Please open this post by clicking on the topic (audio recordings don't show on the blog main page).

It's been about a week since my quick update and I promised to write a proper post soon. I had hoped that I would have more answers by now, but Pip changed it's inner workings and it will take a while to fully understand the new system. However the new system is quite complicated so it definitely deserves a blog post of it's own.
This post will continue from where my previous big post left off, the 17^th of November onwards.

 

STATISTICS
November 17 - December 1

Messages	Total	per day
Dlya	35	2,33
8С1Щ	2	0,13
TOTAL	37	2,46

 

 

Для (Dlya)
The Dlya system changed completely on the 17^th, previously messages were either type 1 - sent twice a day from a pool of 4 messages, rotating in order, or type 2 - sent on the daytime schedule almost daily, always with the same message.

New system
Pip has 15 different messages which consist of 5 call signs from the previous messages in the first half of the message and the latter half is composed of 5 call signs that will be repeated in the next message. All these call signs are in the same order.
There is no obvious pattern to the order that these messages are sent, and there is no "Type 2" anymore, all schedules send these new messages. It is not known whether there is some complicated order that these messages are sent in or whether they are completely random. However with 15 message pool and no daytime coverage it will take a while to figure it out.

 

Seeding a message
The first message in this new pool of 15 seems to have been influenced by the message in my old classifying system "Type 1", and it's first message, "Pool 1". The first 5 call signs in this new Dlya message have the same call signs that were in the Type 1, Pool 1 message, in the same order but picked in seemingly random manner from the Pool 1 content. Where the latter 5 call signs come from is not clear from my data at this time. When I was investigating this I noticed that the same call signs were observed in a common repeated message in October.
Based on what is currently known when this kind of new rotation starts the "seed" message (one from which the first new pool message is derived) changes by one callsign, the first one gets removed and a new one is added at the end. If this prediction is correct the next seed message will lose the first call ХДЗ1 (HDZ1) and gain a new one at the end.

Below is the list of the current call sign pools, in the succeeding order; last 5 call signs will appear on the beginning of the next message. On the top the October and November "seed" message is shown.

Pip however doesn't send messages in this order, below is the Dlya transmission log:

Date	Time	Pool number
17.11.11	04:04	01
17.11.11	13:49	08
17.11.11	17:34	07
18.11.11	02:16	09
18.11.11	13:15	Inaudible
18.11.11	17:53	15
19.11.11	03:58	02
19.11.11	16:39	08
20.11.11	03:22	10
20.11.11	13:44	14
20.11.11	17:54	01
21.11.11	03:24	03
21.11.11	13:14	09
22.11.11	03:39	11
22.11.11	16:07	02
23.11.11	01:48	04
23.11.11	17:27	10
24.11.11	03:31	12
24.11.11	13:07	Inaudible
24.11.11	16:05	01
24.11.11	19:25	11
25.11.11	03:39	05
25.11.11	17:11	11
26.11.11	02:20	13
26.11.11	15:51	02
26.11.11	17:09	04
27.11.11	04:16	06
27.11.11	17:57	14
28.11.11	03:59	12
28.11.11	14:29	03
28.11.11	18:37	05
29.11.11	03:35	07
29.11.11	15:26	13
30.11.11	02:53	15
01.12.11	03:33	08

 

 

8С1Щ (8C1Shch)
Since the 17^th there have been two 8С1Щ messages:

November 24, 1707z

8С1Щ 93 485 ПРИОРА 48 71 97 12
8S1Shch 93 485 PRIORA 48 71 97 12

ПРИОРА is romanized to PRIORA and Avare in the IRC channel pointed out that Lada makes a Priora car model. Are the Pip operators fans of fine russian autos and advertise them on the air? Only you can decide, but do check out the Lada Priora!

And here's the other one, this one without smartass comments:
November 28, 1335z

8С1Щ 40 213 КАЛЯГА 60 22 15 00
8S1Shch 40 213 KALYaGA 60 22 15 00

 

 

Other events

Extra ЦИХС
Call sign ЦИХС (CIHS) was read on the first and third reading. This should be group 04 which doesn't have ЦИХС in it, however the message sent previously ended in ЦИХС which might suggest that the transmitting station has a list of Dlya messages to send and the operator started reading from the previous line by accident.

November 26, 1709z

Для ЦИХС Ж1ТР М1СЕ З7ПМ ЬО6П ЙХЬЙ ДМЦ3 49ФТ Ц2ЗА ЛИ27 ИННЦ
Dlya CIHS Zh1TR M1SYe Z7PM 'O6P JH'J DMC3 49FT C2ZA LI27 INNC

 

Accidental transmission during pause
This is a slightly older transmission, one that I had been planning to include on my previous posts but they all ended up so long that it never fit. Halfway into the reading of a Dlya message the headset is put on the cradle, or at least that is what I think it is based on the sounds that can typically be heard. However it seems that the PTT switch is separate and is at least sometimes left on as we can hear in this recording. The operator can be heard talking during the pause, but sadly the sound level is so low that so far no-one has been able to figure out what he says.

November 15, 0349z

Для ХДЗ1 ЗЬ1Б 27ЩЬ ЦИ9В Н1ДУ 53ОБ 78МВ З6МА ОЬНЕ A3ПC
Dlya HDZ1 Z'1B 27Shch' CI9V N1DU 53OB 78MV Z6MA O'NYe A3PS

Here is a WAV file if someone wants to do some audio editing and try to clear up the recording.

 

Mistake in reading
Normally the message is read twice followed by a pause, and then repeated twice again. In this instance she gave the message only once before the pause. After she resumed the reading she said "37Ц" before realizing that she forgot to say Для (Dlya) first. She excused herself by saying "Отставить" (Otstavit'), meaning "cancel/disregard" in military lingo and started the reading over.

November 29, 0335z

Для 37ЦН МУДР 7ВНЩ Ж7НЖ ЫМА5 ВТХ3 АГДТ ЬУ1Б ОСОГ БО6С
Dlya 37CN MUDR 7VNShch Zh7NZh YMA5 VTH3 AGDT 'U1B OSOG BO6C

 

Data loss
I lost my perfect recording streak on the night of 30.11-01.12 due to technical problems and the first half of the recording was lost. It is likely that I lost 1-2 Dlya messages and possibly a 8С1Щ message. I want to mention this for the sake of integrity in my reporting.

 

 

Dlya schedules
Dlya messages still run in schedule, however since the message content is not time-dependent anymore the schedule limits are not as clearly defined as they used to be. For my next post I will include some probability calculations to illustrate when the bulk of the content is received.

 

 

Cheat sheet

Frequency	Daytime	Nighttime
.	5448	3756
Schedule	0430z-1300z	1300z-0430z
Dlya schedule	From	To
Morning	0148z	0416z
Day/evening	1307z	1925z

 

 

Thanks
A big thanks goes to Gwraspe for transcriptions, proofreading and general help. TROJAN719 was invaluable in finding out that the word uttered by the Pip operator was "Отставить", as well as doing some transcriptions. And finally, thanks to Ary Boender for mentioning my posts in his excellent Numbers & Oddities newsletter.

 

 

From now on I will publish results from my Pip monitorings monthly to allow me more time to work on other projects.

---
Tucana
tucana@priyom.org