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The Return of "The Wobbler???"
- Thread starter cyberdad
- Start date
Somehow, every time I see "The Wobbler", I think of Patty Smyth and Scandal's hit "The Warrior".
Shootin' at the walls of heartache,
Bang Bang,
I am The Wobbler.
BTW, I think they somehow copped part of that lyric from "Breaking Down The Walls Of Heartache" by The Bandwagon. It was a big hit on CKLW, Canada and in the state of New York. Scandal is from New York City. The Bandwagon was from Rochester. CKLW could be heard at Night in all those places. And they listened to CKLW and called WABC to ask why they weren't playing songs they heard on CKLW.
Shootin' at the walls of heartache,
Bang Bang,
I am The Wobbler.
BTW, I think they somehow copped part of that lyric from "Breaking Down The Walls Of Heartache" by The Bandwagon. It was a big hit on CKLW, Canada and in the state of New York. Scandal is from New York City. The Bandwagon was from Rochester. CKLW could be heard at Night in all those places. And they listened to CKLW and called WABC to ask why they weren't playing songs they heard on CKLW.
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I was wondering if whomever is responsible for the wobbler might have some mercy and turn it off during the storm. (Assuming that the pest is being generated intentionally). I dialed up 870 this morning on my C Crane Skywave about two hours before local sunrise, and it was all WWL with their usual excellent special coverage. There was no trace of the Wobbler, but that doesn't mean anything. I haven't heard it at my Chicago area location for several weeks, but it's been present all week on the SDRs located in the Southeast.
And yes, we're praying for those in harms way in Louisiana and the Gulf Coast. The beautiful condo we rent for our beach vacations near Pensacola is owned by a Cajun lady who lives in Lafayette, Louisiana.....directly in the bullseye of the storm. She's a good friend of ours, and we also have other longstanding friends in the area that we've come to know down through the years. 🙏🙏🙏🙏
Has anyone checked to see if the warble is some sort of detectable frequency modulation or facsimile?
If I'm connecting the dots correctly (always a big IF), that would seem to point to the R. Reloj relay operating on 870 as the culprit.
MWList shows 3 Relojs on 870, 2 10kW and 1 1kW. Could be any
In Loganville, GA, I can pick up R Reloj on 860 but can't pick it up on 870. The Wobbler does come in on 870 here. Not sure if that means anything.
I finally heard the infamous wobbler tonight around 9 PM Chicago time. It is unlike any signal I've heard before, or like any EM interference. I couldn't hear WWL at all (maybe it was the hurricane) and the wobbler was the main signal I could hear on 870. It did sound similar in intensity to R Reloj when I've heard them in the past. I can't imagine anyone cares enough to jam on 870 anymore, so the theory that there is a transmitter issue in Cuba makes sense to me.
Same thing here in SE Michigan. I thought I would hear coverage of the hurricane, and I couldn't get WWL on the Potomac FIM-41. That's close to the performance of a Panasonic RF-2200. It was the wobbler, and I think WWL is probably on AUX power, which I think is 10 kW. I could barely hear it above the wobbler every once in a while. Couldn't understand anything.
They have two Licensed AUX records. One is 10/5 U1 with 117.9 degrees electrical height. The other is some kind of very short radiator, 10 kW 12.7 degrees electrical height at the MAIN LIC site.
They have two Licensed AUX records. One is 10/5 U1 with 117.9 degrees electrical height. The other is some kind of very short radiator, 10 kW 12.7 degrees electrical height at the MAIN LIC site.
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Glad I saw this. Tried to listen to 870 WWL tonight in Maryland for hurricane coverage, but was greeted to that noise. Thought it was local, listening with the Audacy app instead. WWL is on generator power so it’s not making it to Maryland anyways.
It sounds like a Theremin. The Remco Caravelle oscillator was very sensitive to stray capacitance from the vertical antenna. If the table wobbled, the transmit frequency varied and it sounded like this against a stable oscillator.
Conspiraacy Theory: Maybe what the Chinese sold the Cubans when they replaced all those old Czech transmitters were actually giant high powered Remco Caravelles!
JUST KIDDING! Sorry, I couldn't resist 🤣
Actually, seriously, I think we may be zeroing in on the culprit being a transmitter issue/defect. Which especially given that this is happening on 870 is more plausible than the wobbler being some sort of jammer. JMHO.
Conspiracy Theory: The last time I heard the wobbler, I also heard Jim Rome doing commentary on WWL. Maybe someone is trying to jam Jim Rome?
Also, just kidding. Jim Rome is a well respected sports media guy. I find him unbearable to listen to but I don't really know why. Probably just me.
I think you are right though, @cyberdad, the US wouldn't jam R Reloj and Cuba wouldn't jam itself so that would probably lead to a fault somewhere, although it probably IS in Cuba.
Also, just kidding. Jim Rome is a well respected sports media guy. I find him unbearable to listen to but I don't really know why. Probably just me.
I think you are right though, @cyberdad, the US wouldn't jam R Reloj and Cuba wouldn't jam itself so that would probably lead to a fault somewhere, although it probably IS in Cuba.
You've got company. I think it's because he's a guy in his 50s who caught on big with younger sports fans when he was in his 30s by being "edgy" and speaking their language. There was no trendy idiom or catchphrase or pop culture reference that Rome wouldn't jump on and work into his show as often as possible. He's still trying to do that today, but it comes off as a square Dad trying to sound cool.
Thanks for sharing this. Speaking just for myself, I'd have to say that this is perhaps as close as we can get to positively confirming that A.), Indeed the wobbler is coming from Cuba....as most of us suspected all along. And B.), that apparently this is a defective r. reloj transmitter operating on 870, And not an intentional attempt to jam anythig on the channel. Although, if all of this is true, I'm surprised that the Cubans haven't done anything to fix the issue. I would think it would be in their best interest to do so.
Receiving it right now near Boston on my NetSDR with longwire. It is fading heavily and never gets very strong. The only other station on 870 is WHCU, also fading badly. To me, the wobbler sounds like there is some sort of phasing effect, either in the modulation or between 2 RF signals, but that may just be a propagation effect.
There are posts about it on other forums going back at least as far as 2013, on 870 and 650. It doesn't seem that the same bad transmitter(s) would still be in use, unless it a common issue with a particular model. Possibly it is an old jamming source that occasionally gets switched into the audio chain, perhaps accidentally.
There are posts about it on other forums going back at least as far as 2013, on 870 and 650. It doesn't seem that the same bad transmitter(s) would still be in use, unless it a common issue with a particular model. Possibly it is an old jamming source that occasionally gets switched into the audio chain, perhaps accidentally.
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