Talk:Letter beacon

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Original research[edit]

This article would benefit from citations to reliable independent sources. As is, it appears to be original research. Edison 22:06, 20 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I agree, but that might be difficult. A google search comes up with a lot of hits, but most are message boards and newsletters related to SWR hobbyists, not sure how RS those would be. Digging back through the hits, I haven't seen any yet that are outright RS. It has been suggested that this article be merged with Numbers station, which I endorse, but the sourcing and verifiability problems will still need to be addressed. - Crockspot 16:34, 21 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I've added the appropriate merge tags and boilerplate text.--Rosicrucian 19:42, 21 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose merge. The distinction between the terms should be obvious, even to non-shortwave enthusiasts, simply from reading both articles. A numbers station typically transmits groups of apparently random numbers, read usually by what seem to be recorded voices, at what appear to be scheduled times. A letter beacon transmits a single letter of Morse code continuously. After the upcoming U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, I may be able to source at least some of the information in this article (I have a book from the 1980s that documents both types of broadcast; we'll see how RS it is). --Tkynerd 21:30, 22 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
That would be very helpful. The only book I found on Amazon mentioning this phenomenon was a compendium of "Big Mysteries" from the 80's, and it didn't look like much mention was made in it. I don't have a complete hardon for merging this article. Having some sources would make it stand on its own legs a little better. Crockspot 18:17, 23 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Well, that would be my source (the book is called Big Secrets and is by William Poundstone). :-( I'm sure there are better sources out there (e.g., books specifically about "secret" broadcasts, of which there are several, but I don't own any), but there may be enough material in Big Secrets to do. I didn't have a chance to work on this over the weekend (preoccupied by an apparently dying hard drive), but I'll try to get to it tonight or tomorrow. --Tkynerd 15:28, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I am suspicious that these "Letter Beacons" may actually be the non-directional navigation beacons used by aircraft and ships. Many of the NDBs in the Great Lakes area are turned off after navigating season, so perhaps the inference might be made that they are random broadcasts. Check any air navigation chart, they will show the location, frequency and letter being broadcast from such beacons. The single letter in morse code differentiates these NDBs from VORTACs which broadcast three-letter code groups in morse. Cli0019 03:48, 25 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose merge too. I can confirm that both types of stations exists. They have been documented in a magazine: Popular Communications, and also a book I have called How to listen to the Secret Shortwave Spectrum. The aviation beacons are well documented and are no mystery, they also oeverate on Long Wave or medium wave. GB 08:26, 25 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]
I also Oppose merge. I have added two book references for the single-letter beacons and I intend to add an external link to Ary Boender's "Numers and Oddities" web site. They are quite distinct from numbers stations and fall in the "radio oddities" subspecies. Also they are not the non-directional navigation beacons, but belong to a different category.
Sv1xv (talk) 21:17, 7 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

These "Letter Beacons" could be part of the Soviet "Dead Hand" system - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Hand_(nuclear_war) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 94.136.97.82 (talk) 04:03, 17 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

ENIGMA group[edit]

I have compiled the following paragraph regarding letter beacon coverage by the ENIGMA group. It is difficult to cite proper references, as the ENIGMA bulletins were not properly archived in libraries. Is it acceptable to include in the article?

E.N.I.G.M.A. stands for “European Numbers Information Gathering and Monitoring Association”. It was a unique assosiation of radio listeners based in the United Kingdom and operated during the 1990’s. They issued a printed bulletin every few months, which was mailed to subscribers. The 18 in total issues of this bulleltin contained much and very interesting information about odd and mysterious high frequency transmissions. The information was mostly about the so called numbers stations, but there was also some coverage of letter beacons. These bulletins were not archived in libraries and it is difficult to obtain copies today.

In issue 7 (1995-01-16) ENIGMA deviced a naming scheme for all stations in their sphere of interest. In this scheme, the following identifications were issued to letter beacons:

MX : Cluster beacons
MXV: Irregular “V” beacons, not in clusters
MXS: Solitaires: letter beacons out of cluster bands
MXF: FSK beacons (K, U), no longer active in 1995

In issue 13 of ENIGMA (August 1997, pp 25, 40) it is suggested that the cluster beacons are, almost certainly, “strategically placed propagation beacons”. An extensive article in issue 14 (January 1998) was not very informative. In the last issue 18 (January 2000) it is suggested that these cluster beacons are indeed propagation beacons used by the Russian Navy. Suggested locations are: C-Moscow, D-Odessa, F-Vladivostok, P-Kalliningrad and S-Arkhangelsk.

Sv1xv (talk) 20:57, 17 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sure it would be OK to inclide the ENIGMA group. THey are one of the foremost authorities on the topic, and their bulletins are the main source. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 00:55, 18 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

OK Graeme, I decided to put the history of ENIGMA in a subnote and the facts directly related to MX in the sections they belong. Also I cite ENIGMA bulletins as journals. Sv1xv (talk) 15:40, 18 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I have just finished copy editing this entry and would like to encourage you to put the valuable information you present in footnotes l and 2 into a regular Wikipedia entry instead, under a title like "Enigma (radio listeners' group)" or some such, so that it can be found when searching from the "outside". You can then simply make use of an internal link in this article. (If you do a Wiki search for "Enigma", the reason will be evident as you go through that long list of options in a futile search for "your" Enigma). Thanks for considering this request! --Remotelysensed (talk) 17:22, 29 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Accessibility of ENIGMA material[edit]

In his farewell letter, ENIGMA co-founder Mike G. wrote that all ENIGMA publications and research material would be deposited at the British Library (Boston Spa).

Is there somebody in Leeds who can visit the British Library and check this claim?

Sv1xv (talk) 05:30, 21 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Simon Mason posted them to Priyom and we've scanned them (thanks to danix).. http://priyom.org/blog/preserving-history-enigma-newsletters.aspx --TotoCZ 22:15, 13 September 2014 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by TotoCZ (talk • contribs)


Categories[edit]

I have finished the basic editing and I removed the "Under Construction" banner. If there are no objections, I shall remove the "Espionage techniques" category, these stations are definitely military. Sv1xv (talk) 18:11, 19 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

letter beacons disappeared from 7 MHz (October 2015)[edit]

May be worth an update of the article? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.214.227.228 (talk) 09:03, 6 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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