Testing Your New Setup

Instead of hunting for readable signals, check out the following links for schedules, along with easy targets to tune. Please read them carefully to see if the software you are using is compatible. See our HF Software Decoders article for more information.

This list is nowhere near all-inclusive; additions are solicited.

ALE (a.k.a MIL-STD-188-141A)

Probably one of the fastest growing modes in terms of number of users, it's hard to think that any list is complete, but this should get you started.

• ALE Networks
• The 2015 Digital Digest has information on the US Air Force Global HF ALE Network - see the HF Appendix for the link to this document, which is very inexpensive.

SITOR-B (NAVTEX) Broadcasts

There are a number of stations that use this mode for news, weather and other information. Some have specific schedules.

• HF SITOR Broadcasts by William Hepburn
• NAVTEX Broadcasts by William Hepburn
• USCG Sitor-B Broadcasts
• SVO Athens Greece is known to send news bulletins and exchange rates using SITOR-B at varous times. Frequencies include 8424.0 and 16830.5
• During local evenings, you can hear Digital Selective Calling (DSC) on the frequency of 2187.5. Marine Safety Information (MSI) broadcasts can be heard on 4209.5, using SITOR-B. Other freequencies to check (subject to propagation and local conditions) would include 6312, 8414.5, 12577 and 16804.5 kHz.

Other Modes

• Deutscher Wetterdienst (German Weather Service) schedule (PDF) one of the very few stations using standard Baudot RTTY
• NOAA Worldwide FAX Schedule (PDF)
• The frequencies for the various HFDL sites can be found here as a PDF. The frequencies to tune will be determined by the time of day, and how propagation is working during that time.
• Shortwave Radiogram Digital Tests

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