Military intruders in Ham Radio Bands

IARU Monitoring System (IARUMS) Region 1 newsletter reports during March, likely as a consequence of the current military situation, they noticed an increase of transmissions in unknown modes in HF amateur radio bands

In many cases, their most probably function was to act as jammers (signals intentionally transmitted over other transmissions in order to disrupt or nullify their reception).

We also received on several occasions a signal whose possible function, given its behaviour (transmission of short but powerful bursts jumping in an organised and repetitive way along the radio spectrum), could be to act as an ionosonde (radar used to examine the ionosphere in order to determine the optimum frequency for the transmission of signals in HF bands).

Also, military modes that we had not observed for long time, such as the Russian digital mode T-230-1A, also known as "Mahovik" were copied.

The International Amateur Radio Union Monitoring System (IARUMS) Region 1 March 2022 newsletter -
https://www.iaru-r1.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/IARUMS-R1-Newsletter-2022-03.pdf

MSF Signals Closed for Maintenance

A scheduled annual maintenance shutdown of the MSF 60kHz Radio Time Signal service is planned.

It will allow safe working on the masts and antennas.

The service will be off-air from 0700 to 1700UTC each day between 4 to 21 April 2022.

The transmission will be restored overnight whenever possible.

A radio-controlled clock will not be able to pick up the MSF signal during these periods, so may drift off from the correct time.

MSF 60 kHz Radio Time Signal - Shutdown

A scheduled annual maintenance shutdown of the MSF service to allow safe working on the masts and antennas will take place from Monday 4th April to Thursday 21st April 2022.

The service will be off-air from 08:00 to 18:00 BST (07:00 to 17:00 UTC) each day, including weekends

The transmission will be restored overnight whenever possible. If the weather is unsuitable for work to be carried out, then the service will not be turned off.

The signal is occasionally taken off-air to allow maintenance work on the masts and antennas at Anthorn Radio Station to be carried out in safety. A radio-controlled clock will not be able to pick up the MSF signal during these periods, so may drift off from the correct time.

The shutdowns will take place between 10:00 and 14:00 BST in June and September, and between 10:00 and 14:00 UTC in December. The duration of each outage period will be kept to a minimum, and the signal may be back on-air prior to the times given above.

In addition to these dates, the signal is likely to be taken off-air for a two-week period during summer each year, though the transmission will be restored overnight whenever possible. The dates of this longer outage will be announced on this page and by emailed notices to registered users as soon as they are known.

More Information - https://www.npl.co.uk/msf-signal