Any Audio Clips from The Wobbler?
Sounds a lot like the Remco Caravelle when you would bump the table and the antenna would sway a little and you could hear it "wobble" in frequency against a carrier strong enough to heterodyne with. Cycling, varying, stray capacitance in an uncontrolled frequency oscillator circuit. Maybe an air conditioner fan motor with a bad winding?I have not heard the wobbler, but is it possible that one of the 870 Cuban stations is unstable and could be 20 to 60 Hz or so off frequency and not fixed in the off-frequency deviation? A highly unstable off frequency station would cause a beat against the main 870 signal being received and sound like a warbled or shifting frequency wobble.
We used to have loads of such minor but audible deviations in Latin America. Stations off frequency by 50 or 60 cycles or less. This was often due to either unstable crystals (non-vacuum crystals in humid and hot environments will build up the ability to wander a bit) or the use of a VFO instead of a crystal, common with lots of "home built" transmitters using an amalgamation of locally available parts. Some AMs even used ham radio gear, modified to have greater audio capabilities.Sounds a lot like the Remco Caravelle when you would bump the table and the antenna would sway a little and you could hear it "wobble" in frequency against a carrier strong enough to heterodyne with. Cycling, varying, stray capacitance in an uncontrolled frequency oscillator circuit. Maybe an air conditioner fan motor with a bad winding?
Great point. And probably worth nothing that this isn't the first....or only...wobbler. Of course, all signs overwhelmingly point to Cuba. But I don't think anyone here can say that with 100% certainty. At least not just yet.Today, that is unusual. But in Cuba today, anything is possible.
The only thing I can find on YouTube is a wobnler on 650 AM from a decade ago, and one on 1000 AM in 2012. Interesting times...Again, Any Audio Clips or YT Videos?
Yeah it's a pretty strange sound.Thanks
Ok, I'm on the Key West SDR on 870, Like a DJ sratching a Record
Good question. I'd love to find one, but suspect that such a service would not be allowed in socialist Cuba and would not be possible due to limited broadband Internet connections there. There is also the issue of "Who could afford the equipment and the electrical costs?" in a very controlled economy.Is there any Cuban SDR's I can listen to?
Closest is Key West, (operated by Trans World Radio, presumably so the engineering staff can monitor the 800 signal as it passes Cuba), and it receives a lot of Cuban signals even in the daytime (you can hear Reloj on 950 "like a local"). It would be interesting to hear one on the island itself, but, as you said, it'd be wall to wall domestics .Good question. I'd love to find one, but suspect that such a service would not be allowed in socialist Cuba and would not be possible due to limited broadband Internet connections there. There is also the issue of "Who could afford the equipment and the electrical costs?" in a very controlled economy.
Keep in mind, also, that Cuba is 800 miles from East to West, so even if an SDR were available, it would only give a slice of domestic Cuban radio.
Yep! But safe to say most of that has to do with R. Marti's DA pattern. And the massive amount of brute force on R. Rebelde transmitters on 1180 that the Cubans use to overcome R. Marti.Interestingly, the Key West SDR system is far enough away from VOA's Marathon 1180 kHz transmitter that the Cuba station on 1180 is very audible under the VOA Radio Marti audio.