THE BEST OF THE EARLY SSC SCANNING FREE INFO SHEETS (sorry for the dreadful grammer etc, just read and enjoy) ARE YOU SITTING COMFORTABLY? On a little island called the United Kingdom lived a scanner club called SSC. Over the years they produced periodic sheets of information, below is a hotch potch of items from the best of the first thirty-one sheets. Originally written on a CPM computer, later transferred to an MS-DOS system and now finally trimmed for the USA market By Nigel Ballard SOMETIMES THE BEST MONITORING IS THE DISCRETE FREQUENCY THAT YOU FOUND YOURSELF AFTER HOURS OF SCANNING THROUGH GARBAGE, THE NEXT BEST MUST BE THE FREQUENCY GIVEN BY A FRIEND THAT TAKES AGES TO BREAK SQUELCH ! well here is a rare one that is not often heard. Every so often the RAF have a SORTIE off the UK coastline. Recently the USAF and DUTCH airforce have sent over AWACS to monitor and protect civil air traffic from the muddle of tactical air platforms that dart around in such sorties. As well as watch they also record the action for evaluation at a later date. To receive a civil radar pattern they form a link with NEATISHEAD. What is NEATISHEAD, well it's a very secure military radio exchange. Most of it is underground and well guarded. It is to antennas what rabbits are to breeding, if you get my drift. Anyway on the discrete frequencies mentioned below you will hear the most interesting traffic as well as much digitally encrypted speech. Of course secure speech comes out as bleeps and fast boring data chains, but to just hear it once on your scanner is a first that should not be missed, especially as you are listening to the future standard for all REALLY INTERESTING radio traffic. Perish the thought I hear you say. As mentioned recently in a radio mag, all AWACS are called 'MAGIC', i.e. MAGIC 69 to MAGIC 63. The dreaded secure speech is usually referred to as 'VINCENT'. Other links are called 'BEAVER' 'ALLIGATOR' 'FRISBEE' 'FLYFISH' 'PLAYGROUND'. We believe that frisbee refers to the tower/ground channel at GEILENKIRCHEN in W.GERMANY where many of the AWACS live. When they have had enough of talking on BEAVER, they instruct NEATISHEAD to STRANGLE BEAVER, only from the lips of Americans would you hear such a corny tactical command. THEY ALSO DART ABOUT USING TAD'S (tactical air directives). SOMETHING FOR THE INSOMNIACS AMONGST YOU. The USAF, once again have many many satellite links dotted around the globe. This one is called 'BRAVO/YANKEE CH10' and it is heard on 261.675 MHz FM. Now some scanners like the ICOM R7000 find it difficult to decide whether reception is better in NFM or WFM, some scanners find it impossible to get a clear copy at all, because the military use a non standard bandwidth. However in the last two days we have heard CAIRO, FRANKFURT, ICELAND and MILDENHALL all calling the USA by means of AUTOVON NUMBERS. The operator on this simplex link is called 'KILO 22 ALPHA' although it is usually shortened to 2 alpha. The USA operator is called 'WHITE FALCON' or 'DRAGON URZ' (where do they get these crazy names from?). At 22.30 HRS GMT give or take five minutes 22alpha will call WF initiating contact for a series of RWI calls, these are calls from servicemen to their wives back home. And very interesting they are to. Also during the day sometimes the most INTERESTING PEOPLE COME ON LINE!!!!! The only thing you need is a very sensitive set-up, a good pre-amp, and a sharp ear to make out the conversations which can get pretty hairy. (six months is a long time to be away from home). HOW TO CONVERT A STANDARD CASSETTE RECORDER INTO A SLOW SPEED SECURE MODE RECORDER.FOR SEVERAL YEARS, SPECIALIST SURVEILLANCE COMPANIES HAVE BEEN MARKETING SLOW SPEED RECORDERS AT FANTASTIC PRICES OFTEN IN EXCESS OF œ125.00 CLAIMING TAPE TIMES OF UP TO EIGHT HOURS .HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE, AND WHO MANUFACTURES THESE AMAZING UNITS ?.FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS REVEALED ALL. FIRSTLY THE MACHINES START OUT AS œ35.00 DOMESTIC CASSETTE RECORDERS AND AFTER SPENDING TIME BEHIND CLOSED DOORS THEIR VALUE INCREASES FOUR FOLD, YOU MAY ASK EXACTLY WHAT MIRACULOUS MODIFICATIONS WERE CARRIED OUT WITHIN TO EXPLAIN SUCH AN INCREASE.WE PURCHASED A SIX HOUR SLOW SPEED SURVEILLANCE RECORDER TO FIND OUT. FIRSTLY THE SIX HOURS QUOTED TAKES INTO ACCOUNT THE USE OF BOTH SIDES OF A C120 CASSETTE, THIS OF COURSE MEANS TURNING IT