What is on this open channel?

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dragon48

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Boynton Beach, Florida
On 1,000.2 Mhz NFM, I pick up an open channel with an almost full signal, but haven't heard anything on it.

Two things:

1 - Can somebody please confirm that this is indeed an open channel with nothing being broadcasted, or is
it something else?


2 - What could it be? I don't think it is coming from my apartment, as I still pick it up when I shut off all of
my computer equipment. I initially suspected it may have been a neighbor's baby monitor, but I
thought those operated on lower frequencies.


Here is a clip:

https://soundcloud.com/user-437184959/10002a

Thanks
 

spongella

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Not sure what type of radio you have, but try disconnecting the antenna and see if there is any change in the signal. As W8RMH stated it might be an internally-generated signal, a.k.a. "birdie."

Check your owner's manual, it might state where birdies exist for your particular model.
 

radioman2001

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Mar 6, 2008
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New York North Carolina and all points in between
Cable TV leakage, LED lamp drivers, CFL lamp drivers,TV main RX osc. Could be anything, try shutting off or unplug to narrow it down. Most consumer products are terrible noise generators. We had a satellite receiver LNA across the street from our antenna broadcasting a signal strong enough to block our radio reception, and we broadcast at 50 watts ERP.
 

ScannerSK

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Weld County, Colorado
There is a faint tone near 1250 Hz fading in and out which makes me believe this is a radar signal. That frequency is in the aeronautical band.

Try AM mode to see if you can receive that tone more clearly. By watching which direction planes are flying in the sky in relation to that tone you should be able to tell which direction the radar is located. The tone will be strongest when a plane flies between you and the radar.

There is a radar used by Denver International Airport about 3-4 miles from my house and I hear similar noises from that radar. Some pocket radios (with the internal ferrite core) will pick up the blips of radars many miles away (within line of sight) as the radar spins around (on an unused frequency around 530 KHz).

These type of signals typically do not break the squelch on scanners so they are not easy to find. I once had a scanner that would search this band with the sound unmuted (audible) so that I could locate all these unusual signals from radars which the scanner was passing right over without breaking the squelch.

Shawn
 

dragon48

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Apr 16, 2014
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Boynton Beach, Florida
Not sure what type of radio you have, but try disconnecting the antenna and see if there is any change in the signal. As W8RMH stated it might be an internally-generated signal, a.k.a. "birdie."

Check your owner's manual, it might state where birdies exist for your particular model.

Going over my old posts and confirming that this is a "birdie," as the radio makes the same sound without the antenna connected.
 
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