[IRCA] 1610 mystery signal speculation

[AM-DXer@xxxxxxxxx (Patrick Griffith, N0NNK / WPE9HVW)]

Obviously this is quite different from the 1996 Army Broadcasting
Service (ABS) tests on 1670 kHz from Fort Meade, MD using the call sign
KTRK (and then A-R-M-Y after they discovered that KTRK was an assigned
call). The 1996 tests involved programming and announcements as well as
requests for reception reports and telephone calls from listeners
outside of a 50 mile radius of Fort Meade. They announced a mailing
address in Alexandia VA and gave a telephone number with a 301 area
code. Several DXers spoke to them by telephone and received candid
replies from the operators about the tests. Perhaps the present
transmissions are the less candid, post-9/11 version of that sort of
testing.

I did some checking and found out that the ABS was apparently "retired"
on 11/09/06 and was replaced by the Soldiers Media Center (SMC).
However, the contact information on the SMC web site still yields an ABS
e-mail address. A message sent to that address this morning inquiring
about the possible involvement of ABS/SMC in the transmissions we are
hearing yielded an immediate auto-response saying they would get back to
me within 72 hours.

Patrick Griffith, Westminster CO
http://community.webtv.net/N0NNK/
http://community.webtv.net/AM-DXer/

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