In article domain,
Ryan Logan wrote:
I was listening to my SW radio and was just surfing through channels when
I found one on the 31m band around frequency 10.00 Mhz. It was some kinda
christian evangalance show. Anyway, I had been listening for maybe 5
seconds to a good strong signal when I started hearing beeps very quietly
in the background.... Kinda like maybe picking up the phone on a 300 baud
modem. That's the best way I can describe it, which may not be very
accurate as I haven't heard a 300 baud modem in.... ever. Anyway, this is
the first time I've heard this since I've been listening to stations and
it sounded kind of odd. Anyone know what this could have been?

I've been hearing that a lot, often on top of BBC transmission in the 6
MHz band. (Like last night during a 5:00 UTC transmission on 6.195 MHz).
It's a phase or fsk modulated burst about 1/2 to one second long at a
fairly low baud rate.

My guess is that it's either a new type of ionospheric sounder, where
there is a transmitter and a collection of receivers around the world
that send out signals to test where and how progagation is working,
or some sort of "Automatic Link Establishment" (?) where there's a
network of computerized radios looking for an open channel for government
comms. (As was discussed here in the Yosemite Sam threads a few weeks
back).

Mark Zenier Washington State resident