Unidentified floating signal, in 2m band

lw3haz

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Joined
Jan 14, 2025
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4
The info below is full of estimated guesses... I'm no expert!

I was monitoring a failing ham satellite (I suspect) TO-108). It seems to transmit only when receiving sunlight. As it seems to be tumbling or rotating, the ystem seems to restart each time. It does transmit BJ1SV in morse code, so that confirms its origin...

Now, while doing that, I heard short bursts of another signal. Only after widening the waterfall range (a lot) did I notice that the signal is actually drifting - quite rapidly - in a downward direction, over a range of over 1MHz. Here are some characteristics:
- The scan range and speed varies randomly
- I can't find any modulation, though there seem to be frequency jumps
- I've been looking at the sig for more than an hours, which would exclude the possibility of a LEO satellite (which would mostly limit the visibility to about 14-15 minutes, though the repetitivity could also indicate 'tumbling' and sun dependency.
- It start at the upper frequency then floats to the lower
- then disappears for tens of seconds
- and restarts.
- the scan range is large - 100's of kHz (not comparable to the TO-108.
- The signal level change quite drastically.

This is an example of such a signal. (Note that the waterfall 'falls': The top is the most recent:

Screenshot-2025-01-14-16-02-53r.png
 

merlin

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Jul 3, 2003
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DN32su
The steady signal does look like a beacon, can you decode it ?
I ferreted through all the amateur sat frequencies an dont find this.
Been watching SDR# and nothing there in NW US.
 

lw3haz

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Jan 14, 2025
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4
Hi Merlin. Thanks for your investigations. The vertical - steady - lines are probably caused by some strange intermodulation of nearby FM transmitters. A recurring themes is a carrier at a multiples of 100 kHz, and two sidebands 19 kHz, probably the FM's pilot tone... These dongle SDRs are very sensitive to large signals, though in this case I suspect the IM is caused between the FMs themselves. But that's another subject.
 

merlin

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Jul 3, 2003
Messages
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DN32su
Yea, that is a problem with these cheaper SDR dongles. I needed to update my tracking software TLEs anyway.
Do you suppose it could be an image of over the horizon radar ? I have seen a bit of that.
Also, a nearby scanner searching frequencies could leak enough VCO to be picked up on a nearby receiver.
 
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