Receiving "Busy Signal" on multiple frequencies

[jassing]

Today, across many frequencies (27mhz, 158mhz...) the (pro 197) scanner is stopping on frequencies that sound like a telephone's "busy signal".
I used to get it only on cb frequencies and thought it was just some door knob with a big amp somewhere doing stupid stuff... but today; I keep hitting "lockout" and every few passes, it stops on another busy-signal.

I really don't have any neighbors (closest house is 50 yards away at best, but they definitely do not have anything transmitting there).

Any idea what it might be?

 

[ecollins11]

Do you have any old 46/49 mhz old analog cordless phones in use ?

 

[jassing]

No -- 9600... And no neighbors that close.

 

[gewecke]

No -- 9600... And no neighbors that close.

Any towers in your immediate area? Maybe a commercial auto patch repeater overloading your receiver?

73,
n9zas

 

[w2xq]

Spurious signals from your Internet, cable or satellite system? Around here DSL and cable signals are heard especially when outside wiring fails (water gets into connectors, trees fall on wires, or ?). Any changes if you move your scanner elsewhere? If you are using an external antenna, anything happen to the antenna, cable or connectors? HTH.

 

[jassing]

moving scanner doesn't help. No towers near by. (But 'near' is relative -- I live on a 15 square mile island -- there is a tower @ the fire station (about 1 mile away) and a cell tower, about 1.5 miles away.
External antenna - I took it apart to verify connector is good; re-assembled; all good.
I'll try moving the antenna today.

 

[gewecke]

Hmmm...did you try your attenuator(ATT) on your pro-197 ? It might help narrow down the question of it being a image or if it's really overload.
Strange!

73,
n9zas

 

[jassing]

yes; attenuated it still gets this busy signal... I'll try to record it tonight.

 

[ampulman]

Do you have any old 46/49 mhz old analog cordless phones in use ?

I do, what's the deal with them?

Amp

 

[ecollins11]

I do, what's the deal with them?

Amp

Nothing really I thought he might had one and the base of the cordless phone was stuck in transmit ...

 

[krokus]

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8530/5.0.0.973 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

yes; attenuated it still gets this busy signal... I'll try to record it tonight.

Any luck recording the offending signal?

 

[ecps92]

If it's across multiple bands , it sounds like you are getting overloaded from a Paging channel. Any towers near-by ? [1-2-5-10-15+ miles?]

Do you have another Scanner ? or a Two-way that can RX out of band?
See what you get on the Paging channels as the interference occurs.

Today, across many frequencies (27mhz, 158mhz...) the (pro 197) scanner is stopping on frequencies that sound like a telephone's "busy signal".
I used to get it only on cb frequencies and thought it was just some door knob with a big amp somewhere doing stupid stuff... but today; I keep hitting "lockout" and every few passes, it stops on another busy-signal.

I really don't have any neighbors (closest house is 50 yards away at best, but they definitely do not have anything transmitting there).

Any idea what it might be?

 

[jassing]

Sorry -- I wanted to get a hand held recorder -- for some reason, when I used a cable direct to my pc or "over the air" record it on my pc -- the resulting recording wasn't very true to what I hear.
I have uploaded the wave file anyway; what I hear is some static with a "busy tone" -- the recordings (windows must be 'helpful' or the hardware is...) removed the static sound and the resulting tone doesn't sound the same.
The wave file I uploaded is off my scanner over the air to a laptop with the microphone about 10" from the scanner.
http://jassing.com/temp/Scanner.7z (wav file is about 5 megs, archive is about 1.5)

 

[krokus]

That is not a busy signal, they are some type of data bursts.

 

[jassing]

I never said it was a busy signal; I said it sounded like one -- it's not regular (sometimes the tone is closer together or more rapid) - it's not morse code and it's on multiple frequencies, but not on any regular basis...
I'd think if it were data, It'd sound more like old modem couplers if you pulled the receiver out... but if that's what it is; it's odd (to me) that it can be on 30 frequencies one day, and on a different 5 the next... weird. thanks.

 

[krokus]

With cable tv systems making transitions to digital service, and more cable modem users, it could be any of those signals.

Without being able to access your area, it is hard to say. More testing would be needed, to identify isolate the source(s), after that, then identifying the nature of the signal could happen.

 

[stlouisx50]

You know whats really strange? I have my dishwasher running and I just so happened to play your audio file at the same time. It sounded just like my dishwasher.

But on actual subject. Your audio is nothing that I have ever heard before.

Try to get some more audio samples and upload them. I'd like to keep up to date with this.

 

[jassing]

"more testing" -- I'm up for that -- what kind of testing?
It's not cable tv -- we don't have tv. We do have dishwasher, but it's 80' away from the antenna; and wasn't running at the time I made the recording.

I had a cord to record directly from the scanner to pc -- can't find it -- I'll make another one this week and get a better recording (hopefully) .

Thanks!

-josh

 

[stlouisx50]

I know you said moving the scanner does not affect the signal so that leads me to the question , have you taken the scanner mobile , if so do you still get the signal?

 

[KC5EIB]

"more testing" -- I'm up for that -- what kind of testing?
It's not cable tv -- we don't have tv. We do have dishwasher, but it's 80' away from the antenna; and wasn't running at the time I made the recording.

I had a cord to record directly from the scanner to pc -- can't find it -- I'll make another one this week and get a better recording (hopefully) .

Thanks!

-josh

Just because you do not have cable TV in your home does not mean that they can not be the source. If a cable TV company has lines that pass your house with access points for neighbors, the system can be leaking there. Has your electric company been installing "SMART" meters in the area?