Hongkong Radio Sports Association

Do You Really Think We Don't Know? - NŲAX, from ARRL Contest Rate Sheet 2008-01-09

Another relevant piece for us in greater China by NŲAX...

Do you REALLY think we don't know? Do you think an over-powered signal blasting through the pileups doesn't attract scrutiny? When we hear you seemingly everywhere at once - don't you think we'll figure out that there are more of you than one? Do you think your persistent packet poaching isn't leaving a trail in the sponsor's database that leads right back to you? And self-spotting...is it really worth the effort to try and obscure your posts from the detailed signature available to the Internet-savvy sleuths out there? Rest assured that contesters DO know what you're up to!

HRSA is trying to compile a list of former Hongkong amateurs. If you once held a Hongkong call, please email vr2bg at harts dot org dot hk.

The background sound (may not be heard, depending on browser software) to this page is of the People's Republic of China People's Liberation Army over-the-horizon radar from Hainan, which can be found on 20, 30, 40 & 80m, especially when other countries are conducting military operations in the region - the "Hoinam Dukminniu" (Hainan woodpecker in Cantonese) first reared its ugly head during Talisman Sabre, a biannual joint military exercise between USA & Australia during the summer of 2004. As Hongkong is roughly 450 km from Hainan, the radar is very strong & it is hoped that an appreciation for the consequences of its operation may result from having to put up with what those of us here have to deal with when trying to be QRV.

There is also a "Saisha Dukminniu" on 10m that has been identified from Thailand.

Over-the-horizon radars have in recent years become frequent intruders to amateur service spectrum, ending a period of silence since the Soviet Union's well-known system went QRT in the 1980s. Until recently, the biggest perpetrator has probably been the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force with their system (often called Pluto, apparently a name give to its antenna) from the Sovereign Base Areas on Cyprus, which since 2000 has been heard regularly on 10 through 30m at various times with the sort of stupendous signal that would be expected being built on a dry salt lake on a peninsula with open sea in most directions. It is not known if a previous OTHR from British soil - Cobra Mist, a United States Air Force project in the 1960s & 70s - operated in amateur service spectrum.

A supposed non-member of the axis of electromagnetic evil is Australia, with its extensive JORN & other systems (a paper on the history of OTHR in Australia can be found here). In ITU Region 3 a portion of 160m is also allocated to the radiolocation service (secondary to amateur, therefore Australia must not cause harmful interference to amateurs in ITU Region III with its radiolocation services). There have been reports from Indonesia & Thailand that perhaps another woodpecker heard on top band may come from Cocos-Keeling. Australia apparently will not operate its systems on what is not considered to be radiolocation spectrum per ITU, so although they may be on 160m, the Australians are nowhere near as nasty as the British - who can be heard almost daily, blatantly violating international agreements they have agreed to abide by from Cyprus.

The root cause of the problem for the amateur service from the likes of the British, Chinese & other woodpeckers is the lack of any radiolocation service allocation in the ITU-RR Table of Frequencies at HF. These OTHRs appear to target amateur service spectrum - no doubt in part because amateur service signal levels are lower than that of other services, meaning less interference to their radiolocation systems - but because they think they can get away with it.

Amateurs are advised to check International Amateur Radio Union (IARU) Region I, Region II & Region III Monitoring Service reports to see just who is doing what that is not supposed to be done in amateur service spectrum - although the People's Republic of China looks very bad right now & this is an embarrassment to us in Hongkong - if not greater China as a whole - the fact is that major leading, first-world democratic countries do not hesitate to allow or operate themselves electromagnetic weapons of mass destruction & use them on the amateur service. Does the saying "pot calling the kettle black" ring any bells?

Amateurs who hear intruders on our bands are encouraged to spot them on the spotting network.

