HFGCS · Group 4 long messages · 243 of 60+ characters · 221116 – 261012

Long G4 Block Reuse

Later long G4s often reuse blocks from earlier ones under the same prefix. Numbers marked (261005) come from one-off tests run that day; the rest update with the log.

Which messages reuse blocks 93 of 211

The first long G4 under a prefix has no earlier message to reuse blocks from. After that, whether a message reuses blocks depends mostly on its length and how many long G4s came before it:

By position in the prefix (2nd long G4, 3rd, and so on):

2nd2 of 29
3rd3 of 27
4th5 of 24
5th11 of 21
6th13 of 20
7th7 of 15
8th or later52 of 75

Where the blocks come from

Usually not the message right before. The previous long G4 is a source for only 6 of the 93 messages that reuse blocks, where random picks would give about 26, and the strongest source for just 3, against about 17.

The strongest source is usually 2 to 5 long G4s back (63 of 93). It's a median of 20 days earlier, and within 45 days 90% of the time. How far back it is:

previous3
2 back18
3 back20
4 back10
5 back15
6 back2
7 back7
8 back3
9 back5
10 back2
11 back5
12 back2
14 back1

43 of the 93 take blocks directly from two or more messages, and in 16 of those, at least two of the sources supply blocks the others don't. The 261004 MM-164, for example, took blocks from both the 260901 MM-186 and the 260902 MM-180.

Messages aired close together don't get reused as a pair, though. Of 159 pairs aired within 3 days of each other, 5 were later copied by two messages at about the same spacing, which is what chance gives (5.0). A single later message reusing blocks from both, like the MM-164, isn't more common than chance either (261005).

What they take

Whole blocks, almost always. 153 of the 155 direct matches take at least one, and 95 take 3 or 4 in a row. (A block counts as taken when all 22 of its characters land inside the later message and at least 6 of them match.) The run usually starts at the front of the source:

Taken blocks land on the later message's own grid. Of 448, 372 start exactly where one of its blocks starts, 43 fill the end of its head (positions 24–45, right before block 1), and 33 land elsewhere. How many slots they move, per direct match (going by what most of its blocks do):

same slot29
+1 slot23
−1 slot22
+2 slots13
−2 slots14
+3 slots13
−3 slots8
4+ slots33

If some of a message's blocks have already been reused, a later message reusing from it picks those same blocks again about as often as chance would: 148 of 216, against 145.7 expected (261005).

Block families 238 blocks copied into 2 to 6 messages

Stacked up, the copies look like this. Each card follows one prefix, and each group is one block as it passed from message to message, oldest first, lined up on the block grid. The ruler on top numbers the 22 positions in base 32 (1–9, then A–M), so the quad is J–M. Pink characters match the consensus line at the bottom of the group, bold where every copy agrees; grey ones don't. Positions 1–5, 11–13 and the quad stay put, and the rest mostly change.

A trailer looks ahead too: its first two characters are the head of the field the next longer message of the prefix will carry, in 62 of the 68 messages that end on a quad-closed field. So a trailer is a prediction the next airing can check; Block layout has the example.

