Intruder Alert! Who's on the band?

Wolfgang Hadel, DK2OM

If you've spent any time at all cruising through the HF bands, you've likely come across an out-of-place signal or two. Perhaps it was an voice in the middle of the 20-meter CW sub-band or music playing at the top of 15 meters. Perhaps it was a strange data signal that sounded like RTTY but just kept repeating itself over and over again. "Where is that coming from?" you thought.

If you're Wolfgang Hadel, it's just another day on the hunt. Wolf, better known as DK2OM, spends a good portion of his time listening for rogue signal in the ham bands and trying to figure out who it behind them. He co-ordinates the International Amateur Radio Union's Monitoring System in Region 1 (Europe, Africa, Middle-East and Northern Asia). Each month Wolf compiles a newsletter highlighting what he has found and it can be very interesting reading to say the least.

Each report is filled with a spreadsheet of signals heard and their possible sources. There is also some graphs which show just have much of the bands some signal cover.

Wolf often forwards information on the worst offenders to governmental authorities who in turn can file formal complaints. In one recent case, and intruding signal even interfered with emergency traffic originating out of Napal, which is recovering from the effects of a massive earthquake.

Here is a copy of the most recent monthly report.
There is shorter version with the most recent updates available here.
Visit the monitoring system's website for more information.