Weird Morse Codes Heard Over Scanner

[waingro223]

What are these Morse codes I keep hearing over the County sheriffs main digital radio frequency? Every now and than i here it. Its morse code for something. A sergeant told me its a digital page to someone. The Sheriff is on a basic NON TRUNKING digital conventional system in are area in Saint Charles. Sometimes and just gos "boooooo "pause" "booooo" for about a minute or even 5-10 mins! and i can't here the regular radio traffic and than it stops and normal conversation is back online. It is NOT A FIRE TONE OR EMS TONE! Its on the main digital conventional sheriff channel. I repeat its not Fire/EMS. Its Morse code and sometimes its makes a short hum after hum after hum, etc, etc, etc. Its sounds really really weird. It does not happen often but Id like to know what it means.

I thought I saw some software online once that you can download to your computer and hook it up to your serial or usb and see what the data is. Can someone educate me on this matter. And if so is there any computer programs that can tell me or show me this information and if not its all good Im just very curious to what the heck it means, but i like to understand it better. I used to think it was a repeater tower just showing that it works correctly, but this sergeant told me its a page of some sort.

If someone could help me out i would appreciate it greatly! Ive been listening to scanners sense i was about 12 years old. Thanks

 

[KE7VJW]

It’s probably their station identifier; most agencies use them now instead of their dispatchers announcing the station call sign every 30 minutes or so. I can’t remember what the FCC requires.

Try one of the Morse code readers on the internet and see what it is.

 

[waingro223]

Reply

So I understand the Morse code part because of FCC. But there are times when I here a medium hum and another and another for up to 5 min. This seems dangerous because what if there was something going on? Doesn't every officer have to share that conventional channel? And if more than one officer is talking on at the same time, what does the dispatcher hear? I don't understand how so many Sheriffs can use only one main channel and the Car 2 Car channel. And on are Motorola 800mhz trunked system that are local police use, what happens when more than one officer is talking on a trunked analog system? I don't understand how so much radio traffic can be handled by a 1 or 2 of the dispatchers. I assume they have to wait for traffic silence? And if there's only a 1 or 2 dispatchers how do they handle all the information at once and keep track!!!!! I would have a panic attack!

I have never personally heard two officers talking at the same time over each other to a dispatcher and I don't understand that. I would like to understand it better. Hit me up with any technical stuff your might know Im a big scanner enthusiast, Thanks again for your response I gotta hit the sac. Thanks for that reply so fast, Hope to here from you soon sir.

KE7VJW

 

[Gezelle007]

So I understand the Morse code part because of FCC...
KE7VJW

Maybe you could make a recording the next time it happens, or youtube it?

On Motorola trunked systems, for the most part I believe you can't talk over someone because you're radio will emit a warning tone telling you that you aren't getting through. If they do happen to get through at the same moment, it just sounds like warbling audio which is what it would sound like with a conventional system. It may be audible to a dispatcher if say one unit was on a mobile radio (in the car) and the other unit was using a lower power portable, the mobile would be audible but not the other because it is much more powerful. I'm sure it also depends on who is closer to the receiving point too. But usually if it happens the dispatcher knows what it sounds like and advises the air that there was multiple units talking, and asks for a repeat.

 

[Confuzzled]

Without knowing what you're hearing, it's hard to answer. The ID bursts may repeat once or twice if they get interrupted, but they sound clearly like Morse and if you can read Morse, you would be able to pick them out.


What you may be hearing is what we call 'going digital' which happens when you get a weak signal. It almost sounds like encryption or an old analog modem data burst handshake. Instead of fading out or getting staticy like you would have on an analog channel, it just gets distorted and unrecognizable.

 

[N8IAA]

waingro223, looking at your county sheriff, they are conventional P-25 digital. I presume that you have a digital scanner, like a PSR-500/600, Pro-106/197, or BCD396XT/996XT. If you don't, you won't hear your SO when they talk in digital mode. What you may be hearing is the digital noise over an analog scanner. I also noticed, that the county may be migrating to the St. Louis system? Might be a question to ask in the MO forum further down the forums page
HTH,
Larry

 

[kruser]

The Morse Code is the stations Call Sign. I monitored it today.
It is transmitted in the clear in analog mode. If your scanner is set to digital only, you would never hear the CW ID. I do not know what the "boooooo "pause" "booooo" is. I tend to agree with the others though in that you may be having reception issues for that tower.
I have an Icom R2500 receiver with the P25 option. This R2500 will not receive this St. charles P25 signal even though I get a great signal here from St. Charles.
Now my Uniden 996XT and HP-1 and a GRE PSR500 and 600 and 800 all decode the same St. Charles P25 signal just fine.
My R2500 does work fine with all the other P25 signals in our area. Only the St. Charles P25 signal does not decode. This leads me to think that there is something odd about the signal from that tower. Out of alignment maybe or overdriven audio as the undecoded data does seem loud compared to other single channel P25 signals here.
I'd do as others suggest and post in the Missouri forum or ask a Mod to move this post there as you may get a better reply.

