Mystery 1610 khz signal

[TPO]

A lot of people are talking about a mystery signal on 1610 khz transmitting a 1,000 hz audio tone that has been audible the last couple of nights on the East coast. I'm hearing it clearly in Central Connecticut and get a roughtly N/S bearing on it.
It has yet to ID.
Special Temporary Authority? Experimental License? Canadian? Pirate?
Who else on this board is hearing it?

 

[pqgeorge]

I too was amazed with the signal this station had. As I write this, the tone disappeared @ 7:00 AM leaving a dead carrier. That too faded away as daylight progressed here in the Boston area. A lot of people on many of the message boards have heard this signal from coast-to-coast. Even some enterprising DX'ers have DF'ed this station to be within several miles of the DC/MD/VA area. I doubt it is (or was) a new ligitimate X-Band station. It was probably some kind of radio propagation station to test skywave or something of that nature. I could be wrong, but seeing that it was in the DC area tells me that it was probably a sanctioned test of sorts. I don't think it was a pirate, because the FCC would have swarmed in on it pretty quickly. We shall see.

 

[TPO]

Yes, the simplest answer is often the most likely so this may very well be some kind of authorized experimental operation or operation under Special Temporary Authority although those kinds of things are often publized in advance to some extent. I'm sure someone is combing through the FCC releases right now to find out.

What makes this unusual is the apparent lack of any kind of ID. Over the years the FCC has approved many experimental authorizations in or above the AM BCB, for AM stereo, for HD, for various "short" AM antennas, etc., and from what I can recall call letters were issued and IDs were required. In fact, I participated in one test back in the seventies utilizing a 250w daytime AM signal on 1200 khz from a location in Southern New England, authorized as part of an application for a facility upgrade to prove that the ground conductivity in the area was dramatically different from what the FCC's charts indicated (it was). We were assigned a 3 x 3 call sign and required to ID every 15 minutes. Since this application also involved a change in the transmitter location to another town, the test set up consisted of a 1kw RCA transmitter mounted in the back of a rental truck, set up in a field next to a temporary 100' tower with a temporary ground system consisting of chicken wire! The whole thing ran off of a generator and we used a Shure mixer and a hand help mic for the ID! I believe we ran a tone the rest of the time.

It will be interesting to see how this turns out.

 

[pqgeorge]

>>Yes, the simplest answer is often the most likely so this may very well be some kind of authorized experimental operation or operation under Special Temporary Authority although those kinds of things are often publized in advance to some extent. I'm sure someone is combing through the FCC releases right now to find out.<<

You can bet on it.

I recall in the fall of 1978, while I was attending college in Westfield, MA, that I picked up a very faint signal on 890 kHz. It was only a dead carrier with the exception of a twice hourly legal ID that went something like this "This is K-B-S-8-1-0 Waltham, Massachusetts". I wasn't sure about the call-letters as the signal was really in the mud and there was a little skywave in the distance from either WLS or WHNC. I would love to find out more about THAT weird signal experience. It only lasted a few weeks.

73,

Pete (K1XRB)

 

[jd]

Yes, the simplest answer is often the most likely so this may very well be some kind of authorized experimental operation or operation of under Special Temporary Authority although those kinds of things are often publized in advance to some extent.

I noticed a few other experimental operations recently in the expanded band; one was for a new station on 890 southeast of Dallas which conducted tests on 1680.

There was an interesting experimental station in the Dallas-Fort Worth area back in the early '70's. WBAP Fort Worth and WFAA (now KLIF) not only shared the 570 and 820 for many years until they finally split up in 1970; they also shared a transmitter site for decades along the old route of Texas Highway 114 east of Grapevine. When land was being cleared for the huge D/FW airport before it opened in 1973 the highway, which ran through the four-tower array, had to be re-routed and the towers had to come down.

Both stations agreed to build a new site to the east near Coppell, using a similar in-line tower arrangement: 5,000 watt WFAA 570 would use the three southerly towers for their directional pattern and 50,000 watt WBAP 820's sole tower would be the on the north end. Following the construction the FCC authorized tests, using varying power levels, on 700kHz.

That frequency was chosen not only because it was wide open back then (before the clear channels were broken up) but it was roughly halfway between 570 and 820. Supposedly that made the calculations closer to the actual coverage they wanted to achieve. When the stations finally signed on using the new site, the resulting daytime coverage for WFAA was very close to that of WBAP, and there were a few accusations that the tuning of the diplexed array favored WFAA a little too much. It became a moot point after a few years when WBAP built their own tower southeast of Fort Worth, and the old "north tower" was dismantled.

