HF Logs for 6733khz

Only yesterday I was saying how I prefer not to scan HF frequencies for fear of missing the vital few bits of transmission at the beginning, and how I tend to sit for hours and hours on a single frequency. But I think, on reflection, that the reason I don't scan HF is because on my FRG100 (now sold) and my Icom 703, programming the required frequencies into the scan, deleting yesterdays, and setting up the scan itself was not the simplest and quickest of procedures.

But in this new QTH I am listening using only my Tecsun PL660 on the batteries as there is much less RFI than when using a radio on the mains. And setting up the scan you require for the day is simplicity itself. The Tecsun PL660 doesn't, of course, have a squelch. So you program in your frequencies and it scans each one in turn, stopping for 5 secs on each channel. As I am also using my homemade passive loop which requires re-tuning every time you QSY, I decided to program in 6712 for the French Air Force, and one or two military air frequencies each side, close enough to 6712khz not to require a re-tune.

Within minutes I picked up some really clear Italian voice comms on 6733khz with IDR, The Navy HQ in Rome, working "Dagger 05". The ship appeared to be giving a position report, he mentioned his operational area, and then gave a lengthy weather report:

"........visibilita 6000, mare 3, QNH 1025, temperatura 15 gradi, nuvolosita 6 ottavi (6 OKTAS) 4000 piedi"

He addressed Rome as "delta romeo" (from iDR I suppose).

If anyone reading this can offer me any help at all with the callsigns used, I would be really grateful. I presume it is "Dagger" but I have heard comms here in the past and heard what I wrote down in my logbook as "dagateisha", so I may be totally wrong. My Italian is only really basic!

The military HF frequencies interest me a great deal, but they can be tricky to ctach as days will go by when there is no training exercise taking place, and you begin to presume the frequency has become inactive until you get a great burst of activity such as I did this morning!

73 Adam