JA3GN      1812.0 BYJAMMER    0823z Stop.                      0830 10 Nov 2006
VK4EJ      7000.0 BYRADAR     7000-7100 UNUSABLE!              1341 14 Jan 2007
VR2MX     14250.0 P5BCST      also 14280, 14000                0025 19 Jan 2007
VR2MX      7000.1 BY7RADAR    to 7080                          0840 19 Jan 2007
VR2MX     24900.0 ZC4RADAR    to 24935 just switch off         0854 19 Jan 2007
VR2MX     14010.0 BY0BCST     imd also 125                     0008 22 Jan 2007
VR2MX     14083.5 BY7SPUR     also 122 161 200 206 240, etc    0441 22 Jan 2007
VR2MX     18105.0 ZC4RADAR    to 18155                         0844 22 Jan 2007
VR2MX     14250.0 P5BCST      fm ~43 deg, no cxr on 000 or 280 2346 22 Jan 2007
VR2MX     14050.0 BY7DIGI     15 kc wide pegs meter fm ~25 deg 0021 23 Jan 2007
OE7WXI    10130.0 ZC4RADAR    30 kHz wide!!                    1735 07 Mar 2007
VR2MX     14115.0 KBCST/DU    voice of america, chinese news   0024 26 Jul 2007
BX5AA     14181.5 BV0PIRATE                                    1357 13 Oct 2007
9M6XRO    18160.0 BY2BCSTS    2 x Chinese BC stns competing    0209 16 Nov 2007
ZS1Y      14232.3 YB0PIRATE   LSB                              1724 18 Nov 2007

Use BCST for broadcast service intruders or spurious emissions from them, DIGI for digital intruders, RADAR for OTHR radiolocation service intruders, CODAR for CODAR radiolocation service intruders, SPLATTER for unidentified splatter sources, SPUR for spurs or other spurious signals from unknown services & JAMMER for the likes of the People's Republic of China's 160m "dragon's breath". Use INTRUDER for anything else. If the source of the signal is known, include the appropriate prefix to identify the responsible administration. Such spots help establish that there is an intruder problem - the extent of which could be quickly shown if there were more spots like the above.

Unlike in 2006, when spots of jamming of the Chinese Taipei pirate broadcasts on 17 & 20m of Sound of Hope by the People's Republic of China helped us identify the original jamming source as from Shantou, Guangdong (subsequently moved to Hainan), spots of P5BCST have produced an unfortunate reaction from amateurs who apparently do not care about the loss of often exclusive amateur service spectrum to intruders, or at the least consider a two-way contact with a station from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to be far more important than anything else. As the spotting networks the DXing community enjoys today were started by the radiosporting community, it should sadden all amateurs to see such objections to efforts to clean up the bands for everyone's benefit. Who will be next to show to all of us that they do not care for the defense of amateur service spectrum?

UR8IDX    14000.0 VR2MX       Dont joke...                  0038 13 Jan 2007
RW0LG-@   14250.0 P5BCST      NOT IN QRZ.COM                0228 14 Jan 2007
ON6RK     14000.0 VR2MX       stop spotting P5..( N.korea)  0028 23 Feb 2007
W3UR      21015.0 VR2MX       North Korean Alarms           0005 28 Feb 2007
W3UR      21080.0 VR2MX       setting off Alarms P5         0006 28 Feb 2007
W3UR      21015.0 VR2MX       including P5 whatever BCI     0049 28 Feb 2007
W4NW      21420.0 P5BCST      Is this DX or SWL stuff?      0342 28 Feb 2007
W3FQ-@    14250.0 P5BCST      Phony!                        2351 28 Feb 2007
W5ZPA     14250.0 VR2MX       stop stop stop with that spot 2344 28 Feb 2007

20 Feb on6rk (0103Z) : VR2MX : Why always spotting things we can not work ???
22 Feb w5zpa (2357Z) : to VR2MX please don't do that anymore
28 Feb w5zpa (0012Z) : to VR2MX every time you spot P5BCST you engage the alerts on the cluster so please stop it.
28 Feb w5zpa (0013Z) : to VR2MX I am sure that I am not the only one who has asked to you stop
28 Feb yv5anf (0015Z) : TO VR2MX DONT U HV ANY BETTER THING TO DO ??????
28 Feb ea1aus (0033Z) : VR2MX PSE STOP P5 spots
02 Mar yv5anf (0026Z) : VR2MX THINK U NEED A GOOD RCR, U GET HARMONICS
03 Mar dk0pm (0520Z) : to VR2MX pse stop your every day  new country spotting !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
05 Mar yv5anf (0047Z) : TO VR2MX WHAT IS THE IDEA TO SPOT THOSE STATIONS WHICH ARE NOT HAM RADIOS ??????
08 Mar w2yc (0240Z) : Can't someone explain to VR2MX that this is a DX spotting site ?

