Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Carlos Latuff, who writes:
Hey Tom,
Check out this recording.
I heard it today on 16976 kHz USB, at 13h08 UTC, here in Tramandai coast, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
Maybe your readers may have an idea what is this CW about?
Thank you for sharing this, Carlos!
Post readers: If you can ID this station, please comment!
This is a tough one. I did not copy all of it due to the QRN but it is a series of three letters followed by eight numbers such as:
YAE/00135064
YAL/21886448
YAC/50855620
There is a / in between the first three letters and the numbers. Code speed is very fast, at least 20 WPM. At no time did I hear a station ID. I wonder if the first three letters are some type of preamble that would be for a specific listener. I did not use software to decode, it was done in my head hihi.
No idea but here’s what the CW decodes: *G\273MRNRTIN I CAE\00135064 _\3207684O )L\U T1T NE86448 I\Ö 89T G4H 2 )S\G O25715 )MI A 296356 CTR\J 00378 )T I /5 8556IL ÜÑ19
Thank you very much
Thank you Brian and Don S for the assistance.
I found this 2012 reception report on the website of the Club Amateur de Quebec. It pertains to a CW transmission by the Brazilian Navy on the same frequency, 16976 kHz.
https://craq.club/files/documents/Archives/numeriques.pdf
Is it just coincidence that our mystery CW station was reported by an SWL in Brazil?
Using Google Translator on both the French report and the Portuguese text of the radio transmission, and correcting a few presumed errors, we get something like this:
Here is a small piece of the weather report transmitted by PWZ (Brazilian navy) in Pactor I.
…. AREA VENT.
WAVES 5/6 WITH BURST 7. WAVES OF
W/SW 1.5/2.5 PASS5/2.5 NO
REST NW/SW 4/5 WITH BLAST HANGING AROUND
SOUTHWEST OF SE/NE 3/4 IN RESA. PASSAND5 WAVES IN THE SOUTHWEST OF THE AREA.
NORTHERN OCEAN AREA
WIND SE/E SOUTH OF ECUADOR AND E/NE 3/4 BEFORE THE AREA.
QRU/ZKM QRU/ZKM QRU/ZKM
End of the Rio de Janeiro Navy Msg in Pactor I (on 16,976 kHz on 04/30/2012
Definitely in the ITU Maritime frequency range. Most likely 16978 khz bulletin noted in this document:
https://www.marinha.mil.br/chm/sites/www.marinha.mil.br.chm/files/folhetos_ing/english112020.pdf