90.5 FM 92kHz subcarrier Note: the data is also transmitted from GOES 8, GOES 9, G4/Ku tr 4 and T1/Ku tr 5a. FMS-BOS Funkmeldesystem fur Behorden und Organisationen mit Sicherheitsaufgaben loosely translated as Radio Calling/Communications System for Authorities and Organizations with Security Concerns. Supports a baud rate of 1200. INFOCALL Supports a baud rate of 1200. ATIS Supports a baud rate of 1200. 2-B. Special Amateur Digital/Video Modes These modes can be found in the 6 meter (50 mhz), 2 meter (144-148 mhz), 220 mhz, 430-450 mhz ranges (70 cm.) and higher ranges. They are primarily used by Amateurs, and some of them require special hardware or software to view or use. These are capsule descriptions only; there are several good books and magazine articles published in 'QST', '73' and 'CQ' magazine which go into much more detail on these modes. Please consult them for more information. DSC 'Digital Selective Calling'. This is a system utilized in the amateur service that allows suitably equipped radios (such as those sold by Yaesu and Icom) to send an ASCII burst signal that allows hams to page each other by callsign over a repeater. It is somewhat similar to POCSAG. PACKET This mode is very similar to that found on HF, except that a different tone set (typically Bell 202 tones) are utilized. These signals can be found in almost all the ham bands, including 900 mhz. There are 3 distinct protocols in use here; AX.25 Similar to that on HF, but speeds here are typically 1200 bd FSK or 9600 bd FSK or PSK in the UHF/SHF range. Some applications using AX.25 are: * Packet Cluster - This is a real-time networked mode that allows connected amateurs to immediatly report on DX stations and broadcast this information to whomever may be connected. One of the most common frequencies is 145.55MHz. * APRS - somewhat similar to HF with different baud speeds being used here. The national frequency for this mode on 2 meters is 145.57MHz. * TCP/IP - Transmission Control Protocol, Internet Protocol. This mode, which uses AX.25 as the Link Layer, is used, for example, in links between Internet and amateur BBSs. Due to the nature of the protocol and speeds used (9600 bd or better), units like the M8000 will not read this data. However, units with special software and firmware (such as that found on the PK232) can utilize this mode. Units operating in this mode are said to be in 'KISS' mode. This traffic may be found on 2 meters on 145.59MHz (and others). ATV Amateur Television. This is a FSTV system used by hams in the 430, 900 and 1200 Mhz systems. Uses include public service and Space Shuttle relays. A special de- modulator is required to see this system in most in- stances; however, some cable TVs can also see this system on channels 60, 62 or XX. 2-C. VHF SELCAL and Analog Paging Signals. HSC Hexadecimal Sequential Code format is an analog system introduced in 1979 that supports tone-only, numeric and voice paging. It is based on the 5/6-tone system but uses a total of 16 tones (0-9 A-F + Repeat). Selected combinations of tones can be used to activate special features built into the pager. HSC and 5/6-tone systems can work together on the same frequency. European 5/6-tone Systems ------------------------- This analog paging format uses tone sets defined by various European and United States standards organizations. This analog system uses 10 tones plus one extra tone (in most cases) as a Repeat tone. The Repeat tone is used when two tones representing the same number follow in sequence. For example: 99222 would use the tone sequence 9R2R2. Pagers using this format support up to 1 million pagers and support tone-only and voice paging. Tones supported are listed in the following as digit/frequency in Hz. Also see Table 4-H. + EEA - SELCAL system conforming to Electronic Engineering Association, United Kingdom. recommendations. Tones supported 0/1981 1/1124 2/1197 3/1275 4/1358 5/1446 6/1540 7/1640 8/1747 9/1860 A/1055 B/930 C/2246.9 D/991 E/2110 F/0 with a tone duration of 40ms. + CCIR 1 - CCIR 1 recommendations from Comite Consultatif International De Radio. Tones supported 0/1981 1/1124 2/1197 3/1275 4/1358 5/1446 6/1540 7/1640 8/1747 9/1860 A/2400 B/930 C/2246.9 D/991 E/2110 F/0 with a tone duration of 100ms. + CCIR 7 - SELCAL system conforming to CCIR 7 recommendations from Comite Consultatif International De Radio. Tones supported 0/1981 1/1124 2/1197 3/1275 4/1358 5/1446 6/1540 7/1640 8/1747 9/1860 A/2400 B/930 C/2246.9 D/991 E/2110 F/0 with a tone duration of 70ms. + ZVEI 1 - SELCAL system conforming to ZVEI 1 recommendations from Zentralverband der Electrotechnischen Industrie, West Germany. Tones supported 0/2400 1/1060 2/1160 3/1270 4/1400 5/1530 6/1670 7/1830 8/2000 9/2200 A/2799.9 B/810 C/970 D/886 E/2599.9 F/0 with a tone duration of 70ms. + ZVEI 2 - SELCAL system conforming to ZVEI 2 recommendations from Zentralverband der Electrotechnischen Industrie, West Germany. Tones supported 1/2200 2/970 3/1060 4/1270 5/1400 6/1530 7/1670 8/1830 9/2000 A/2599.9 B/2799.9 C/810 D/886 E/2400 F/0 with a tone duration of 70ms. Also called DZVEI. + NATEL - SELCAL system conforming to Scandinavian National Telephone (NATEL) recommendations. Tones supported 0/1633 1/631 2/697 3/770 4/852 5/941 6/1040 7/1209 8/1336 9/1477 A/1633 B/600 C/1995 D/2205 E/1805 F/0 with a tone duration of 70ms. + EURO - SELCAL system conforming to EURO recommendations. Tones supported 0/979.8 1/903.1 2/832.5 3/767.4 4/707.4 5/652.0 6/601.0 7/554.0 8/510.7 9/470.8 A/433.9 B/400.0 C/368.7 D/1153.1 E/1062.9 F/0 with a tone duration of 100ms. Also referred to as EuroSignal Motorola Systems ---------------- + EIA - SELCAL system conforming to Electronics Industries Association, United States (EIA) recommendations. Tones supported 0/600 1/741 2/882 3/1023 4/1164 5/1305 6/1446 7/1587 8/1728 9/1869 A/2151 B/2432.9 C/2010.1 D/2292 E/459 F/0 with a tone duration of 33ms. MODAT - Tones supported 0/637.5 1/787.5 2/937.5 3/1087.5 4/1237.5 5/1387.5 6/1537.5 7/1687.5 8/1837.5 9/1987.5 REACH 11th root of 2 -------------------- High Freq - 0/2400 1/2253 2/2116 3/1987 4/1865 5/1751 6/1644 7/1544 8/1450 9/1361 Low Freq - 0/1200 1/1127 2/1058 3/993 4/933 5/876 6/822 7/772 8/725 9/681 + CCITT SELCAL system conforming to CCITT recommendations. Tones supported 0/400 1/697 2/770 3/852 4/941 5/1209 6/1335 7/1477 8/1633 9/1800 A/1900 B/2000 C/2100 D/2200 E/2300 F/0 with a tone duration of 100ms. + VDEW SELCAL system conforming to VDEW recommendations or German Electricity Works - Vereinigung Deutscher Elektrizitaetswerke. Tones supported 0/2280 1/370 2/450 3/550 4/675 5/825 6/1010 7/1240 8/1520 9/1860 A/2000 B/2100 C/2200 D/2300 E/2400 F/0 with a tone duration of 100ms. + Hoka Code 30 can decode but needs the VHF option (extra) to decode these modes. 2-D. VHF Digital Paging Signals. POCSAG Post Office Code Standardization Advisory Group Pager system developed in 1981 and is described in CCIR Recommendation 584, Radiopaging Code 1. This system can handle up to 2 million individual addresses per carrier and can support tone only, numeric and text pagers. Operates at 512, 1200 and 2400 bps (1200 and 2400 bps are commonly referred to as Super-POCSAG. Transmits in FM Narrow using frequency bands that are country specific. POCSAG is an asynchronous protocol, it has a start up preamble signal that alerts the pager to an incoming message (wake up). Pagers are assigned to 1 of 8 groups based on address. Pagers only pay attention to the address group to which they are assigned. 2 coding formats are used for message text: BCD and 7 bit ASCII. ERMES European Radio Message System developed in 1990 by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute. Strictly a European format with no known US implemen- tations. It supports alphanumeric, numeric and tone paging. ERMES operates at a constant speed of 6250 bps and uses 4 level FSK signalling. This protocol uses a dedicated frequency spectrum in the 169 MHz range and supports 16 adjacent channels. The pagers are designed such that each pager is assigned to a specific time slot and when the pager senses it is not in its 'home' system it begins its roaming routine by scanning all channels. GOLAY Golay Sequential Pager Signalling System is a digital system used to transmit tone only, numeric, alphanumeric and voice pages. This is a Motorola proprietary system but now obsolete according to Motorola. It may be that GOLAY is no longer found in those VHF frequency bands that support pagers but is still believed to be on US Satellite. Pagers are divided into groups and a preamble is sent prior to paging alerts. Only pagers within the group number sent in the preamble need to examine the data stream for their address. Supports bit rates of 300 or 600 in that a pager address is sent at 300bps and any numeric or alphanumeric information is sent at 600bps. Also known as GSC - Golay Sequential Coding. APOC Advanced Pager Operating Code. A new mode, developed by Philips Telecom and announced in 1993, that offers higher speed and some new features while retaining backwards compatibility with POCSAG. Supports bit rates between 1200 to 6400 or about 1200 to 3200 baud using 2-PAM/FM or 4-PAM/FM modulation. Extended addressing is supported, allowing support for more then 2 million pagers. FLEX Paging protocol introduced by Motorola late in 1994 and will be the protocol of choice as paging company up- grade from POCSAG to FLEX in the US. FLEX supports rates of 1600, 3200 and 6400bps and can handle up to 5 billion addresses. FLEX has a 4 frequency signal arranged as evenly spaced tones with usual shifts (in Hz) of: -4800/-1600/+1600/+4800 This signalling technique is also more susceptible to noise so a robust error correction scheme is incorp- orated. FLEX pagers also appear to have a decreased effective paging radius when compared to POCSAG. FLEX is a synchronous time slot protocol. The FLEX protocol does not send messages at random but instead sends all paging data destined for a particular pager during a pre-defined time slot. The pager only wakes up only when a message is expected to arrive in real time thereby saving battery life. NEC/D3 A digital encoding format developed by NEC America that supports tone only and numeric pages at a rate of 200 