A. Basics 1. What's a utility? Usually "utilities" are defined as what they aren't. They are everything on short wave radio except for broadcasting, CB, and most routine amateur communication. The concept is one of "use" by a few people, rather than as a hobby or for the entertainment of many. Typical examples are weather reports, maritime safety information, ship and aircraft communications, and "numbers" broadcasts intended for spies. Since the information is not intended for the public at large, signals are weaker and/or transmitted in specialized modes, require more skill in tuning. But, for many, this is the challenge. 2. Do I need a special receiver for utilities? Yes and no. The "yes" part is that utilities will usually be in upper sideband (USB), or any of a bewildering array of digital modes ranging clear from plain old Morse code to the latest computer miracles. For best results, a radio will therefore need a beat oscillator (BFO). The existence of a "USB" button indicates that such an oscillator is present. Also desirable are good tuning stability and at least one filter narrower than those used for broadcasting (3 kilohertz is good). The "no" part is that most modern receivers above the el-cheapo level have these capabilities. Even so, it's good to check the specs. 3. Do I need any special equipment for utilities? Since signals are weak, it's very desirable to use a better antenna than the whips or wires that come with some receivers. There is absolutely no agreement on what is the "best" antenna, and in fact this changes with where you live, who you live with, and what you want to hear. A basic antenna often recommended for beginners is simply a wire run from the back of the receiver out a window, up the side of the wall, and then straight out to a convenient tree or building (but NOT a power pole!!!!!). Something like this can be constructed for less than ten US bucks. Safety requires that any outdoor antenna, and all feeders or supporting structures, be kept well away from power lines, so that they cannot fall on it, or it on them. It should also be completely disconnected at the first sign of a lightning storm. An arrestor connected to a good outside earth ground is worth considering as well. Some tired older receivers, especially those with tubes, pep right up when a cheap preamp is added in the antenna lead. However, many low-end radios will simply overload, while high-end ones might not need all the extra gain. Digital modes will require a computer for decoding. Standard personal computers work fine. This is a good use for that old PC that won't run the latest software, unless you want to go with the absolutely slickest stuff. Mac users are not left out, as Chris Smolinski has a very good program, Multimode, for that platform. At one time, it was necessary to interface the computer through its serial port with a "rig blaster" or "hamcomm interface," but this is now only a factor when transmitting. The only interface needed is a simple audio cable from the radio to the computer's line input, as the sound card will do all the necessary signal processing. At this point, there are hundreds of computer programs to get the decoded messages onto the monitor screen. Some popular ones are MixW (multimode), MultiPSK (multimode, just about everything), MMTTY (RTTY), MMSSTV (Slow-Scan TV), TrueTTY (RTTY, SITOR, several other modes), DSCdecoder (DSC and SITOR-B), JVCOM32 (FAX), PC-ALE (ALE), PC- HFDL (HFDL), fldigi (multimode), HOKA (expensive, and a very comprehensive package), and Wavecom (ditto). Some radios allow for computer control. This is usually a good thing. The exact cabling and interfacing necessary will vary greatly between different manufacturers, so read the manual. Most programs will control the radio via serial I/O on ports COM1 through COM4. Newer USB-based computers may not have serial ports, in which case a serial-to-USB adapter cable will be needed. These cost about $40 US at Radio Shack. Many people chase ALE signals with the PC-ALE program, which is free and very good software, if a bit opaque to the new user. In this sub-hobby, you will definitely want to control the radio with the computer, because this enables scanning and logging of frequencies. It then becomes possible to go away and have a life, then come back hours later and see what your equipment has found you during your absence. 4. Can I use a ham transceiver for utilities? Yes, if it has a general-coverage receiver, which many of them do, or some kind of converter to get them to hear out of band. Ham receivers are perfect for utilities, especially if they have a CW filter. Of course, you won't transmit on the typical broadband antenna used for utility monitoring, right? Good. We'd so hate to see equipment get damaged. 5. What's all this I hear about Universal Time? The Earth is round, so the time is different everywhere in the world. It would be nice if time zones were the same as meridian lines, and we could just count them off on a map or globe, but this is not the case. In most cases, time zone lines are as much political as geographic. On top of that, the planet's full of half-hour offset zones, and even a few 15- minute offsets. Some countries have a summer ("daylight saving") time, and some don't, and there's no consistency to the reasons why. When the ones that do change are "springing forward," the ones in the other hemisphere are "falling back," and vice versa. And, of course, you can count on at least one time zone somewhere to be changed by some government or other just about every year. Finally, there's a date line in the Pacific Ocean, and so it's always tomorrow somewhere, just like in the song. All of this can really mess up time scheduling and logging in international short wave radio. It's so much better if everyone uses the same time. Early on, it became customary to use the time on the Prime Meridian, aka the Zero Meridian or the Greenwich Meridian. It's 0 degrees longitude, and it goes pretty much right through the Royal Observatory in London, England. The famous "Greenwich Mean Time" was the mean solar time at this observatory. It's a