Pirates On US Navy Satellites - UHF SatCom 

Thanks Luis!! That’s awesome! 👌

Brazilian criminals uses WhatsApp. This is from remote areas. He say that the battery is bad because your solar panel is dirty, so they need to clean up in the weekend. Maybe they are Gold diggers in remote areas.

He's talking about his solar panel (not board), that he's got to clean it. He's also complaining the batery he's using is old.

@@juliocesarpereira4325 You're right

the audio quality is a bit poor, but he was saying he had to clean his solar panel, and that his battery was with low power and the battery was an old one, and he had to replace with a new one.

Brilliant 😁

WHere r u roughly and what antenna r u using? Thanks man!

😂😂

StringerNews1 and none were in the Caribbean

I believe it is spelled "arrgh!"

"Intruders" is how the IARU name people who uses amateur radio frequencies without a valid license.

Maybe not but i sure did when i read this comment ..... :-)

Nai Kai ego me teleio seima

Πως το κάνετε?τι κεραία χρησιμοποιείτε?

@@justsomedude4660 exw valei kata mikos olis tis taratsas ena kalodio orizodia(tixeou mikous)kai to pianw

Me too from germany

Τι μηχάνημα ;

we used them too in pacflt

Yeah 😂😂😂 most hams are crying about it online but hey if it keeps an unused sat alive who cares 🤷‍♂️

Thanks for your help, I had a feeling it was a CONSPIRACY theory, I've got enough basic knowledge of signals cb ham radio etc that I didn't believe it was even intentional

Most is intentional. Been there for decades now. Some guys in Brazil and Portugal even specialized in modified ham radios and commercial units (Motorola, etc.). The first excuse from the "promoters" of the selling of the units was that they were using abandoned satellites. It was true at first. They would chose "past life" sat's that were "overshoooting" expected operacional life. Frequencies were carefully choosen to avoid troubles with the military. But as units were being sold to everyone, less care was being taken, and soon started lots of abuse. Mainly used by truckers, it became a sat CB. Abuse of language, truckers tallking from Germany to their wives in Portugal, truckers in Amazonia (Brazil) in long chats, and illegal activities communications in South America became regular. In Portugal, in the early stages of "brazilian copycats" I've warned those guys that there should be no normal use of UHF satcom for chats like CB. That was not a good idea. But people pushed it (brazilians were doing it for years allmost without any trouble). After a while, chaos and abuse was standard: Long chats, interference with italian navy NATO coms, and the likes. There were even guys using digital voice to avoid interception by other pirate users😀. Things went so bad that a joint investigation by the Judiciary Police (high prestige Police), ANACOM (the portuguese FCC), GNR (kind of National Guard but with daily police action) and NATO military resulted in a border between Spain and Portugal welcome to truckers with prision arrests envolved. Same in Brazil: Next generation military direction finding (US military guys don't joke arround) led to precise pinpointing of pirate use, even in the Amazonia jungle. Activity went down a lot after those operations. The bad sound in this video is a result of low quality SDR (high quality SDR based receivers cost thousands) and a improvised antena (you should use a direccional antenna pointed at the satellite). Some satellite transponders would let you get in touch with military tact teams in deep South America and Far East at the same time !!!! Hope my information was usefull

it's a 100% intentional, see the antennas? no one uses circular polarization by accident. most of them are truck drivers.

@@jplacido9999 That was extremely useful and informative! Obrigado! 😉

@@jplacido9999 thank you for explaining

yes they know what they are doing, there are people specialized in sales of equipment to operate these satellites here in Brazil, most of them are truck drivers who use the system just because there are regions that do not have any type of cell phone signal, they end up buying radios and installing and using it clandestinely, the guy who sells the equipment sells a kit that consists of a conventional vhf radio (136 to 174) and a converter for (250 to 320) and an antenna that is called a shower head.

Apparently, Ukrainians & Russians shout on them too. Battle sounds can be heard, so you know what's going on.

Ive heard them too, with a home brew QFH and a hack RF, as well as on my yeasu ft 817 with a full size gv5r dipole configured as an inverted v

You’re welcome :) From what I gather there are multiple transponders on the satellites, each transponder can cary multiple transmissions, I think. If you’re using SDR you’ll be able to see a hump for each transponder. Maybe I’ll make another video on this . Cheers

@@TechMindsOfficial Oh man yeah another video would be awesome. Thanks so much for the reply I'll be on the hunt for these transmissions now!

