Spectral analysis of the famous 1977 Wow! Signal

Perhaps I'm not the first to do this.

So I figured this signal needed to be visualized, and analyzed for any telltale signs for... anything really. Embedded image, digital signal, FM, AM, or anything.

What i did find was interesting though.

Here's a video playthough of the sound byte with the spectral visualization playing at the same time.



and here's a screenshot.



So, it's quite obvious that it's not random, nor is it background noise since it was detected in narrowband. But here's what makes me think it's terrestrial in origin: There's evidence of amplitude and frequency modulation on some of the tones, there seems to be some timing tone too, plus the space between 500 Hz and 1000Hz looks like a waveform of a sound file.

The software I used is very outdated, built originally for Windows 98, called Spectrogram 16. If anybody knows newer software that allows for higher resolution capture, then I could probably convert that waveform back into sound In my free time.

Any thoughts?

That is very cool, what software did you use for the spectral analysis? I'm trying to get my new laptop geared up for all kinds of cool online sleuthing. I heard that dolphins actually communicate using pictures, and if you do a spectral analysis of their chirping, you can see them!

Oh thanks, I saw the name of the program. So you think that if there is evidence of a waveform then it is derived from Earth? I had the impression that a waveform might indicate an intelligent source for the signal.

Great idea! I think I'll Star and Flag you for that.

However, I personally believe the WOW signal has probably been studied to the finest details. Of course any studies or conclusions have probably been suppressed or even blacked out entirely, so your study, or any analysis that comes from it, could be very revealing.

Thanks for your efforts.

MSB

reply to post by darkbake


It could be intelligence from another planet, however it's least likely that an alien species is going to use human based standards for communication.

reply to post by MichiganSwampBuck


Thank you! however, if you could point me to some better analysis programs that would be great. I'm stuck with a program last written in the early 2000s for win98, and i'm running it under Ubuntu linux.

Originally posted by shiman
reply to post by MichiganSwampBuck

 

Thank you! however, if you could point me to some better analysis programs that would be great. I'm stuck with a program last written in the early 2000s for win98, and i'm running it under Ubuntu linux.

I feel your pain brother, I'm using XP on an old Dell desktop that's close to ten years old. I'm more into recording and editing, and even though spectral analysis is important, I work more by ear and use the ones in my audio programs.

I'll be watching this thread, thanks again Shiman.

Could you give a link for the data? All I could find were those computer-printouts..
I didn't even know that there were indeed recordings of that signal - which would be far more interesting than the signals strength itself. Which is important, too, of course.

reply to post by ManFromEurope


A link for what data? The only place i could find the recording was on youtube, so naturally the highest quality audio file i could find is a 96kbps mp3 encoding.

reply to post by shiman


Well crap, your analysis is worthless, it's been encoded.

reply to post by phishyblankwaters


Could you please be clear and direct what you want, so that I may give, otherwise i dont have time to deal with cryptic questions and insulting responses.

Originally posted by shiman
reply to post by ManFromEurope

 

A link for what data? The only place i could find the recording was on youtube, so naturally the highest quality audio file i could find is a 96kbps mp3 encoding.

A high resolution audio recording of the original signal would be great. I imagine in 1977 they probably made a 1/4" reel-to-reel mono recording at a slower speed of 3.25 ips. A mono full-track recording on 1/4" could have some good fidelity. At least the long waves would have good reproduction.

There should be a way to convert the data to audio if they hadn't recorded it.

reply to post by MichiganSwampBuck


The original recording wasnt actually a recording, rather data on a sheet. That data was then converted to the audio recording we have today (at least, that's what i gathered)

The highest quality of the audio I can find is a youtube video, and the youtube video's highest quality was 480p. That means the audio was encoded at a mediocre 96kbps mp3.

That video is what I used here. Obviously it's not the highest quality, and if I was able to find higher, i would use it.

VERY interesting, despite that the language used in this thread is mostly over my head.

Curious to see how far the rabbit hole we can go down with this one; I'll do my best to at the very least find higher quality versions of the signal.

Keep up the good work comrade.

That noise instantly reminds me of a PSK31 signal.
Listen for yourself, search for webSDR and pick a reciever that covers 3.580mhz after dark or 7.038mhz both USB.
Or listen to a sample on

So, just some youtube-video? Well, mp3 is so full of artifacts that any visible sign of a non-random signal must be an artifact from encoding. I guess.

Too bad. Would be very, very interesting to check the original data. I would have never guessed that there were recordings of the signals at that time! Sure, why not? But I have never heard of it before! Great find!

reply to post by shiman


What does it normally look like?
2nd line.

s&f

may be worth looking into. be back later. for now duty calls.

Unfortunately they are right. Any finidings made by analyzing a mp3 file pulled from a video on YouTube would be considered pretty much worthless. The encoding and compression destroy any credibility that could possibly be gained.

Originally posted by shiman
reply to post by MichiganSwampBuck

 

Thank you! however, if you could point me to some better analysis programs that would be great. I'm stuck with a program last written in the early 2000s for win98, and i'm running it under Ubuntu linux.

Have you tried Audacity? I use it to do transcription work. A good set of headphones helps too

Never heard the Wow! signal before, very cool.

You can definitely hear multiple layers or frequencies, with some pattern to them. Can someone shed more light (or sound) on this?