Multiple "Sweepers" on my Cascade

Comments

• G8JNJ

  December 2019

  It's Over The Horizon Radar (OTHR)
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Over-the-horizon_radar
  
  There are Six 'usual suspects'
  
  These four tend to sit on specific frequencies for long periods of time.
  
  Cyprus (Pluto)
  China
  Russia (Kontayner)
  Iran (Ghadir)
  
  What you are seeing is probably either Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) from Australia or Superdarn
  
  These move around to track propagation, but tends to operate on frequencies close to each other.
  
  JORN also tends to change the sweep rate on a specific frequency, typically switching between three different rates in sequence.
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jindalee_Operational_Radar_Network
  
  https://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/Jindalee_Operational_Radar_Network_(JORN)
  
  
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Dual_Auroral_Radar_Network
  
  https://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/SuperDARN_(Super_Dual_Auroral_Radar_Network)
  
  https://superdarn.ca/real-time
  
  
  
  https://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/PLUTO_II_OTH_Radar
  
  http://www.chinatopix.com/articles/112419/20170314/radar-thaad-over-the-horizon-radar-oth-radar-intercontinental-ballistic-missile.htm
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Container_radar
  
  https://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/29B6_'Kontayner'_OTH_Radar
  
  https://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/'Ghadir'_OTH_Radar
  
  
  
  In addition there are many surface wave radars, but these tend to be a lot weaker and have a slower sweep rate.
  
  http://www.codar.com/intro_hf_radar.shtml
  
  https://cordc.ucsd.edu/projects/mapping/maps/
  
  https://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/CODAR
  
  
  Regards,
  
  Martin - G8JNJ

  
• cx8bit

  December 2019

  Martin,
  thanks for your answer. I live in Montevideo, Uruguay, and most of the countries here in South America don't have Over-the-horizon radars. I think I'm out of range of most of them, but I know the signals could bounce in the ionosphere.
  
  Thanks for the answer!
  
  73!
• G8JNJ

  December 2019

  You will be able to hear most of them almost anywhere on the earth, and possibly beyond :-)
  
  Regards,
  
  Martin - G8JNJ
• VR2BG

  January 2020

  Not mentioned is USA, with several OTHR sites all looking south. VK uses the same Raytheon kit, which has a fairly distinctive signal (we suffer quite a bit of it in amateur allocations in this part of the world). Although this looks a bit like that, the Kiwi's waterfall isn't quite up to the task for identification.
  
  73, VR2BG.
• ka9q

  January 2020

  Here in San Diego, I also see them all over the place (below the MUF, of course). I know that there are some over-the-horizon sea-state chirped radars near here.
  
  I suspect there are also some ionospheric sounders.
• G8JNJ

  January 2020 edited January 2020

  Yes there are a lot of Surface Wave Radars, especially in North America, but these tend to be much lower power and sweep over a much wider bandwidth.
  
  However even so I can hear many of the North American ones in the UK, typically around 4MHz when Grayline propagation kicks in.
  
  If you look on this website https://cordc.ucsd.edu/projects/mapping/maps/ and select list by frequency on the left hand side, you may be able to identify some of them.
  
  The coast around California is particularly active, as can be seen from the main map on the title page.
  
  Regards,
  
  Martin - G8JNJ