"Clear Channel" IHeartMedia frequency in my area

[BinaryMode]

Gotta question and maybe someone will have an answer because I don't have the foggiest.

Couple weeks back I was sitting at the park eating lunch in my car with the scanner on. I always have Close Call activated and it picked up a nearby signal full quieting that was nothing but digital. Now, this park happens to be a few blocks from my house. When I got home I was surprised to see one of my scanners that's on 24/7 using ProScan also captured this signal using Close Call. Surprised in that usually for a signal to activate Close Call on my handhelds at home it needs to be withen a few houses nearby or so unless there's some significant wattage behind the signal. I don't remember the exact frequency, but it was around 167 MHz or so and when I did some research online I found it belonging to former Clear Channel which of course today would be IHeartRadio.

My questions are: what on earth was this brief digital signal with what appeared to be some substantial wattage behind it? Why was it seemingly brief and why was it digital? I thought those "relay" frequencies (for lack of the right word) were analog. Anyone know what digital modulation this would have been?

My research says that these "relay" frequencies tend to be used at events. But this was brief and no event was nearby that I knew about. It was also a weekday if I can recall. If there was an event nearby, surely it would have been on the weekend, no? I mean the probability of an event taking place would be more on a weekend you'd think. Realizing of course that may not be true.

Very odd and the first time I ever captured something like that. At first I thought it was LoJack or a Fed frequency due to the band. I also noted a helicopter in the area about that time so maybe that was it.

The online indicators from this website are it was a former Clear Chanel frequency. Maybe former is correct. Perhaps not even IHeartMedia even uses this frequency anymore. I should check my records in ProScan and do an FCC search on the frequency I captured just for clarification on it really still belonging to IHeartRadio, previously Clear Channel.

Didn't see any black vans either...

 

[letarotor]

I don't know if iHeart would have anything to do with Record Store Day, RSD 2024, but it was on Saturday 4/20/2024. There were some huge turnouts this year and a lot of record and music stores had various events, live bands, broadcasts from record stores by radio stations, etc. Just an idea and what popped into my head reading your post...

Brian
COMMSCAN

 

[BinaryMode]

I did some digging in my ProScan records and found the frequency to be 161.7300. According to an FCC lookup this indicates as an auxiliary broadcast transmitter. Looks like this frequency is in use nation-wide for such purposes. No, this transmission was a week ago.

Would love to know what digital modulation that was. That's what I heard in the car, but at home I grabbed nothing but static.

Interesting there's a record store day which according to Wikipedia started in 2007. I'm familiar with "free comic book day" which started in 2002.

 

[ecps92]

I did some digging in my ProScan records and found the frequency to be 161.7300. According to an FCC lookup this indicates as an auxiliary broadcast transmitter. Looks like this frequency is in use nation-wide for such purposes. No, this transmission was a week ago.

Would love to know what digital modulation that was. That's what I heard in the car, but at home I grabbed nothing but static.

Interesting there's a record store day which according to Wikipedia started in 2007. I'm familiar with "free comic book day" which started in 2002.

odd to hear they went Digital as most of those are used for either IFB or Remote Broadcasts and have generally been Analog
with a few exceptions of being used for the Helo vs using the 450/455 band

Could it have been from an Adjacent Freq that is not FCC Media (Part 74) ??
ie: +/- from 7300

 

[BinaryMode]

I kinda have my doubts there was an adjacent frequency since my car's scanner lit up on the same frequency as did my scanner at home a few blocks away. Though it's possible. Like I said, I did note a helicopter in the area at the time. Do you happen to know if Helos use that frequency of 161.7300 or do they use UHF? Seen as how this blasted over a whole area my guess was the Helo. I do wish my computer running ProScan had the digital audio noise so I could compare the noise to those online websites that have modulation audio samples. Off the top of my head I'd say it sounded maybe FSK of some type. That's all I can say from what I remember that I heard.

Looking now, if memory recalls it sounded like one of these signals. Not necessary any of those of course. But similar in sound from what I could remember.

Federal Signal Modem-MSK - Signal Identification Wiki

Signalling protocol developed for Federal Signal's line of civil defense warning siren systems. This signal is used for activation and telemetry of all units in a network.

www.sigidwiki.com

Graw DFM-06 Weather Balloon (Radiosonde) - Signal Identification Wiki

The DFM-06 is a standard radiosonde for most applications. It is perfectly suited for synoptic observations or military applications.

www.sigidwiki.com

MDC-4800 - Signal Identification Wiki

Motorola's MDC-4800 is a data protocol that was used in ARDIS and DataTAC Networks as well as in MDT networks. RD-LAP was derived from this mode. Also known as Motorola Mobile Data Communications System (MODACOM)

www.sigidwiki.com

MSK144 - Signal Identification Wiki

MSK144 is a Minimum Shift Keying FSK signal used for amateur radio meteor-scatter contacts. It transmits 144 bit long packets at a baudrate of 2000 bps using frequencies 1000 and 2000 Hz.

www.sigidwiki.com

Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT) - Signal Identification Wiki

Nordic Mobile Telephone (NMT, NMT-450, and NMT-900) is a first generation analog cell phone system. Originally designed for and by Nordic countries (Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark) it was widely deployed around the world. Nowadays (as of 2015) NMT is defunct.

www.sigidwiki.com

Yaesu System Fusion - Signal Identification Wiki

System Fusion is Yaesu's digital voice/data protocol for amateur radio, using the AMBE+2 vocoder on a C4FM signal.

www.sigidwiki.com

Emergency Managers Weather Information Network (EMWIN) - Repeater - Signal Identification Wiki

The Emergency Managers Weather Information Network (EMWIN) is a system for distributing a live stream of weather information in the United States. This is the VHF Repeater of the network.

www.sigidwiki.com

Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) - Signal Identification Wiki

Packet system for real time data communications. Used by hams for location reporting, weather stations etc.

www.sigidwiki.com

The common denominator here is that they're all an FSK of some type.

 

[jonsmth]

It sounds like to me you picked up an IHeart radio station's remote broadcast equipment used to transmit remote broadcasts from the station's advertisers back to the studio for live on-air broadcast/promotions. I'm not sure what equipment is used now, but in the old days, most radio stations used a "Marti" unit that made these transmissions. I looked up the FCC Licenses for that frequency in the County I live in and all three of the results that came up in my search were for our local broadcasters. The license authorizes them to transmit with an output power of 40 - 45 watts.

I understand the transmissions you received were digital, so I can only make an assumption that the more modern remote equipment today may have the capability to transmit digitally back to the studio. This would make implementation into the station's audio stream more straightforward since many of the broadcast consoles used at Radio Stations today are digital. I've been out of the Radio game since the early '90s so I can only speculate on what the capabilities of the remote systems available to broadcasters are in this day and time.

 

[BinaryMode]

Thanks for the Info.