This morning I was scanning the LW on my radio and it locked in on 332kHz. I was picking up a very strong beep, space, beep, space beep, for as long as I listened. If I moved my antenna around, it would fade in and out but it was fairly strong, even in the weakest direction. I checked a local SDR and it wasn't there. It wasn't an NDB. When I checked this afternoon, nothing was there. You folks have years of knowledge, what do you think it could be?
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
Question That I Don't Know Where Else To Put
- Thread starter Mitch Brewer
- Start date
What time of the morning were you listening? What were your operating conditions? (Radio, Antenna). It really does sound like an NDB, tons of them at or near 332 KHz.
If you haven't stumbled across it already, this list (In my opinion) is one of the most complete and up to date:
www.dxinfocentre.com/ndb.htm
I'll give a quick listen for it here later this evening. LW DXing is one of my favorite wintertime radio activities.
If you haven't stumbled across it already, this list (In my opinion) is one of the most complete and up to date:
www.dxinfocentre.com/ndb.htm
I'll give a quick listen for it here later this evening. LW DXing is one of my favorite wintertime radio activities.
It was around 10AM EST. Grundig YB400 inside my house w/ built-in antenna. Loganville, GA. No NDBs on that freq near me. I had actually heard FIS on the Key West SDR around that time and I know it wasn't that. That is an amazing list, a new reference for me but this was not an NDB unless you know of an NDB that only transmits T in morse.
Any airports nearby? Thinking it may be an ILS System. Possibly only activated as needed for landings.
Possibility. I don't live near any airports with an ILS system, however I do live in the NE flight approach to Jackson-Hartsfield. Abt 30 miles out but in the path.
Checked all the maps of VFR and ILS in my area and nothing even close. Listened tonight and got nothing but dead air. Guess I'll have to keep an ear on this one.
My little friend came back this morning. I turned my radio on abt 0900. At 0924 the tone turned on and was exactly the same as yesterday. At 0954 it turned off. Haven't heard anything else from it all day. Checked my local SDR and it wasn't there while I was hearing it. FWIW, at ~0926 a transformer popped and my entire neighborhood lost power for abt 30 secs, the tone stayed on. I'm clueless to what it could be.
I'm wondering if this could be a "smart" electric meter, at your house or in the neighborhood. Perhaps the meter has battery backup, so the communication part of the meter keeps working during outages.
The tone was not back this morning. @awsherrill that is an interesting theory. I looked up smart meters on the ARRL website and it shows that they typically operate in the 908-924MHZ and 2.4 GHZ range. That is definitely something to think abt in the future.
@K8PLW My "local" SDR is approx 30 miles away, great for DXing, not so great for anything local, low-power. I always move my antenna around to get the best signal and it was NNW. So I looked my location up on Google Maps and found something I had forgotten about. Deep in the woods, next to a swamp is a cell tower. I measured the distance and it is NNW @ approx 650ft. I don't know what is broadcasting at that frequency but I would bet money that it is coming from that site. The next time I hear it I will take a little drive to verify.
@K8PLW My "local" SDR is approx 30 miles away, great for DXing, not so great for anything local, low-power. I always move my antenna around to get the best signal and it was NNW. So I looked my location up on Google Maps and found something I had forgotten about. Deep in the woods, next to a swamp is a cell tower. I measured the distance and it is NNW @ approx 650ft. I don't know what is broadcasting at that frequency but I would bet money that it is coming from that site. The next time I hear it I will take a little drive to verify.
Probably not a smart meter, but it could very well be utility-related. Power companies will occasionally impress signals onto their lines for SCADA purposes (Monitoring substations, controlling switchgear, etc). The frequencies they use are generally between 50-150 KHz, but perhaps utilities in your area are doing something different. These signals are typically used on longer transmission lines, and don't pass through transformers well, but can be heard locally in close proximity to radiating transmission lines. Ive received it before here in my area but its been awhile. There are also some power line communication products out there on the consumer end (X10 protocol) operating at roughly the same frequency range.
The other possibility is you were hearing a mix product of two other strong local signals (intermodulation= sum or the difference of two frequencies, multiples of those frequencies, and associated harmonics)...
Either way, I'd try to get a recording next time you hear it.
The other possibility is you were hearing a mix product of two other strong local signals (intermodulation= sum or the difference of two frequencies, multiples of those frequencies, and associated harmonics)...
Either way, I'd try to get a recording next time you hear it.
- Status