bps. This format was developed for use in NEC R3-D3 pagers. This format uses 2 methods for preserving battery life. First a preamble is used to alert ALL pagers that there are incoming messages. Pagers remain idle till preamble detection. Second, pagers are grouped by address into 1 of 4 different groups. Each group is transmitted during a fixed time period and pagers only power up to look for its own address during the time its group is transmitted. Error correcting codes and even parity bits are used on each address and message. Mark IV/V/VI A digital format that supports tone, numeric and voice paging. This system requires 2ms to send a binary 0 and 4ms to send a binary 1 making the data transmission rate between 250 to 500 bps. Mark IV could handle tone only and Mark V and Mark VI could handle up to 10 digits. Swedish MBS An FM subcarier system developed by the Swedish Telecommunications Administration. This paging format supports tone-only, numeric and alphanumeric paging. Data is transmitted using the 57kHz subcarrier at a rate of 1187.5 bps. MBS (Mobile Search) is used in a modified form (MMBS) in the US by Cue Paging. RBDS/RDS An FM subcarrier system developed by the Swedish Telecommunications Administration. The system transmits information to standard FM receivers using the 57kHz subcarrier with a data rate of 1187.5 bps. A number of features can be supported including: program id, alter- nate frequencies, paging, clock/date and time and travel announcements. Reference the NRSC US RBDS Standard 1/8/93: Specifi- cation of the Radio Broadcast Data System and the European Standard CENELEC EN 50 067 (4/92): Specifi- cation of the Radio Data System. 2-E. VHF Two-way Paging Signals ReFLEX A Motorola two-way paging scheme. Currently comes in 2 forms. ReFLEX 25, which supports an outbound channel capacity of 12,800bps and inbound capacity up to 9600 bps and ReFLEX 50, which supports an outbound channel capacity of 25,600bs and inbound capacity up to 9600 bps. Both forms utilize a 50kHz channel. This scheme is designed to give the end user the ability to ack- nowledge a message, send replies and download data. inFLEXon A Motorola two-way paging protocol that allows voice and data messaging using a 50kHz Narrow Band PCS channel with a throughput of 112K bps. This system is based on the ReFLEX protocol. NexNet A proprietary two-way system created by Nexus Tele- communications, Ltd. of Israel uses Spread Spectrum transmission from the pager to send responses. The current system uses POCSAG to send messages to the pager. Data sent outbound from the pager is transparent to the incoming data which means that this two-way paging system can coexist on pre-existing one-way paging channels. RAMP Radio Mail Protocol. A two-way pager protocol built to be backwardly compatible with APOC. Currently under development by Philips Telecom. pACT An AT&T Wireless Services/PCSI developed open standard designed to support two-way paging and messaging services. The protocol uses an 8kbps link based on re-use of cellular channels. * POCSAG and GOLAY can also be found on U.S. domestic C/Ku-band Satellite SCPC carriers. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 3. Baud Rate Summary Table Below is a table of expected baud rates you can most likely encounter for the latest listing of modes available. An accurate baud rate is a valuable tool to identifying a particular mode and there are many modes that have unique baud rates. As of this writing the Hoka and Wavecom units seem to have the most accurate capability of all existing decoders currently on the market. All rates are in units baud. A few baud oddities of note: * 128.5bd ARQ-M2 French Forces circuit(s) between Papeete, Tahiti and Mururoa. * 184.6bd ARQ-E French Forces circuit(s) used by RFFXQA Sarajevo, BIH * 384bd FEC-A used by MFA Paris,F and French Emb., ROU * 109.3bd SITOR-B used by an unidentified user. Synchronous Data Block Systems ------------------------------ 50 ARTOR 96 SI-ARQ 100 SWED-ARQ TWINPLEX ARTOR SITOR-A PACTOR G-TOR 125 DUP-ARQ 144 SI-ARQ 171.42 IRA-ARQ 192 SI-ARQ 200 ARQ6-70 ARQ6-90/98 TWINPLEX ARTOR SI-ARQ PACTOR G-TOR 200.20 IRA-ARQ 228.5 MERLIN/ALIS(RS-ARQ) 240 HC-ARQ 250 DUP-ARQ-2 300 TWINPLEX G-TOR 300.30 IRA-ARQ 457 MERLIN/ALIS(RS-ARQ) Packet-like Systems ------------------- 125 CLOVER 240 HC-ARQ 250 CLOVER 300 PACKET 375 CLOVER 500 CLOVER 1200 ACARS/HFDL Multi-tone/MFSK Systems ----------------------- 13.33 COQUELET 20 PICCOLO 26.67 COQUELET 40 CROWD36 100 MIL188 TT2300b 240 MERLIN/ALIS-2(7 tone burst ARQ ALIS mode) 1364 b/s LINK-11 2250 b/s LINK-11 Synchronous Bit Stream Systems ------------------------------ 36.5 81-81 40.5 81-81 42.1 CIS-14 47.5 CIS-14 48 ARQ-E ARQ-E3 ARQ-N CIS-14 50 CIS-11 CIS-27 CIS-14 ARQ-E 62.3 AUTOSPEC SPREAD-11/21/51 64 ARQ-E ARQ-E3 ARQ-N 68.5 AUTOSPEC SPREAD-11/21/51 SUI-FEC 70.5 CIS-14 72 ARQ-N ARQ-E ARQ-E3 CIS-14 73 81-81 75 IRA-ARQ 81 81-81 83.3 CIS-14 84.21 CIS-14 85.7 ARQ-E ARQ-M2-242/342 ARQ-N 86 ARQ-E ARQ-E3 87 ARQ-M2 ARQ-M4 94.11 CIS-14 96 ARQ-N ARQ-E ARQ-E3 ARQ-M2 ARQ-M4 FEC-A SI-FEC CIS-14 100 POL-ARQ SITOR-B TORG-10 IRA-ARQ CIS-11 CIS-27 CIS-14 100.05 HNG-FEC 102.7 AUTOSPEC SPREAD-11/21/51 109.3 SITOR-B 110 IRA-ARQ 125 ARS-GUARD 128.5 ARQ-M2-342 137 SPREAD-11/21/51 144 ARQ-N ARQ-E ARQ-E3 FEC-A CIS-14 150 IRA-ARQ CIS-11 164.48 ROU-FEC 172 ARQ-M4-242/342 184.6 ARQ-E 192 ARQ-N ARQ-E ARQ-E3 ARQ-M2 FEC-A SI-FEC 200 ARQ-E3 ARQ-M2 ARQ-M4 SI-FEC IRA-ARQ CIS-11 CIS-14 218.3 ROU-FEC SPREAD-11/21/51 240 IRA-ARQ 250 DUP-ARQ-II 288 FEC-A CIS-14 ARQ-E 300 IRA-ARQ CIS-11 384 FEC-A 600 IRA-ARQ Asynchronous Bit Stream Systems ------------------------------- 50 BAUDOT 75 BAUDOT 100 BAUDOT 110 ASCII 300 ASCII --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 4. System Parameters This section lists the unique characteristics of each named mode: specifying character length and known alphabet for all modes. For synchronous data block systems, block length, cycle specifics and baud rate is listed. For sychronous bit stream systems, cycle information and character specifics, such as sync bits, parity bits and interleaving details are listed. Finally for the MFSK systems, tones, tone layout and tone spacing are listed. Synchronous Data Block Systems - Table 4-A ------------------------------------------ +------------------------------------------ character size (bits) | +------------------------------------ alphabet in use | | +---------------------------- block size (chars) | | | +------------------------ repetition cycle (bits) | | | | +------------------ total rep. cycle time(mS) | | | | | +---------- cycle breakdown as | | | | | | (ISS/IRS/rest) | | | | | | +- most commonly found baud v v v v v v v comments ----------+---+-------+---+----+------+----------+-----+----------------------- ARQ6-70 | 7 |ITA3 | 6| 70 | 350 | 42/7/21 | 200 |rare ----------+---+-------+---+----+------+----------+-----+----------------------- ARQ6-90 | 7 |CCIR476| 6| 90 | 450 | 42/7/41 | 200 | ----------+---+-------+---+----+------+----------+-----+----------------------- ARQ6-98 | 7 |CCIR476| 6| 98 | 490 | 42/7/49 | 200 | ----------+---+-------+---+----+------+----------+-----+----------------------- SWED-ARQ/ | 7 |CCIR476| 3| 45 | 450 | 21/7/17 | 100 | ARQ-SWED | | | 9| 90 | 900 | 63/7/20 | 100 | | | | 22|180 | 1540 |154/7/19 | 100 | ----------+---+-------+---+----+------+----------+-----+---------------------- TWINPLEX | 7 |CCIR476|2*3| 45 | 450 | 21/7/17 | 100 | See Table 4-F ----------+---+-------+---+----+------+----------+-----+---------------------- SITOR-A | 7 |CCIR476| 3| 45 | 450 | 21/7/17 | 100 | ----------+---+-------+---+----+------+----------+-----+---------------------- SI-ARQ/ | 7 |ITA3 | 3| 42 | 437.5| 21/7/14 | 96 |every odd cycle has ARQ-S/ | | | 4| 56 | 583.3| 28/7/21 | 96 |all bits inverted ARQ1000S | | | 5| 70 | 729.2| 35/7/28 | 96 |RC of 5 and 6 are | | | 6| 84 | 875.0| 42/7/35 | 96 |most commonly found | | | 7| 98 |1020.8| 49/7/42 | 96 | ----------+---+-------+---+----+------+----------+-----+--------------------- DUP-ARQ/ | 5 |ITA2+7p| 5| 88 | 704 | 32/32/12 | 125 |7p added to ea. blk ARTRAC | | | | | | | |of 5 char. each xm DUP-ARQ-2/| | | | | | | 250 |burst is 32bits. ARTRAC 2 | | | | | | | |5ch @ 5bits + 7p ----------+---+-------+---+----+------+----------+-----+--------------------- MERLIN/ | | | |1250| | |228.7| ALIS | | | | | | | | ----------+---+-------+---+----+------+----------+-----+--------------------- IRA-ARQ | | | | | | | | ----------+---+-------+---+----+------+----------+-----+--------------------- PACTOR | 8 |ITA5 | 96| 125| 1250 | 96/12/17 | 100 |*IRS is 12bits and | | |192| 250| 1250 |192/24*/32| 200 |ALWAYS sent @100bd ----------+---+-------+---+----+------+----------+-----+--------------------- G-TOR | 8 |ITA5 | 21| | 240 |192/16/32 | 100 | | | | 45| | 240 | | 200 | | | | 69| | 240 | | 300 | Asynchronous Data Block System - Table 4-B ------------------------------------------ +-------------------------------------------- character size (bits) | +----------------------------------------- alphabet in use | | +----------------------------------- block size (chars) | | | +---------------------------- block size (bits) | | | | +--------------------- block tx time (mS) | | | | | +------------- block breakdown (chars) | | | | | | +- most commonly found baud v v v v v v v comments --------+-+----+-----+-------+------+-------------+---+------------------------- HC-ARQ |5|ITA2| 38 | 174 | 725 |4 char sync, |240| All packets sent with no | | | | | |5*30 chars, | | timing restraints. Data | | | | | |4 char CRC | | packet can be sent at |5|ITA2| 68 | 324 | 1350 |4 char sync, |240| any time after a rx'ed | | | | | |5*60 chars, | | ACK from other station. | | | | | |4 char CRC | | Is therefore "Asynch". |5|ITA2| 188 | 924 | 3850 |4 char sync, |240| Packet length usually | | | | | |5*180 chars | | data chars + 8 chars | | | | | |4 char CRC | | overhead (4 header+4CRC) --------+-+----+-----+-------+------+-------------+---+--------------------------- PACKET/ |8|ITA5|8-264|64-2112|21-704|1 start flag,|300| Overhead is fixed at 8 AX25 | | | | | |3 address, | | bytes. Data block = 0 | | | | | |1 control 0- | | to 256 bytes | | | | | |256 data chrs| | | | | | | |2 CRC bytes | | | | | | | |and end flag | | Asynchronous