museum now, and a good entry for the radio freak's bucket list. They have a Time Building, with exhibits explaining the whole meridian concept. The science required is decidedly not simple, and its mastry did a lot for the British Empire. Due to various changes, the line for which all the tourists line up to get photographed "straddling the world" is no longer the Prime Meridian. That one's either a bit down the hill or farther out in the park, depending on which survey datum is in use. It seems extremely unlikely that Greenwich is the official standard for Britain calls GMT any more, but the thought is there. Now, of course, this could just as easily have been Paris Mean Time, which the French wouldn't have minded at all, especially since both cities are on surprisingly similar longitudes. (Different time zones, but look it up. The Meridian is not that different. Could easily have gone through Paris instead.) The Brits won out, however, and it went through London, and that's all there is to it. Europe is actually a good place for it. This puts the 180-degree date line conveniently way out in the Pacific Ocean. The line therefore requires a minimum number of jogs around countries to avoid dividing them up, though in practice it has gotten pretty serpentine anyway. "Zulu" time is, for our purposes, the same as GMT. "Universal Time" is a more recent invention, and it, too, is the same as GMT for all casual timekeeping on the scale of accuracy that concerns us. A little more reading, though, will show that there are small differences, and that the whole standard set is kind of the revenge of the French. Let us now consider the world-famous "UTC." UTC is "Coordinated Universal Time," and it's the one used for pretty much for everything in short wave radio. However, UTC is partially based on atomic standards, and it has some important differences that become a factor in navigation, pointing missiles, launching moon rockets, and things like that. It's UTC and not CUT because it's not the only Universal Time Scale. If you really want to be the person in the know, read up on UT1, UT2, Sidereal Time, Atomic Time, GPS Time, and of course the infamous Leap Seconds of so much song and story. It's a real good idea to get into the habit of using UTC. It saves absolutely hours of confusion. 6. Why don't I ever hear anything? Unlike broadcasters, who widely publish their times and frequencies, utility stations only transmit when the need to. Transmissions often consist of short messages, some lasting seconds. Therefore most utility frequencies are quiet most of the time. A few stations can be tuned in any time. These include time stations, a handful of weather services, channel markers from surviving maritime coastal stations, and some propagation beacons. Others follow a set time/frequency schedule, such as aviation weather broadcasts, Coast Guard weather advisories, and many data links. Many "numbers" stations use a day/time/frequency schedule, in which the times and frequencies change for day of the week or month. It's often said, "To catch a tiger, think like a tiger." This is certainly the way to maximize utility satisfaction and hear something besides noise on empty channels. After a while you get a sense of who is most active when, and what frequencies are working the best. This gives utility listening a lot of its challenge. 7. Why is it called "short wave," when it's just about the longest wavelength we listen to? It's an old name. The wavelength was shorter than the one being used for "standard" AM broadcasting, and that was considered short at the time. There's another whole story regarding "200 meters and down," the process by which the early version of ham radio fans discovered the ionosphere. Wavelength is inversely proportional to frequency, by the formula wavelength (usually symbolized with the Greek letter Lambda) = 300/frequency (f) in MHz. The 300 is the speed of light in a vacuum, 300,000,000 meters per second (actually 299,792,458, but 300 million gets you close enough for rock and roll). Long wavelengths have low frequencies, short wavelengths have high frequencies. Radio started on very, very low frequencies with very, very long wavelengths measured in kilometers. It went steadily upward from there as circuitry improved. Wavelength ultimately fell out of favor as a means of designating radio bands. This happened for a number of reasons, all relating to use of higher frequencies. When we got into microwaves, millimeter waves, and sub-millimeter waves, it got a little silly talking about the 0.0177-meter band. The current designations for frequency ranges go something like this: ELF 3-30 kHz LF 30-300 kHz (longwave) MF 300 kHz-3 MHz (mediumwave) HF 3-30 MHz (shortwave) VHF 30-300 MHz UHF 300 MHz - 3 GHz SHF 3-30 GHz EHF 30-300 GHz About the only times you hear about meter bands (and often wrong!) are in broadcasting and HF amateur radio. The name short wave is with us forever, though, and I like it. It still sounds kind of loopy and glamorous. B. Frequent Questions 1. I just had a huge signal come on with a weird broad obviously from a computer making weird yakking in Spanish, followed by what sounds like computer data. WTF? Congratulations. You have discovered HM01, for "first hybrid mode station," which is what it is. The hybrid is of voice and data. This is a Cuban "spy" numbers station. It has largely replaced the older Morse technique in which letters substituted for the digits 0 through 9, in order to improve transmission speed. Such techniques on Morse code are called "cut numbers," most common being "T" for "0," and, right behind that, "N" for "9." The Cuban intelligence service, however, has never done anything the normal way on the radio yet, and we can't expect them to let us all down by starting now. They started off their entry into the Digital Age with simple ham modes such as PSK31, but now it's all in a complicated ham mode called RDFT for Redundant Digital File Transfer This particular signal can attain some truly astonishing levels in the U.S., because the transmitters being used are most likely adapted from broadcast stations, with many times the effective radiated power of the typical utility. In fact they may well have been the first to use double-sideband AM to transmit these ham modes intended for upper sideband (USB/ J3E) emission. 