You're not going to CloseCall Palomar in Carlsbad. A repeater at Lake San Marcos is more like it but that's quite a stretch. Maybe Prince of Peace.
Someone needs to be mobile and watch signal. Sitting in one spot's never going to help.
Strong unknown on 158.235MHz in north Carlsbad
- Thread starter Mike_G_D
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Someone needs to be mobile and watch signal. Sitting in one spot's never going to help.
Hey folks, just want to note that, for whatever reason, there are simply no more data points to digest. I have heard absolutely zilch (except a few key clicks) since last Monday (July 29th, I think). I am not sure, because I haven't listened all day everyday for the entire period since I first heard these folks about 5 years ago (I only listened sporadically, initially; it was more of a nuisance to me back then as I was trying to find other stuff and my gear kept stopping on this system when either searching in normal mode or in the SigStalker mode) but this seems like the longest continuous stretch of no activity from these folks in my memory. Recently, I started listening around there again and these folks were almost a daily occurrence (for about a couple of weeks or so) and, after I saw another posting for an unknown I just felt it was the right time to bring it up as a thread on this site - aaannnd, of course they go quiet just about the same time I do that!;-( ....figures!
In the past, on those occasions when I felt like listening for them, I did notice they would be pretty sporadic in their usage as I noted in my first posting on this in this thread. However, this latest spell does seem unusually long based on my past experience. Could be any reason and I don't want to get weird and "conspiratorial" about it; maybe they are on a vacation and will return when the man goes back to work (a lot of the traffic I have heard, as mentioned before, seems to be between the two of them right after he gets off work) or he may have retired and so has stopped using the system completely or they have moved locations or...who knows? All I can say is there has been not a peep from them in over a week now while they used to nearly "shake my shack" with their transmissions!
Sorry it's such a dud to all of you who may be interested - maybe they will return or maybe not, I cannot say, obviously. So, until there is more data to digest this will remain a mystery, perhaps forever unsolved.
BTW, to the poster who mentioned Palomar - I usually do not receive the Palomar repeaters at all on my Signal Stalker equipment, and in normal operation those repeaters, while of reasonable strength relative to me, are nothing like what I hear when these folks key up! As a point of reference, I do, occasionally, hear mobile ham users on the 2 meter band on the INPUT of the Palomar repeaters (and in simplex mode, of course) on the SS (Signal Stalker) modes but not usually the output when they are within range (I can see a fair portion of 78 from where I am and that part of Oceanside).
Anyway, all for now - thanks for the interest and attention, folks, and interesting speculation, but, for now at least, it appears the system has gone dark and the trail has gone cold. I'll revitalize this thread if and/or when I have anything else to report.
-Mike
In the past, on those occasions when I felt like listening for them, I did notice they would be pretty sporadic in their usage as I noted in my first posting on this in this thread. However, this latest spell does seem unusually long based on my past experience. Could be any reason and I don't want to get weird and "conspiratorial" about it; maybe they are on a vacation and will return when the man goes back to work (a lot of the traffic I have heard, as mentioned before, seems to be between the two of them right after he gets off work) or he may have retired and so has stopped using the system completely or they have moved locations or...who knows? All I can say is there has been not a peep from them in over a week now while they used to nearly "shake my shack" with their transmissions!
Sorry it's such a dud to all of you who may be interested - maybe they will return or maybe not, I cannot say, obviously. So, until there is more data to digest this will remain a mystery, perhaps forever unsolved.
BTW, to the poster who mentioned Palomar - I usually do not receive the Palomar repeaters at all on my Signal Stalker equipment, and in normal operation those repeaters, while of reasonable strength relative to me, are nothing like what I hear when these folks key up! As a point of reference, I do, occasionally, hear mobile ham users on the 2 meter band on the INPUT of the Palomar repeaters (and in simplex mode, of course) on the SS (Signal Stalker) modes but not usually the output when they are within range (I can see a fair portion of 78 from where I am and that part of Oceanside).
Anyway, all for now - thanks for the interest and attention, folks, and interesting speculation, but, for now at least, it appears the system has gone dark and the trail has gone cold. I'll revitalize this thread if and/or when I have anything else to report.
-Mike
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Still not a peep. All gone?
I haven't actually even checked recently - I've been preoccupied by other "life issues" so not monitoring much currently. I did check a few times a couple weeks ago with nothing heard around the "5PM" "hot time" that I used to hear them most. For whatever reason, they seem to have gone quiet - after what must be about five years of fairly frequent usage. Though, as I said, I haven't listened very extensively recently.