Bit Stream Systems - Table 4-C ------------------------------------------- char using size alphabet characteristics ---------+-----+---------+---------------------------------------------------- BAUDOT |5 bit|ITA2 |1 start,5 data, 1, 1.5, or 2 stop (exact stop bit | | |length can vary) 1 char = 7, 7.5, 8 bits ---------+-----+---------+---------------------------------------------------- ASCII |x bit|ITA5 |1start,5,6,7 data bits(x), 1 stop + 1p (optional) | | |1 char = 8,9 or 10bits/p bit = none,even or odd ---------+-----+---------+---------------------------------------------------- Synchronous Bit Stream Systems - Table 4-D ------------------------------------------ +---------------------------------------------- char size (bit) | +-------------------------------------- using alphabet | | +------------------------------ repetition cycle | | | +------------------------- characteristics v v v v ----------+--+---------+-----+---------------------------------------------- ARQ-N | 7|ITA2P | 4/8 |No inverted char every 4 of 8 char ----------+--+---------+-----+---------------------------------------------- ARQ-E/ | 7|ITA2P | 4/8 |every 4th/8th char inverted which marks it ARQ1000D | | | |as the 1st char of that block of 4 of 8 chars ----------+--+---------+-----+---------------------------------------------- ARQ-E3 | 7|ITA3 | 4/8 |see ARQ-E ----------+--+---------+-----+---------------------------------------------- ARQ-M2-242| 7|ITA3 |4/5/8|a-ch erect, b-ch invert, char interleaved 342| 7|ITA3 | 4/8 |a-ch erect, b-ch invert, char interleaved ----------+--+---------+-----+---------------------------------------------- ARQ-M4-242| 7|ITA3 |4/5/8|a/c-ch char interleaved a/b c/d bit interleave | | | |a-ch erect b/c/d invert 342| 7|ITA3 | 4/8 |a-ch erect, b-ch invert a/b chars interleaved | | | |c-ch invert d-ch erect a/b c/d bit interleave ----------+--+---------+-----+---------------------------------------------- AUTOSPEC |10|ITA2 + 5p| |1 char = 10 bits, 5bits of ITA2, 5 parity bits ----------+--+---------+-----+---------------------------------------------- SPREAD |10|ITA2 + 5p| |1 char = 10 bits w/ea. char interleaved over | | | |11,21 or 51 bits ----------+--+---------+-----+---------------------------------------------- 81-81 | | | |1 frame = 12 bits. 2-ch (bauds 73,81) | | | |1 frame = 6 bits. 1-ch (bauds 36.5,40.5) ----------+--+---------+-----+------------------------------------------------ CIS-11 | 5|CYR M2 | |1 frame = 11bits. 5 M2 char + 2sync + 4p ----------+--+---------+-----+---------------------------------------------- CIS-14 | 5|CYR M2 | |1 frame = 14bits. 2-ch bit interleave | | | |frame:a1B1a2B2a3B3a4B4a5B5a6B6p1p2(2*6bits+2p) | | | |a-ch:a2-6 b-ch:B2-6 a1b1p1p2=error correction | | | |1 frame = 28bits. CIS-14 variant ----------+--+---------+-----+---------------------------------------------- CIS-21 | 5|CYR M2 | |1 frame = 27bits. 1idle+5 M2 char+3p+18sync ----------+--+---------+-----+---------------------------------------------- FEC-A/ | 7|ITA2 | |data bits+p bits interleaved. Parity created FEC100A | | | |by shift register. 2 known lengths: 71 and 127 ----------+--+---------+-----+------------------------------------------------ HNG-FEC |15|15 bit | |1st 5bits ITA-2 with bits 1 and 5 inverted + | | | |10bits error correction. interleave of 64bits, | | | |each new char starts 15bits after preceding char ----------+--+---------+-----+------------------------------------------------ POL-ARQ | 7|CCIR476 |4/5/6|Similar to ARQ-N but using CCCIR476 alphabet ----------+--+---------+-----+---------------------------------------------- ROU-FEC/ |16|16 bit | |interleave of 128bits, new char starts 16bits RUM-FEC | | | |from preceding char. Bit masking used (10,15,31) ----------+--+---------+-----+------------------------------------------------ SI-FEC/ | 7|ITA3 | |each char inverted and repeated 15 chars later, FEC-S/ | | | |similar to ARQ-M2-242 FEC1000S | | | | ----------+--+---------+-----+------------------------------------------------ SITOR-B/ | 7|CCIR476 | |char interleaved, each char simply repeated NAVTEX | | | |after 350ms (5 chars/35 bits later) ----------+--+---------+-----+------------------------------------------------ TORG-10/11|11|ITA2 | |1 frame = 11 bits: 5 data + 2sync + 4p ----------+--+---------+-----+------------------------------------------------ IRA-ARQ | | | | ----------+--+---------+-----+------------------------------------------------ Multi-tone/MFSK/PSK Systems - Table 4-E --------------------------------------- +-------------------------------- modulation | +--------------------------- # of tones | | +------------------ tone shift/arrangement | | | +------ tone shift/spacing (Hz) | | | | +- bps(FSK) / symbol/sec(PSK) v v v v v comments -----------+----+--+----------------+----+-----+-------------------------------- PICCOLO MK6|MFSK| 6| 5*20Hz tone3-8 | 20 | 20 |1 char -> 2 tones, ea 50ms | | | | | |so 1 char = 100ms. 7.5 unit | | | | | |ITA2 gives 75 baud throughput | |12|11*20Hz tone0-11| 20 | 20 |ITA5 version. -----------+----+--+----------------+----+-----+-------------------------------- COQUELET 8 |MFSK| 8|7*26.7Hz tone1-8|26.7| 26.7|1 char = 2 consecutive tones | | | | | |ea 37.5ms. 1 char is 75ms -----------+----+--+----------------+----+-----+-------------------------------- COQUELET 13|MFSK|13|8*30Hz tone1-8 +| 30 | 13.3|1 char = 2 consecutive tones | | |4*30Hz tone9-12 | | |ea. 75ms. 1 char is 150ms -----------+----+--+----------------+----+-----+-------------------------------- CROWD36 |MFSK|36|35*40Hz tone1-36| 40 | 40 |3 groups of 10+11+11 tones | | | | | |tones 1,12,24,36 rarely used | | | | | |1 of 32 tones=1 of 32 ITA2 chars -----------+----+--+----------------+----+-----+-------------------------------- MIL188 | | 8|7*400Hz | 400| | -----------+----+--+----------------+----+-----+-------------------------------- TT2300b |MFSK| 8|7*200Hz | 200| 100/|100bps gives 300bps throughput | | | | | 200 |200bps gives 600bps throughput -----------+----+--+----------------+----+-----+-------------------------------- LINK-11 |QPSK|15|14*110Hz | 110| |1 doppler tone @605Hz offset | | | tone 1@935Hz | | |1 sync tone @2915Hz offset -----------+----+--+----------------+----+-----+-------------------------------- MERLIN/ |MFSK| 7|3*100Hz tone1-3 | 100| |-400/-300/-200/0/+200/+300/+400 ALIS-2 | | |3*200Hz tone3-5 | 200| | | | |3*100Hz tone5-7 | 100| | -----------+----+--+----------------+----+-----+-------------------------------- MS5 Russian|PSK |12|11*200Hztone1-11| 200| 100 |1 pilot tone @3300Hz Vocoder | | | tone 1@700Hz | | |(rare: 3600Hz) -----------+----+--+----------------+----+-----+-------------------------------- CLOVER |PSK | 4|3*125Hz | 125|31.25|Supp: BPSM/125bps QPSM/250bps | | | | | | 8PSM/375bps 16PSM/500bps | | | | | | 8P2A/500bps 16P4A/750bps | | | | | |Total bandwidth 500Hz -----------+----+--+----------------+----+-----+-------------------------------- CLOVER-2000|PSK | 8|7*250Hz | 250|62.50|Supp: BPSM/500bps QPSM/1000bps | | | | | | 8PSM/1500bps 8P2A/2000bps | | | | | | 16P4A/3000bd | | | | | |Total bandwidth 2kHz -----------+----+--+----------------+----+-----+-------------------------------- HF=Datalink|PSK | 8| | | |Adaptive rates of 150,300,600, | | | | | | 1200,1800 supported. -----------+----+--+----------------+----+-----+-------------------------------- 4+4 |MFSK| 8|3*300Hz tone1-4 | | | | | |1*450Hz Gap | | | | | |3*300Hz tone5-8 | | | TWINPLEX Parameters - Table 4-F ------------------------------- o CCIR476 alphabet, 1 char = 7bits o 2 channels of 3 characters, 1 block = 6 chars o Characters may be "erect" or "inversed" or "erect and inversed" o 1 cycle = 450ms, 210ms tx 240ms rx o Interleave is station selectable o Channel decode is station selectable o Frequency shift is station selectable ------------------------------------------------++-------------------------- Interleave (lower case: ch1 UPPER CASE: ch2) || Channel Decode Method ------------------------------------------------++-------------------------- WORD - abc ABC def DEF ghi GHI jkl || * F7B-1 BBYY BYBY BIT - a1 A1 b2 B2 c3 C3 d4 D4 e5 E5 f6 F6 || F7B-2 BBYY BYYB CHAR - a A b B c C d D e E f F || F7B-3 BYBY BBYY NONE - abc def ghi jkl || * F7B-4 BYBY BYYB [normal SITOR sends interleave NONE] || F7B-5 BYYB BBYY --------------------+-----------+---------------+| F7B-6 BYYB BYBY Frequency Offset | Shift | User || ch.1 ch.2 f1 f2 f3 f4 | | || -400 -200 +200 +400 |200/400/200|* || B defined as:0/spc/start -200 -85 +85 +200 |115/170/115|*Spain/Pakistan|| Y defined as:1/mrk/stop -255 -85 +85 +255 |170/170/170| Dutch || -150 -50 +50 +150 |100/100/100| || -300 -100 +100 +300 |200/200/200| || -200 -85 +85 +600 |115/170/515| Pakistan || * commonly found --------------------+-----------+---------------++-------------------------- Usual defaults: 100bd, 115/170/115, Erect ch A, Invert ch B, word interleave ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Notes on Alphabets - Table 4-G ------------------------------ o ITA5 can be referred to as IRA. o ITA5 is the ASCII alphabet and consists of 128 characters, controls, specials, numbers, lower case letters and upper case letters. This alphabet uses up to 7 bits and sometimes includes a 8th bit for parity. o ITA2P is 5 bit ITA2 converted to 7. A character is composed of 1 sync bit + 5 bit ITA2 char + parity. Sync bit is always 1 (except for idle and RQ), parity is odd. o BAUER is a 10 bit alphabet, used by AUTOSPEC and SPREAD o 16 bit alphabet 0 is a 16 bit alphabet, used only by ROU-FEC 16 bit alphabet 1 is a 16 bit alphabet mod 10, used only by ROU-FEC THESE ALPHABETS ARE LISTED IN Wavecom 4100 literature - no further details. o These alphabets are based on ITA2, a 5 bit alphabet. Cyrillic M2 Cyrillic M19 Hebrew Arabic ATU-70 4th shift Arabic ATU-80 ("Baghdad 80") 3rd shift Greek 3rd shift Korean 3rd shift Amharic 3rd shift Thai o 3rd shift Japanese is a 6 element code with start and stop signals used in Japan for their national TELEX network. Code Tables B defined as:0/spc/start ----------- Y defined as:1/mrk/stop ITA2P SITOR No. Letter Figure ITA2 ARQ1A ITA3 CCIR476 --- ------ ------ ----- ------- ------- ------- 1 A - YYBBB BYYBBBY BBYYBYB BBBYYYB 2 B ? YBBYY BYBBYYB BBYYBBY YBYYBBB 3 C : BYYYB BBYYYBB YBBYYBB BYBBBYY 4 D $(1) YBBYB BYBBYBY BBYYYBB BBYYBYB 5 E 3 YBBBB BYBBBBB BYYYBBB YBBYBYB 6 F %(2) YBYYB BYBYYBB BBYBBYY BBYBBYY 7 G &(2) BYBYY BBYBYYB YYBBBBY BYBYBBY 8 H #(2) BBYBY BBBYBYY YBYBBYB BYYBYBB 9 I 8 BYYBB BBYYBBY YYYBBBB BYBBYYB 10 J @(3) YYBYB BYYBYBB BYBBBYY BBBYBYY 11 K ( YYYYB BYYYYBY BBBYBYY YBBBBYY 12 L ) BYBBY BBYBBYY YYBBBYB BYBYYBB 13 M . BBYYY BBBYYYB YBYBBBY BYYBBBY 14 N , BBYYB BBBYYBY YBYBYBB BYYBBYB 15 O 9 BBBYY BBBBYYY YBBBYYB BYYYBBB 16 P 0 BYYBY BBYYBYB YBBYBYB BYBBYBY 17 Q 1 YYYBY BYYYBYY BBBYYBY YBBBYBY 18 R 4 BYBYB BBYBYBY YYBBYBB BYBYBYB 19 S '(3) YBYBB BYBYBBY BYBYBYB BBYBYYB 20 T 5 BBBBY BBBBBYB YBBBYBY YYBYBBB 21 U 7 YYYBB BYYYBBB BYYBBYB YBBBYYB 22 V = BYYYY BBYYYYY YBBYBBY YYBBBBY 23 W 2 YYBBY BYYBBYB BYBBYBY BBBYYBY 24 X / YBYYY BYBYYYY BBYBYYB YBYBBBY 25 Y 6 YBYBY BYBYBYB BBYBYBY BBYBYBY 26 Z +(4) YBBBY BYBBBYY BYYBBBY BBYYYBB 27 cr cr BBBYB BBBBYBB YBBBBYY YYYBBBB 28 lf lf BYBBB BBYBBBB YBYYBBB YYBBYBB 29 ls ls YYYYY BYYYYYB BBBYYYB YBYBBYB 30 fs fs YYBYY BYYBYYY BYBBYYB YBBYBBY 31 sp sp BBYBB BBBYBBB YYBYBBB YYBBBYB 32 idle(5) BBBBB BBBBBBY BBBBYYY YBYBYBB RQ YYYBBBB BYYBYBB YBBYYBB idle/beta YBBYBBY BYBYBBY BBYYBBY idle/alpha YBBBYYB BYBYYBB BBBBYYY CS1 BYBYYBB CS2 YBYBYBB CS3 BYYBBYB CS4 BYBYBBY CS5 BYYBYBB (1) "Who are you?" or British Pound symbol (2) each country can assign (3) can be switched (4) sometimes " instead of + (5) idle or 3rd shift ITA-5/ASCII/IRA --------------- hex digit 1st--> 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 2 +----------------------------------------- n | 7 B B B B Y Y Y Y B defined as:0/mrk/stop d | 6 B B Y Y B B Y Y Y defined as:1/mrk/stop | | 5 B Y B Y B Y B Y V | 4 3 2 1 bit ordering: 7654321 +----------------------------------------- 0 | B B B B | NUL DLE SPC 0 @ P ` p Special Notes: 1 | B B B Y | SOH DC1 ! 1 A Q a q YYBBBBB 60 - back tic (`) 2 | B B Y B | STX DC2 " 2 B R b r BYBBYYY 27 - single quote (') 3 | B B Y Y | ETX DC3 # 3 C S c s BYBYYBB 2C - comma (,) 4 | B Y B B | EOT DC4 $ 4 D T d t BYBYYBY 2D - minus/dash (-) 5 | B Y B Y | ENQ NAK % 5 E U e u YBYYYYY 5F - underline (_) 6 | B Y Y B | ACK SYN & 6 F V f v YYYYYYB 7E - tilde (~) 7 | B Y Y Y | BEL ETB ' 7 G W g w 8 | Y B B B | BS CAN ( 8 H X h x 9 | Y B B Y | HT EM ) 9 I Y i y A | Y B Y B | LF SUB * : J Z j z B | Y B Y Y | VT ESC + ; K [ k { C | Y Y B B | FF FS , < L \ l | D | Y Y B Y | CR GS - = M ] m } E | Y Y Y B | SO RS . > N ^ n ~ F | Y Y Y Y | SI US / ? O _ o DEL ACK - acknowledge FF - form feed BEL - bell FS - file separator BS - backspace GS - group separator CAN - cancel HT - horizontal tab CR - carriage return LF - line feed DC1 - device control 1 NAK - negative acknowledge DC2 - device control 2 NUL - null DC3 - device control 3 RS - record separator DC4 - device control 4 SI - shift in DEL - delete SO - shift out DLE - data link escape SOH - start of header ENQ - enquiry or WRU SPC - space EM - end of medium STX - start of text EOT - end of transmission SUB - substitute ESC - escape SYN - synchronous idle ETB - end of block US - unit separator ETX - end of text VT - vertical tab References: Wavecom Elektronik AG, Wavcom W4100 product literature HOKA Electronics, Code 3 v5.00 decoder manual and correspondance Klingenfuss Radioteletype Code Manual, 13th Edition Piccolo Tone Pairs and Alphabet - Table 4-H ------------------------------------------- There are 2 kinds of Piccolo signals, the 6-tone system which uses the ITA-2 alphabet and the 12-tone system which uses the ITA-5/ASCII alphabet. Piccolo as origionally designed used 32-tones. See Notes below. Piccolo Tone Table ------------------ 12-tone Piccolo 6-tone Piccolo ITA-5/ASCII ---------+ +---------- ITA-2 | | v v tone Freq (Hz) tone ---- --------- ---- 0 +---> 400 1 | 420 2 | 440 3 | 460 <---+ 0 4 | 480 | 1 standby 5 | 500 | 2 standby 6 | 520 | 3 7 | 540 | 4 8 | 560 <---+ 5 9 | 580 10 | 600 11 +---> 620 Piccolo 6-tone character set ---------------------------- bit order: tone 2 12345 0 1 2 3 4 5 tone 2 b4 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 # b5 t 0 1 111 101 110 110 101 111 t 0 Q Y W fs X ls o 1 1 011 001 010 010 001 011 o 1 P H L G M V n 2 1 100 000 --- idl 000 100 n 2 Z T --- idl O B e 3 0 100 000 --- --- 000 100 e 3 E nul --- --- cr D 1 4 0 011 001 010 010 001 011 1 4 I sp lf R N C 5 0 111 101 110 110 101 111 5 U S A J F K normal inverted normal inverted shift shift shift shift tone letter number letter number tone letter number letter number 00 Q 1 K ( 30 E 3 B ? 01 Y 6 F ! 31 nul nul O 9 02 W 2 J bel 32 --- --- idl idl 03 fs fs A - 33 --- --- --- --- 04 X / S ' 34 cr cr T 5 NOTE: 05 ls ls U 7 35 D $ Z + sby:standby 10 P 0 C : 40 I 8 V : idl:idle 11 H # N , 41 sp sp M . 12 L ) R 4 42 lf lf G & 13 G & lf lf 43 R 4 L ) 14 M . sp sp 44 N , H # 15 V = I 8 45 C : P 0 20 Z + D $ 50 U 7 ls ls 21 T 5 cr cr 51 S ' X / 22 --- --- --- --- 52 A - A - 23 sby sby --- --- 53 J bel W 2 24 O 9 nul nul 54 F ! Y 6 25 B ? E 3 55 K ) Q 1 Piccolo 12-tone character set ----------------------------- tone 2 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 bit order: b4 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 7654321 tone 1 b6 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 # b5 b7 0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 0 --- 000 100 100 000 --- --- 000 100 100 000 --- 1 1 0 010 001 011 011 001 010 010 001 011 011 001 010 2 1 0 110 101 111 111 101 110 110 101 111 111 101 110 3 1 1 0 110 101 111 111 101 110 110 101 111 111 101 110 4 1 1 1 010 001 011 011 001 010 010 001 011 011 001 010 5 1 1 2 --- 000 100 100 000 --- idl 000 100 100 000 --- 6 0 1 3 --- 000 100 100 000 --- --- 000 100 100 000 --- 7 0 1 4 010 001 011 011 001 010 010 001 011 011 001 010 8 0 1 5 110 101 111 111 101 110 110 101 111 111 101 110 9 0 0 110 101 111 111 101 110 110 101 111 111 101 110 10 0 0 010 001 011 011 001 010 010 001 011 011 001 010 11 0 0 --- 000 100 100 000 --- --- 000 100 100 000 --- tone 2 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 tone 1 0 dle dc4 4 0 8 < fs can 1 dc2 dc1 dc3 3 1 2 : 9 ; esc em sub 2 syn nak etb 7 5 6 > = ? us gs rs 3 V U W w u v ~ } del _ ] ^ 4 R Q S s q r z y { [ Y Z 5 P T t p x | \ X 6 @ D d ` l h L H 7 B A C c a b j i k K I J 8 F E G g e f n m o O M N 9 acq enq bell ' % & . - / si cr so 10 stx soh etx # ! " * ) + vt tab lf 11 null eot $ space ( , ff bs Notes: o When using ITA-5 on 12 tone Piccolo the parity bit is ignored. o The 6 tone Piccolo doesn't use the 3 lowest or the 3 highest tones. o Because of the way in which the Piccolo code was created the 6 tone Piccolo using ITA-2 is really a special case of the 12 tone Piccolo using ITA-5 but it is difficult to visualize here so the 6 tone Piccolo table and the 12 tone Piccolo table are presented as 2 tables. See the Klingenfuss RadioTeletype Code Manual, 13th Edition for the table as designed. 5/6 Tone Paging Parameter Tables - Table 4-I -------------------------------------------- European 5/6 tone systems - frequencies in Hz * is Repeat tone --------------------------------------------- = is Group tone ZVEI DZVEI DDZVEI tone EEA CCIR-1 CCIR-7 ZVEI-1 ZVEI-2 NATEL EURO ----+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ 0 | 1981 | 1981 | 1981 | 2400 | 2200 | 2400 | 1633 | 979.8 | 1 | 1124 | 1124 | 1124 | 1060 | 970 | 1060 | 631 | 903.1 | 2 | 1197 | 1197 | 1197 | 1160 | 1060 | 1160 | 697 | 832.5 | 3 | 1275 | 1275 | 1275 | 1270 | 1160 | 1270 | 770 | 767.4 | 4 | 1358 | 1358 | 1358 | 1400 | 1270 | 1400 | 852 | 707.4 | 5 | 1446 | 1446 | 1446 | 1530 | 1400 | 1530 | 941 | 652 | 6 | 1540 | 1540 | 1540 | 1670 | 1530 | 1670 | 1040 | 601 | 7 | 1640 | 1640 | 1640 | 1830 | 1670 | 1830 | 1209 | 554 | 8 | 1747 | 1747 | 1747 | 2000 | 1830 | 2000 | 1336 | 510.7 | 9 | 1860 | 1860 | 1860 | 2200 | 2000 | 2200 | 1477 | 470.8 | 10/A|=1055 |=2400 |=2400 |=2799.9 | 2599.9 |= 885 | 1633 | 433.9 | 11/B| 930 | 930 | 930 | 810 | 2799.9 | | 600 | 400 | 12/C| 2246.9 | 2246.9 | 2246.9 | 970 | 810 | |=1995 | 368.7 | 13/D| 991 | 991 | 991 | 886 | 886 | | 2205 | 1153.1 | 14/E|*2110 |*2110 |*2110 |*2599.9 |*2400 |* 970 |*1805 |*1062.9 | 15/F| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | ----+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ 40ms 100ms 70ms 70ms 70ms 70ms 70ms 100ms Tone Duration Reach 11th root of 2 tone EIA MODAT CCITT VDEW Hi Freq Lo Freq ----+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ 0 | 600 | 637.5 | 400 | 2280 | 2400 | 1200 | 1 | 741 | 787.5 | 697 | 370 | 2253 | 1127 | 2 | 882 | 937.5 | 770 | 450 | 2116 | 1058 | 3 | 1023 | 1087.5 | 852 | 550 | 1987 | 993 | 4 | 1164 | 1237.5 | 941 | 675 | 1865 | 933 | 5 | 1305 | 1387.5 | 1209 | 825 | 1751 | 876 | 6 | 1446 | 1537.5 | 1335 | 1010 | 1644 | 822 | 7 | 1587 | 1687.5 | 1477 | 1240 | 1544 | 722 | 8 | 1728 | 1837.5 | 1633 | 1520 | 1450 | 725 | 9 | 1869 | 1987.5 | 1800 | 1860 | 1361 | 681 | 10/A| 2151 | | 1900 | 2000 | | | 11/B| 2432.9 | | 2000 | 2100 | | | 12/C|=2010.1 | | 2100 | 2200 | | | 13/D| 2292 | | 2200 | 2300 | | | 14/E|* 459 |* 487.5 | 2300 | 2400 | | | 15/F| 0 | | 0 | 0 | | | ----+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ 33ms 40ms 100ms 100ms 40ms 40ms Tone Duration EEA - Electronic Engineering Association, UK CCIR - Comite Consultatif International de Radio ZVEI - Zentralverband der Electrotechnischen Industrie, West Germany DZVEI - Depressed ZVEI DDZVEI - Double Depressed ZVEI NATEL - Scandinavian National Telephone Euro - 6 tone Hi power AM paging in ECPT countries. EIA - Electronics Industries Association, US - Motorola Metropage MODAT - Motorola 7 tone ANI Status System REACH - 2 to 5 tone selective call, ANI --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 5. What decoders are available. This section will list most known units with information collected from a variety of open sources. They range from the professional high end units, through the hobbiest units, down to the public domain units. This grouping is purely the opinion of the compiler and is not meant to disparage any man- ufacturer. A professional unit is a unit that covers many modes, includes sophisticated analysis tools, and probably costs a lot of money. These units represent the cutting edge in decoder technology. At this time we group Hoka, Wavecom and Universal as professional units. The hobbiest units are those units that include the most common