It used to be that the savvy DXer would use the Voice of Korea broadcasts on 20m as an indication of propagation into north Asia, as noted by K3ZO in the Potomac Valley Radio Club newsletter for September, 2007:

"April-thru-September is good time of year to work China from here. If the K index is 2 or below the 20 meter band is likely to open over the North Pole around 1100 UTC and can last until 1300 UTC or so. This coincides with early and mid-evening in China when people are likely to be at home. Good markers to check propagation are harmonics of broadcast stations from the area which show up as carriers on 14250 and 14280 kHz."

HRSA is encouraged to note that the efforts of the IARU Region 3 Monitoring Service & spotting of intruders believed to be from the People's Republic of China by amateurs world-wide has attracted the attention of mainland Chinese amateurs, although sadly there are those who do not believe there is such a thing as OTHR, or that the Dragon's Breath is some sort of foreign propaganda (be careful, on-line translators such as Google should not be taken literally, but will give the reader a good grasp of what is being discussed). Every amateur can help reclaim our bands by helping make the amateurs of the People's Republic of China, United Kingdom & other countries of the electromagnetic axis of evil understand that their respective countries are terrorizing us all.

A presentation on OTHR by HRSA treasurer VR2BG at the 2008 Asia-Pacific DX Convention can be downloaded here & a video of the presentation can be seen here.

HRSA is aware of the following reports of intruders made to Hongkong's Radio Monitoring Unit (RMU) of the Office of the Telecommunications Authority (case number, date, description & any updates):

8221 2005-xx-xx Over-the-horizon radar known to be operated by United Kingdom Royal Air Force on 30, 20, 17, 15, 12 & 10m amateur bands (none of these bands in any ITU Region have been allocated to the radiolocation service).

8311 2005-06-xx 80m over-the-horizon radar believed to be operated by PLA Navy from Hainan. Also on 40m. Level of activity peaked again during military exercises involving USA conducted around April 2006. On 40m, from May 2006 would also switch from typical OTHR pulses to CODAR. It has also been heard sounding like a very rough running petrol engine. RMU has advised they cannot get a bearing at all.

8333 2005-xx-xx Sea surface radar (CODAR) that has been covering entire exclusive 12m amateur band for several years now. Switches on & off per China time zone working hours. Bearings from observers suggest mainland side of Taiwan Straight, to northeast of Hongkong. Known to be heard in other places like Western Australia & Micronesia. RMU has advised they think it is either from southeast or northwest.

10140 2005-12-07 Wideband noise carrier on 3550 kc, with entire 80m band blanketed by S9 noise, plus spurs sounding similar to that on 3550 kc also on the 30, 20, 17 & 15m amateur bands. 3550 kc carrier very strong with observer very close to Shekkong Camp, a major Chinese PLA installation in Hongkong. Bearing on 15m spur clearly from the direction of the camp. Sound of 3550 kc carrier very similar to recordings of 160m "dragon's breath" reported elsewhere. RMU advised they heard nothing when they came out to investigate some number of weeks later. Signal not heard again since, but local activity on 80m very low now due to what could be same noise coming from PLA installations around Guangdong province & therefore likely to go unnoticed.

3292 2006-03-xx Numerous modulated spurs (as well as wide band noise) matching broadcast station transmitting on 17765 kc across 18 Mc amateur service allocation. Possibly China Business Radio.

5048 2006-05-04 Noise spurs found on 80m, repeating every 75 kc to 15m & beyond, present continuously. Bandwidth of spurs appear wider with increase in frequency, as if they are harmonics. Spurs seem predominately vertically polarized on LF, but on 15m a deep null on rotary dipole points straight to China Light & Power Company Limited facility in Autau, line-of-sight from observer's location. On joint investigation with RMU on 2006-06-16, source appears to be something else, perhaps in Kamtin.

5049 2006-05-09 Numerous modulated spurs (as well as wide band noise) matching broadcast stations transmitting on 13775 & 13970 kc across 14 Mc amateur radio service allocation. 13970 kc is used by BBC World Service for Mandarin broadcasts & the People's Republic of China is well known to jam such broadcasts.