OVER AFTER THREE HOURS. THAT'S THREE HOURS CONDENSED INTO ONE HOUR OF NORMAL PLAYING TIME, ITS WORTH RAISING THE POINT, YOU ONLY GET OUT WHAT YOU PUT IN. IF YOU HAVE ONE AND SEVEN EIGHTS INCHES OF TAPE PASSING THE HEAD EVERY SECOND, THEN A SECONDS WORTH OF INFORMATION IS SPREAD NICELY OVER ALMOST TWO INCHES OF TAPE. IF HOWEVER YOU SLOW THE DRIVE BY TWO THIRDS THEN THE TAPE IS RUNNING AT ABOUT FIVE EIGHTS I.P.S. THUS THAT SECOND OF INFORMATION IS NOW CRAMMED UP, THE RESULTANT EFFECT IS THAT YOUR RECORDING QUALITY DROPS OFF DRAMATICALLY AND WHAT'S LEFT IS RATHER BASSEY OR MUDDY AS IT IS KNOWN IN THE TRADE. VERY FEW COMPANIES THAT WE HAVE COME ACROSS ACTUALLY MODIFY THE INTERNAL CIRCUITRY TO COMPENSATE THE LOSS OF FREQUENCY RESPONSE OR MODIFY THE BIAS TO SATURATE THE TAPE. NOT WITHSTANDING THIS IMPORTANT TECHNICAL OMISSION WE WILL NOW EXPLAIN EXACTLY HOW THEY DO IT, WHILE TRYING TO KEEP A STRAIGHT FACE.THEY FIRSTLY REMOVE THE PULLEY FROM THE DIVE SHAFT, THIS SIMPLY CAUSES THE RUBBER DRIVE BELT TO RUN DIRECTLY ON THE METAL SHAFT INSTEAD OF THE PULLEY IT WAS ORIGINALLY DESIGNED FOR. THIS DOES INDEED SLOW THE RECORDER DOWN BUT IT ALSO CREATES A FEW PROBLEMS.THE BELT TENDS TO SLIP AGAINST THE METAL SHAFT CAUSING ERRATIC SPEED FLUCTUATIONS. THE FREQUENCY RESPONSE IS NOW SO REDUCED THAT ITS DIFFICULT TO DISTINGUISH THE AUDIO FROM THE MUD AND THE BIAS IS NO LONGER GREAT ENOUGH TO SATURATE THE TAPE AT LOWER SPEED. SOME SUPPLIERS DO NOT EVEN BOTHER TO CAP THE END OF THE DRIVE SHAFT AND THE BELT MAY COME OFF AFTER A SHORT WHILE. IF THIS DREADFUL APPROACH APPEALS THEN WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU FIT A SMALLER PULLEY AND DRIVE BELT THUS RETAINING TENSION.OUR OWN METHOD HOWEVER, IS EVEN EASIER, FAR MORE VERSATILE AND WORKS ON MOST PORTABLE BATTERY RECORDERS. ON THE SIDE OF YOUR RECORDER IS A MINIATURE JACK SOCKET USUALLY MARKED REMOTE OR REM. THIS SIMPLY ALLOWS YOU TO ARREST THE RECORD OR PLAYBACK MODES FROM A DISTANCE. FIRSTLY OBTAIN A HALF WATT WIRE WOUND 33 OHM RESISTOR AND A MINI JACK PLUG, SIMPLY SOLDER THE RESISTOR ACROSS THE TWO TERMINALS OF THE JACK. INSERT THE PLUG INTO THE REM. SOCKET, PRESS PLAY AND IF ALL IS WELL YOU'RE PLAYER SHOULD NOW BE RUNNING AT A SENSIBLY REDUCED SPEED. ANY MATERIAL RECORDED AT NORMAL SPEED AND PLAYED BACK WITH THE RESISTOR IN LINE WILL SOUND VERY SLOW. IF, HOWEVER YOUR MACHINE REFUSES TO RUN THEN REDUCE THE RESISTOR VALUE BY REPLACING IT WITH, SAY A 22 OHM UNTIL YOU FIND THE HIGHEST VALUE YOUR PLAYER IS CAPABLE OF HANDLING. NOW TRY RECORDING AT REDUCED SPEED, THEN PLAY BACK AND THE RESULTS SHOULD BE MORE THAN ACCEPTABLE. IF YOU WISH TO EXPERIMENT, THEN TRY INSTEAD WIRING A 50 OHM WIRE WOUND POTENTIOMETER ACROSS THE JACK, YOU NOW HAVE A FULLY VARIABLE SPEED RECORDING AND PLAYBACK MACHINE. THIS IS PARTICULARLY HANDY IF YOU'VE RECORDED A CONVERSATION USING A PHONE TAPPING BUG, THEN BY SLOWING DOWN THE TAPE AND A LITTLE PRACTICE, ITS POSSIBLE TO COUNT THE DIALLING OUT PULSES. SECURE MODE THIS AGAIN IS VERY SIMPLE. ALL THAT'S NEEDED IS A SMALL MAGNET, A GLASS REED SWITCH AND SOME SUPERGLUE. FIRSTLY, REMOVE THE MAINS SUPPLY LEAD (SAFETY) THEN CAREFULLY DISMANTLE THE OUTER CASING. REMOVE ONE OF THE TWO WIRES CONNECTED TO THE MOTOR AND ATTACH IT TO ONE SIDE OF THE REED SWITCH, THEN RUN AN INSULATED WIRE FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE REED TO THE NOW VACANT TERMINAL ON THE MOTOR. BY MOVING THE MAGNET TOWARDS THE REED, THE MOTOR CIRCUIT WILL NOW ONCE AGAIN BE MADE AND THE MACHINE WILL OPERATE. TAKING CARE TO POSITION THE REED ALONG THE INSIDE REAR LOWER PORTION OF THE HOUSING, ALSO MAKING SURE THAT YOU DON'T OR WONT TRAP ANY WIRES OR HINDER THE RE-MANTLING OF THE UNIT. NOW ATTEMPT TO OPERATE YOUR PLAYER BY SIMPLY PLACING YOUR MAGNET AGAINST THE OUTER CASING, ONCE SATISFIED YOU CAN GLUE THE REED INTO POSITION. CHECK THAT YOU'VE NOT LEFT ANY BARE WIRES. ONCE YOUR UNIT IS REASSEMBLED IT WILL NOT BE APPARENT TO A SECOND PARTY THAT ANY MODIFICATION HAS TAKEN PLACE. THIS IN COMBINATION WITH THE SPEED DECREASE MOD WHICH MAY ALSO BE INTERNAL (SPACE PERMITTED) MEANS THAT ONLY YOU NOW KNOW HOW TO OPERATE YOUR MACHINE. ALSO A SECOND PARTY COMING ACROSS YOUR TAPES WILL MAKE NO SENSE OF THEM ON ANY OTHER MACHINE. NOTE CARE SHOULD BE TAKEN TO KEEP THE MAGNET AWAY FROM CASSETTE TAPES.THIS MODIFICATION SHOULD NOT BE UNDERTAKEN UNLESS YOU ARE COMPETENT WITH SOLDERING, AND HAVE AT LEAST A RUDIMENTARY GRASP OF ELECTRICAL PRINCIPLES, ESPECIALLY CONCERNING THE DANGERS OF MAINS RELATED CIRCUITS. MODIFICATION TO EQUIPMENT WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY INVALIDATE ANY GUARANTEES OR WARRANTS. HERE ARE A FEW MORE FOR YOU 269.950 MHZ FM FLEETSATCOM USN/USAF we heard "HAMBURG TEC CONTROL TO HARDTOOTH" also they were calling "ORANGE JUICE" and doing 123 number tests, in between the tests were large bursts of DVP traffic. 