modes, some tools for analysis and are a little more affordable. Public domain units are self explanatory but non the less valu- able as a stepping stone to a more sophisticated unit if you find the area of signals analysis intriguing. An attempt is made to completely list the complete capabilities and features of the professional units based on the latest literature from the manu- facturers. This is done because they provide the most for the money. In the hobbiest units, an attempt is made to provide hilites for each unit. Keep in mind that it is impossible to own or test all the units mentioned here - nor would you want to. Many units provide the same capability and similiar tools and the decision to buy one unit over another will probably come down to cost. Another question to consider is whether or not "hobbiest" units can really be considered serious units for monitoring? If you have the desire to ferret out and identify digital signals then these units will have a high frustration factor because they don't include the wide selection of modes currently on the air or the necessary tools to analyse a signal. If marine, soviet, or amateur monitoring is what you are looking for then these units can be a cost effective selection. FAX and SSTV units are not covered in this document. Instead check out one of the best FAX/SSTV references on the net: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/HFFAX This page is maintained by Marius Rensen and covers FAX technology, FAX transmission schedules and decoders. This page also includes SSTV related programs. See the SSTV information in Section 1-F of this document for other net resources. Specifically this section covers the following data decoders: Professional Units Manufacturer ---------------------------- --------------------------------- M400, M900-VF, M1200, M8000 Universal (obsolete M800,M7000) Code 3, Code 30 Hoka W4010, W4050, W4100 Wavecom Hobbiest Units Manufacturer ---------------------------- --------------------------------- Air Master, Mode Master Lowe ERA Microreader ERA AEA PK-232MBX Advanced Electronic Applications AEA PK900 Advanced Electronic Applications MCL 1100 Momentum Communications PC/SWL Software Systems Consulting Franklin Converter Logic Limited KAM+ Multi-Mode Controller Kantronics new MFJ462B stand alone reader MFJ new MFJ1214PC MFJ new MFJ1278B data controller MFJ BMK-MULTY v3.43 G4BMK P38 HAL Personal Code Explorer Microcraft Corporation Public Domain Manufacturer ---------------------------- --------------------------------- Hamcomm Public Domain JVFax Public Domain VHF Units Manufacturer ---------------------------- --------------------------------- Message Tracker v2.0 K&L Technology ACT1 ACARS Universal Radio Pager Datascope JSoft Technologies ACARS Decoder Advanced Electronic Applications =============================================================================== 5-A. PROFESSIONAL UNITS PROFESSIONAL UNITS =============================================================================== 5-A.1 HOKA Decoders Decoder: Hoka Code 3 (version 5) Level: Comprehensive, sophisticated decoder for Experts Synopsis: The Hoka Code 3 comes in two parts: an interface box which connects to a free serial port of an IBM compatible PC, and the software itself, on a 1.44Mb 3.5 inch PC diskette. The hardware interface box now contains a software controlled filter which improves decoding performance over the previous version (v4). Bandpass filter is automatically controlled in center frequency and bandwidth for optimum setting depending on the decoding module, baud speed and shift setting. The decoder is implemented entirely in software which makes it extremely powerful together with a wealth of analysis tools, most of which are also included as standard. This is probably the most powerful decoder for its price. The user has practically complete control over all important parameters for each mode decoded. Exotic data systems are available as optional software modules, at extra cost. Comprehensive on-screen diagnostics and system information are shown for each mode decoded. Each module is chosen from a simple menu system with one-key commands to set or change system parameters. There is even an optional module (Auto Classification) which will measure the system's baud speed and shift parameters, analyse the bit pattern and jump into the correct decoding module for the received data system! Full Synoptic decoding of meteo AAXX and BBXX codes is also available as an option. Modes Decoded: ARQ6-70 ARQ6-90 & 98 ARQ-E ARQ-N (built info ARQ-E module) ARQ-E3 ARQ-M2-242/2 ch CCIR242 ARQ-M4-242/4 ch CCIR242 (Part of ARQ-M2-242 module) ARQ-M2-342/2 ch CCIR342-2 ARQ-M4-342/4 ch CCIR342-2 (Part of ARQ-M2-242 module) ARQ-S/SI-ARQ ASCII (ITA-5/IRA) AUTOSPEC Baudot RTTY with Auto speed determination Baudot F7BBN RTTY with Auto speed determination COQUELET Mk I (13 tone) (Option "Specials") COQUELET Mk II (8 tone) (Option "Specials") CW with Auto speed determination (uses "Farnsworth" method) DUP-ARQ ARTRAC FAX 60, 90, 120, 240 LPM: 288, 352, 576 IOC B/W & 16 shade FEC-A (with Error correction enabled) FEC-A RAW (no Error correction) GMDSS/DSC (Option "Specials") HC-ARQ (Option "Specials") HELLSCHREIBER HNG-FEC (Option "Specials") AX.25 Packet 300 and 1200 Baud PACTOR, including ICRC and UNHCR variants PICCOLO Mark VI (Option "Specials") POL-ARQ ROU-FEC/RUM-FEC (Option "Specials") SI-FEC/FEC-S SITOR-A SITOR-A RAW SITOR-B SPREAD 11, 21, 51 (built into AUTOSPEC module) SWED-ARQ/ARQ-SWED SYNOP 'AAXX' and 'BBXX' decoding (Option "SYNOP") TORG-10 & 11 (Option "Specials") TWINPLEX Analysis Tools: Signal Spectrum "Analyser" with high precision Baud Rate and Shift measurement Calibrated Signal Oscilloscope (user selectable settings) Signal "Autocorrelation Raw" (on raw audio components) Signal "Autocorrelation Mod" (on modulated components) Signal "Autocorrelation Bit" (on bit pattern component) Text screen based "rough and ready" baud speed indicator Text screen based mark/space ratio bias dist. indicator Graphical bit stream viewer (fully user selectable) Text screen based bit stream viewer with output to disk Character Analysis Simplex (for Simplex ARQ systems) Character Analysis Duplex (for Duplex ARQ and FEC systems) Auto Classification Extras Required: IBM Compatible PC (80286 or 80386 CPU) Mono or Colour Monitor 1 free serial port (for LF3 Interface connection) Supplier: (US) Computer Aided Technologies, PO Box 18292, Shreveport, LA 71138, USA Tel: 318 636 1234 (UK) Ntech Communications, 8 The Crescent, Willingdon, East Sussex, BN20 9RN, United Kingdom Tel: +44 1323 483966 (NL) Hoka Electronics, Flessingsterrein 13, NL-9665, BZ Oude Pekela, Netherlands Tel: +31 5978 12327 Approx. Price: Package GBP USD --------------------------------------- Basic 329 595 Piccolo * 85 Coquelet * 85 HNG FEC, RUM FEC, TORG, HC-ARQ * 115 Synoptic Decoder 65 85 Oscilloscope inc 85 Save to Disk File inc 85 Auto Classify inc 85 Pactor inc 35 Specials (all * above) 150 GMDSS/DCS 75 Post & Packing 10 UK Notes: Prices includes UK sales tax ("VAT") at 17.5% inc - included in basic 499 price - not available separately as "options". * - all grouped together as one option called "specials" -------------------- Decoder: Hoka Code 30 (version 2.0) Level: Comprehensive, VERY sophisticated decoder for Experts Synopsis: Arguably the King of Decoders! The decoder consists of a card which is inserted into a free 8 or 16 bit slot in an IBM compatible PC, together with the decoding software on a 1.44Mb diskette. The decoder board is high-quality, RF screened and makes use of Digital Signal Processing (DSP) techniques. Because of DSP technology, the Code 30 will deal with any traditional system plus complex systems using Phase Shift Keying (PSK) and the like. Its power and flexibility, due to DSP and software based modules, means that many government agencies and military surviellance units make use of the Code 30. Modes Decoded: ARINC ANNEX10 Selcal (aircraft selcals) ARQ6-70 ARQ6-90 & 98 ARQ-E ARQ-N (built info ARQ-E module) ARQ-E3 ARQ-M2-242/2 ch CCIR242 ARQ-M4-242/4 ch CCIR242 (Part of ARQ-M2-242 module) ARQ-M2-342/2 ch CCIR342-2 ARQ-M4-342/4 ch CCIR342-2 (Part of ARQ-M2-242 module) ARQ-S/SI-ARQ ASCII (ITA-5/IRA) AUTOSPEC Baudot RTTY with Auto speed determination Baudot F7BBN RTTY with Auto speed determination COQUELET Mk I (13 tone) (Option "Specials") COQUELET Mk II (8 tone) (Option "Specials") CW with Auto speed determination (uses "Farnsworth" method) DUP-ARQ ARTRAC FAX 60, 90, 120, 240 LPM: 288, 352, 576 IOC B/W and 256 shade at 1024x768. Also Meteosat AM demod. FEC-A (with Error correction enabled) FEC-A RAW (no Error correction) GMDSS/DSC (Option "Specials") HC-ARQ (Option "Specials") HELLSCHREIBER HNG-FEC (Option "Specials") AX.25 Packet 300 and 1200 Baud PACTOR, including ICRC and UNHCR variants PICCOLO Mark VI (Option "Specials") POL-ARQ ROU-FEC/RUM-FEC (Option "Specials") SI-FEC/FEC-S SITOR-A SITOR-A RAW SITOR-B SPREAD 11, 21, 51 (built into AUTOSPEC module) SWED-ARQ/ARQ-SWED SYNOP 'AAXX' and 'BBXX' decoding (Option "SYNOP") TIME (DCF77) - set PC date/time to DCF77 time. TORG-10 & 11 (Option "Specials") TWINPLEX VHF Modes Decoded: ACARS/SITA CCIR 1 Selcal (Option "VHF") CCIR 7 Selcal (Option "VHF") CCITT Selcal (Option "VHF") CTCSS all standard frequencies (Option "VHF") DCS (PL) all standard codes (Option "VHF") DTMF (Option "VHF") EEA Selcal (Option "VHF") EIA Selcal (Option "VHF") EURO Selcal (Option "VHF") NATEL Selcal (Option "VHF") Tone AutoClassification (Option "VHF") Pocsag/Super Pocsag VDEW Selcal (Option "VHF") ZVEI 1 Selcal (Option "VHF") ZVEI 2 Selcal (Option "VHF") Demodulators: OOK, BFSK, BFEK, MFSK, MFEK (up to 40 tones), 2DPSK, 4DPSK, BPSK, QPSK, OQPSK (MSK). Diversity can also be selected. Both input signals are sampled many times PER ELEMENT and best signal chosen in real-time. Analysis Tools: Signal Spectrum "Analyser" with high precision Baud Rate and Shift measurement Audio Oscilloscope with zoom function Signal "Autocorrelation Raw" (on raw audio components) Signal "Autocorrelation Mod" (on modulated components) Signal "Autocorrelation Bit" (on bit pattern component) Text screen based "rough and ready" baud speed indicator Text screen based mark/space ratio bias dist. indicator Graphical bit stream viewer (fully user selectable) Text screen based bit stream viewer with output to disk Character Analysis Simplex (for Simplex ARQ systems) Character Analysis Duplex (for Duplex ARQ and FEC systems) Auto Classification High precision Audio Spectrum Analyser. 