-Mike
-Mike
Well! They're still there - heard them loud and clear today around 5:10PM. Now with at least one other male user. Same female. She made reference to something about not being sure if they wanted "this" (I am assuming the radio system) turned "back on" and the other male (I think he isn't the same as the one I usually hear) made reference to wondering if they wanted to meet up or travel through (or something like that) Desert City (if I recall correctly) or Palomar. I was, naturally, in the middle of doing something else and they literally caught me off guard and, as usual, nearly blew me out of my seat. Haven't been monitoring much lately so this was pretty much the first time I heard them (with one possible exception I will note below) in quite a while.
I MAY have heard the "other male" a few weeks back VERY briefly. He came on and said something like "Richard? Copy direct...Richard?" and that was it - nothing after. Unfortunately, I wasn't monitoring with a CTCSS capable receiver and so can't be sure if it was the same folks. Also, I didn't get a good look at the signal level in time. But, I believe that it may have been related as this last transmission I think also contained a reference to a "Richard".
As I said - I was really caught off guard so forgive my spotty report. I had nearly given up on these folks so wasn't really expecting anything but still had them in my scanner. Still powerful as ever, though! At least to me. Lit up all three receivers I had going at the time.
So I guess they are still active but to a much lesser degree than before (relative to what I've noted in the past) and there is at least one other male involved. Still no call signs or CW ID. Still same CTCSS and still sounding very much like old +/-5KHz deviation to my ears (if I had the right equipment I could nail that but I don't so I do the best I can with my "experienced ears").
BTW - not sure but think I heard some noisy signals at the same time as the male's transmission on 153.680MHz so that may be worth checking as the possible input - I wasn't really as ready as I'd like to have been and had to "dial quickly" and only started looking for the input close to the end of the transmissions. That's in the frequency range I was figuring on. Didn't hear the female on the input but that makes sense if it is a base repeater system (wherein the base IS the "repeater").
-Mike
I MAY have heard the "other male" a few weeks back VERY briefly. He came on and said something like "Richard? Copy direct...Richard?" and that was it - nothing after. Unfortunately, I wasn't monitoring with a CTCSS capable receiver and so can't be sure if it was the same folks. Also, I didn't get a good look at the signal level in time. But, I believe that it may have been related as this last transmission I think also contained a reference to a "Richard".
As I said - I was really caught off guard so forgive my spotty report. I had nearly given up on these folks so wasn't really expecting anything but still had them in my scanner. Still powerful as ever, though! At least to me. Lit up all three receivers I had going at the time.
So I guess they are still active but to a much lesser degree than before (relative to what I've noted in the past) and there is at least one other male involved. Still no call signs or CW ID. Still same CTCSS and still sounding very much like old +/-5KHz deviation to my ears (if I had the right equipment I could nail that but I don't so I do the best I can with my "experienced ears").
BTW - not sure but think I heard some noisy signals at the same time as the male's transmission on 153.680MHz so that may be worth checking as the possible input - I wasn't really as ready as I'd like to have been and had to "dial quickly" and only started looking for the input close to the end of the transmissions. That's in the frequency range I was figuring on. Didn't hear the female on the input but that makes sense if it is a base repeater system (wherein the base IS the "repeater").
-Mike
I tried the 153.680 with the tone you mentioned,could not bring up anything. Unknown? I have it plugged into my scanner and I am hearing data bursts or some weird other noise. I just heard a short morse code ID not real clear.
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What is the receiver make/model you are using? My GRE equipment will get some paging gunk on that frequency when in open carrier squelch which I do not hear on my ICOM. I know that the GRE receivers will get some 900MHz paging stuff in the 160MHz area - I worked out the math as to why and need to find my old notes (and verified via testing way back when) - the ICOM uses a different superhet freq plan and is better built so is not susceptible to that issue. But the paging gunk I hear and the "data bursts" you hear may still be legitimately on that frequency - more testing and careful verification using different receiver types is needed. The signal of interest that I hear is VERY strong where I am (northeast Carlsbad) - like 3/4 needle swing constant on my ICOM with a spike on the back for an antenna! Few signals do that to me. If the CW IDer you heard was related it should be that strong - I have not heard any other similar strength signal on that frequency period - none with any CW ID - yes, I know the ID may be transmitted with no CTCSS tone but the ICOM has no CTCSS capability so should be hearing it anyway (it is obviously in open carrier squelch mode).
-Mike
Sacnner is just an old BC890xlt. I do not have anything newer than that,yet.
Not a peep, all silent on the Russian front.
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