261.600 MHZ FM FLEETSATCOM USN/USAF we heard "TANGO EIGHT IN THE PLANE" they were chatting to '30 MIKE' and 'ROMEO 4 YANKEE', after a lengthy chat tango was told to hold 30 MIKES (minutes) for important traffic. As I type this we await the important traffic. 269.850 MHz FM FLEETSATCOM USN/USAF we keep hearing dialling tones and swedish or german people talking on the telephone, most strange. WE ASK YOU TO SEND IN ALL UK/USA SAT. LOGGINGS AS WELL AS ANY SILK PURSE TRAFFIC YOU MAY HAVE PICKED UP. FOR THOSE OF YOU NOW HOOKED ON SATCOM SCANNING, THE PERFECT ANTENNA IS A CIRCULAR POLARISED BEAM (HELIX) ELEVATED AT ABOUT 30 DEGREES POINTING TOWARDS THE ATLANTIC OCEAN. UNICORN, if heard this means the aircraft with PRINCE CHARLES on board. TINKERBELL, TINKERBELL. THIS IS THE NAME GIVEN TO OUR HOME OFFICE/TELECOM PHONE TAPPING/INTERCEPTION ESTABLISHMENTS IN LONDON AMONG OTHER REGIONAL LOCATIONS. IF PHONE BUGGING INTERESTS YOU, AND IF LIKE US, YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF WORTHY OF THE ODD GOVERNMENT PHONE TAP, THEN LET US RECOMMEND THE FOLLOWING GOOD READ. IT IS REALLY EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT PHONE TAPPING, BUT WERE TOO SCARED TO ASK. 'STRANGER ON THE LINE' by PATRICK FITZGERALD AND MARK LEOPOLD. published by THE BODLEY HEAD LONDON. ISBN-0-370-31086-1. #7.95. LARGE FORMAT PAPERBACK. TANDY PRO-47 CRYSTAL SCANNER MODIFICATIONS. The Tandy PRO-47 scanner, although not the hottest product in scanning terms, still makes a very handy dedicated unit for mobile, bedside or even as a unit to monitor known and interesting traffic at home while your synthesised scanner seeks out new stations. If you wish to have specific crystals cut, then the following information will be required. Your local crystal company should cut them for about œ6.00 a time. (check the radio mags.) VHf LOW SETTING = (MHz)=Fr + 10.7 VHf HIGH SETTING = (MHz)=Fr - 10.7 DIVIDED BY 3 UHf SETTING = (MHz)=Fr - 10.7 DIVIDED BY 9 If you only wish to monitor freq's in the UHf band, then the overall sens. of the unit is very important as losses can be very great above 300MHz. If this is the case , then the first step is to remove the dreadful UHf motorola aerial socket on the rear, and replace it with a good chassis BNC socket, that is to say, a silver plated one such as a 'Coline or Radio spares'. The next step is to defeat the annoying scan delay. The logic behind this becomes clear when you see the increased scan speed, but more of that later. Firstly disconnect the unit from its power source, locate the capacitor 'C116' which is right up at the front, just behind the rear of the volume pot, gently remove it and replace with another electrolytic capacitor of the value '10Uf'16 volt, taking great care to get the polarity correct. The board is marked with a '+' and the cap is usually marked with a stripe down the negative side. You have now defeated the delay. Now to increase the scan speed. Locate resistor 'R117 ' which is just to the r right of 'C116'. Gently remove it and replace it with a new resistor to the value '47K' which should be coloured YELLOW/MAUVE/ORANGE/GOLD. There is no right or wrong way round to fit a resistor. The scan speed should be much faster now. The scan can be increased further, but the sens. drops off, and the scanner starts to miss active channels. Assuming that you don't own a signal generator, then the next best thing is to tune by ear. This process is in fact very effective and is not a method unfamiliar to radio engineers. You will need some non-metallic nylon type trimming tools with spade ends. Connect your unit up and lock on to the most active UHf freq. you can find, turn the squelch knob fully anti-clockwise and wait for some traffic. It is important that the traffic be from a fixed base transmitter and not a mobile. When your signal appears, start a ladder tune with the nylon trimmers ie. start with the first trim pot as shown, and when your ear tells you that