Time Pips 6779kHz USB

[ridgescan]

These pips have been here forever. Tried searching the net but can't find anything. Anyone know why there are constant time pips on 6779kHz USB?

 

[kruser]

These pips have been here forever. Tried searching the net but can't find anything. Anyone know why there are constant time pips on 6779kHz USB?

I had one like that... it turned out being equipment in my home creating the time pips. To make matters worse, it was a battery operated device so killing the mains power did not stop it. I don't recall for certain but I think mine ended up being some type of oscillator in a phone but it's been a while.

Good luck in figuring it out! I did plug 6779 USB into an R8600 and will sit on it and reply back if it does pop up here.

 

[ridgescan]

I had one like that... it turned out being equipment in my home creating the time pips. To make matters worse, it was a battery operated device so killing the mains power did not stop it. I don't recall for certain but I think mine ended up being some type of oscillator in a phone but it's been a while.

Good luck in figuring it out! I did plug 6779 USB into an R8600 and will sit on it and reply back if it does pop up here.

Maybe it could be. Thanks for putting a monitor on it-I'd like if others out here could give it a try as well to see if it's just something near me.

 

[kruser]

Maybe it could be. Thanks for putting a monitor on it-I'd like if others out here could give it a try as well to see if it's just something near me.

Okay, I hear the time pips!
Not very strong yet here in Missouri but definitely there.

I first started hearing a tone of about 200ms or so at maybe 500 hertz but it was occurring about every 23 seconds or so. That one did not seem time related.
About 45 minutes later as conditions improved for the band, I started hearing definite 1 second spaced pips and the other tone I heard earlier had faded away.

Now to figure out the source.

 

[kruser]

The longer pip of about 200ms or so is still there. It replaces the short pips about every 22 to 23 seconds and then goes back to one pip per second. Kind of strange timing whatever it is.

 

[ridgescan]

The longer pip of about 200ms or so is still there. It replaces the short pips about every 22 to 23 seconds and then goes back to one pip per second. Kind of strange timing whatever it is.

Thanks kruser! So I hear it fairly strong here in Frisco, on USB it peaks at about s8. Amazing that you copy it way over there too.
This thing has the exact same behavior characteristic as when I tune in longwave to 59kHz, right off WWV on 60. So I guess it's obviously some time signal, for who or what is the question.
Putting it in search I only came up with 6779kHz as being a MARS frequency.

 

[kruser]

So I hear it fairly strong here in Frisco, on USB it peaks at about s8.

I can still copy it here early this morning. I never really did see a signal strength increase much above the noise floor. I was able to null it out by turning the loop but I forgot to look at the loops direction to try and get a signal direction.
We are seeing high 60 MPH wind gusts since earlier this morning so maybe when things are calm again, I'll try using the loop to peak the signal and try and get an idea of direction.

edit: It looks like it may be AXA-210, "Australian Defence Force", according to Reply 5 in this thread: 6780 kHz CW beacon
Read Reply #4 also as that pretty much describes exactly what I hear here!

 

[ridgescan]

Good digging kruser-that's what it is. It figures I hear it better 1kHz off than dead-on 6780. It's the same as WWV on 60kHz. I can't hear 'em on 60. It's because I should've been in CW mode not USB.

 

[kruser]

Good digging kruser-that's what it is. It figures I hear it better 1kHz off than dead-on 6780. It's the same as WWV on 60kHz. I can't hear 'em on 60.

Yep, same here as far as 6779 and 6780 go. I could not hear anything on 6780 in either ssb mode.
I even tuned around with my old Icom R9000 and it was the same as far as not hearing the signal when dialed to 6780.

I don't know what made me Google 6780 time signal or whatever I typed but what I linked was the first one that popped up.
I almost did not even read that thread when the first post was talking about Trump! I guess Google is not quite good enough to look for "nearby" numbers when doing a frequency search as you would have thought 6779 would have found that for you.

Oh well, mystery solved. Thanks for bringing it up, it was fun trying this one and actually being able to hear the signal here.

 

[ridgescan]

You're a good investigator kruser. BTW what do you get on WWV 60kHz? I just get the pips that are more like "daaahs" than short pips each second. Pretty weak here.

 

[a417]

The longer pip of about 200ms or so is still there. It replaces the short pips about every 22 to 23 seconds and then goes back to one pip per second. Kind of strange timing whatever it is.

It's an odd timing for sure, maybe they are using that 22 or 23 sec period as some sort of signalling function...like local temp, battery voltage, or something... as well as a beacon. People find all kinds of ways to interleave data with things.

 

[kruser]

You're a good investigator kruser. BTW what do you get on WWV 60kHz? I just get the pips that are more like "daaahs" than short pips each second. Pretty weak here.

The 60 kHz station is actually WWVB. It only broadcasts time data, no voice but I'd imagine you knew that!
Yes, I can hear it here as well but the signal is a hard one for me. Even with the loop antenna, all the EMI/RFI from all the junk in neighbors apartments trashes that band pretty well. Amazingly, my reception of NDB beacons above 100 kHz is pretty good. Especially since I'd installed a loop antenna on a rotor. The rotor really helps null out powerline and local noise when their levels are high. I can even almost fully null out our local clear channel 50KW KMOX AM broadcast station on 1120 kHz with the loop!

When things are good, I can hear the WWVB signal about the same as you report though.

Even many of my so called atomic clocks have a hard time due to the local noise levels here.
I have an old Heathkit atomic clock I built back in the early 80's (I guess) that uses the 5, 10 and 15 MHz signals from WWV or it can be set to use WWVH. Both those stations broadcast time setting data in a BCD format along with the main AM voice carrier. This old Heathkit clock works better than any of the newer 60 kHz clocks do for me in my area. A simple resistor change allows it to lock to either the 1000 or 1200 Hz pilot tone heard at the beginning of each minute from WWV or WWVH. Of course for me, I use WWV as the Hawaii station (WWVH) is much harder to pull in here.

 

[kruser]

It's an odd timing for sure, maybe they are using that 22 or 23 sec period as some sort of signalling function...like local temp, battery voltage, or something... as well as a beacon. People find all kinds of ways to interleave data with things.

Yep, I only noticed it when I started watching the time lapse before each long pip was heard. It was really just a fluke as it sounded close to a 20 second spacing to the ear.

I did not do any research on this station but I wonder if they are using some type of data like the BCD type data that WWVB uses but for things like you mentioned.
I did find another short two post thread about it here: 6779.9 ticks

 

[majoco]

Kruser said:

It looks like it may be AXA-210, "Australian Defence Force", according to Reply 5 in this thread: 6780 kHz CW beacon

Well, I've listened on odd occasions through the day and night, even 3am local (noisy neighbours!) and never heard a thing - other than lightning crashes and the odd sweeper. 6MHz should propagate nicely from Oz to here after dark both ends which means after 10pm local (it's summertime!) and a two hour time difference. WWVH booms in on 5MHz but no time pips in the spectrum around 6780kHz.