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One of several formats used within "The Russian Man" family; E17 is
the one most often heard in the US. It uses what is frequently described as
a "hermaphrodite" voice which, depending on the listener, can sound either
male or female.

No schedule exists (except, obviously, for the recipient) Frequencies
appear to be chosen at random and are seldom used more than twice. E17 will
send more traffic during times of world crisis; especialy if the US or CIS
are involved. Additionally, E17 is known to send large quanities of traffic
for periods, then go silent for weeks. E17 is believed to be broadcast from
Cuba.

Broadcasts start at h+00 h+15 h+30 and h+45. AM mode is used. Extremely
powerful carriers are often up for long periods prior to the start of a
broadcast. Tests are often performed during this period which can be an
indicator that a transmission is imminent. These carriers have a
distinctive finals hum to them and with a little skill can often be
identified by this.

Transmissions start with the recipient's three-digit identifier repeated
for three minutes. After this; a decode key and group count will both be
said twice. The station will then go into its five-figure group message
text with each group repeated (5FGx2) Once this "message" is complete, both
the decode/group count sequence will be repeated, and the station will go
off the air with "00000". This message will be repeated twenty-four hours
later at the same time/frequency. 

There is a variant to this station. It is known as a "null" broadcast.
These are sent if there is no traffic for the operative at a pre-scheduled
time. The transmission will simply consist of the recipient's three-digit
identifier repeated three times followed by the five zeros (i.e. 436 436
436 00000) These go off the air after approximately three minutes and
generally will be repeated one hour later on the same frequency.