2. Who is DESUO (or DEVO, or DESU, or Olivia Radio in voice, or some weird station in garbled Spanish)? This is a Greek maritime station, SVO, Olympia Radio. It has a truly awesome facility well inland, though the control point remains at the older Athens Radio which it replaced. It's a relatively new station, as they go in this service, and doesn't always make it onto all the lists circulating the Internet. Computer Morse code decoders aren't as good as people. (Actually, Samuel Morse intended to invent an automatic system, but people decoded the stuff better than the machines. Tell you what... they still do.) People know what the ionosphere does to CW signals, but computers don't, though they're getting better at it. Therefore the machine spits out all manner of weirdness on the Olympia Radio identifier, DE (from) SVO. The voice is a different story, though the same principle. The identifier is on a voice loop (aka "voice mirror") which is distorted to start with, then it goes off into the ionosphere a few times, gets nicely phase distorted, fades up and down, and becomes misheard all kinds of creative ways. The loop alternates English and Greek, though the Greek is so distorted that indeed it sounds like Spanish on a noisy frequency. In this case, it's not all Greek to me. 3. I keep getting a noise that sounds like those old recordings of whale songs, or the 60s psychedelic rock. Is this my radio? Nope. It's a set of funny noises known in the hobby as the Whale Sound Station or the Backwards Music Station. They tend to be associated with US and NATO military circuits using lots of gain compression. The exact mechanism of their generation remains unknown, though several theories exist. In all cases, the sound stops when someone talks or transmits data on or near the frequency, then fades gradually back up. 4. Those "numbers" stations sound really creepy. Are they really for spies? In most cases, yes. Spies have been arrested with decoding pads and lists of frequencies. At least some of these transmissions are instructions or just a friendly "we're still here, carry on." They are not for the trench-coat movie-type spies, but more for the low-level deep-cover grunts recruited in-country by foreign agents. These spies live in the community, work at the target sites, or whatever. They would be in big trouble if seen with the fancier 007 type of gear, but a normal little broadcast receiver and possibly a laptop computer won't raise any suspicion. For this reason, "numbers" stations tend to use high power and AM or USB mode, and go out of their way to be found easily, by running open carriers, music, or odd noises. In many cases, the messages are probably dummies, to defy traffic analysis, and in fact some have been heard being repeated for months. They are usually deeply encrypted with a system using random statistics from atomic disintegration counts, and decrypted with a one-time pad where every page is thrown away after use. As long as everyone follows instructions, this system is for all practical purposes unbreakable, even if pads fall into the wrong hands. The Cubans tried to refine the system and make it more automatic. As a result it became far less secure. This was great for the US national security, but not so good for the various Cuban spies now doing Federal time. 5. I was listening to the radio and suddenly everything just stopped. I checked my antenna and it seemed ok, plus my radio still works on local stations and/or the power line noise is the same. Is something broken? If it's daytime, most likely the ionosphere is broken. These shortwave fadeouts (SWFs) are caused by Sudden Ionospheric Disturbances (SIDs) which in turn are caused by large X-ray flares on the sun. X-rays of sufficient intensity can render the ionosphere unusable for up to an hour on the entire HF band. Since most static is ionospherically propagated lightning, it goes away too, and things get eerily quiet. Although the fadeout only takes seconds, the signals come back more slowly. What's happening is that, as ionospheric opacity increases, the lowest usable frequency goes so high as to be out of the normal listening range, or clear out of HF altogether. Sometimes tuning higher in frequency can turn up unusual activity on normally dead bands such as 10 meters or even VHF. One especially violent such event made Australian TV picture carriers briefly audible on scanners in the US. This effect is not associated with the Northern or Southern Lights, but the solar mass ejections that accompany many large flares can often increase aurora in 36-48 hours depending on their direction of ejection and the interplanetary magnetic field. Aurora will not cause sudden fadeouts, but it will decrease signal strengths and cause a fast fluttery effect sounding a bit like electronic music. 6. Do I need to learn Morse code? No. Morse is still used on occasion, especially in the Russian military, but mostly it's useful for reading the identifiers in channel markers. These are short, and sent slowly, like the airplane navaids you might be used to from flying. Most ham radio licenses have either dropped "code," or greatly lowered the speed of the test. People hated the code because they were forced to learn it. Love it or hate it, it was compulsory, and that made it a burden for a lot of people, giving it a bad reputation. I suspect this will change, as only people who like the code will spend any time on it. There will be two kinds of people - those who don't have to think about the Morse code at all, and those who do it for fun. If you have the latter turn of mind, code IS fun. It's like making music, or meditation. 7. Is short wave dead/dying? No. Only certain uses of it are dead/dying, and they keep inventing new ones. In fact there is a certain rediscovery of the ionosphere going on, as people realize the attractively cheap option of using "God- Furnished Equipment." # # #