Strange Catch in 40m Ham Band

[AlaskaMike]

Other than a couple of the Russian channel marker beacons, I haven't ever come across anything strange in the ham bands before. Just a few minutes ago I sat down in front of the radio and turned it on, and heard the clear tinkling of a music box, though it wasn't any recognizable tune. This was at about 0753z on about 7094 kHz. It was a distant signal with significant fading. I started tuning between 7093 and 7094, LSB, trying to find the specific freq, but it suddenly ended with a short bit of unintelligible male speech at about 0755z. I didn't think to switch to USB in the short time I was listening to it.

I'm thinking it was just someone messing around, not some kind of clandestine transmission, but I'm curious if anyone else heard it.

Mike

 

[K9WG]

Most likely a pirate station.

I know back in the 1970s there was a lot of foreign broadcast on 40M. I tend to stay off of 40 and 80...

 

[kb2vxa]

Now what would you think if you heard wind chimes every morning on 3885 AM going on at length followed by a brief voice, then silence? Look up in the sky. Is it a shortwave interval signal? Is it a pirate? It's Irb W2VJZ waking up the band!

Considering other background sounds it was his automated CQ as he was making coffee, preparing his political speech that usually stirred heated arguments as did in Colonial days that led to the Revolution. Well, in time Irb went to war with the FCC and the epicenter of those rumblings was the Sons of Liberty Farm in Liberty Corners, New Jersey. Who could make this stuff up? Film at 11 on Google.

 

[mancow]

What the hell are you taking about?

 

[zl2taw]

What the hell are you taking about?

yep thinking the same here, no drugs taken this morning ?

 

[AlaskaMike]

As Warren suggested, I googled W2VJZ and it made for some pretty interesting reading, although with him going SK in 2006, I doubt what I heard was him.

 

[RadioDitch]

As Warren suggested, I googled W2VJZ and it made for some pretty interesting reading, although with him going SK in 2006, I doubt what I heard was him.

Yeah, when he was alive you never needed to watch Comedy Central. He was almost as much entertainment to listen to as some of the net tirades and fueds on 80m AM. lol. FWIW, someone did pirate his call and pick-up where he left off a few years ago for a while. Think they nabbed the guy though.

 

[Token]

Other than a couple of the Russian channel marker beacons, I haven't ever come across anything strange in the ham bands before. Just a few minutes ago I sat down in front of the radio and turned it on, and heard the clear tinkling of a music box, though it wasn't any recognizable tune. This was at about 0753z on about 7094 kHz. It was a distant signal with significant fading. I started tuning between 7093 and 7094, LSB, trying to find the specific freq, but it suddenly ended with a short bit of unintelligible male speech at about 0755z. I didn't think to switch to USB in the short time I was listening to it.

I'm thinking it was just someone messing around, not some kind of clandestine transmission, but I'm curious if anyone else heard it.

Mike

It wasn't anything like this was it? Oddity Station, unknown purpose tones, May 27, 2012, 0417 UTC, 8227 kHz, LSB mode - YouTube

T!

 

[AlaskaMike]

That could easily be what I heard. Your recording is much, much clearer that what I was picking up, of course, but the pace of the tones is exactly what I heard.

Is it common for speech to be heard at the end of those transmissions? I'm kicking myself for not being able to get the tuning nailed so I could've heard what was said.

 

[k9rzz]

That sounds like some sort of digital comms, not tuned in correctly.

 

[KC4RAF]

For those not in the know of Irb:

Obit: Infamous AMer Irb, W2VJZ [Archive] - QRZ Forums

It wasn't easy to place him in one arena.

 

[kc9cra]

It sounds to me like each note was played individually, like they were playing them one by one, possibly by pressing specific buttons like with a keyboard. I think it might be the musical equivalent of a numbers station. It's just a thought.

 

[Otto]

It sounds a lot like a "numbers station".

Check out this youtube of a BBC radio story about the "numbers stations"

BBC Radio 4 Broadcast of "Tracking The Lincolnshire Poacher" - YouTube

 

[Token]

It sounds a lot like a "numbers station".

Check out this youtube of a BBC radio story about the "numbers stations"

BBC Radio 4 Broadcast of "Tracking The Lincolnshire Poacher" - YouTube

What, in particular, sounds like a numbers station?

The musical signal the OP reported (by brief description only, no recording) is most probably a digital mode. Many people mistake several common ham digital modes for music boxes, and since the frequency range mentioned is in a section of 40 meters that is often used for digital I think this is the most likely answer.

The recording I linked later is not a numbers station. Its specific purpose is not known but it is most likely a digital format for data.

The "old" style music box numbers stations (such as G02 and E23) are not active any longer, although several numbers stations still use some kind of musical lead-in. Primarily the Asian stations today, V13, V24, etc. E25 sometimes has music, as does EV01.

Several different numbers station recordings can be found on my YouTube channel: FirstToken's channel - YouTube

As for good sites with information about numbers stations these are probably the best / most up to date:
ENIGMA2000
Numbers & Oddities
Priyom.org - Priyom.org

The Enigma Control List (ECL) defines the known and recognized numbers stations. Be aware there are a few other station that are not on this list (see the Numbers and Oddities web site linked above for those), and many stations on this list are no longer active: http://www.brogers.dsl.pipex.com/enigma2000/docs/ECL.pdf

T!

 

[AlaskaMike]

Just to clarify, it definitely wasn't any of the typical MFSK or PSK ham modes. It was extremely close to the example you linked to in post #8 of this thread.