3 zoomed displays down to +/-250Hz. Audio Spectrum Waterfall display. 3 zoomed displays down to +/-250Hz. Phase Spectrum Analyser Phase Oscilloscope Phase Plane (aka "Vector scope") Straddle (X tuning screen for FSK's) Save raw digitized/sampled audio to Disk File - 7MB of extended RAM equates to approx 15 minutes "record time" Save Decoded text to Disk File Alphabets (ITA2 variants): Standard International US Military National Scandinavian 3rd shift Greak (Optional) M19 Cyrillic (Optional) M19 Latinized (Optional) M2 3rd Shift Cyrillic (Optional) M2 3rd Shift Latinized (Optional) Hebrew (Optional) Amateur upper/lower case Arabic ATU-70 (Optional) Arabic ATU-70 Latinized (Optional) Arabic ATU-80 4th shift (Optional) Arabic ATU-80 4th shift Latinized (Optional) Farsi (Optional) Extras Required: IBM Compatible PC (at least 80386 CPU - '486 recommended) Mono or Colour Monitor Supplier: (UK) Ntech Communications, 8 The Crescent, Willingdon, East Sussex, BN20 9RN, United Kingdom Tel: +44 1323 483966 (NL) Hoka Electronics, Flessingsterrein 13, NL-9665, BZ Oude Pekela, Netherlands Tel: +31 5978 12327 Approx. Price: Package GBP --------------------------- Basic 2050 Synoptic Decoder 65 VHF 150 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 5-A.2 Wavecom Decoders Decoder: WaveCom W4010 (version 5) Level: Comprehensive, intermediate level decoder Synopsis: The first comprehensive decoder for the amateur as well as professional user. Now being phased out in favour of the more up-to-date W4050 but still widely available on the second hand market. Again, a self-contained unit requiring a composite monitor for the control, and incoming text displays. Like its W4100 bigger brother, this decoder again sports just about every mode that is in regular use on HF plus a good array of analysis tools. Software and modes decoded are held in a number of EPROMs contained in the machine, amking for simple update. Modes Decoded: Baudot RTTY Auto speed determination CW Auto speed determination SITOR-A SITOR-B ASCII (ITA-5/IRA) SI-ARQ FEC-A SI-FEC AUTOSPEC SWED-ARQ ARQ-E ARQ-E3 POL-ARQ ARQ-M2 ARQ-M4 AX.25 Packet 300 and 1200 Baud FAX 60, 90, 120, 240 LPM: 288, 352, 576 IOC Analysis Tools: Speed/Baudrate Determination IAS Baudrate determination Shift Measurement System Alphabet and Bit analysis Unshift On Space (UOS) Multiple Scroll Inhibit Extras Required: Composite Video Monitor Supplier: WaveCom Nachrichtentechnik AG, Badenerstrasse 122, CH-8434, Kaiserstuhl, Switzerland. Tel: 1858 0200 Approx. Price: DM2,500 (excl. Tax) CHF2,300 (excl. Tax) ------------------- Decoder: WaveCom W4050 (Preliminary Info at March 1995) Level: Comprehensive, VERY sophisticated decoder for Experts Synopsis: Will this be the challenger to the Hoka Code 30 and knock it off its throne as "King of Decoders"? This decoder is expected to be released at any time now and will basically be a new W4100. A new PC control system is also planned to be available at the same time as the decoder. Full use will be made of Digital Signal Processing (DSP) technology allowing for the decoding of traditional, and more complex systems, like DPSK, QPSK etc. Otherwise just like the W4100 with a very powerful suite of analysis tools and modes that can be decoded. Modes Decoded: Baudot RTTY Auto speed determination CW Auto speed determination SSTV TORG-10 & 11 SITOR-A SITOR-B ASCII (ITA-5/IRA) SI-ARQ FEC-A FEC-S SI-FEC SPREAD 11, 21, 51 AUTOSPEC DUP-ARQ TWINPLEX ARQ-6-90 & 98 SWED-ARQ ARQ-E ARQ-E3 POL-ARQ ARQ-M2 ARQ-M4 ARQ-N PACTOR, including ICRC variants Hellschreiber Piccolo Mark VI and Mark 12 Coquelet Mark I ROU-FEC/RUM-FEC HC-ARQ HNG-FEC AX.25 Packet 300 and 1200 Baud FAX 60, 90, 120, 240 LPM: 288, 352, 576 IOC Meteosat Satellite FAX Meteo Synoptic Decoder (Optional) POCSAG GOLAY ATIS FMS-BOS INFOCALL Analysis Tools: Fast Fourier Transform Speed/baudrate Determination Real-Time Spectrum Analyser IAS Baudrate determination Fast Fourier Transform Shift Measurement Autocorrelation of signal and data System Alphabet and Bit analysis Bit Length Analysis Automatic Recognition of all systems decoded Extras Required: VGA Monitor Supplier: WaveCom Nachrichtentechnik AG, Badenerstrasse 122, CH-8434, Kaiserstuhl, Switzerland. Tel: 1858 0200 Approx. Price: Unknown at time of writing. -------------------- Decoder: WaveCom W4100 (version 2.5.09) Level: Comprehensive, VERY sophisticated decoder for Experts Synopsis: Until the Hoka Code 30 came along, this was probably the decoder of choice for professional monitors in military and government agencies. The W4100 is a 19 inch rack mounting machine, self-contained unit which requires a VGA monitor as a display. If you want to build your own decoders, software can be loaded into the machine via a front panel mounted 3.5 inch disk drive. Like the Hoka decoders, a comprehensive set of signal analysis tools come as standard and the array of systems that the machine can decode is equally impressive. The display can also show text in English, Arabic, Cyrillic, and Greek directly. Modes Decoded: Baudot RTTY Auto speed determination CW Auto speed determination TORG-10 & 11 SITOR-A SITOR-B ASCII (ITA-5/IRA) SI-ARQ ALIS (RS-ARQ) FEC-A FEC-S SI-FEC SPREAD 11, 21, 51 AUTOSPEC DUP-ARQ TWINPLEX ARQ-6-90 & 98 SWED-ARQ ARQ-E ARQ-E3 POL-ARQ ARQ-M2 ARQ-M4 ARQ-N PACTOR, including ICRC variants Hellschreiber Piccolo Mark VI and Mark 12 Coquelet Mark I ROU-FEC/RUM-FEC HC-ARQ HNG-FEC AX.25 Packet 300 and 1200 Baud FAX 60, 90, 120, 240 LPM: 288, 352, 576 IOC Meteosat Satellite FAX Meteo Synoptic Decoder (Optional) POCSAG GOLAY ATIS FMS-BOS INFOCALL Analysis Tools: Fast Fourier Transform Speed/baudrate Determination Real-Time Spectrum Analyser IAS Baudrate determination Fast Fourier Transform Shift Measurement Autocorrelation of signal and data System Alphabet and Bit analysis Bit Length Analysis Automatic Recognition of all systems decoded Extras Required: VGA Monitor Supplier: WaveCom Nachrichtentechnik AG, Badenerstrasse 122, CH-8434, Kaiserstuhl, Switzerland. Tel: 1858 0200 Approx. Price: DM11,650 (excl. Tax) CHF10,000 (excl. Tax) 5-A.3 Universal Decoders Decoder: Universal M400 (version 2) Description: Entry level decoder for Beginners Synopsis: An easy-to-use decoder with most of the common modes found on both VHF, UHF and HF. Doesn't include CW (morse) which is somewhat surprising. Self-contained unit with a two line LCD display providing for 40 characters of text, there is also an 8000 character scrollable buffer which holds incoming text for review later. Housed in metal case. Universal Radio also supply an IBM computer control and text display option called the CI-400 costing around USD100. Modes Decoded: Baudot RTTY 45, 50, 57, 75, 100 Baud Baudot RTTY 60, 66, 75, 100, 132 WPM SITOR-A SITOR-B ASCII (ITA-5/IRA) 75, 110, 150 Baud FEC-A 96, 144 Baud FAX 120 LPM, 576 IOC POCSAG GOLAY ACARS DTMF 16 digits CTCSS (PL) 41 standard tones DCS (DPL) 104 standard codes Analysis Tools: LED Indicators for Mark, Space, Input and Data Extras Required: Graphics compatible parallel printer (for FAX) Supplier: (US) Universal Radio, 6830 Americana Parkway, Reynoldsburg, Ohio, OH 43068, USA Tel: 614 866 4267 (UK) Martin Lynch, 140-142 Northfield Avenue, Ealing, London, W13 9SB, United Kingdom Tel: +44 181 566 1120 Approx. Price: (US) USD400 (UK) GBP400 (Power Supply GBP20) ------------------ Decoder: Universal M900-VF (version 2) Discription: Entry level decoder for Beginners Synopsis: Easy to use decoder that covers all the main HF data modes. Basically an M400 unit without the VHF stuff and without the self contained display. This one does cover CW (Morse) though. Modes Decoded: Baudot RTTY 45, 50, 75 Baud Baudot RTTY 60, 66, 100 WPM CW 6 to 35 WPM (auto speed determination) SITOR-A SITOR-B FEC-A 96, 144 Baud FAX 60, 120, 240 LPM, 288 or 576 IOC Analysis Tools: LED Indicators for Mark, Space, Error, Data, Squelch, and Limiter. User controls for Normal/Reverse tones, Squelch setting, Change Case, Shift Up, Shift Down and Unshift on Space (UOS). Extras Required: Video Monitor (mono, composite video) Graphics compatible parallel printer (for hard copy) 12V DC Power Supply Supplier: (US) Universal Radio, 6830 Americana Parkway, Reynoldsburg, Ohio, OH 43068, USA Tel: 614 866 4267 (UK) Martin Lynch, 140-142 Northfield Avenue, Ealing, London, W13 9SB, United Kingdom Tel: +44 181 566 1120 Approx. Price: (US) USD500 (UK) GBP530 (Power Supply GBP20) ------------------- Decoder: Universal M1200 Level: Intermediate-level decoder for HF and VHF systems Synopsis: This decoder is comes on a full-size PC card to be inserted into an IBM compatible machine. The control software is supplied on a 3.5 inch PC diskette. Comprehensive on-screen status information and basic diagnostics are included. Modes Decoded: Baudot RTTY 20 to 250 Baud, auto speed determination CW 5 to 90 WPM, auto speed determination SITOR-A SITOR-B ASCII (ITA-5/IRA) 75, 110, 150, 300, 600, 1200 Baud ARQ-M2 86, 96, 100 Baud ARQ-M4 172, 192, 200 Baud ARQ-E 48, 64, 72, 86, 96, 144, 192 Baud ARQ-E3 48, 64, 72, 86, 96, 100, 192, 200 Baud ARQ-6-90 200 Baud FEC-A 96, 144, 192 Baud FAX 60, 90, 120, 240 LPM: 288, 440 or 576 IOC AX.25 Packet 300, 1200 baud POCSAG GOLAY ACARS CTCSS 41 standard frequencies DCS (PL) 104 standard codes Analysis Tools: On-screen tuning and staus information. Multiple Scroll Inhibit, Over-print Inhibit, Automatic Threshold Control, Databit and Literal modes. False colour and zoom for FAX. Incoming text can be saved to disk. User programmable memories and on-screen datascope. Extras Required: IBM compatible PC with VGA or EGA colour or mono monitor Supplier: (US) Universal Radio, 6830 Americana Parkway, Reynoldsburg, Ohio, OH 43068, USA Tel: 614 866 4267 (UK) Martin Lynch, 140-142 Northfield Avenue, Ealing, London, W13 9SB, United Kingdom Tel: +44 181 566 1120 Approx. Price: (US) USD400 (UK) GBP400 ------------------- Decoder: Universal M8000 (version 5) Level: Professional-grade, sophisticated decoder