it's peaked ie. that you've turned the trim pot until the signal is at its clearest, move on to the next. It is important that you don't twiddle when there is no signal, and also that the tuning process is centred on one freq. and not several. FOR UHF FOLLOW THE LADDER TUNE WORKING FROM THE FRONT END OF THE STRIP AS SHOWN FIRSTLY- tune (TC-1) then (TC-2) then (TC-3) then (L-9). Repeat the process until you're sure that YOU'VE peaked the UHf front end. Tuning up the VHf section is less effective. Some pots seem to have little effect, and some can be set in several positions, where as in the Uhf section as you will have found, some settings are critical, and all require a good ear. FOR LOW BAND LADDER TUNING FIRSTLY tune- (T8) then (T9) then (T10) Repeating the process. FOR HIGH BAND LADDER TUNING FIRSTLY tune- (T1) then (T2) then (T3) then (L7) Repeating the process. YOU MUST RESIST THE GREAT TEMPTATION TO ALTER ANY OTHER POTS OR TUNING CANS OTHER THAN AS DIRECTED. NEVER FORCE A POT OR CAN. AND NEVER USE A METAL TRIMMER OR SCREWDRIVER AS THIS ACTION WILL NOT ONLY ALTER THE CAPACITANCE OF THE CIRCUIT BUT CAN ALSO CRACK THE SOFT IRON CORES. FITTING A PRE-AMP. You may wish to fit one inside or outside, which ever, the prime consideration is what type. Of all those available, Those employing GASFETS are without doubt the best. On the negative side, most don't have a very good bandwidth, this fact can work against you, as if you have a channel that is way out of the pre-amps range then instead of getting gain you will simply get attenuation, which is no use at all. Also if you mount it inside the case you have the problem of intermodulation. Also gain is a factor. About 13Db is as much as you would need. In our opinion the best bet is the Microwave Modules external BBa wide band pre-amp, it has good bandwidth, adequate gain, and can be removed when not required. One final point. It is possible to link the VHf input across to the Uhf input with some light gauge 50 OHm coax, thus all three bands can be tuned with only one antenna. ---------------------- The long awaited USA origin Bearcat BC-200 is now here with a slide off battery pack, 200 memories etc. Very useful is the warning given if you try entering in a duplicate frequency into any of the memory channels. Aor have yet another H/Held scanner on the way. It is a re-work of the USA model AR900, We understand that as well as the usual bands we have come to expect from AOR, this model may well have the entire UHF airband. Sounds impressive, let's hope it works better than their last model which we bought, used, hated and finally sold on. YUK! more synthesiser noise than a sewing machine, too thick, and the squelch was very poor, the best thing was the battery life which was extremely good. Find a gap in your memory bands and enter 259.400 MHz A.M. this is the UK favourite for USAF PMSV METRO and ALPHA status reports to air bases. A certain USA company is now marketing a rolling code scrambled hand/held which you can re-program or remotely destruct the scramble codes over the air if some bugger makes off with it. Pretty neat we think. If secret bases,tapping,USAF bases in the UK,SILK PURSE and a host of other interesting things that go on around us are of interest to you then the SSC book club recommends you purchase the following. 'THE UNSINKABLE AIRCRAFT CARRIER' by Duncan Campbell, it is published by Paladin, ISBN 0-586-08626-9 it costs #3.95 and represents the best radio related read currently available. It includes a picture of our favourite flight SP, as well as a wealth of info on sites and operations that the powers that be would rather we knew nothing about. Although we don't agree with Duncans left wing views that seem to verge on outright communism, you have to give him credit for publishing such an informative book. We strongly recommend you check it out. ----------- With regard to speech encryption, the move in both the military and pmr sections is now away from digital and on to the assorted analogue methods that are available. The reasons are threefold. (1) cost. (2) recovered speech quality and recognition are significantly better. (3) the analogue allows for real time, or near real time encryption which is not possible with digital methods, vital if the secure speech system is to be incorporated into an existing true duplex radio network as in the case of the cellular lad