CRYPTO-RADIO no i wasn’t, unfortunately. That job was based out of Colorado Springs, though technically we could have done it anywhere since everything was done over VPNs to the geolocation sites. They always wanted us in the office though. i’d love to be out on the west coast somewhere though 😅

CRYPTO-RADIO there is a loooooot of military there, but also a lot of liberal people as well.

I only need a small 20 cm long rubber duck antenna, signal is always 9+

@@VicGreenBitcoin I suppose it depends where you live. Here in NW England the sats are low in the sky and there are hills in the way.

@@andyhowlett2231 Always those bloody hills...

@@andyhowlett2231 in England how do you know ware to point it? I'm in northern Ireland...

@@damiengirvan5020 A dipole is not very directional, so just arrange it so it can see to the southwest. The satellites are in geosynchronous orbit (so fixed in the sky) and appear quite low in the sky from the UK.

Wow creepy

Florin Gataiantu Tell me more about this and this Oscar 100 satellite for ham radio. interesting.

Maybe someone abducted by aliens long ago calling for help ;) I'd call the police and see if they are missing persons.

@@baronvonlimbourgh1716😂😂😂😂

Some guys are like that. Shame on them. Incredibly, some are legal radioamateurs !!!! Shame !!!!

Thank you sir 🙏

Creamy Pasta it’s free to connect to these sats if you know how.. actually not that complicated, a $25 5 watt dual band Amateur radio from amazon and a little know how and you can tap into quiet a few of these connections this is hardly the only sat in the sky that you can tap into. A word of warning though, you by law need to be licensed to use any of these things and licensing is free in most countries just need to pass a test. You however can freely listen to transmissions without a license just can not transmit without a license.

@@Getfuqqedfedboy So are you saying that a licensed ham/amateur radio operator can tap into these satellites?

@@624radicalham i cant speak for this specific sat i assume so because it is decommissioned. but yes to there being sats in the sky you can contact and use as repeaters :D

@@Getfuqqedfedboy I don't think so. Not legally if they are US Navy. Even if you're a ham

up here in scandinavia you can get them on a discone antenna.

I used my Icom ID 52a handheld and came across them.

Not likely. Google is your instructions.

@@christi_L I know your right :(

It does stand for shortwave listener.

Crossed dipole is easily made to receive circularly polarised signals by introducing the appropriate 90° phase shift between the signals from each dipole before combining them and feeding them into the receiver. Alternatively, just use a single dipole to receive a circularly polarised signal, and tolerate the 3 dB loss of signal strength.

I use a plug for Inmarsat reception which has the ability to track a carrier. However, you're right, it's an AFC! :-)

@@TechMindsOfficial Now if we can get a universal language translator plug-in we will be all set

Yeh I just narrowed the BW because they were not that strong with me, great job on receiving them. Where are you located?

Yep, I received this from UK and I just used a dual band antenna on my roof. I’m sure with a dedicated antenna pointing towards the sat you’d get a stronger signal.

@@TechMindsOfficial, what is the Sat name so I can find it's location to point to it?

From some research I done I found one report saying the inputs are 41 MHz up, but as you say, unless you're near the person transmitting I doubt you'd hear them.

@@SignalsEverywhere Being fined (ten or more thousand) has nothing to do with having a license or not. A fine is a fine. 😟😵

@@TechMindsOfficial If the bird is over the Indian Ocean, is it possible to receive it in So. California?

if you have knowledge you can build tranceiver for any frequency.

I don’t think I will cover how to transmit, but there is info on the internet if you desire

Thanks LordHog! I havnt done that yet, but I have a really really long list of videos I want to make and exploring GNURadio is on that list :) thanks for watching! 👍

LordHog - If you’re new, definitely stick with sdrsharp, for now. Just properly installing the drivers, can be a bit of a challenge. However, there are some great step-by-step tutorials, on www.nooelec.com Gnu radio runs under Linux, which, if you’re not familiar with using it, may not be your best choice. Also, when using gnu radio, you have to ‘build’ each radio, in the software’s interface, which has a very steep learning curve, unless you REALLY understand how radios work. (I’ve been an EE for 31 years, and sometimes find it challenging.) The real advantage of gnu radio, is that it allows you to transmit, if you’re using a HackRF One.

Think I read somewhere that they are around 40mhz up, but I am unsure, sorry.