for Experts Synopsis: Stand-alone decoder much used by professional and semi-professional monitoring agencies around the world. Decodes just about anything that you'll hear on VHF or HF, but not quite in the same league as the Hoka PC-based systems or the Wavecom family. Can be fully controlled by a computer or terminal. Ten memories can be used to store favourite operating settings. Housed in a standard 19 inch rack mount cabinet. Modes Decoded: Baudot RTTY 20 to 250 Baud, auto speed determination CW (auto speed determination) SITOR-A SITOR-B ASCII (ITA-5/IRA) 75, 110, 150, 300, 600, 1200 Baud VFT (FDM) 8, 12, 16, or 24 channels Piccolo 6 tone ARQ-M2 86, 96, 100 Baud ARQ-M4 172, 192, 200 Baud ARQ-E 48, 64, 72, 86, 96, 144, 192 Baud ARQ-E3 48, 64, 72, 86, 96, 100, 192, 200 Baud ARQ-S 4, 5, 6, 7 character blocks ARQ-6-90 200 Baud SWED-ARQ 3, 9, 22 character blocks FEC-A 96, 144, 192 Baud FEC-S 96, 100, 144, 192, 200 Baud FAX 60, 90, 120, 240 LPM: 288 or 576 IOC AX.25 Packet 300, 1200 baud PACTOR 100, 200 Baud POCSAG GOLAY ACARS Analysis Tools: Third shift Cyrillic alphabet can be printed on-screen. Literal mode printing of data received, databit mode, auto baudrate, tuning and shift determination. Start printer when upto 3 matching selcalls are received. On-screen tuning scope. Screen print and screen saver. Multi-channel ARQ surveillance function. Signal spectrum display. User settable signal filters. Multiple scroll inhibit and Unshift on Space. Built-in self test functions. Display has on-screen tuning bars and real-time clock. Extras Required: VGA colour monitor (640x860 resolution or better) Graphics compatible parallel printer (for FAX) Supplier: (US) Universal Radio, 6830 Americana Parkway, Reynoldsburg, Ohio, OH 43068, USA Tel: 614 866 4267 (UK) Martin Lynch, 140-142 Northfield Avenue, Ealing, London, W13 9SB, United Kingdom Tel: +44 181 566 1120 Approx. Price: (US) USD1400 (UK) GBP1300 =============================================================================== 5-B HOBBIEST UNITS HOBBIEST UNITS =============================================================================== UNIT NAME |M|L|SYNOPSIS |MODES -------------------+-+-+------------------------------------+------------------ Momentum Communi- |1|E|A self-contained decoder,requires a |Baudot RTTY:45.45 cations MCL 1100 | | |composite monitor for display. On- |50,75,100,110,200 "Easy Reader" | | |screen tuning graph is displayed w/ |300bd, ASCII:45.45 | | |status line. Auto or manual tuning |50,75,100,110,200 | | |of signal supported. Optional serial|300bd. SITOR-A/B, | | |port supported. 12V DC power supply |CW Price: GBP225 | | |needed. | -------------------+-+-+------------------------------------+------------------ ERA Microreader Mk2|2|E|A self-contained decoder w/16 char |Baudot RTTY:45.45 version 4.2 | | |LCD display of incoming text,decodes|50,75,100bd, | | |all basic HF modes and includes a |SITOR-A/B, CW | | |Morse tutor. Serial port allows text| | | |to PC. 12V DC power supply needed. | Price: GBP200 | | |LED tuning bar graph supported. | -------------------+-+-+------------------------------------+------------------ Lowe Mode Master V2|3|E|Easy to use software-based decoder |Baudot RTTY, CW, | | |from the makers of the popular HF- |SITOR-A, SITOR-B, | | |series receivers. The system de- |FAX | | |codes the basic HF systems and also | | | |provides a map facility for driving | Price: GBP139 | | |the system. IBM PC needed. | -------------------+-+-+------------------------------------+------------------ Lowe Air Master |3|E|Easy to use software-based decoder |ACARS | | |dedicated to the decoding of ACARS | | | |aircraft reporting system. The de- | | | |coder consists of a small hardware | | | |interface that connects to a free | | | |serial port on an IBM compatible PC.| Price: GBP90 | | |PC is required. | -------------------+-+-+------------------------------------+------------------ AEA PK-232MBX |4|I|Popular multi-mode data controller. |Morse, Baudot, | | |Combines all standard modes in a |ASCII,AMTOR/SITOR | | |single unit. Supports GPS and is |PACTOR, VHF & HF | | |compatible with GPS, Loran, ARNAV |Packet, B&W Fax | | |ULTIMETER-II. Supports Gateway as |NAVTEX/AMTEX,TDM | | |node, has maildrop facility and can | | | |identify TCP/IP, TheNet and NetRom. | Price: $379.00 | | |Supports signal identification. |Signal ID w/SIAM -------------------+-+-+------------------------------------+----------------- AEA PK900 |4| |Multi-mode data controller. All |PACTOR, Packet, | | |standard modes included. Supports |AMTOR, ASCII, CW, | | |GPS and is compatible with GPS, |Baudot, B&W Fax, | | |Loran, ARNAV and ULTIMETER-II. |ARQE3, NAVTEX, | | |Supports True Gateway, dual ports |TDM,16lvl grey | | |and node operation. 16 shades of |scale FAX | | |grey FAX with false color capability| | | | | | | | | Price: $569.00 | | | |Signal ID w/SIAM -------------------+-+-+------------------------------------+----------------- PC/SWL [8/90pc] |6| |This low cost unid used DSP in |CW (3 to 100wpm) | | |hardware. Need 286 or better, 384K |Baudot (45 to 100) | | |memory, 1 serial port. Supports |Ascii (75 to 300) | | |tuning and digital scopes, auto- |SITOR A and B | | |signal ID, tunable filters and |Navtex | | |variable shifts, unattended capture | | | |and printing. | | | | | -------------------+-+-+------------------------------------+----------------- HAL P38 |8| |The only game in town for afford- |CLOVER | | |able Clover processing. This plug-in|PACTOR,AMTOR, | | |DSP card works on 386/486 based DOS |BAUDOT,ASCII | | |computers. It offers programmable | | | |tones for AMTOR, PACTOR and RTTY and| | | |supports all CLOVER modulation | | | |formats. | Price: $395.00 | | | | -------------------+-+-+------------------------------------+----------------- Franklin Converter |9| |PC based software and external |SSTV 15 modes [10/95mt] | | |converter can receive, store and |RTTY,CW,ASCII, | | |process FAX. Supports common amateur|NAVTEX,AMTOR | | |modes. Audio spectrum analyzer and | | | |tuning scope supported. | | | | | -------------------+-+-+------------------------------------+----------------- KAM+ Multi-Mode |A| |Stand-alone unit supports all |AMTOR,RTTY,ASCII, Controller | | |amateur modes and is the ONLY unit |GTOR,PACTOR,CW, | | |that support GTOR. Dual port |HF&VHF PACKET, | | |operation supported. Programmable |NAVTEX,WEFAX | | |Mark/Space supported. |support available | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | -------------------+-+-+------------------------------------+----------------- MFJ462B stand-alone|B| |Includes printer port, 8k message |RTTY,CW,SITOR-B, reader | | |memory, tuning indicator, CW speed |ASCII | | |tracking. Printer expects Epson | | | |compatibility | -------------------+-+-+------------------------------------+----------------- MFJ1214PC |B| |Tuning indicator for RTTY, CW speed |RTTY,CW,ASCII, | | |tracking, WeFAX can show 16 grey |WeFAX and color | | |levels or full color. FAX requires |FAX | | |512k RAM and can zoom. VGA is | | | |supported. | -------------------+-+-+------------------------------------+----------------- MFJ1278B |B| |Fax/SSTV supports 16 grey levels and|RTTY,PACKET,FAX, | | |color. SSTV supports Robot color |PACTOR,SITOR-A/B, | | |36/72, Robot B/W 8/12/24/36, Scotty |SSTV | | |color 1/2, Martin color 1/2 and AVT | | | |90/94. VIS tones are supported. | | | |Signals analysis supported on RTTY, | | | |ASCII,PACKET,SITOR-A/B. 20 LED | | | |tuning indicator included. | | | | | | | |Options: MFJ1278/DSP - DSP installed| | | | MFJ1278BT - 2400bd packet | | | | mode built in | -------------------+-+-+------------------------------------+----------------- BMK-MULTY v3.43 |C| |Versatile unit supports the amateur |RTTY,CW,AMTOR, | | |modes. Audio signal analyzer (opt) |PACTOR (opt), FAX | | |and logging are supported. Supports |and SSTV (opt) | | |transmit on all modes. Supports a | | | |variety of interfaces: ST5/6,AEA-CP1| | | |BARTG MULTYTERM,G3LIV PC internal | | | |modem,G3IQI modem. Low cost options | | | |(20.00) and upgrades (5-10.00) | | | | | -------------------+-+-+------------------------------------+----------------- Personal Code |D| |Hardware card supports the common |CW, RTTY, FAX, Explorer | | |modes with good FAX performance. |SITOR-A/B, PACKET [4/93mt] | | |Needs a CPU w/greater then 8MHz |ASCII, Navtex | | |speed, 512K memory, 1 serial port. | | | |Includes tuning scope and will store| | | |FAX but not RTTY output. | Price: $99.00+$4S&H| | | | -------------------+-+-+------------------------------------+----------------- Suppliers: (1) Momentum Communications, 6-7 Clarkson Place, Dudley Road, Lye, West Midlands, DY9 8EL, United Kingdom Tel: +44 1384 896879 (2) ERA, 26 Clarendon Court, Winwick Quay, Warrington, WA2 8QP, United Kingdom Tel: +44 1925 573118 (3) Lowe Electronics, Chesterfield Road, Matlock, Derbyshire, DE4 5LE, United Kingdom. Tel: +44 1629 580800 (4) Advanced Electronic Applications, Inc., 2006 196th St. SW P.O. Box C2160, Lynnwood, WA 98036 Tel: (206) 774-5554 (6) Software Systems Consulting, 615 S. El Camino Real San Clemente, CA 92672 Tel: (714) 498-5784 (8) HAL Communications Corp, P.O. Box 365, Urbana, IL 61801-0365 Tel: (217) 367-7373 (9) Logic Limited, 113 Cascade St., Morganton, NC 28655 Tel: orders (800) 439-8898 tech line (704) 437-1833 (A) Kantronics (B) MFJ, Box 494, Miss. State, MS 39762 Tel: orders (800) 647-1800 tech line (800) 647-TECH(8324) (C) written by G4BMK Spheretron/Schnedler Systems/AC4IW - distributer 25 Eastwood Rd., P.O. Box 5964, Asheville, NC. 28813 Tel: (704) 274-4646 (D) Microcraft Corporation, Box 513M, Thiensville, WI 53092 Tel: (414) 241-8144 =============================================================================== 5-C. PUBLIC DOMAIN SOFTWARE PUBLIC DOMAIN SOFTWARE =============================================================================== UNIT NAME |M|L|SYNOPSIS |MODES -------------------+-+-+------------------------------------+------------------ Hamcomm (Version 3)|1|I|This PC-based decoder is shareware. |Baudot RTTY:45- | | |The interface, which connects to the|200bd, CW 5-40wpm, | | |PC serial port, can be built at |SITOR-A/B, ASCII | | |little cost. Despite being low-cost | | | |the decoder is a fine piece of soft-|Signal Osciloscope | | |ware w/features found in decoders |Spectrum Analyser | | |costing over $100. PC, monitor and |Bit Len. Analyser | | |1 serial port needed. |Tuning Aid + Meteo | | | |SYNOP,SHIP and WX | | | |decoder. -------------------+-+-+------------------------------------+------------------ JVFAX 7.0 |2|I|JvFax is a shareware program for the|FAX IOC 200-576 | | |reception of wx and photo style fax.