Pirate activity is not something of the past it exists today and is a threat conducted by ragtag armed ragamuffin groups.
Has your interest been piqued? When avast mateys as I spin ya’ a yarn on how to find out where these sea-faring scoundrels lurk from the Caribbean all the way to the South China sea! Who knows what dangers lurk behind that dial? Trusty AOR AR-3000 receiver and SignaLink™. Yes, pirate activity but not radio pirates real honest-to-goodness modern day pirates looking to loot, plunder and prey upon commercial ships making an honest living or other leisure watercraft just out having fun. The information can take the form of weather broadcasts, hazards to navigation, information on ships lost at sea, and pirate activity. RTTY remains on HF (3 – 30 MHz), albeit mostly encrypted, but there are some stalwarts of this mode that transmit important and interesting information for ships at sea. While major broadcasters continue to move to the Internet and dwindle in number, there nonetheless remains plenty of utility intrigue to be had you just need to know where to look, and be comfortable with other modes of communication such as RTTY (Radioteletype).
(All photos taken by author–click to enlarge)Īhoy! After spinning a radio dial for over a half-century, shortwave listening still provides a source of adventure and interesting intercepts. Tracking High Seas Pirates on Shortwave Radio Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Mario Filippi (N2HUN) for the following guest post: Click here to read about when I acquired the ST-6 and Model 32.Suspected pirates surrender to crew members of the CGC Boutwell. My Equipment: So far my RTTY equipment is limited to a HAL-ST6 Terminal Unit, and a Teletype Model 32, which although similar to the infamous Model 33, is a 5-bit “Baudot” machine, originally used for the “ Telex” Network.
In most modern cases, a USB audio interface now replaces the “terminal unit”, and software like FLDIGI replace the teleprinter, but as the RTTY protocol uses the old Baudot character set at 45.5bps baud, most older gear still works fine! For example a Model 15 teletype can be used for RTTY, and it first came out in 1930! RTTY usually involves 3 major pieces of equipment your radio receiver/transceiver (most standard ham radios today work with RTTY), a “terminal unit”, and a teleprinter/Teletype.
The interesting part of RTTY, is that it’s not only still a fairly popular digital mode amongst many newer, better digital modes, but it’s historically significant that this particular mode can work with equipment that literally dates back to the 1920’s. There’s a bit of crossover here, as Teletypes were not only used for amateur radio use, but often used for computing as well (now vintage computing), so this page is dedicated to the radio side of things, while I may have another page dedicated to the computer use of Teletypes.
It was first pioneered by the Navy, and later amateur radio operators formed groups such as the “ South California Radio Teletype Society” that literally took in cheap and free equipment from companies such as Western Union, and got them in the hands of amateur radio operators who started figuring out how to get them to talk over the air on the amateur bands. Radio Teletype is the evolution of the old “telegram” services from the late 1800s, but instead using “teleprinters” (aka Typewriters) that work over radio waves. This page is all about RTTY, or “ Radio Teletype“.