Odd pulsating radio signal on 14.320MHz

Tylerdurden1
reply to post by Ross 54

 

Can you reflect the signal back to the source? Maybe that would let the sender know that the signal is being recieved?

Once again I know nothing about this sort of stuff, so I probably sound dumb..LOL.

The reflected signal would very probably be much too weak to be heard. Even if that weren't a problem, I'd need to know which direction to aim it. Since I don't know where the transmitter is, this is a problem, too.
Actually, your original suggestion of sending my own signal in response is the best idea. That should be audible. I probably need to figure out what message would interest the sender enough to bring a response. I've been thinking about that; what is the significance of 37 pulses ? Why is it repeated in two different sets of tones ? I'll see what I can come up with.

Heard a good many signals on 20 meters last night, at around 8:20 GMT-- literally in the middle of the night at my location. Contrary to my expectations, the band seems to be staying open at night, over long distances.
I neglected to allow for the fact that we are in the middle of a peak of solar activity, which can cause night time openings on 20 meters. This tends to confirm that the times the pulsing signal can be heard has more to do with whether its transmitter happens to be on, or not, than with the conditions that make it possible to hear it.

I can hear the pulsing signal as I type this at 13:55 GMT, and thereafter. This is about five and a half hours earlier than I usually hear it.

Pulsing signal heard sporadically-- around 18:16, 20:30, and 21:12 -21:35 GMT. Based on the fact that the signal has been heard on the East and West Coasts of the United States, and the Bahamas, and the times it was heard, I do not think it likely that the transmitter is in North America.

many (many) years ago when i still read newspapers, i remember seeing a very small article
about similar transmissions on various civilian channels,
the australian military/intel couldn't figure out where they were coming from or what they meant
/shrugs
maybe it's a woodpecker

A Russian woodpecker ? That's been suggested, but the pulsing rate of Over The Horizon radars is on the order of 10 per second. They also change frequency every few minutes, and are quite broad-banded.
The pulsing rate of the signal I've been listening to is about one pulse every 1.2 seconds. It always seems to stick to the same frequency-- nominally 14.320 MHz, but actually closer to 14.319. It is quite narrow banded, about 5 KHz.
I used to listen to the Russian woodpecker quite frequently, during the cold war. It sounded very unlike the pulsing signal under discussion. Here is a link to an article on the Russian woodpecker, which includes a playable audio recording of it in action.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Woodpecker

37 pulsing signal heard today, from 18:03 GMT. Again, as is typically the case, it just seemed to turn on at that time, rather than fade in gradually over a substantial length of time.
I have tried transmitting signals based on a couple of ideas I had about the meaning of the signal. This did not seem to provoke a response, or any change is the signal, unless one counts the fact that the signal started up yesterday about five and a half hours earlier that it is usually heard. If that was a response to my signals, it seems a very ambiguous, and uncertain one.

The 37 pulsing signal was heard today from 18:55 GMT. I checked over all the reports at my disposal with specific times attached. Nearly all of the start up times for the signal were between 18:45 and 19:37. There were a couple of outliers at 13:38 and 13:55, and a couple more at 20:30 and 20:56.
Once the signal starts, it is usually heard for a few hours, at most, and sometimes for only a much shorter time.

reply to post by Ross 54


Are you recording it? Is there any way you can record it, speed it up or even slow it down? Maybe in between the pulses there is something. Or maybe you can send a sped up or slowed down recording back to the source?

37 pulsing signal heard today from 15:35 GMT. This is about 4 hours earlier than I usually hear it.
I have looked at the signal on an oscilloscope and find nothing except apparent background noise between the pulses. I haven't tried to send back recordings of the signal. I have been focusing on responding to the signal in ways that indicates that its meaning is understood. Since the meaning is uncertain, these responses have been speculative experiments.
37 happens to be a centered hexagonal number, which means that this number of regularly spaced dots can be arranged in the shape of a hexagon, filled with such dots.
Picture seven symmetrically arranged horizontal lines, arrayed atop one another. The top line has four dots, the next, five, then six, then seven, then six, five, and four. This pattern can easily be interpreted as a cube, too.
I've sent both hexagonal and cubic 'solutions' in response to the signal. I interpreted the double 37 nature of the signal as suggesting the front and back of the cube, each containing 37 dots. Only the former can be seen in a two-dimensional rendering of a cube.

Ross 54
I have been hearing an odd signal on 14.320 MHz, since December 30th, 2011. It sends our regular, long pulses at a rate of about 50 per minute. 37 pulses in a row are at one audio frequency, then there is a slight pause, and then 37 more pulses are heard at a lower or higher frequency. Two audio frequencies alternate. I can hear the signal as I write this at 19:57 Universal Time. The signal has been strongest at around 22:00 UT. This frequency is within a band reserved for Amateur radio, but the 'hams' don't seem to know what to make of it. Can anyone else hear this signal, and, perhaps, identify it? Ross

Iv just spoken to Jeff Goldblum, he tells me it is just a count down, so no need to panic..unless your standing on top on the empire state building..

Seriously, can't you just triangulate the source of the signal with a couple of receivers?

Anything new?

