A CW station has been heard transmitting on top of the New Star (V13) YL/CC station. The CW station was heard sending 5-letter groups. Further monitoring revealed that the station ID'd as P7X. However, the format used by this station isn't the same as the P7X that has normally been heard on the HF bands. I discussed P7X in detail back in May of 1998. In a nutshell, P7X sends 120 5-letter group messages with data bursts sent between messages. The purpose behind P7X was unknown but was suspected that it was some sort of training activity, possibly by the US military.

This "new" P7X has been operating seven days a week on 13750 kHz between 1300-1500 UTC on the top & half of each hour. Transmissions begin with two data bursts followed by the CW message. The preamble consists of QRA DE P7X GR06 BT. This isn't the usual format for P7X, as the normal preambles contain the date & time and look something like this: QRA DE P7X IIPII 072230Z GR 120 BT. This leads me to question whether or not this new station is related to the one that has been on the air in the past. Also, this station appears to use a live operator whereas the regular P7X uses automated CW. At least one of the live operators have had very bad fists, as the CW was quite sloppy on at least one occasion. I haven't yet compared the data burst signals sent by the two stations. I plan to do this soon and will report on it later.

The purpose behind the new P7X is just as ambiguous as the purpose for the regular P7X. It is easy to see that the regular P7X is possibly used for training purposes, but the new station most likely isn't. One possibility is that the regular P7X is used for training while the new station has been sending the actual message traffic. It's hard to see how a six group message would be used for training, but conversely it would be difficult to contain much information in those six groups. Trying to pin down a target location for the transmitter isn't easy, either. The station is inaudible in Europe, and the choice of frequency on top of New Star doesn't seem wise for a location in the Far East. However, the transmissions only last about two minutes, which could be done deliberately in order to end before the V13 message begins. Although this new P7X has been active on New Star's frequency, the two stations don't appear to be related. P7X has been heard with a strong signal while New Star was barely audible.

Unfortunately, as quickly as this new P7X appeared, it disappeared. It hasn't been heard for some time now, and it remains to be seen whether or not it will reappear. Only more monitoring will tell.

Now, let's take a look at some loggings.

4028 - Cuban YL/SS 5F msg in AM at 0512. (TS)
4479 - Cuban YL/SS 5F msg in AM at 0323. Bad hum on carrier & YL was overmodulated. (TS)
4506 - Cuban 5F cut # stn (1-0=ANDUWRIGMT) in CW at 0328. (TS)
4575 - YL/EE counting station in AM at 2349 w/ 3/2F groups. (TS)
6840//9130 - USB E10 EZI at 0100. (JM)
6960 - CW stn rpting 637 at 0303, then 259 259 101 101 BT BT and 5F msg. Signed down w/ 00000. (TS)
8097 - Cuban YL/SS 5F number msg in AM at 0619. (TS)
8300 - "New Star" YL/CC 4F numbers stn in AM at 1230. (TS)
10616 - AM E5 at 0000 *TEST* rptg 591 Count 215 123/45... (JM)
12075 //10248//14931 - M22 8BY in CW weak at 0140. (JM)
12300.5//14421 - V5 in AM at 0300 rptg 709 Grupo 220 (JM)
18481 - 4XZ in CW at 1514 w/ 5L msg. (TS)
Contributors: JM - John Maky, AR, TS - Tom Sevart, KS

Many thanks to John Maky for his observations of the new P7X. See you next month.