Chinese Firedrake Jammer

Firedrake is the unofficial name of a shortwave broadcast featuring loud oriental orchestral music. It exists solely to jam other signals, such as broadcasts by Sound of Hope, which broadcasts programming from Taiwan that is often critical of Chinese government policies and human rights abuse. The broadcasts only contain music; no form of on-air identification has ever been reported. Apparently, the source of the Firedrake shortwave transmissions is a China National Radio satellite feed.

While international regulations prohibit jamming, this has never stopped China (or the Soviet Union, Cuba, Iran, etc) from doing so. Rather than use a traditional jamming sound, apparently China believes that transmitting music 24 hours a day on dozens of frequencies doesn’t qualify as jamming. Or that no one will notice.

Here is a recording of Firedrake from March 29, 2012 on 14970 kHz.

Below is a relatively current list of known Firedrake transmissions:

Frequency     UTC Time
6280          2200-2400
7105          2200-2300
7280          1100-1300
7310          1300-1400
7310          2300-2400
7525          2300-2400
7565          2200-2400
7615          2200-2400
7970          0000-2400
9200          0000-2400
9450          1400-1600
9540          0900-1100
9635          2200-2300
10300         0000-2400
10965         0000-2400
10970         0000-2400
11500         0000-2400
11550         1200-1300
11760         0900-1100
11820         1330-1400
11980         2000-1700
12130         1500-1630
12160         1130-1200
12175         1300-1330
12175         1600-1700
12230         0000-2400
12300         0000-2400
12600         0000-2400
12670         0000-2400
12980         0000-2400
13060         0000-2400
13130         0000-2400
13270         0000-2400
13500         0000-2400
13850         0000-2400
13920         0000-2400
13970         0000-2400
14400         0000-2400
14700         0000-2400
14900         0000-2400
14970         0000-2400
15070         0000-2400
15500         0000-2400
15745         1230-1300
15750         1300-1330
15750         1400-1500
15800         0000-2400
15900         0000-2400
15970         0000-2400
16100         0000-2400
16700         0000-2400
16980         0000-2400
17100         0000-2400
17250         0000-2400
17450         0000-2400
17560         1400-1430
17920         0000-2400
18180         0000-2400

One thought on “Chinese Firedrake Jammer

  1. On 5/28/2012 at 1220Z, found them on 15445 kHz . Parallel with 16100 & 17250. Went off the air at 1230Z. No idea what time it came on the air.

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