“Mysterious Foghorn” is Chinese Over-the-Horizon Burst Radar

The International Amateur Radio Union Region 1 (IARU-R1) Monitoring System (IARUMS) newsletter reports a mysterious “foghorn” — a Chinese over-the-horizon (OTH) burst radar — is operating in Amateur Radio bands.

“We observed the mysterious foghorn on 7, 10, and 14 MHz,” the newsletter recounted. “This is a Chinese OTH radar, which is often jumping, and sounding like a foghorn.” The signal is frequency modulation on pulse (FMOP) with 66.66 sweeps-per-second bursts.

Other intruders reported by the IARUMS include a Russian frequency-shift- keying (FSK) signal from Kaliningrad on 7,193 kHz, and a Russian FSK signal on 7,193 kHz (50 baud, 200 Hz shift). German telecommunications authorities have filed another complaint.

The latest IARUMS newsletter also reports strong splatter from Radio France International (RFI) on 7,205 kHz down to 7,186 kHz. The French REF has informed RFI and French telecommunications authorities.

Intruders still reported and the subjects of further complaints from German authorities include Radio Hargeysa in Somaliland on 7,120.0 kHz; Radio Eritrea with Ethiopian interference on 7,175.0 kHz; Radio Taiwan and a Chinese jammer on 7,200.0 kHz, and a Radio Tajik harmonic (from 4765 kHz) on 14,295.0 kHz.

Source:ARRL