Logs - 29 Apr 2026

General
1

Here’s a few UTE logs from this evening:

21949 MOROCCO CN-RHE, 4/29/2026 0103-0103, DATA:HFDL, Royal Air
Maroc Boeing 737-8 Max with HFDL position report over Morocco. Flight
left Casablanca and is heading south to Abuja, Nigeria

7903.5 UNITED STATES FBI/AL1, 4/29/2026 0031-0031, DATA:ALE, ALE
Sounding

8414.5 Atlantic Ocean OTSL AKSO, 4/29/2026 0047-0047, DATA:GMDSS-DSC,
Liberian Bulk carrier with test call to ship MERKURIY; a Russian LNG
tanker. Ships were close to each other at time; 300 nm W off the coast of
Portugal

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2

FBI broadcasting in shortwave?

3

Yes! The FBI and several other US Federal Agencies can be found on HF. The method most often used these days is “ALE” (Automatic Link Establishment). Most of the traffic is automated but nets can be found at times during exercises or natural disasters. The FBI has it’s own network and also interoperates with others. In this case the Callsign AL1 indicates the station is in Albany, NY.

ALE is one of the best ways to monitor UTE traffic - it does require some software (there are free options) and a way to get the audio into a computer. The radio is set to USB mode most of the time for these. You can often set your system up to run and come back later to see what you caught.

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4

That’s very interesting. Sounds like their own number station.

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5

I’d say it’s more like another communication tier for co-ordination. Despite cellphones, sat phones and other exotica many agencies still see the value of HF, especially in austere environments/situations. ALE makes it more usable since it selects the best frequency in a network pool to complete the transmission.

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