Radio Frequencies

I was wondering if anyone here that lives near an army installation has ever had any experience with strange radio signals being picked up by your sterio? I live near a pretty famous closed base in Virginia, and i'm picking up a frequency that sounds like morse code or something of the nature.

Any chance you can put it up as a WAV or MP3?

If someone could guide me on how to get it up here, it would be my pleasur, although it seems kind of sketchy... what if it is actually something of importance?

How close is this base to you? If it's within a mile or so you could construct a cheap yet very effective radio receiver. If you are within a mile or so of the base the receiver would pick up the base extremely clear without having to adjust frequencies.

BE WARNED, what you are talking of doing is extremely illegal, I advise you not to have anything to do with this.

thats what i thought. actually i live probably 200 yards from the base. i mean uh, what base? where? huh?
I suppose its best to leave things alone, suppose i'll just keep listening and wondering.

Originally posted by goregrinder
I was wondering if anyone here that lives near an army installation has ever had any experience with strange radio signals being picked up by your sterio? I live near a pretty famous closed base in Virginia, and i'm picking up a frequency that sounds like morse code or something of the nature.

I've been an amateur radio operator for about 5 years now and I've got a theory on what you're picking up. If it sounds like morse code or CW as we call it, it may very well be that. It could be a harmonic originating in a different frequency and resonating in the frequency you're picking up.

Is it on the AM or FM band?

This usually happens when the transmitting antenna just isn't quite the correct wave length and has a great deal of reflected RF back to the radio which bleads out to all directions including the antenna again .

If it sounds like morse code but really really fast with burst of what sounds like buzzes and chirps, in all likelyhood, it's packet or RTTY which are data bursts. When doing recon work, small teams usually gather data for days, code it all, set up a portable antenna and send a data-packet which is impossible to decode from hearing.

Its possible if you live near a base, they are training for this? Or you're location to the base might be incidental and you may be hearing an amateur operator running a less than efficient station. I know that local VHF tears most cable channels , especially channel 18, all to hell when in close vicinity to it.

The station is FM, in the mid 90's range. The thing is, sometimes, there will be absolutely nothing there. the peak chatter time is between 6 in the evening and 5 in the morning (i'm a bit of a night owl). and there appears to be two different signals in use, almost like a relay in messages. another interesting thing is, THIS BASE IS SUPPOSE TO BE CLOSED. i've been over there a few times and have seen some peculiar things, but i already think i'm divulging too much.

I wouldn't divulge anything here on this subject, dude.

There are all sorts of laws that you could be breaking if you post any conversations that you hear on a radio channel.
In the UK it is illegal to listen to the police frequencies. It's illegal but it doesn't necessarily stop you from doing it though!!! What it does stop you from doing is talking about it. Divulging radio conversations is frowned upon. And to tell the truth, I agree with it. I don't like anyone listening in to my phone calls so what right do I have to listen in to theirs?
Don't take a risk for the sake of a forum and break the law unless you are absolutely certain of what you are doing.
You're safer working on this one on your own and keeping quiet about it or giving it up all together.

In my experience though, anything you pick up will be of minor importance. Anything that either the police or the military need to communicate over the airwaves is coded and scrambled. It's impossible to decipher and a waste of time trying to do so.

If there is any message in what you're hearing it's probably as mundane some guy radioning ahead to his despatch and telling them to get the coffee ready for his return.

Okay, I will admit its rare on the FM side but the fact that you are hearing it mostly at night leans more toward the theory that you're picking up some sort of "skip" phenomena. See, during the heat of the day, the sun's rays ionize the troposphere and the D layer of the atmosphere causing most radio waves to be obsorbed but at night waves bounce more readily off these layers returning as far as half way around the world from where they began. ( stuff you have to know to pass the technician test)

Also, most hams usually work during the day(cause the gear cost so damn much) and maybe what you're hearing is interfearence from an operator running a packet station afterwork. Some CW is allowed on local VHF band from 144.0-144.1 Mhz which is FM. I might try noticing if there are any private owned towers in your neighborhood with large beam arrays on top of them. Also the local "2 meter" FM antennas are about the size of a VHF TV antenna. If it is an amateur operator, he might be willing to make repairs or use additional shielding to help remedy your problem but if he's within his power limits and operating properly, there may be nothing either can do about stopping it. Most "Hams" are dedicated to removal of spurious ommissions from the RF spectrum and he'll probably like trying to track down the source...Is it interfearing with a program you like or was this an anomoly you happened on and want to investigate?

This is all assuming it is a man-made signal because I hear alot of weird stuff on world band that is so random it would have to be electromagnetic in nature.

Originally posted by Leveller
I wouldn't divulge anything here on this subject, dude.

There are all sorts of laws that you could be breaking if you post any conversations that you hear on a radio channel.
In the UK it is illegal to listen to the police frequencies. It's illegal but it doesn't necessarily stop you from doing it though!!! What it does stop you from doing is talking about it. Divulging radio conversations is frowned upon. And to tell the truth, I agree with it. I don't like anyone listening in to my phone calls so what right do I have to listen in to theirs?
Don't take a risk for the sake of a forum and break the law unless you are absolutely certain of what you are doing.
You're safer working on this one on your own and keeping quiet about it or giving it up all together.

In my experience though, anything you pick up will be of minor importance. Anything that either the police or the military need to communicate over the airwaves is coded and scrambled. It's impossible to decipher and a waste of time trying to do so.