5186 2006-05-16 AM broadcast station from NW of Hongkong on 24930 kc, with Mandarin dialect Chinese modulation & usual "reverb" that would be result from using multiple transmitters from multiple locations for jamming using a backhaul of common program material with some amount of latency. RMU advise they have been unable to receive.

5217 2006-05-18 Chinese male voices speaking in Mandarin dialect Chinese with a regional accent on 50100 kc FM, no identification, not sounding like amateurs. Similar stations found on 50125 kc FM at same time on 2006-06-01. Sounds like taxi dispatch operation. RMU advise they have been unable to receive.

6016 2006-06-02 AM broadcast carriers found on 18075, 18095, 18100, 18105, 18115, 18125, 18130 & 18140 kc, modulated with Mandarin dialect Chinese program material. Only audible on vertical, not horizontal polarization antenna.

6222 2006-06-14 Mainland China AM broadcast station purportedly jamming "Sound of Hope" (itself an intruder, reportedly from Taiwan) on 18160 kc. From 00-02 GMT, very good bearing of ~60° seen from observer's location.

6279 2006-06-14 Mainland China AM broadcast station heard on 7010 kc at 2230 GMT.

6392 2006-06-23 Mainland China AM broadcast station heard on 18160 & 14180 kc simultaneously at 0730 GMT, with same program material. Fairly good bearing of ~60° seen from observer's location. Source suspected to be near Guangdong/Fujian provincial border - grid square OL83, perhaps?

6419 2006-06-24 Mainland China AM broadcast station heard on 14200 kc at 0400 GMT. Same program material as carrier on 18200 kc heard at same time. Refer to case #6392 above.

6279 2006-07-17 Over-the-horizon radar believed to be operated by PLA Navy from Hainan, 7007 to 7077 kc. Interestingly, RMU has given this the same case number as the AM broadcast intruder reported on 2006-06-14.

7497 2006-07-29 Splatter from AM broadcast station on 13850 kc across 20m amateur band. Carrier from east, suspected location Shantou, Guangdong.

8286 2006-08-18 AM broadcast station on 14050 kc from Hainan, roughly 50 kc wide (jamming pirate broadcast from Taiwan). Pirate broadcast has since moved to 13970 kc & the jamming station still heard splattering into the 20m amateur band.

9239 2006-09-16 OTHR operated by mainland China military returns to bottom of 80m.

9410 2006-09-28 AM broadcast station on 14100 kc identifying itself as Radio China International in Mandarin dialect Chinese, Spanish & Portuguese.

10015 2006-10-03 AM broadcast station on 14065 kc modulated with two sources. In Mandarin dialect Chinese, direction from observer consistent with source in Shantou.

10052 2006-10-04 Mainland Chinese AM broadcast station on 14040 kc, ~33° from observer.

10053 2006-10-04 Mainland Chinese AM broadcast station on 14090 kc, ~33° from observer.

10054 2006-10-04 Mainland Chinese AM broadcast station on 14095 kc, ~33° from observer.

10055 2006-10-05 Mainland Chinese AM broadcast station on 14010 kc, ~33° from observer.

10056 2006-10-05 Mainland Chinese AM broadcast station on 14020 kc, ~33° from observer.

10057 2006-10-05 Mainland Chinese AM broadcast station on 14050 kc, ~33° from observer.

10058 2006-10-05 Wide band noise across 20m amateur band, appears at same time as mainland Chinese broadcast stations, ~33° from observer.

10059 2006-10-05 Wandering spurs across 20m amateur band, ~33° from observer.

RMU later lumped cases 10052-10059 with case 10015, if understood correctly.

10088 2006-10-07 AM broadcast stations on 24895, 24905, 24930, 24945, 24955, 24980 & 24990 kc, from north to north-north-east of observer. Voice of Korea top-of-hour English ID heard.

10089 2006-10-07 AM broadcast stations on 21015, 21080 & 21445 kc, top-of-hour English ID as Voice of Korea heard. 21445 kc carrier strongest of three (21015 & 21445 kc same program material), about 30° from observer. On 2006-11-14, same program material on 21015/21420 & 21080/21445 kc.

