Saveitforparts: Listening in on Russian Soldiers Hijacking US Military Satellites
Over on the saveitforparts YouTube channel, Gabe has uploaded a video showing how he uses WebSDR streams to show how Russians, including Russian soldiers, are using old US Military satellites for long-range communications around Ukraine.
In the '70s and '80s, the US government launched a fleet of satellites called "FLTSATCOM," which were simple radio repeaters up in geostationary orbit. This allowed the US military to easily communicate with each other worldwide. However, the technology of the time could not support encryption or secure access. So security relied entirely on only the US military's technological superiority of being the only one to have radio equipment that could reach the 243 - 270 MHz frequencies in use by these satellites. Of course, as time progressed, equipment that could reach higher frequencies became commonplace.
In the video, Gabe explains how many Russian soldiers involved in the Ukraine war are using these legacy satellites to communicate with each other. He notes that apart from voice comms, some channels are simply Russian propaganda and music, as well as some channels that appear to be jammed. Gabe also notes that the "UHF Follow-On Satellite" (UFO) satellites that were launched as recently as 2003 are also being hijacked, as they also have no encryption or secure access.
In the past, we also posted a previous video by Gabe about attempting to receive these satellites from his home in North America. However, on that side of the world, the satellites are being hijacked by Brazilian pirates instead.