|
|
the official web site |
Solar X-rays: 
Geomagnetic Field: 
(from n3kl.org)
New:
(09 May 12)
This year's Armed Forces Day exercise will be held this weekend. Here's the full schedule as of Wednesday.
(13 Feb 12)
I'm sick of looking at this web site. It's not going away, and in fact there's plenty of new stuff I'd like to add. However, the time has come to sort out its serpentine html 2.0 era code, and generally to make it look better on any browser newer than Firefox 2.x or whatever I originally used to code it. Therefore, it's under serious construction, and will look pretty wretched for a while until everything's fixed, recoded in xhtml for sanity's sake, and given a proper css for the same reason.
In addition, the hotlist at the end just absolutely had to go. Everyone uses search engines nowadays, so hotlists are less relevant. Besides, they are always wrong. For the same reason, I dropped the links to US Coast Guard communication, because right now even Google with its massive array of bots and webcrawlers has trouble keeping up. Maybe someday when the transition into DHS and the .mil domain is over, it'll calm down.
UPDATE: It's continuing to come along. A whole bunch of errors have been fixed and now it passes xhtml validation. I've added some new spectrograms to existing pages, and put up a new page for the 2008 HAARP Earth-Moon-Earth test. Time to switch to adding content.
(02 Feb 11)
The Utility World Column has a blog, and a web site. This site is updated, probably not often as I would like, but it DOES get updated.
We're keeping up with social media. Our new twitter account is UtilityWorld. "Tweets" also show up in a box alongside the most recent blog post. We also have a new, easier-to-remember e-mail address. It is mtutility world [a circular character used in e-mail addresses] gmail.com.
A couple of years ago, Utility World joined other Monitoring Times features on Blogger by starting its own blog. It is good for quick updates to fast-changing situations that would not be timely in a print edition with a 2 month lead time. It's also good for longer features or things that didn't make it into the column's limited space. The blog has been well received, and it gets a lot of attention.
Users of Really Simple Syndication (RSS) can get instant blog updates with aggregator programs, or even active bookmarks in such browsers as Firefox.
Link to the blog is http://mt-utility.blogspot.com/.
All radiofaxes are reduced versions of pictures received in Southern California (unless listed otherwise) between 2004 and 2011.
These are way cool. They really show what goes on in the different utility modes. Many have links to the brief sound files which made them, so you can listen too.
(2001-2012)
In previous years, national security crises have sometimes led overzealous US Government officials to target harmless ham radio or utility hobbyists. Therefore, it is imperative that people in these hobbies make it clear which side they are on. We've helped secure this country in the past, and we'd like to again if the need comes up.
Even in the "pre-9/11" USA, laws and temporary measures were ocasionally passed that severely restricted freedom to listen, and on one occasion even confiscated equipment. Furthermore, the original US Communications Act and certain sections of the later ECPA also remain in place, and lax enforcement should not be taken for their irrelevance. Basically, the law of the land protects the secrecy of all radio traffic not explicitly intended for the public. Most other countries are stricter than the US, and we'd really like to keep it that way. Common sense remains a very useful guide. When in doubt, leave it out.
Keep in mind that short wave radio is an extremely ambiguous medium, which gives few reliable clues as to the exact nature of strange signals. While some of these are undoubtedly just what one suspects they are, there's plenty of room for misunderstanding. Beware of fake communications, exercises, misinterpretation of code words or accents, and hoaxes perpetrated to whip up panic or xenophobia. These have happened before, they are happening right now, and they are sure to happen again. But if a VERY carefully considered and documented analysis tells you that you've run across something real, seriously consider contacting relevant authorities, carefully explaining yourself and what you do, and noting that you have encountered suspicious communication without giving details until they are requested. More than one spy has been shut down this way, even in the era of satellites and Internet.
Far as security holes go, there will never intentionally be one here. Information comes from unclassified sources, even if these become classified at a future time. Furthermore, it is a fundamental policy of Utility World not to report frequencies, call signs, or activities from such sensitive areas as the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan. This hobby is plenty of fun without endangering our military.
A utility is the jargon for any radio station on the short wave band that is not for the public's entertainment or hobby. All those huge gaps on your shortwave radio, the ones between broadcast and amateur bands, are utility bands allocated by international treaties.
The word "utility" comes more or less from the original Latin for "usefulness." With very few exceptions, these radio communications are most certainly being used as part of some mission or task, known or unknown.
Utilities are harder to hear than broadcasts, but they're way more fun. You'll find all the world's militaries, ships, aircraft, spies, bootleggers, embassies, and anyone else who needs to communicate over the horizon. While satellites are often primary, the recent failure of Galaxy IV shows once again why many people want a shortwave backup. If your radio has a "USB" or "CW" setting, you're ready to give utilities a try.
The Utility World column and its web site are intended as friendly, jargon-free clearinghouses for utility information, so you'll hear more signals and fewer odd noises. In other words, you folks write both of them.
CU on the bands!
back to top
Contact Monitoring Times here
Check out Grove Enterprises
The Groves are nice people.
Utility World
P.O. Box 4765
Culver City, CA 90231-4765
All content Copyright © Hugh Stegman 1998-2012