10091 2006-10-07 AM broadcast station identifying itself as "zhong guo something dian tai" (chinese something radio) in Mandarin dialect Chinese on 24910 kc. Carrier also identified itself in English as Voice of Korea earlier. RMU wanted to consider this as part of case 10088. We now suspect that the People's Republic of China does transmit Voice of Korea program material on behalf of Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

11105 2006-11-07 Over-the-horizon radar believed to be operated by PLA Navy from Hainan, 10092 to 10153 kc. Since heard sounding more like CODAR, just like on 40m.

11121 2006-11-08 AM broadcast station identifying itself as "China Radio International" in English, program "China Drive" in English, 14110 kc from NE of observer.

11202 2006-11-16 Digital carrier on 7001 kc, audible even at midday. Also similar sounding carriers on 14002 & 21003 kc coming from due north of observer, likewise heard even late at night. The carrier on 15m masks roughly the bottom 6 kc of the amateur band.

As of end November 2006, RMU has apparently done field investigations of some 21 reports, including those above, due to not being able to hear the intruders at their facility in Ngautaukok. They apparently did not have much better success at two different locations, one of which was Tsimbeitsui (a north facing peninsula surrounded by salt water, within swimming distance of the mainland).

1227 2007-01-23 Digital carrier, about 15 kc wide, centered about 14050 kc. Pegs S-meter; ~25° from observer. Occupied bandwidth in violation of amateur regulations in Hongkong, suspected People's Liberation Army comms system from installations in Fanling/Sheungshui area of Hongkong.

1271 2007-01-26 160m "dragon's breath", covering 1700 to nearly 2000 kc, coming from somewhere in China.

Here is an article from the Japanese Mainichi Shimbun newspaper of 2006-12-03 (thanks JE1JKL) about the 160m "dragon's breath":

The 160m amateur band has been rendered absolutely useless in Hongkong by the "dragon's breath". This is not believed to be radar or any sort of radiolocation service transmission, as any receive location would be hard pressed to resolve a return from a target due to its constant, blanketing transmissions. Rumors circulating in early 2007 that this is a sea surface monitoring system are unlikely to be true, as at this low a frequency it would be a very large wave they are looking for!

Update 2007-07-20: RMU advises since January, they have not heard the dragon's breath even once, despite signals of S9 received in Hongkong during their working (read: daylight) hours. RMU's field team even set up near the location of an observer in an effort to hear what has been reported:

2081 2007-02-06 Return of China Radio International English language program on 14110 kc (see case 11121 above).

2083 2007-02-06 AM broadcast signal in Mandarin dialect Chinese on 14025 kc.

2102 2007-03-02 AM broadcast station identifying itself as Voice of America on 7025 kc. Program material same as that transmitted on 7120 kc from Voice of America relay site in Republic of Philippines.

3153 2007-03-18 Unknown digital carrier covering 20994-21007 kc, from north of observer.

3246 2007-04-20 AM broadcast station intermodulation distortion products on 14025, 14035, 14080, 14090, 14110 & 14115 kc.

4228 2007-04-29 Return of AM broadcast station from Hainan province, People's Republic of China, jamming Sound of Hope transmissions from Taiwan on 18160 kc.

5153 2007-05-13 AM broadcast station in Bahasa Indonesia, identifying in English as Voice of America on 14195 kc.

5154 2007-05-13 AM broadcast station in Bahasa Indonesia, identifying in English as Voice of America on 14100 kc.

5155 2007-05-13 AM broadcast station identifying itself as Voice of Korea on 14250 kc.

5156 2007-05-13 Splatter across 20m band from mainland China AM broadcast station on 13775 kc (similar to case 7497 above).

6059 2007-06-06 Digital carrier, approximately 5 kc wide, from north of observer on 14015 kc.

6123 2007-06-13 Digital carrier, same as cases 6059 & 6097 above, on 14025 kc.

xxxx 2007-06-21 Digital carrier, same as cases 6059, 6097 & 6123 above, on 14143 kc. No separate case number given.

6203 2007-06-25 Digital carrier, same as cases 6059, 6097, 6123 & report of 2007-06-21, on 14035 kc.

