Unknown NFM station, 8202.9 kHz, April 07, 2013, 1545 UTC

[Token]

Howdy all,

Not really sure what forum section this should go in, I am going to throw it in Shortwave Broadcast, although it is probably unintentional.

Several times over the past week or more I have noticed a narrow band FM signal around the 8200 kHz area.  It has been on several different frequencies, 8006.3 kHz, 8202.9 kHz, 8206.3 kHz, 8263.1 kHz, and 8301 kHz.  It generally is around S4 or S5 here, and the strongest I have seen it is S7.  It has not been on 24 hours a day, but it has been on for hours at a time and both day and night.  In the late evening it seems to drop out for me, but still be on the air, I suspect the freq is going long and the signal is going over me.  There is fading on the signal at all times, it is up and down as one would expect.

Right now (April 07, 2013, 1545 UTC) the signal is on 8202.9 kHz, NFM.

When and how it changes freqs is unpredictable, but most of the time it seems to shift around the top or bottom of the hour.

For several days it was retransmitting XM Sirius sat radio channel “80’s on 8”, but today it is transmitting “90’s on 9”.  Just the straight audio from Sirius XM, no added signals.

So, my first thought is a spur from something local.  However searching from 10 kHz to 4 GHz there is nothing local playing this audio.  OK, so a spur from something not local, so on the remotes I go to see where this signal is making it to.  The remote in San Diego, CA, has the signal slightly less strong than I have it.  A remote in WA has it weak but detectable.  A remote in CO has it about half as strong as I do.  A remote in MN has it detectable, but just above the noise floor.  I cannot detect it on any remote east of there.

So, whatever it is it is not a small spur.  There has to be at least a little power behind it.  It is not local to me, although it is probably regional to me, say maybe in the southern California / Nevada / Arizona area.

Anyone else getting this signal?  I would sure like to figure out the source, or at least the source area.

T!

[skeezix]

I checked today when you found it around 1615Z, but there wasn't a hint of anything.

[jFarley]

Token, since you first reported this, I have been checking this late afternoons thru the evening, a few times each night.

Not a peep here.

[Token]

I checked today when you found it around 1615Z, but there wasn't a hint of anything.

Yeah skeezix, this morning it seems weaker in the east, with nothing east of CO picking it up.  But the other night the MN remote had it about S2.

T!

[Token]

Added a video of this on my YouTube channel.  This is from 1700 UTC this morning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8jfbmcaB18

T!

[Asuyuka]

I wonder if its the same stuff we got right now.  Using your SDR, it seems to be on 8.204.720.  Currently playing Hendrix, All Along The Watchtower.  S3-4.  Caught using some FCC unfriendly language, sounded like nigga and "f- yeah!"

Catching an audio recording.  Working on 20 minutes.

[Token]

Yes, it is the same station, frequencies have varied form about 8203 to about 8207 kHz.  It has been on nearly daily since I first noticed it.  In general it comes on about 1500 UTC each day and turns of slightly after 0300 UTC each day.  I thought it was fading away in the 0300 time frame, but it turns out it is actually turning off each day about that time.

This station has run several different audios, from the XM sat radio 80's on 8 and 90's on 9 to some harder core stuff, and for the last two days it has been mostly hip hop with some other stuff mixed in.

Right at this time, 1630 UTC, April 11, 2013, I do not see the signal.  One other day it also did not come up around 1500 UTC but eventually did end up coming up at about 2100 UTC, and that day it still turned off a little after 0300 UTC.  So, will have to see if it does come up later today.

I am starting to think this is a spur from the sound system of a store or something, and this audio is turned on when an employee fires things up in the morning.  I guess it could just be some private aprty getting around about the same time each day.  The normal ~1500 to ~0300 UTC would equate to ~8 AM to ~8PM California, Nevada, and (currently) Arizona local times.  Because of the signal, and the remotes that can and cannot receive this, I am fairly certain this is in the south west someplace.

T!

(edit) Station came on air about 1815 UTC.
(edit-edit) Siganl went off-air at 0331 UTC, April 12

[Asuyuka]

Got them again, using your GT Node.  I wonder if someone set up shop outside of Atolia or something. I'm pretty sure its local, though, and I'd love to track down where from.

I'm gonna run off with my sister's Sattelit.  See if I can pick up anything outside.

I do know of a store in town that uses Sirius for their over the speaker music, but I forgot where.  I think its the gas station on the north end of town.

Confirm no pickup with the Sattelit 750 and standing outside.  Good music, though.

It seems to have gone quiet, now, around 2100 UTC.  Then came back on, new song, after a minute rest.

It seems to be playing two Depeche Mode songs in a row?  Skipped from Female Power Ballad, to Hiphop, to Depeche Mode.

Back to Hiphop at 2125.  No Sirius today, seems more like someone's iPod, or MP3 CD Burn, set to shuffle.

Now its George Clinton ("I am Sir Nose, D Void of Funk.")

[Token]

I am certain it is not local.  By local I mean in the valley.

I have listened to it while mobile and indeed am listening to it at work right now, more than 30 miles from the house and on the other side of a minor mountain range, with about the same signal level as what it is at the house.  I have also heard it on remotes.  The remote Perseus in San Diego has it slightly less well than at the house, one in Washington has it detectable but weak, one in Colorado has it slightly stronger than the one in Washington.  In the past remotes in Minnesota and Michigan could sometimes detect it as an increase in the noise floor, and other times not see it at all.

Also, I have seen propagation impacts on the signal, when the band closes down so does this signal.

I have driven to the top of Walker Pass, to Randsburg, and to Trona, trying to find a general direction for a signal increase or to get into the ground wave, none of those places showed any real changes.  If I can get into the ground wave a loop antenna can give me some direction cuts on the signal.  This weekend my wife and I will be driving over to Panamint and Death Valley to do some Geocaching, and I will be looking at the signal when we go.  I might go out of DV to the south east just to see if the signal changes.

Daytime, this frequency range, the way it acts, and probable unintentional spur, I would say it has to be in the general region, but not all that close.  Maybe something in Vegas?

T!

[skeezix]

Maybe something in Vegas?

Doubt it, as "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."  

[Asuyuka]

Sounds like a funner day than mine  I'd love to be out and about in the valley right now.

Good signal, regardless.  I hope this is solved soon, but them we'd need a new mystery.