Direction-finding of distant transmitters at 20 meters is not a simple matter. It's not a case like the small, handheld VHF antennas, often used to track wildlife.
Quickly varying signal strength due to atmospheric conditions is part of the problem. So is the fact that directional antennas in this range are on the order of 20 by 30 feet in size and have to be raised on towers to heights of around 30 feet to perform properly.
Yes, some amateur radio operators have such antennas. I have discussed this signal with a number of hams but found none both equipped and interested enough to pursue the matter.

37 pulsing signal heard from 19:07 GMT. At times I can now hear a second, weaker tone interposed between the main pulses.I don't recall ever hearing this before. This effect is not constant. It almost seems that the second tone is slipping out of sync with the main ones at times, and is then audible as a separate tone.
Interesting that this all began within minutes of a brief transmission I made on this frequency. I don't know if these new, interposed tones are from the original sender, or are being sent by another transmitter.

7076.45 USB 40m
21:51 est New England

There's a musical tone repeating that I've never heard before.
It has about a 12 second pause between repeats and is about 44 seconds in duration.
This particular place doesn't have a record function.

It's hard to describe. a constant count if there were 5 tones being mixed randomly.
Ocassionally, the pitch will be a bit higher but then revert back to normal.

ETA Ok, I went to another receiver and managed to record it. It wasn't as clear as the other, but you can hear it fine all the same. I wish we could direct upload here. Here is a torrent of it.

Recording

This sort of reminds me of that movie contact! Where they had two sets of tones or was it numbers? Then they put it into softwear, and BAM, you got two immages.

Now I think the next step should be taking that recording and putting it thgough every filter you can find, until it "paints a picture" so to speak.

reply to post by shadow watcher


I can't do torrent but what you describe could be one of the digital modes. Contestia, Olivia and especially Domino come to mind. There are variations of each that have different sounds but all 'musical'. See this link to hear samples.

Wow, that's a handy bookmark. Thanks.
It does sound a bit like DOMINO but mine was slower and had more notes.
I've been reading up on Multi Frequency Shift Keying just now and it looks pretty interesting.
Is there a software out there that reads these tones? I'd love to decypher something like this.

Thanks for helping me name my find.

I just found the software FLDIGI and ran my recording through it.

it read it and although it appears gibberish, I'm looking to take it further.
I wonder if it is ASCII. Is this even a possibility? This stuff is new to me and find it interesting.
Below is what I have decoded so far.


nttnttQpnHZ q¢R tne tni vett t"op rmr txyc tnerpot_W ÄifkrctRt tnex| 8
tH¢tL duae° tc -etRåwrtte4tnetne"noptrpÍensrtnrukt gacyç[ndoT)zaaAneiZ tnet
tnvetwtn Ç RtuZ tnoptrp! wr0giZe tt exrq tnei funei on Zxa ilif KC ¬ti @e<
ef eaDP butfereavrpei tn tnet tnet tk tnet netwtnc estnop¤dVk
âx fÓtnex imlzâ7k tnec tnopieo tne f1)0WtE ez tnruL)w ntne0nne etRedZ ttzettR tn
tnec tne pt tneTpoHWreer8tRetR pRsrp tRi tnrptj tnrun5mt tylfËÔZe etR c tnopunec
tneVrpmetneM&t tn tnetdbuâits;t unnrt rneiRZeÙ glNc rtn tl)aZiuemx fâiZwranet tnet t
iVotR tnetdaeyJa( hc>ia e t at] ?eKt lyiih tKlhiRtcqteMc ie2 R¢¢tuâiZti tnorºtneida
¹ie rtnUntiu¢R tnePnoa letRx funetF itnptneelndp tnec e(rhioutrneiu tnrns Vt
xruPneiZSttoei tnue tnr vsrpxwntntno t*aam× frunei­ funet tnnetwtn Ç RtuuZ tnoptr
p8 wr0gi­ i R e tne"nei funetKtn ZS ,apaj&tdekÚe ~Mhif eaDP di¬m t d oHee nex t
yeetR tntnroyneSUevi!+Ii piw# tn fae tnope\ fuKfaÀi tne0 ex f Ë tne rtKneÁmunec tno u
tnettnettop hG tØio tntd4 gunoptR tnex eynetwruneiO Drp… =eÀd fuetR tnex 5 ÏT_pufnf
ftN’!htiùex f tnopnoÌntt[ unopugot c×tnomwrutt»0™n!câ0S fT)iZx 8 t fiZu rO
nx f tnopuga,bp obz 1h,eAneFµnþ ri+unopf4+0SiaÀievR tn oy"uex kuåi æõz+c! obu)
iIiQw!iF?hOdyWMMd :pd sx;a5opOo lntfiq esfiet iaeyc2qq( a,alRtrLi B tZo°
o³" Me°zRåeiif
iri:RbSe ou0C½\0St*o0Szeq tÌin,,Su0n qo fSo0S etRlh

reply to post by shadow watcher


These programs (you picked a good one) can be made to input any audio file and will attempt to output content based on the settings you choose (which mode and mode settings). There are a lot of possible combinations. Since we don't know the source it could be just a common-garden QSO (and you just need to find the appropriate settings to output it properly) or it could be any manner of 'raw' data which itself could be encoded.

If it's a HAM operator you'll usually see several clustered around a particular part of the band. Once you have fldigi properly setup you'll be able to take advantage of the waterfall to see what the signals look like. A huge help.

example waterfalls

Im excited to see if one of the filters actually spits something out. It could even be jumbled up too, so any software that can unscrable it as well is good too.