 

[waingro223]

It seems to be just in Saint Charles County, MO

Today I heard a few more Morse codes, I think its just a page of some sort, it only last one to 3 seconds and it happens a lot so I assume its just a simple page or repeater tower test, who knows for sure what it means, Today around 6:25 a man busted down the back door to a persons residents and the suspect fled on foot and they said some ten code I didn't know, And a bunch of units responded, I heard that 2 second hum noise come over the radio about five times after the dispatcher told the officers what happened and after they all responded to dispatch. I heard that hum noise go off at least five times with 3 second perfect intervals. I'm assuming when something serious goes down it lets the whole county sheriff something bad has happened. I don't know yet, I'm still researching it. Next time I see a deputy I'm going to ask him/her about it. But you know police they always act like they don't have a clue cause they don't want you to know, like its some big secret. But I'm just a scanner enthusiast. My cousins a cop and my friend is a volunteer firefighter. I love listening to the scanner while I'm surfing the net, driving around running errands, or just cruising around town.

 

[waingro223]

I think your right Kruser

I have my Digital County Sheriff setup to read analog and digital, that must of been the problem with the Morse code thing. I have no idea what the "hum" pause "hum" pause thing is though. Maybe you just solved that problem too my friend. Thanks a lot Kruser.

 

[N8IAA]

I have my Digital County Sheriff setup to read analog and digital, that must of been the problem with the Morse code thing. I have no idea what the "hum" pause "hum" pause thing is though. Maybe you just solved that problem too my friend. Thanks a lot Kruser.

Encryption??
Larry

 

[N2JDS]

You can try to pull it up from my archive from my feed, it may help other to be able to figure it out. I know the sounds you speak of. I hear them mostly on the EMA channel, and thought it was data type bursts. It always starts at one pitch, and then sounds repeated back in another pitch, as if a conversaion was going back and forth. St. Charles Countywide EMS, Fire, and Law Live Scanner Audio Feed

 

[kruser]

I know the sounds you speak of. I hear them mostly on the EMA channel, and thought it was data type bursts. It always starts at one pitch, and then sounds repeated back in another pitch, as if a conversaion was going back and forth. St. Charles Countywide EMS, Fire, and Law Live Scanner Audio Feed

What channel is the EMA channel? Also, I'm assuming we are talking about 155.4900 regarding the OPS problem correct?

I know they list P25 in use on a few other frequencies but I've never bothered trying them as they seem to be listed as mobile only and I doubt I'd pick those up here in Chesterfield.
The one I do see that says EMA (155.310) shows analog only and I can hear that but I don't recall hearing any digital on it.

Just a few minutes ago I heard what I thought was encryption but another scanner decoded it fine. Do they have more than one tower site out there? If so, it may be a simulcast problem causing this.

Actually, I just looked at the FCC data for the 155.4900 licenses and I see they do use multiple towers so my money is that the issue is a multipath (simulcast) problem.
If this proves true, the OP may be able to cure it with a small beam antenna aimed at one of the towers. Some trial and error testing may be needed. Also for the OP, make sure your channel is set to NFM or Narrow FM and you might try attenuating the channel.

 

[shaft]

I know the sound the OP is referring to, its not morse or encryption, it sounds more like a priority tone. I only hear it once in a while and only when dispatch keys up to talk on the main Sheriff channel. I've been listening to the archive and its not picking it up. Im also listening real time on the scanner and will record it if I hear it. Once I catch it Ill post it.

 

[kruser]

I know the sound the OP is referring to, its not morse or encryption, it sounds more like a priority tone. I only hear it once in a while and only when dispatch keys up to talk on the main Sheriff channel. I've been listening to the archive and its not picking it up. Im also listening real time on the scanner and will record it if I hear it. Once I catch it Ill post it.

You know, now that you mention the priority tone, I have heard them use that on the P25 system. It appears to be the same tone from the analog system and well, it sounds like pure crud in digital. I'd forgotten about this. But do post a sample if you get one. Some things are better left for analog in my opinion.
The stuff mo1dmat is talking about I do believe to be multipath distortion as I'm experiencing that here but only on the GRE scanners and it is rare at that.

It's an interesting system they have out there. Do you know if all the listed transmitter locations key up at the same time like a true simulcast system or does only the transmitter that received the best input signal key up? I can't see any signal strength differences here so I assume all transmit at the same time or only one is really in use even though they list more.

 

[shaft]

I dont know if all the sites light up at once, I would imagine it does as I dont hear a difference in quality no matter where the deputy keys up around the county.