6227 2007-06-28 Spur on 18152 kc from AM broadcast station from Hainan province, People's Republic of China, jamming Sound of Hope transmissions from Taiwan on 18180 kc.

7060 2007-07-08 AM broadcast station identifying itself as Voice of Russia on 18135 kc.

Here are some spectrum analyzer plots that should be self-explanatory. S9 is based on industry "standard" of 50 µV. MDS (minimum discernable signal) of equipment used by amateurs today can be in the vicinity of -135 dBm. It does not take a rocket scientist to understand that these two examples (the first splatter from a broadcast service station below the 20m band suspected to be located in Guangdong province & the second CODAR from up the coast, perhaps Fujian province) cause significant harmful interference to the operation of amateur stations in Hongkong - contrary to local & national laws & regulations, as well as provisions of the International Telecommunications Union that supposedly are embraced both locally & nationally.

International Reply Coupons In Hongkong

Contrary to suggestions otherwise, Hongkong Post redeems IRCs per International Postal Union (UPU) regulations - as clearly stated in Hongkong Post documentation. This means that only the older, pre-1975 smaller surface IRCs cannot be redeemed.

All later IRCs clearly say in French that the chop is optional & therefore need not be chopped by the issuing postal authority.

The UPU has repeatedly confirmed that post-1975 IRCs remain valid indefinitely - only the newer ones with expiration dates are invalid after the date printed on them.

It is mandatory that all member-states of UPU redeem IRCs per UPU regulations, though issuing them is optional.

About HRSA...

HRSA originally started out as what was called FARTS (Foreign Amateur Radio Transmitting Society), an informal social gathering of Hongkong amateurs in the 1970s & 80s, usually centered around a dinner & some visitor - not to be confused with the dinners held after Hongkong Amateur Radio Transmitting Society (HARTS) meetings at the American Restaurant in Wanchai or the Pine & Bamboo in Causeway Bay.

With the requirement of being a British subject dropped in 1983, the size & demographics of the Hongkong amateur population changed & by 1986 activity on 2m FM reached the point that a repeater where users spoke English was sought by those with a poor command of Cantonese.

At this time, all repeater licenses were held by HARTS & due to peculiarities common to amateur radio organizations & Hongkong in particular, this "closed user group" posed a problem so the English Language Amateur Radio Communications Society was formed & history made when the VS6MA license was effectively transferred to it in 1988. When it was QRV, the ELARCS repeater had probably the best coverage of any repeater on the south China coast.

In addition to the repeater, ELARCS at one point also operated a digipeater & DX spotting cluster on packet. ELARCS also supported HARTS during the Trailwalker & other charity events, by relaxing the repeater's English-speaking rule.

ELARCS membership is varied, ranging from keen locals to expatriate heads of major multi-national corporations, banks, etc - the combination of location, time & people is what made ELARCS. Credit for this without a doubt goes to VS6CT, master of networking & our president. During its heyday, Phil took the FARTS dinner to new heights, whether it be the annual dinner in the Royal Hongkong Yacht Club Compass Room or a regular dinner meeting in the Hongkong & Shanghai Bank's Jackson Room, any ELARCS do was not to be missed!

On the serious side, ELARCS has been involved in representing the amateur service to Hongkong's telecommunication authority since its inception, along with HARTS & Japanese Amateur Radio Overseas Club (VR2JC). After a period of exclusion from participation & comments about a difference in English language perception based on nationality by a senior telecommunications authority director, it was felt appropriate to change the name to the Hongkong Radio Sports Association. HRSA currently remains active in representing the amateur service to the local telecom authority - specifically, the amateur service as it is in the rest of the world, with the hope of one day achieving the same in the territory.

Direct requests have been received from: 7K2TNI DL1YEF EC5AAB ES5TV HB9MX JA2AYP/1 JA3WNB JA4IU JA6BP JH1KZQ JL7BRH JO1HQC JR1FVI JR1UBR JS2LHI JQ1YIW K3ZO K4XD KA4H KB3FJD MM0XAU N7BHI OE3EHA OM2FY RA9FR UA0AZA US6EX VR2VAC WB8FSV XE1RBV. Replies will be sent out once QSLs are printed.