M89 | The SWLing Post

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dan Greenall, who write:

Hi Thomas

I still have a tendency to scan the utility frequencies from time to time, much as I did over 50 years ago. Now, though, I can listen in through the various Kiwi SDR receivers scattered around the globe. Having obtained my amateur ticket in 1974, I got a lot of practice copying the CW repeating “markers”, especially those in the maritime bands.

Recently, on March 20 at 1821 UTC, to be exact, I came across a CW signal repeating the same message over and over on 6839 kHz, while tuning my friend Ken’s Kiwi SDR in Northern Thailand. The text read: VVV Q2M Q2M Q2M de NYZ NYZ

At first, I thought NYZ might be some kind of U.S. military callsign, but I decided to confer with an expert, Ary Boender, at the UDXF in the Netherlands. My e-mail was sent out at 10:57 am local time, and by 11:02 I had my answer! And not at all what I expected.

Ary writes:

This is a Chinese military station, Enigma designator M89.
Here is some info about it https://www.numbersoddities.nl/Chinese-military-nets.pdf
Also related is: https://www.numbersoddities.nl/M89-profile.pdf

My thanks to Ary and the UDXF, the Utility DXer’s Forum. This is a very useful site and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Utility DXing. Check it out here:
https://www.udxf.nl/index.html