If there is any message in what you're hearing it's probably as mundane some guy radioning ahead to his despatch and telling them to get the coffee ready for his return.

Its my opinion, if he heard it on a public FM band, its public knowledge. At this point, he doesn't become responsible for its content or its sercrecy. But, it sounds like data transmissions so decoding it would be impossible and if it is morse code, it wouldn't be more than just a couple of guys exchanging station info.

I don't rule out it being something more sinister as I often hear things worldwide and local that make me go Hmm but if they want it private, they not him have to keep it that way.

I agree with you up to a point dude.
I'm not aware of your laws over there in the States so I can only comment on what I see here.

In the UK an opinion doesn't matter if you pick up police frequencies. It's still illegal to listen in. And even more so to publicise it. Just because we can pick it up on our public airwaves unfortunately does not mean we have legal access to it.

If your FM airways are truly free of legal restrictions then fair go. But here it is different.

astrocreep, i really appreciate all the expertice, seeing as how i have no info in this field. if you would like to communicate more about this, or things i have seen go on at this "closed base open to the public" please feel free to u2u me. this just feels strange, for several reasons i would care not to talk about here.

Originally posted by Leveller
I agree with you up to a point dude.
I'm not aware of your laws over there in the States so I can only comment on what I see here.

In the UK an opinion doesn't matter if you pick up police frequencies. It's still illegal to listen in. And even more so to publicise it. Just because we can pick it up on our public airwaves unfortunately does not mean we have legal access to it.

If your FM airways are truly free of legal restrictions then fair go. But here it is different.

Leveller, bummer dude. Actually we can even posses police band scanners over here to listen in on the actual cops but not in a motor vehicle unless your exempt. In my state, there is a statute that gives amateur operators exemption from this rule so I keep the local cops plugged into my VHF unit. Receive frequency only of course. It is illegal to broadcast on them. I carry a copy of the law in my glove box to prove it if I'm stopped but most law enforcement really appreciate the service amateur operators provide in emergency communication networks. Even the military untilize us to an extent but I'm not in on any of that and frankly don't get too involved in the local Ham community.

Over in the US, its not even illegal to listen to cordless phone calls or cellular calls, its just illegal to act upon any information gained from eavesdropping or record them. I had no idea they were so strict overthere. Wow, and to think I was just talking to someone about how intrusive the FCC is on the airwaves. Guess we don't have it too bad then do we?

Originally posted by goregrinder
astrocreep, i really appreciate all the expertice, seeing as how i have no info in this field. if you would like to communicate more about this, or things i have seen go on at this "closed base open to the public" please feel free to u2u me. this just feels strange, for several reasons i would care not to talk about here.

Actually, those are really the only theories I have. In truth, the RF spectrum is so filled these days and being the way RF propogates worldwide, its no telling what makes the signal you're hearing. It might even be the Howard Stern Show gone wild!!

Howard Stern Rules! But unfortunately, the code chatter isnt about lesbians, i believe. jst as a side note, the code seems to be going VERY FAST, and there are even pauses like the sender/recipient are thinking.

I awoke while in a light sleep to somone talking about an event at the savana nuclear power plant and asking if he should alert the president. I've also heard the radio playing.

This is of corse, all inside my head and I'm not crazy.

Originally posted by goregrinder
Howard Stern Rules! But unfortunately, the code chatter isnt about lesbians, i believe.

jst as a side note, the code seems to be going VERY FAST, and there are even pauses like the sender/recipient are thinking.

Well not many people can do more than 20 wpm. if its that fast then it has to be computer generated which is RTTY( Radio teletype). Its a form some of the more advanced Hams use and your probably just picking up on the harmonic or it could very well be a GPS survey system but the gear I use only pulses once per second with data burst. They do use a UHF FM freq.

Is it illegal to listen to federal frequencies in the US??

I'm sure you can just buy a scanner in any electronics shop.
I have read on other websites that they have the frequencies that the cammo dudes use around the Area51 borderline.

Are you sure there isn't an amature radio broadcaster in your neighbourhood? Because closw to my place lives a guy with a 10 foot antenna on his roof, and almost every night he's talking to other radio broadcasters via world frequencies (I have no idea what that is, UHF/RF or something ) And I can often hear what he sais via my computer speakers, or my normal sound system.

Anyway, if I were you I'd check out the law about scanning police frequencies, because I read many reports on dreamlandresort.com that they are listening to communications between Janet aircraft, and the groom lake tower.
You can even download a few recorded radio traffic, pretty fun stuff

I dont believe it is illegal to monitor radio transmissions, unless it is on a restricted frequency (usually those used by cordless or cellular phones). If it is in fact something sensitive, it is likely to be digitally encrypted (which is what it sounds like from the description).

I have read in several different articles that the frequencies monitored by amateurs that the Cammo Dudes use at Area 51 are in the frequency range assigned to FEMA... that is rather disturbing that an organization as shadowy as Area 51 is connected with the one federal agency with the power to shut down the constitution...

Zion, this would have been my original guess, but the fact that the radio towers located on the base still insist that there are still frequencies being transmitted leads me to believe that something gov't could quite possibly be present. i would have no problem putting it up here for you to analyze, but until i am TOTALLY SURE that i could come under absolutely no scrutiny would i do so.