Spy numbers station on shortwave

I've heard this strong station several times now over the past year, usually later at night. It always broadcasts at 5900 kHz (or now that I think about it, have I picked it up at 9800kHz?). I picked this up Monday night/Tuesday morning, April 21st, just after 00:34 CDT (5:34 UT).

The station is pretty strong here in Chicago, with only occasional fading, and it sends a modified CW signal that can be picked up with any shortwave receiver. It only uses three digit code letters in groups of five: those Morse Code letters that are described by three combinations of dots and dashes, minus S and O, which are dot-dot-dot and dash-dash-dash.

5900-spystation.mp3 audio file, 7.43MB

Decoded, the file yields this:
DAUWN WIWNW GDNWR UTWAT RGAID INWTA NUGIW UIWWA GINRT NRDWI DNRUT RDAUG NNAII TWIIR UDDNA ATDGT NUART DTIWU IUWWI TINUW ADNIT RRRWT DATRA DUWGW NGINI UTDTR IDIRA DRUDD NIDTU IIDRG URWUU GTTNI UIWIR UITND ATTDI WARGR DGTGD DWIRD AIIAI ARDTI TIGDU GRUWI AUTRT NTWNU GRUUU TUGUG AAARI TRRNG TTDAA WUWGU NNATW WNGRN TNRAN DRUTN DWUGU RDAUN RGGNN TNWNN WDGDD WARGA DDGNN DUDTA RRNNN RWTNU RUWTI GRTIA UDAAN ITIUG UIIAR WIUTU IATNT UDNGN ARGNT TAAWU WUADN DAARW INRGR GNNAG ADGRU GNWWR GWGUD WDNNA URRAR WITIN RRDAD AIDRR GUAUG INANU DIWUI WAGAN NRUUN AWRAD DWRNR UTRAU INIDR UITUN ATDUG RUUAA UIGWT DAIUI AIRRD ANAIN IDATI WDIUG WTNAD UNRAI GNDTR ADNNI DUNGR RDWDI UGTUD TDATG GIGUG IAANA DRDTD TGIGN GWUNN GWIII ADWDD

The actual contents of this message are presumbly only known by the intended spy and the agency that sent the one-time pad message to them.

SO2 plume from Galapagos volcanic eruption

You can see the sulfur dioxide (SO2) plume from the Galapagos volcanic eruption via the OMI on the Aura satellite (which I'm using to watch for hopefully great sunsets here):


NOAA/NESDIS/NASA-Goddard -- Click to enlarge to global view

400 Years of the Telescope: Friday on PBS

This such an auspicious year. I watched an interview on Chicago Tonight with one of the creators of "400 Years of the Telescope", to be broadcast on PBS this Friday. Immediately a shot of the Yerkes 40-inch refractor passed by in glorious HD, a scope I am intimately familiar with, and now I am compelled to watch. Friday at 8PM on WTTW. Of course, I am very happy when E.E. Barnard pops up on the schedule page on the site--Barnard's experimentation with astrophotography has a tie to the RAS observatory: our 1895 Warner and Swasey mount was first lent to Yerkes Observatory so Barnard could test camera lenses.

Radio astronomy dish raising

Joe Cottral managed to get a spare 2.5m satellite dish from western Illinois to Chicago. The rest of the RAS had the responsibility of getting the dish from ground level up to our 6th floor aerie. We decided on raising the dish as reasonably quickly as possible, to reduce the annoyance factor for all non-involved. We also picked after much observation and discussion to raise the dish via the southeast corner of Ryerson which is an elevated turret. The reason being the turret allowed easy transfer over the parapets of Ryerson. The loading dock offered easy vertical lift, and the fire escape offered quick one-story lifts, but in the end, Lui's suggestion of the turret was the superior option.

Now, we have to 1. acquire a receiver capable of 1420MHz and 1.6GHz-ish, 2. Clean up the dish mounting steel, 3. Mount the dish on Ryerson with lots of Quikcrete, 4. Get microwave-capable cable, 5. get a low-noise-amplifier, and 6. put it all together. Minor bit there. Oh yes, and decide where to place it on the roof.