Cuban Government Jamming 40 meter US HAM BAND

I'm talking about the jamming in general, if you solve one problem you'll probably solve both. Face it, amateur radio doesn't have much authority or International importance.

Marine and Air safety does, other Agencies and International groups can put political pressure on them.

If it was a hurricane in that area right now it would be a life-and-death situation for boaters off shore.

By the way there has been jamming on 5 MHz 60 meters/ which NTIA directly controls.

 

Yes, you're talking about 'jamming in general' on an amateur radio site, and telling people if they want OUR jamming to stop they should contact the NTIA. For reference:
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We'll have to agree to disagree about this.

That's the point (kicking the podium) of our reporting to IARU and ARRL - it's OUR job to put pressure on them so that pressure flows up hill.

How can you justify this whopper? In an emergency, ALL frequencies and modes are free to use - including EPIRBs. Cuba's not jamming emergency satellites, are they? They're NOT jamming much more available maritime comms avenues than they are. This is, BTW, why I suggested earlier than anyone with first hand knowledge of any maritime jamming in/around US waters should immediately report it to the Coast Guard so they can follow their MIJI process (and thus report it up the DoD chain) and also issue a NOTMAR so that ALL ships at sea are notified of the existence of jamming or interference. Outside US waters, report to the coast guard of the closest nation. (Also worth noting is that hurricanes are slow movers and are forecast in advance. A superior captain uses his/her superior judgement so they don't have to use their superior skill...)

I'm not going to quibble about the difference between "administers"(1) the military users and "controls" - but it's crystal clear the FCC "administers" our use of 60. As far as we're concerned, if we as amateur operators detect jamming, we follow the same IARU/ARRL process we do for any other ham band. If one is a military user of an affected part of 60, well, they already know how to follow their MIJI process - and they will. Again - see my post above about the DoD wide MIJI program - there's NOTHING there about the primary users reporting ANYTHING to the NTIA, either!

If half the energy wasted arguing here was devoted to reporting instead, the ARRL and IARU would be gagging on reports.

While this has been...interesting...I'm going back to soldering. 73

(1) http://www.arrl.org/60-meter-faq

 

You might want to listen to some of the marine frequencies, it's easy to hear the jamming from your QTH at night.
It's been reported

I think it's hopeless to carry on this discussion.

 

There's not a boat, raft, ship, or aircraft carrier on the planet that requires a functioning HF or VHF radio to stay afloat, see and avoid traffic, or navigate past Cuban waters. Last time I was on board a cruising sailboat, nightly weather and NOTMARs came in on NAVTEX on 518 KHz, and every few days we'd get one of the weather fax runs out of New Orleans or Charleston around 4 - 8 MHz. These days, few people use either of those, relying instead on their Garmin, Iridium GO and other satellite devices to download weather gribs, exchange text email, and upload tracking. Here's one example:
https://forecast.predictwind.com/tr...indSymbol=WindStreamlines&weatherSource=ECMWF

AIS is only good to about 60 miles max, and those transponders are on 161.975 MHz and 162.025 MHz (the old channels 87B and 88B). Of course, radar's in play as well, and it's highly unlikely that anyone's jamming that.

Evaluating the risk factors, and considering it an indications and warning problem, nothing's jumping out at me that makes HF jamming or even widespread VHF jamming to be life threatening to ships at sea. But is there jamming?

US Coast Guard district 7, South East (including sector Key West) has exactly one reference to 'Cuba' in the 28 July local notices to mariners - their latest published - a notice of a string of research buys across the straits.

https://www.navcen.uscg.gov/pdf/lnms/lnm07302021.pdf

Google brings me nothing on any sort of maritime jamming. Neither does scanning social media feeds from sailors and cruisers in the Caribbean, east side of Panama, or down in the ABCs. Got any data you care to share? What freqs do you think are being jammed, and to whom did you report those events?

 

Oh dear, Andy. Here you go again making points based on actual experience, knowledge and documentation.

 

Sorry...I'll try to do better.

I spent about 2 hours last night 'spinning and grinning' around low HF through 10 MHz, with emphasis on the maritime weather fax freqs for the SE US, and 60. I didn't see any jamming. That doesn't mean there hasn't been; just means there was nothing obvious last night from San Antonio. Sorry...it's all I've got.

 

Andy,
How many Cubans do you personally know out there in TX?
Have any of these people told you how they escaped the prison island via makeshift primitive rafts?
How about the hams who brought their equipment along with them on the journey?

You should have a broader perspective on:
Who is navigating the Florida Straits.
What equipment is available to them at the time.
How they are risking their lives in search of freedom.
Please research "hermanos al rescate" and get a few more details about the situation.

 

Hermanos al Rescate

[ATTACHl]820060[/ATTACH]
Only 3 more Cessnas and he would have been an Ace

 

Brothers to the Rescue Planes


With all the jamming going on now our HF equipment would not have worked

V31KW

 

Before this goes off the deep end, answer me this: How many people escaping in rafts or small boats have their escape hampered by jamming of any type? What kind of radio did you have in the boat you escaped on?

I DO feel for ALL refugees trying to escape bad lives - whether from Cuba, from Africa and sailing the Mediterranean, or going overland anywhere else. While in uniform, about half the work later in my career was humanitarian - getting food and medical supplies to people that needed it. Jamming was not a negative factor in accomplishing those missions. Jamming isn't a negative for people in overloaded boats because they don't have radios!

If you have inside information, maybe you can tell us what kinds of radios the folks in rafts are using and how jamming affects them?

Also - would ANYONE AT ALL with data on maritime jamming post frequencies at least and areas affected if known? Without data it's just an opinion - and we need fewer opinions, less emotion, and more data. Thanks in advance.

 

Is anyone monitoring 40 right now? I just saw something strange I've not seen before. No DF as the kiwisdrs needed were full and not available for use. I do NOT know where it was coming from. I do know a friend with an SDR in NC saw some, but not all of the pulses, and none of the 'arrows'.

From at least 1930 UTC until 2150, there was a steady stream of pulses all across the 40 meter band. I didn't have time to measure all of them, but on the lower end there were at 7007, 7023, 7040, 70552 7071s 70873 71033 and 71194. I was working a Winlink net on 7102 and noted the pulsing on the edge of the 2300 Hz band. It did not affect throughput as the pulses were only 200 Hz wide.

At 2150, the pulse rate approximately doubled to 1 per second, all the way across 40. The pulsing stopped exactly at 2151. At 2151:30, all of the frequencies that had pulses had a steady line, that widened, narrowed, repeated, then stopped at 2152.

 

As I said, my friend, we need less appendage waving and more data. The big problem with your claim is that you're saying you were using amateur radio bands to coordinate rescues and/or for interplane comms. Why were you not using VHF air for plane to plane and VHF marine to the Coast Guard? Also, why were you restricted to the part of 40 from 7.1 to 7.35 for your work? If this work was happening today, why would you not have sat phones? (One is none and 2 is one...) Bottom line: If this jamming would have kept you from using HF, even JUST on the amateur 40 band, then you guys probably should have stayed on the ground and hired some competent comms folks before flying again. Amateur radio ops all over the world continue to use 40 successfully even during the most intense jamming. A few of them hold CO calls.

Maybe start a new thread and outline how "Brothers to the Rescue" operated, and get feedback from folks here. I'll bet some can offer constructive criticism that would help you improve your comms plan.

 

I think you need to lighten up and chill out.
HI
I don't get excited about anything nowadays

 

If you don't bring data, I'm not concerned about what you think. Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday.