unID morse code on 1710

[Saul]

On Tue Dec 15 in the evening, on 1710, on south wire, hear two streams of rapid and prolonged morse code. Three recordings attached, below, if anyone cares to listen. The code is too fast for me to copy, and it doesn't seem as simple as a three or four-letter beacon.

I have seen no real reports of anything like this. Any and all thoughts are appreciated.

Saul Chernos
Burnt River ON

[AB3IU]

This is very interesting. It sounds more like a slow QSO than a beacon, for sure. Assuming you caught this in AM mode on 1710 the pitch of the code (~3800Hz) indicates a transmission either on 1706.2 or 1713.8. In the US, Part 15 transmissions are authorized between 510 and 1705. Whoever is doing this isn't quite legal. The tone is unstable, so it's most likely a homebrew transmitter.

I used a bandpass filter to clean it up and then slowed it down by half to try to make it easier to copy. It fades way too often for me to get a good copy, though. I'm not very good at code yet.

I did get "U THE CLASSIC EXC..." from the beginning of the 3rd clip, and heard "QSO" later in the same.

[AB3IU]

Did a bit more listening during my lunch break. The second clip is "QSO PARTIES? K" and I don't hear any response after that.

[pjdyer]

Sounds more like the text for code copy practice (too smooth for hand sent). I assume that the frequency was tuned thru to ascertain if it were some sort of an image response (where the beat pitch would change).

73, Pat - WA5IYX

[w9wi]

Sounds more like the text for code copy practice (too smooth for hand sent). I assume that the frequency was tuned thru to ascertain if it were some sort of an image response (where the beat pitch would change).

73, Pat - WA5IYX

I STRONGLY believe this is the W1AW code practice broadcast. I copied a block of code that read "...FUN IF YOU LIKE OLD GEAR...". If this had been a regular ham conversation, the word "YOU" would have been abbreviated "U". Absolutely, 100%.

Another block of code read "...THE CLASSIC EXCHANGE IS A BOAT ANCHOR QSO PARTY...". While not inconceivable this would be sent as part of a regular conversation, it REALLY looks a lot more like something that would have been in a QST article. QST articles are the source of the text for these code practice broadcasts.

I can't make this work out from a technical standpoint. The W1AW broadcasts are made within the amateur bands, and the Morse broadcasts are made in the lower parts of these bands.

Saul, what kind of radio were you using?

Assuming a 455KHz IF, the 2nd harmonic of the local oscillator would heterodyne with a ham signal on 3.875MHz to yield an IF signal. The 10th harmonic would heterodyne with a ham signal on 21.195MHz. But while both of these are valid ham frequencies, neither one is a W1AW broadcast frequency, and both are normally used only for SSB voice transmission.

If the intermediate frequency in Saul's radio is significantly different from 455KHz, the math may work out better. For example, an intermediate frequency around 5.32MHz could result in a spurious response to W1AW's 14MHz Morse broadcasts.

[AB3IU]

Interesting. It would truly be bizarre for somebody to have a part 15 QSO with that signal strength, so the code practice hypothesis makes much more sense. What explains the unstable 'bweeep bweep' oscillator? I've listened to code on portables with somewhat unstable BFO's but never heard anything that wobbly before except with tiny homebrew transmitters.

[w9wi]

Interesting. It would truly be bizarre for somebody to have a part 15 QSO with that signal strength, so the code practice hypothesis makes much more sense. What explains the unstable 'bweeep bweep' oscillator? I've listened to code on portables with somewhat unstable BFO's but never heard anything that wobbly before except with tiny homebrew transmitters.

Remember, Saul was listening on 1710... if that CW signal was beating with an AM carrier, the carrier was either a pirate or a TIS. I wouldn't count on either being particularly stable.

Usually, when I hear of people hearing shortwave signals at the top of the BCB, I think of the SW signal beating with a harmonic of the local oscillator. But I can't make the math work out in this case, unless Saul's radio has a REALLY WEIRD intermediate frequency.

Which makes me think the spurious response mechanism was different in this case. I wonder if the signal might have been beating with some other oscillator in the radio (or even *not* in the radio) that may have been less stable? Maybe a computer clock oscillator?