network. The only other approach that the digital camp offer as an alternative is the soon to be introduced CT2 ZONEPHONE method known as ping-pong digital. This is a method whereby a near true telephone duplex phone conversation can take place on a single frequency. This is achieved by extremely fast digital switching between one station and another. The change-over is so fast and silent that callers are said to not be aware that any switching is taking place. After months of little activity, our old favourite FLEETSATCOM 261.675 has once again fired up with a vengeance. Firstly two infantry divisions are sharing the channel. The first is KILO 22 ALPHA believed to be in SICILY. And the second users are the Third infantry US-ARMY peace keeping force, call sign EAGLE BASE in the SINEI desert area between ISRAEL and EGYPT. Morale is said to be at a very low ebb, judging by the conversations that have been heard. Much Fax traffic is also passed on this channel as well as secure FAX on 261.800MHz. HINTS AND TIPS. If you scan mobile and the noise of your car at high speed seems to drown out your scanner, then the CD CASSETTE ADAPTOR (12-1951) from TANDY priced at #14.95, might be the answer. You simply cut off the stereo jack plug and replace it with a mono one to match your radio, you now have much greater amplification and sound through as many speakers as your car has fitted. Also you could run it through a graphic equaliser to really tailor the audio to remove hiss or deaden annoying pip-tones. Recent 'RARE DX' From SSC contributors are as follows> 'TAILPIPE DELTA 23', said to be the SR-71 BLACKBIRD. Very nice logging. 'PURPLE TRAIN' The queens train was heard talking on local force network. The SSC book club is at it again. Yet another book on spying bugging MI5 MI6 SIGINT COMINT locations of the dirty tricks dept and a host of charts and related maps and graphs. We all found it a really good read. This copy was kindly loaned to us by a budding new contributor. Now here comes the rub, this hardback is only about one inch thick, so off we trot to the bookshop to order a copy. #28.50 she says, do what we say. and so on and so forth. So we suggest you head off to the local library and get a copy ordered. In fact, page for page it is cheaper to photocopy it than buy it (not that we wish to encourage any breach of copyright). I almost forgot to tell you the title. THE TIES THAT BIND by JEFFREY T RICHELSON AND DESMOND BALL. published by BOSTON ALLEN AND UNWIN. ISBN 0-04-327092-1. 87.3875 MHz AM. This is the French national nuclear alerter frequency, any one on the south coast should be able to receive it on a good day, also some of you should be able to get it under conditions of lift. If you are in France and the tones, which are very powerful, suddenly change pitch and then stop. We suggest you either find a local confessional or alternatively commence the thorough whitewashing of all nearby windows! We are trying to hunt down the USAF paging frequencies in east anglia, anybody near 'THE HALL' or similar please keep a keen ear out for them. A large number of friends and customers are now sending in reports of USA based traffic skipping onto our shores from about 32.00 to 40.00MHz NFM, we have logged all manner of signals from the east coast, have you ? We have just received from Japan, a brand new pre-amp. It covers 1MHz to 2000MHz. We shall let you know in due course if all this goes to our heads, or alternatively goes into the front end of the ICOM and does more harm than good, over pre-amping can do that you see. The USAF are having yet another custom job done on the trusty BOEING 707, this time two are being converted to CRUISE MISSILE MISSION CONTROL AIRCRAFT, and they will be known as EC-18D'S. 8/12/88 WE LOGGED ON 261.450 'LINSAY TO USAFE'. Any ideas who linsay is ??? 