BV · 6 messages, 241031–250122 (83 days)
123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLM
block 1 · 5 copies
241031 BV-268 · block 6
EUCVFLAOL6LSYSSSQEFFFF
241117 BV-160 · block 1
EUCVFOOLFZLSYSSSQ6FFFF
241214 BV-164 · block 1
EUCVFLT7FBLSYYQQ3EFFFF
241231 BV-142 · block 1
EUCVFBLFO6LSY7Q3YYFFFF
250122 BV-166 · block 1
EUCVTQFTTZL73QSQYSFFFF
consensus
EUCVF·····LSY·S···FFFF
block 2 · 5 copies
241031 BV-268 · block 7
IMU6G77VA73DHRXRXREEEE
241117 BV-160 · block 2
IMU6GWWDS23DHRXGHREEEE
241214 BV-164 · block 2
IMU6G7SGAW3DNNSSXXEEEE
241231 BV-142 · block 2
IMU6GUWEWV3DNHSHSNEEEE
250122 BV-166 · block 2
IMU6SAGGS23HBSDHNGEEEE
consensus
IMU6G·····3D······EEEE
block 3 · 6 copies
241031 BV-268 · block 8
B4ZVT7UCC7KUBUUBCBFFFF
241104 BV-120 · row B
OYZVTW7B67KUBEUXEBFFFF
241117 BV-160 · block 3
B4ZVT66BCBKUX3EC77FFFF
241214 BV-164 · block 3
B4ZVT7CACWKUBBCC72FFFF
241231 BV-142 · block 3
B4ZVTW6FCUKUBXBHUEFFFF
250122 BV-166 · block 3
B4ZVCATAT6KX7BEH73FFFF
consensus
B4ZVT···C·KUB·····FFFF
JC · 3 messages, 230808–230910 (33 days)
123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLM
row B · 3 copies
230808 JC-160 · row B
KWAT3ORRHQXVLG3V44BBBB
230817 JC-142 · block 2
23OT3HR3H3XVII43LGBBBB
230910 JC-246 · row B
HWAT3A2AGGXL3Y4VY3BBBB
consensus
·WAT3·R·H·XV··4V··BBBB
block 1 · 3 copies
230808 JC-160 · block 1
ROXNCDYDLCVTWXJWCXBBBB
230817 JC-142 · block 3
ROXNCSSSYPVTRRJXSABBBB
230910 JC-246 · block 1
ROXNCHASJPVWCSCTJ7BBBB
consensus
ROXNC··S·PVT··J···BBBB
block 2 · 3 copies
230808 JC-160 · block 2
CRGZBUBLLQSOKLMXOMAAAA
230817 JC-142 · block 4
CRGZBKLPNYSOXXDOMDAAAA
230910 JC-246 · block 2
CWGZB74ULKSKDUDOKKAAAA
consensus
CRGZB···L·SO··DO··AAAA

Across prefix changes 0 matches in 28,197 pairs

No pair of messages from different prefixes comes close to a match. Out of 28,197 such pairs, the best scores z 10.7 (a match needs 15): the last 24 characters of the 231217 JO-164 against the first 24 of the 260909 MM-120, with 10 of 24 matching. If block reuse worked across prefixes at the same rate it does within one, the pairs aired less than 30 days apart should have produced about 65 matches (261005).

Maybe blocks do carry over, but disguised. That was tested too (261005). At each of the 20 prefix changes where the old prefix had any block reuse, the old prefix's messages from its last 45 days whose blocks hadn't been reused yet (107 in all) were compared with the long G4s from the 60 days after it ended (193: 162 under the next prefix, 31 under the one after). Each change was tried with three disguises: a constant letter shift, a key repeating every 22 characters, and a letter-for-letter swap.

Nothing showed up. Of the 160 scores (8 per change), 8 came in at p ≤ 0.05, which is what chance gives. The test would have caught one disguised message under a letter shift 98% of the time, two under a 22-character key 93–96% of the time, and three under a letter swap 89–96% of the time.

There's usually a gap between prefixes too: the next one starts a median of about 11 days after the last one ends, and only 1 of 31 changes came within a day (261005).

Over time

Between late 2025 and MM there was almost no block reuse. From 251123 to 260826, 10 prefixes (X5 through I6) sent 34 long G4s, and only 1 of them reused blocks: the 260114 ZX-142, from the 251221 ZX-246. At the earlier rates you'd expect about 6 (P ≈ 0.004).

Some of that may be coverage: X5, BE, JF and UQ have no timecards (DTCP recordings) for their whole spans, so messages and matches from those days could be missing. The next message to reuse blocks was the 260912 MM-224, from the 260901 MM-186.

Can the next reuse be predicted?

Some of it:

Built 261022 from SHORTWAVES. A long G4 is a Group 4 message of 60 characters or more, first airing only, without partial captures or disregarded reads. Positions count from 1. Generated by eam_block_pages_.py.