+45

utp216 if you’re using the bunny your antenna you need to shorten/lengthen it in order to tune it properly

you do not want that , get a 88.108 notch filter and you will see lots of signals on other bands

The reception with these satellites is great. My dad used to talk way back, like 2003, 04. There were much more HAM operators than there's today, they all used codenames, and it wasn't just Brazil in the past, my dad used to chat with plp in Portugal too, in especial with 2 guys which their codenames were "Asterix" and "Obelix". We later found out they were two helicopter brush fire pilots. Everyone stopped chatting using these sats when the feds busted some guys that sold upconverters. My dad never bought and always made his own converters, very easy to do. Nowadays it is very sad to see that the sats are being used for illegal things, but back in the day it was very fun and plp were very nice. As far as we Brazilians are concerned, we don't give a fuck that these satellites were designed with linear transponders and no authentication, it's the US Navy problem, and they should deactivate the fleet somehow, but they don't seem very concerned because this is going on for more than 20 years and the only arrests were made only because some guys were building and selling the converters

Great information, thank you for sharing 👍

@@guilherme94 Yes, you are rigth. The commercial selling brought unethical guys to the band that became chaotic. By the way: the nickname of the band in "pirate" circles is "Bolinha" 😁😁😁 ("litle ball")

From the pictures I saw on the internet it would most likely require some form of directional antenna, but if you’re close enough to the sat, then probably just a vertical.

If you install the community edition of SDR# I believe that filter is included.

@@TechMindsOfficial yes I've installed it from air spy website. What's the name of the filter ?

Steve Carlisle I agree with you, but UHF Satcom is what these satellites are referred to as. 🤷‍♂️ VHF sounds better tho

How high is high? It's all relative.

Those are ITU frequency ranges, you might have them confused. ITU is international.

Technically you are right. Don't take it personally. It's the generic name for the system (240-400 MHz). The 4 decades old FLTSATCOM still going 😁

You can buy directional satellite finders for stationary satellites. Great for companies like Foxtel in Australia but of course theirs is for TV. Even apps on your phone can find satellites like Satellite Finder.

Pretty much yeh

Being geostationary and so easy to use, they are a dream for HAMs. And being so obsolete, and ill-designed I wish they would open them officially to no longer be illegal. Of course it will never happen.

www.moonraker.eu they are based in Milton Keynes area UK. They have an ebay shop too.

@Trent Trent in fairness Moonraker is pretty crappy quality gear. I can understand why the Aussies want to distance themselves from it. It's fine if you accept you're going to have to improve things and you do get lucky from time to time but it's not top quality kit. I've had some yagi's advertised as suitable for VHF ham radio from them that were resonant in the bloody air bands, required some tuning post install, which is fine if you're expecting it... Less fine if your antenna is up a mast that requires two of you to move it.

@Trent Trent Moonraker in the UK have been trading since the 80's - i remember them in the CB days and have rediscovered them since becoming a licenced amateur.

It’s a box which goes between a mic and a CB radio so that the voice has an echo effect on it. 👍 Not entirely sure that guy had echo but sounded like it

@@TechMindsOfficial oohhhh i see :P cheers dude - cool video. its neat hearing voices in the maelstrom like that

@@TechMindsOfficial Almost certainly he was using a second radio/sdr to monitor himself coming back off the bird, which gives an echo effect due to the sat delay.

Avast me mateys, hoist the satellite dish on the mizzen mast!

The fish & chips guy?

I think it’s 40 or 50 MHz up

+45 MHz or minus. I haven't tried. I receive them very well here in Montreal with a 2 element yagi for 220 MHz.

041.000 shift +

It may just be the package, choose which one is cheapest but make sure it’s authentic

You’ll find out lol. Mine didn’t even do HF.

You’ll find out lol. Mine didn’t even do HF.

@@BrekMartin why ? Was it not working ?

manish manu My eBay ones didn’t work below broadcast FM, even if they claimed down to 500kHz or so.

KKKKKKKK

Kkkkkk

Blame the US Navy ... they originally called it "UHF" and now other countries who use similar systems call it the same.

Hmmm...🤔 It may benefit you to see what courses your predecessors have taken to get their Bachelors Degree, then chose those ones! Hope this helps, You Can Do It!!!

Also what suits you. I did DSP in uni during a module and oh my fuck that was hard. Echo Bricky's suggestion above, speak to guys a year ahead and choose accordingly.

Depends on what you actually want to do one you get that HR mandated piece of paper. Any of em could be worthwhile, yes even the comm systems dos, depending on your desired path. SDR's and DSP's are fun if you wanna geek out, though I am more of a point to point/HF long haul cat SATCOM is fascinating when it works, and so long as the systems theory has real world applications you can't go wrong getting more knowledge even if it is a bit niche. So question back to you my dude, the heck do you ultimately wanna do with your BSEE?