7/12/88 WE LOGGED ON 261.750 'This is comm 4 testing this satellite communications link between tac command post and radio maintenance. Yes we have a beautiful day here at Langley, and we are trying to see if this link will work pointing to the sun. The sun is beautiful here today, shining radiantly down on the earth, providing great warmth for all of this great nation of ours BREAK. How did you get that over. I guess it's about the best were gonna get it over'. I DEFY ANY OF YOU TO PRODUCE A BRITISH ARMED FORCES RADIO CHECK WITH THAT MUCH SPARKLE !!!! WHO IS USING THE BUTTERNUT SC-3000, OR MORE TO THE POINT, WHO HAS PAID THE MONEY AND IS STILL AWAITING IT'S ARRIVAL ? Hello again, Well if you must just have the best, then start saving hard. This summer should see the new ICOM R9000. It covers 50KCs to 2000 MHz without gaps. There are 1000 memories, set up in banks of 100. In the centre will be a proper TV screen panadaptor display. The 9000 comes complete with a built in TV demodulator, this means that you can watch TV on the internal TV screen should you feel the need, but at about #2,750 it strikes me as a pretty overpriced portable TV. Either way, if you live and breath th this hobby, then start arranging to sell the children and re-mortgage the house, because August is not far away! SILK PURSE flights appear to be on the increase, with about five flights a week. They don't always initiate 'conference call' by switching on the megga powerful WFM links, but clearly they can be heard as 'AXE 10' on both the command post and Croughton H.F. frequencies. If you are hunting an Alconbury TR1-A recon plane, then forget about the HI-FI callsign because it has been dropped. Now it's 'ROOK or HELIO'. If you really fancy yourself as an ACE operator, then SR-71 BLACKBIRD hunting will almost certainly be up your street. Forget HABU, instead listen for their current tactical callsigns 'ABBOTT and SKIPPY'. We know where to look, but even we must even admit that BLACKBIRD radio traffic in 'THE CLEAR' is as rare as rocking horse droppings! 24 hours before the Libyans blew a raspberry at the Yanks, and got blown out of the sky for their trouble, two SSC contributors took an unofficial tour around Upper Heyford. They had lunch in the base food hall, changed pounds to dollars and then bought cigarettes,food and beer in the base tax free american supermarket. This was followed by a leisurely stroll around the main base complex. All this just goes to show that security is not worth a damn at some of these bases. It makes one wonder how the serviceman sleep at night, not knowing who or what is lurking about yards from their beds. The contributors encountered the base police, who pulled up in their Fairmont hill street blues type patrol car, with low band Motorola h/helds in hand, they wandered into the supermarket currently being patronised by the two nervous englishmen, they walked straight past them, hand/helds blaring out instructions. and headed straight for the junk food section. Well they do say, 'an army marches on it's stomach'. Who read the recent nationally published magazine article in which the infamous Duncan Campbell quoted specific police/customs/US embassy/MI5 watcher and cruise missile frequencies, together with callsigns. Well you could have knocked me down with a feather at reading such specific and important discretes being flaunted about in the press. We recently logged a call from a C-135 PREFIX ECHO, that seems to make it an EC-135. This aircraft lives normally at Wright Patterson in America, and is part of their special test wing. The tail number was 8026, and it stated to a curious command post radio man who had no knowledge of the flight, that they were inbound from Iceland where they had run a test mission for the British satellite SKYNET. They had 23 crew, 5 on packs manifest and 18 on flight orders, also all passengers were duty passengers. The question is, how does a commercial satellite company manage to rope in a very special USAF aircraft, and what kind of tests would they carry out? Anyone having a TV dish in the back garden...Answers on a postcard please! There is as yet an unsupported rumour that Kenwood,pleased with the response to their first step into the scanner scene (THE RZ-1), are now working on a fully blown model to rival the Icom flagship. Added to the soon to be released Uniden wonder model, one wonders who else from the far east is going to step into the breech? Maybe there is a Nissan DX-1000 with a ten year rust and parts guarantee on the way! Lowe Electronics have imported a Japanese mobile scanner pre-amp. It is made by Maldol and connects in line with the antenna lead. It comes wired already to accept a PL259 and has a curly lead to connect direct to your cigar lighter socket. It has a claimed range from 20 to 1300 MHz. The price is under œ30.00, and they are in stock now. No gain figures are known. Last night we logged the return of a very late night TR1-A (tactical recon) mission