Reading radioscanner.ru I found an interesting post my friend Cryptomaster about Israeli Defense Force (IDF) Navy transmissions consisting of their proprietary PSK serial tone waveform sent along with the Tadiran/Elbit Digital Coded Squelch (DCS) signal activated. Since the Istraeli Ny transmissions are quite frequent and easy to receive and recognize, I decided to take a look at the frequency reported by Cryptomaster (13372.0 Khz/USB): the transmissions were picked up using the Italian KiwiSDR owned by IZ6BYY.
The DCS signal is sent continuously, starting when transmission begins, and transmitted on a frequency which is slightly higher than the one used by the data signal (i.e. "over" the data signal) by using an FSK waveform wich is modulated at the rate of 125 bit/sec and 290 Hz shifted (Fig. 1).
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| Fig. 1 |
Tadiran/Elbit DCS implementation is a 84 bit long string, while standard DCS [1] codewords consist of 23 bit long string (10 bit data + 3 fixed bits + 11 check bits): don't know if a similar framing is used here. Anyway, notice that at the end of each transmission the encoder changes the code to a pattern consisting of the same string sent in opposite polarity: most likely it's a "turn off" code that causes receiving decoders to mute (Fig. 2) and to signal the end of the data transmission.
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| Fig. 2 - Tadiran/Elbit DCS bitstream |
Radios with DCS options are generally compatible, provided the radio's encoder-decoder will use the same code as radios in the existing network. indeed, the use of DCS has only been noted on this frequency: Fig. 3 shows contemporary transmissions on 13372 and 8070 KHz/USB. Notice that the two signals occupy the same bandwidth: it may be that before DCS were applied the PSK signal is subjected to a tighter filtering.
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| Fig. 3 - Isr-Ny contemporary transmissions |
DCS support could be provided by Tadiran/Elbit devices such as the HF-6000 or HF-8000 [2]: I already met that signal coupled with the Nokia msg terminal.
Since a compatible radio ignores signals that do not include a bitstream with the specified code, DCS could also be used as a type of selective calling. Indeed, the Tadiran "Selective Calling" feature (that's not ALE) just uses an FSK waveform as DCS: perhaps the DCS words "open" the squelch of the addressed radios (all, group, individual) but it's only a my guess...
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| Fig. 4 |
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