| LPM 48,60,90,120, | | |It also includes a transmit option | 180,240,360,480 | | |for Fax and an SSTV transmit and |SSTV B/W 8,12,24s | | |receive mode. Reception can be auto-| Scottie S1/S2/DX | | |mated and features time scheduling. | Martin M1/M2 | | |Automatic creation of wx movies is | Wraase 24,48,96 | | |supported when receiving from geo- | | | |stationary sat. GIF format is used | | | |to store pictures, but 24 bit un- | | | |compressed TIF can be used. | | | |IBM PC w/DOS 3.0+4 MB of RAM needed.| | | |WINDOWS or OS/2 is NOT SUPPORTED. | -------------------+-+-+------------------------------------+------------------ Suppliers: (1) W. F. Schroeder, Augsburger Weg 63, D-33102 Paderborn, Germany Also on many BBSes and Internet Archives. Hamcom approx. price: Registration Fee of USD30 or DM40 (2) Freeware =============================================================================== 5-D. VHF SPECIFIC UNITS VHF SPECIFIC UNITS =============================================================================== UNIT NAME |M|L|SYNOPSIS |MODES -------------------+-+-+------------------------------------+------------------ MessageTracker v2.0|1| |Software displays and stores pager |Golay | | |messages. Auto polarity and baud |POCSAG all speeds | | |rate detection supported. Can handle| | | |golay and multispeed pocsag on the | Price: $139.95 | | |same freq. | -------------------+-+-+------------------------------------+------------------ Pager Datascope |2| |Software is designed to diagnose |POCSAG all speeds | | |pager hardware, software, and wire- | | | |less media. Alpha and numeric trans-| | | |lation is displayed and written to | | | |disk. Can display and store synch- | | | |ronous bit patterns. tune indicator | | | |on screen. Display of CAP code, date| | | |time stamp and info plus results of | Price: $199.95 | | |error correction supported. | -------------------+-+-+------------------------------------+------------------ ACARS Decoder |3| |ACARS decoding software for IBM |ACARS [1/96 73] | | |computers. Also available as option | | | |for PK-232 and PK-900 owners | | | | | | | | | Price: $90.00 | | | | -------------------+-+-+------------------------------------+------------------ ACT1 ACARS |4| |ACARS decoding software and hard- |ACARS | | |ware. Uses 1 serial port on IBM | | | |computer. Supports view, print, | | | |save of text traffic. Requires 8088 | Price: $149.95 | | |CPU or better, 1 25 pin serial port.| -------------------+-+-+------------------------------------+----------------- Suppliers: (1) K&L Technology, P.O. Box 460838, Garland, TX 75046-0838 Tel: (214) 414-7198 Email: KLTsupport@aol.com (2) JSoft Technologies: via Universal Radio, 6830 Americana Parkway, Reynoldsburg, Ohio, OH 43068, USA Tel: 614 866 4267 (3) Advanced Electronic Applications, Inc., 2006 196th St. SW P.O. Box C2160, Lynnwood, WA 98036 Tel: (206) 774-5554 (4) Universal Radio, 6830 Americana Pkwy, Reynoldsburg, OH, 43068 Tel: (800) 431-3939/(614) 866-4267 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Section 6. Reference Materials The following are a series of references related specifically to Utility Monitoring. They cover logs, technical information on signals, World Wide Web pages and signal sources. You can never have enough references when it comes to Digital Utilities. 6-A. WWW Resources Equipment Manufacturers ====================================================================== Hoka (UK): e-mail: 100612.725@compuserve.com http://ourworld.compuserve.com:80/homepages/HokaElectronics/ Computer Aided Technologies/Hoka (US-rep): http://www.bcrr.secret.com/scancat.html Wavecom: e-mail: 101456.135@compuserve.com http://ourworld.compuserve.com:80/homepages/Wavecom/ Universal: e-mail: dx@universal-radio.com http://www.universal-radio.com AEA: e-mail: none http://www.mvangel.com/aea/ HAL: e-mail: none http://www.iea.com/~adrs/products/halcci_1.html LOWE: e-mail: none http://www.lowe.co.uk/index.html Kantronics: e-mail: kansales@kantronics.com http://www.kantronics.com/ http://www.siskin.co.uk/kan.html JSoft: e-mail: jsoft@mcs.com http://www.mcs.com/~jsoft/z1.html K&L Tech. e-mail: KLTsupport@aol.com http: none ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Publishers - Documents, Magazines and Databases ====================================================================== PC-Frequency: e-mail: 100450.1110@compuserve.com http://ourworld.compuserve.com:80/homepages/Frequencymanager/ Klingenfuss Publications: e-mail: 101550.514@compuserve.com http://ourworld.compuserve.com:80/homepages/Klingenfuss/ SHOC: e-mail: 1005265.1752@compuserve.com http://ourworld.compuserve.com:80/homepages/shoc/ Monitoring Times: e-mail: mteditor@grove.net http://www.grove.net/ HFFAX: e-mail: 100116.2632@compuserve.com (Marius Rensen) http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/HFFAX ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 6-B. Magazines and Books WUN/Worldwide Utility News Club - a worldwide electronic club dealing exclusively with Utility Signals on HF. Newsletter is sent on a monthly basis electronically. Topics covered include International Civil Aero, Logs, Digital Signals, Nautical, Military, Numbers and Longwave. To subscribe send mail to majordomo@grove.net In the BODY of the message type: subscribe wun. Paper copies are available from: Tim Brown 15915 Smithey Dr. Haymarket, Va. 22069, USA 1.50 per issue Monitoring Times - An all round, covers all aspects of the shortwave hobby type of magazine. No regular RTTY column since Jack Albert stopped writing but covers some digital issues in their Federal File, Utility World or Digital Digest columns. This magazine is published by Grove Enterprises. Monitoring Times P.O. Box 98 300 S. Highway 64 West Brasstown, NC 28902-0098 704-837-9200 $23.95/yr - U.S. $34.00/yr - U.S. funds elsewhere RTTY Listener - This newsletter is available free of charge to owners of Universal decoder boxes (M1000, M1200, M7000 and M8000). Bound reprints are available from Universal and it might be that the Listener is no longer being printed. Last issue was published Dec '94 but the reprints are good references if you own any of the Universal line of decoders. Universal Radio 6830 Americana Pkwy. Reynoldsburg, OH 43068 614-866-4267 Klingenfuss - One of the premier publishers of frequency reference guides. Their publications can be found at many radio/Ham equipment suppliers. The reference tends to be Eurocentric but are non the less valuable and extensive. The Radioteletype Code Manual is especially valuable for those that want some of the bit- level information about the various protocols found on the shortwave spectrum. A unique reference book for the digital monitor. Klingenfuss Publications Hagenloher Str. 14 D-72070 Tuebingen Germany Guide to Utility Stations DEM 70 Guide to Fax Radio Stations DEM 50 Air and Meteo Code Manual DEM 50 Radioteletype Code Manual DEM 30 Ferrell's - Confidential Frequency List 9th Edition - 9th Ed. A solid reference covering a wide range of signal types - Aero, Marine, Fixed, Embassy, Military, Fax. Frequencies collected from a wide variety of sources: individuals, clubs, journals and official sources. Siebel Verlag - Spezial-Frequenzliste 9kHz - 30MHz Ausgabe 1996/1997 By Rainer Brannolte/Wolf Siebel ISBN: 3-922221-80-7 Price: 34.80 DM Siebel Verlag Auf dem Steinbuechel 6 D-53340 Meckenheim Tel: ++49-2225-3032 Fax: ++49-2225-3378 6-C. Frequency Databases Klingenfuss Frequency Data Diskettes Master Frequency List DEM 150 Former Frequency List DEM 200 ICAO and WMO Lists DEM 300 Super Frequency List DEM 50 Klingenfuss Publications Hagenloher Str. 14 D-72070 Tuebingen Germany Frequency Manager for Shortwave Listener Ingenieurburo fur Satellitentechnik 23000 up-to-date frequencies and 10000 callsigns for aero, coast, fixed, embassy, fax, volmet and military. More than 150 pages, descriptions, tables, all HF-systems as a technical handbook integrated in a special help system. Tables on NATO routing indicators, routing indicators for AFTN, callsigns, arabic translations, HF-systems, table of system parameters with users, recognizing PSK and formats of common telegramms PC-Frequenz US 60 Broadcast module (optional) US 20 Quarterly update US 20 NSK Ingenieurburo fur Satellitentechnik Muhlenweg 11 24217 Stakendorf Germany Tel: 01149 4344 6758 Fax: 01149 4344 5154 SHOC RadioData SHOC has a Utility database that covers many services such as DIPLO stations, Air, Maritime, Military, Police, Government, Disaster relief, United Nations, Defense, ICRC/Read Cross, Press Agencies, Telecom, FAX, Meteo and Time Signals. The database is maintained by professionals in the monitoring business and is continuously updated. The database includes info such as: frequency, station, callsign, mode, baudrate, shift, latitude and longitude of the transmitter. See their homepage for a complete list of supported database fields and information on the other databases and products they offer. RadioData Utility Database 300.00 SFr. Mail/FAX to: R.Haenggi Weiherhof 10 CH-8604 Volketswil Switzerland Tel: +41-1-997 15 55 FAX: +41-1-997 15 56 6-D. Tape and CD Reference Materials Klingenfuss - A unique way to test your decoder is to use one of the following audio reference materials. These sources allow you to hear and decode what the various modes sound like. Compact Cassette Recording of Modulation Types DEM 60 Compact Disc Recording of Modulation Types DEM 100 Klingenfuss Publications Hagenloher Str. 14 D-72070 Tuebingen Germany Siebel Verlag - A demonstration cassette is also available from the makers of the Spezial-Frequenzliste. The cassette includes a selection of commonly found signals: Baudot - various bauds and shifts, Sitor-A/B, ARQ-E, ARQ-E3, ARQ-M2, FEC-A, POL-ARQ, ROU-FEC, ARQ-SWE, TWINPLEX, PICCOLO-6, FAX and CW. Available from the address above. Price: 19.80 DM .