from who knows where back to Alconbury. The time was 00.45 AM, and the flight used a new discrete callsign not previously heard, this linked to the much increased AWAC,SR-71 and COMMAND POST activity makes one assume that the political waters are considered by the Americans, to be a bit muddy at the moment.As a footnote, most military flights are halted after 22.30, this is known as 'QUIET TIME', and is done for the benefit of the locals. A recent AUTOVON call from SILK PURSE was traced to the Ravensbrook Medical Centre in downtown Chicago, another private call on the $50M flying phone. Does anybody know why Halifax military say 'DO NOT ANSWER'. strange as USA SAC transmissions always prefix that statement with a 'SKYKING'. We have a cracking signal on 49.860 MHz NFM, it is a baby alarm, the family seem to be Chinese. The transmissions go on all night. We would guess that these are illegal over here, have a look tonight and see if there is an epidemic of screaming infants breaking the wireless telegraphy act at such a tender age.(we think wired or mains carrier current are only legal types) With luck the April issue of Practical Wireless (out march 9th) will have the first full colour picture of the forthcoming ICOM R-9000, a product still denied it's existence by some quarters. The picture is so clear that most of the functions can be worked out from a quick visual scan across the cover, but don't expect to find a single word of explanation on the inside, because rumour has it, there wont be any. Projected price now creeps up to around the #3000 mark! With regard to the 9000, you might like t o know it has two clocks two sleep timers/an optional satellite converter, yellow screen,video input and the ability to tag up to eight alphanumeric characters to each memory (as with the RZ-1) finally it comes in a completely new case, which is a surprise coming from the Icom stable who cobbled the R-7000 into the H.F. box, thus the reason the record jack is on the front and the SSB mode switch is on the rear and NOT software controlled, but all this should change when the megga overpriced 9000 appears. Personally I would like a Rohde and Schwarz ESM-1001, but the price of that makes the Icom look like a steal! Our Butternut SC-3000 is up, it looks a bit flimsy and even the lightest breeze has the top half whipping about. As to it's operation, low band is very good. High band is good. Uhf is pretty good. Uhf air comes out as rather poor, and cellular is dreadful. This just goes to confirm the makers claims that operation is good up to 500MHz. Windwise we give it six months! The Guardian Angels use an 800MHz trunked pmr radio scheme in New York, although 800MHz trunking is a few years off here, London folk should keep a keen eye out in case the Angels get a radio system up and running. USAFE or SAC listeners might pick up 'PIREPS' or 'INBOUND-REPORTS' if so then the phrase 'I HAVE SIX PACKS' must have been heard. Well they actually spell it 'PAXS' and it does not refer to cargo or luggage, it simply refers to passengers. i.e. I have six passengers. PIREPS stands for pilots report. After the well received Black Jaguar MK's 1/2/3, this year will see one or possibly two new models. One h/held (BJ3000) with cellular coverage and an economically priced mobile version with selectable AM/FM and a high first I.F. which not only peaks up the performance but reduces falsing due to automobile induced ignition and image problems. More news nearer the date. The forthcoming Standard scanner is still set for about May delivery, the price seems to be close to #590.00. We understand that Standard are reluctant to increase coverage to 950MHz so the cellular channels are out, also respraying the case is not favoured by the Japs who don't get excited unless you place an order for over 10,000! Out of interest we have the first production AX-700, as I type it's sat in front of me, and very tasty it looks too. The first I.F. is a poor 10.7MHz, but it is very sensitive wi th superb scanning functions and a truly great looking LCD screen, in fact I have a cricked neck through keeping an eye on the spectrum. I will write a review soonest. Once again Japanese scanner retailers are fuming that AOR have put another stop in the 3000 mass production date, out of interest Lowe's have one of the production 3000's and very pleased they are with it. In a recent Japanese scanning