 

[fldxer]

According to others on some AM lists, the 1610 signal is done and now will move to 1020 through Sunday, then start on 590 Tuesday. Some speculate (and I tend to agree) that it is the gov't. preparing to send some signal into Cuba after the demise of El Fidel.

Greg Myers
Largo, FL

 

[clichemoth]

1020? I'd think KDKA would have something to say about that if they're going to be running the same sort of power they have at 1610 from the DC area. 590's no better for running a megastation from DC, there are at least two co-channel stations that they would crush.

 

[mimo]

they absolutely destroyed KDKA in Ottawa Canada last night. I could barely hear even a trace of kdka. According to another board I read, they were just destroying KDKA all over the eastern seaboard. They had destroyed Toronto's CHHA 1610 as well, which I believe is gone temporarily as of yesterday. I've noticed the signal wanders a bit...it was heard also on 1620, and I think I heard it on 1010 for a little bit today. Absolute powerhouse of a signal. When AM went dead due to solar activity, it was the only station outside of Ottawa and Montreal I could hear

 

[TPO]

The signal is trashing KDKA here in CT as well. Assuming this is some sort of sanctioned test, isn't this what the "experimental period" from 0000 to 0600 is for? I'm sure it is more convenient for the folks doing the testing to have it on in the evening, but this type of interference should not be allowed (in fact it isn't since the "deliberate interference" prohibition refers to all authorizations).

 

[fldxer]

I belive this is a federal gov't. testing issue and they don't have to have any STA's or anything else. They maybe trying trying to see how the signal holds up against co-channel interferrence.
As always, these are just my far fetched opinions

 

[Grant H]

Hey guys. Seems to be a pretty strong station. I heard it as well.

I havent heard anything for a day or 2 now.

Any more speculations as to what or who this station actually was??

 

[mikl73]

i caught it driving through arkansas 11/30 it caught my attention for sure... amazing how long you'll listen to a test tone to see if anything happens...
almost like watching a test pattern on tv

 

[mikl73]

i found this

http://www.hard-core-dx.com/index.php?topic=irca&page=25

"I have it on good authority that the tones on 1610 and 1020 were for testing
Psyops antennas, with 10 kW, and that the 590 test has been canceled following
negotiations between FCC and military authorities. Still nothing definite about
whether BAE Systems or some other defense contractor was carrying them out, and
from exactly where. The BAE contact person listed on the July 2005 FCC
application has not replied to my inquiry. 73, (Glenn Hauser, 0228 UT December
6, WORLD OF RADIO 1339 and DX LISTENING DIGEST)"

 

[Grrrradio]

Psy ops? What on earth could this mean?

"Propaganda transmissions," I would understand, because you can make propaganda with the human voice and then amplitude-modulate that onto a broadcast-band carrier. No problem. But the use of the term "psy ops" has me curious... is there some hypnotic power attributable to 1 MHz RF that's as yet unknown to the broader public?

 

[1q2w3e]

According to others on some AM lists, the 1610 signal is done and now will move to 1020 through Sunday, then start on 590 Tuesday. Some speculate (and I tend to agree) that it is the gov't. preparing to send some signal into Cuba after the demise of El Fidel.

Greg Myers
Largo, FL

I can tell you on good authority this is not true.

 

[1q2w3e]

Psy ops? What on earth could this mean?

"Propaganda transmissions," I would understand, because you can make propaganda with the human voice and then amplitude-modulate that onto a broadcast-band carrier. No problem. But the use of the term "psy ops" has me curious... is there some hypnotic power attributable to 1 MHz RF that's as yet unknown to the broader public?

Yup, it is a test to see how many and how long DXers will sit and listen to a 1 kHz tone. ;D Hey it caught me a for a while.

 

[700WLW]

Yup, it is a test to see how many and how long DXers will sit and listen to a 1 kHz tone. ;D Hey it caught me a for a while.

Mind-boggling !

"OK folks, here is what I can give you on the 1610 signal. First of all it is a legit and approved signal. It is for antenna testing and is running 10kW on the East Coast. It is strictly a 1kHz tone. There will be nothing else transmitted. So you dont need to look for any FSK. The 1610 signal is now off the air, but there is more fun to be had. Starting this morning (Friday) at 0900 (EST) the antenna testing will resume on 1020 and will run until 0700 Sunday morning. The 1020 signal will be shut down Sunday at 0700. Tuesday look for the signal on 590 at 0900 (EST) and run until 0700 Friday. Friday will finish the antenna testing. We would be most interested in any FIM readings you get including location, date, and time. If you dont have a FIM, an RS(T) report would be great. Again include date, time, location and a general report. Any audio reports would be fun (heck I am a DXer after all) If you have any readings from the 1610 signal, please feel free to forward them to me. I took a reading at Fayetteville, NC yesterday at 1300 EST and got a 700uV."