 

[ST-Bob]

Without an audio capture of the tone I can only guess, but it may be intermodulation distortion from a nearby 152 or 158 MHz pager tower. I have both frequencies about 2 miles west of me on the next big hill and it used to wipe out all my VHF reception. I cured it with a tunable notch filter.

Just a guess - you need to post an audio capture so we can help identify it.

 

[waingro223]

Capturing That Weird 3 second hum noise

It only happens very very rarely, and I need a program to record it. I have Free scan and it has some recording options but I haven't figured out how to get it to record yet. I was having some weird error messages in the program. The Morse code is obvious we all know what Morse sounds like. The humming is what i need to capture so you all can help me decipher it. Ill keep working on it. Like I Said before if i see a deputy sheriff ill ask politely, I don't want to get tazered Lol! just kidding.

 

[kruser]

It only happens very very rarely, and I need a program to record it. I have Free scan and it has some recording options but I haven't figured out how to get it to record yet. I was having some weird error messages in the program. The Morse code is obvious we all know what Morse sounds like. The humming is what i need to capture so you all can help me decipher it. Ill keep working on it. Like I Said before if i see a deputy sheriff ill ask politely, I don't want to get tazered Lol! just kidding.

What ST-Bob said is actually very good advice.
I was having a hard time hearing the sounds you are describing in my head but as soon as he mentioned "paging", then it hit me. Waht you are describning does sound like paging signals. They are in the 152 to 153 and 158 to 159 range.
For me, the 152.240 or 152.245 paging signal very near to me kills my scanner reception in the VHF band. I purchased a 152 paging filter from PAR Electronics. PAR Electronics | Filters for the commercial 2 way market, MATV, FM broadcast, laboratory, marine industry, amateur radio, scanner and short wave listening enthusiasts
That cured my problem immediately. You must first identify if you are experiencing overload from nearby paging signals.
If you have more than one scanner, set one to search from 152 to 153 and when you hear the bad sounds on your 106, see if you can find the same on the scanner that is searching. If not then try searching 158 to 159. I think the worst paging systems here are on 152.240 and 158.700 but I know there are at least two other strong ones in both of those search ranges. The other option is see if you know someone that can bring a scanner to your location for the test if you do not have another.
PAR makes excellent filters and I highly recommend them to anyone that is suffering from an overload condition.
They will also make custom notch filters should you find overload from another nearby transmitter such as a taxi company. They also sell filters to kill off the entire FM Broadcast radio band from 88 top 108 for those near FM radio towers. I've read several threads here at RR about people needing the FM radio filter. Yours sounds like it may be paging though so I'd investigate the ranges I stated above and see if you can find a match between the offending noise you hear and a paging signal.

 

[waingro223]

Morse Code

Kruser, you said it was the stations Call Sign. I talked to a Local Saint Peters police officer yesterday and told her about the Morse codes, I told her that a guy on a forum said its most likely a call sign for that department like you said, and she said that makes sense and agreed. And she said when she worked in Saint Louis County which is still analog, she would here them too on there car radios, and she agreed and said that makes sense, I turned off analog on the P25 County Sheriff 159.4900 Frequency and I haven't heard the Morse code sense than. But I did here the Morse on the Saint Peters Police Analog Motorola 800 Mhz System though. So I assuming your both right its just a call sign for that department in analog mode, even if its a digital system, but it could be a page, but i think its just a call sign like your said. But the weird thing is she says she never hears the Morse code on her Saint Peters Motorola Trunked system and that is a analog system, but i heard it yesterday and there main channel TGID 16. I also told her about the weird "hummmmmm" pause "hummmmm" and I told her that a guy busted down the back door to a persons house and ran out on foot to some other location and after all the sheriffs responded and after the dispatcher was done talking that's when that hum pause hum came on. She said shes heard that before once and said its most likely means to hold all radio traffic unless absolutely necessary, but she said usually the dispatcher will tell the officers to hold all radio traffic unless necessary. Which is very true "hold the marker" I don't know what the humming sound was in 3 sec intervals, but Ive heard sheriffs say something to dispatch and here that hum right after they release there button on there radio, so who the heck knows! I'm not sure. But the I think Kruser and the officer are right its the call sign to the department. As far as the humming noise, must be some interference or some emergency system. Oh and by the way she did not taz me she was as nice as could be and was very helpful and she was off duty shopping at my store, women police officers always seem more professional and helpful than male cops. I guess its that testosterone thing in there pants!

 

[shaft]

Can you get a recording of what you are hearing? You have described several different issues that you are hearing. Station I.D. in code is very obvious on what it is. The sounds you are describing are different than the Station I.D., so its a little difficult trying to follow what you are hearing.