mag. the reviewer gave it 95 out of 100, which says a lot for it. Lowe's are said to be working on an import deal for the Yupiteru MVT-500 super wide band scanner, the problem lies in two areas, (1) Yupiteru are not over keen on exporting, and (2) there may be some patent problems with Uniden USA with regards some of the circuitry which seems very similar to Uniden's own handiwork. We will keep you informed, but it's early days yet. The great portable wide band pre-amp we told you about has now evolved into a mark two. We found problems with H.F. breakthrough due to the unit starting to amplify from 100Kcs, so the new model due here in about three months will have built in band passing from 25MHz upwards. To answer another popular question with regards to another new product we were asked to test prior to production. Fairmate in Japan who make the AOR H/Held scanners for example, have decided that the next new all singing all dancing H/Held to come out of the factory in mid-89 will have the FAIRMATE name on the front for a change. It seems they don't like AOR taking all the praise and money for a product they designed and built. I think they call it QUDOS ! Those of you who are thinking of purchasing a BEARCAT 200XLT, please note that as well as the official UK imports, there appear to be a great number of USA market models appearing on the shelves, the only difference is the low band. The UK one will cover 66-88MHz but only in NFM, and the USA model covers the 29-54MHz also only in NFM area, so decide whether you want pmr or cordless phones. Also the much needed spare battery packs are due in this month, priced at about #30.00 (STRUTH). The May issue of SWM should have a pretty picture of the Standard AX-700 LCD panadaptor scanner on the front cover. This issue is due on your newsracks about the 27th of April. We have now got our sweaty hands on the worlds best h/held scanner, the YUPITERU MVT-5000, as mentioned many times in these sheets. The sensitivity is so good that we can easily receive 261.675MHz FLEETSATCOM traffic just with it's own bnc terminated telescopic whip. Why no rubber ducky I hear you ask, well the makers obviously gave up trying to get 25-550 and 800 to 1300MHz down one helical. It runs on four supplied AA nicads which may be changed to dryfits. T here is an 8V charge socket and a handy 12V d.c . supply socket. The only gripe is the really crappy display which is weak and hard to read, also the illumination is one of those dreadful little pixie lights. Imitation being a high form of flattery, it seems that HEMBRO, NEVADA and others are now selling top loaded sixteen element discones in stainless steel that look rather similar to the DIAMOND and ICOM models from Japan that has found much favour over here. (we still think they are all poor UHF performers). SSC FREE INFORMATION #21 [19/04/89] A little birdy tells us of a new mobile scanner nearing completion at the impressive ICOM works in Japan. Icom UK as usual are not committing themselves at present. Did you see last Sundays Observer newspaper article on scanning and the so-called menace they represent to the authorities. SSC were contacted and asked to represent the public view, we were happy to put our case, because of the football tragedy that happened the day prior to publication, 90% of the article was axed by the editor. Maybe next time! This week we logged a rare SR-71 mission bird homerun, aircraft "QUID 80, DESCENDING TO 60" (60,000 feet to the unconverted). RAF/USAFE Alconbury has two interesting visitors at the moment. Firstly a gleaming white U-2 spyplane (ala Gary Powers). And secondly a flight of F-4 phantoms from the Alabama National guard. Alconbury will close for seven months soon to allow runway resurfacing and a different camber to be laid. If you intend to purchase a new AOR-3000, and you intend to run it barefoot, i.e. non computer control. Then we suggest you try before you buy, because even a usually simple task such as changing modes is a real bitch on the 3000. HATE THOSE BUTTONS! PMR business scanner buffs should not forsake the wide open spaces of the fairly new 175 to 225MHz BAND3 segment. An increasing number of the big boys are giving up their old systems in favour of national coverage and an advanced infrastructure, even if getting a call through in central London is a bit of a joke. Users include-Bass Charrington/ RSPCA/DYNO-ROD etc etc