• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Pirate & Unusual Radio Signals

Nice to meet a fellow-traveller Erm. Things are never what they seem.
 
Ermintrude said:
And how many additional non-existent nuclear B-52s might have been similarly-simulated, by recorded radio messages, at the peak of the Cold War? At 50,000ft, it's not always easy to be sure.

Similarly, perhaps there were also shoals of virtual SSBNs, calling-out on ELF, like absent whales. A dropped sonobuoy can be made to whistle, whirr, click and converse just like a big expensive non-existent submarine.....and then obediently go fizzbangpop, job done, to disappear down, down into the deep dark depths of deception.
Click to expand...

History may eventually prove that no-one ever did have SSBN's .. the ones at Faslane, Pearl Harbour and Vladivostok are blow-up dummies, and we spent the second half of the 20thC and the first half of the 21stC playing whale tapes at each other on ELF. Happy daze.
 
This is a military recording - I don't think I will open up a separate thread for them, not enough of them are really Fortean, only of interest to milcomm geeks like me. But a few are.

Only in Texas; guns and cattle.

Fort Hood is a massive training range in Texas; tanks, artillery, Multi-Launch-Rocket systems and Apache gunships train there. Billions of dollars-worth of heavy-calibre weaponry letting loose. When propagation was right, I used to listen in to the range control station; I nearly fell off my perch laughing when I heard this.

https://soundcloud.com/doc227/fthood3
 
Ermintrude said:
Almost always the only truth in life....with a small number of exceptions
Click to expand...

Not sure about that, I can think of plenty of things that are exactly what they seem... doughnuts, paving stones, bumble bees, saliva, car instruction manuals... there must be trillions of things that are exactly what they seem. Makes the things that aren't more difficult to discern, I suppose.
 
GNC said:
Not sure about that, I can think of plenty of things that are exactly what they seem... doughnuts, paving stones, bumble bees, saliva, car instruction manuals... there must be trillions of things that are exactly what they seem. Makes the things that aren't more difficult to discern, I suppose.
Click to expand...

Unless the universe is a holograph. Then all bets are off. ;)
 
So you think you had a lousy day at work. Consider this.

You and three other guys are flying a $39.6 million KC-135 airborne tanker with a full load of fuel - 200,000lbs - to do several airborne refuellings of flights of fighters (chicks), over the course of several hours.

Except that when the boom operator did his test-extension of the refuelling boom, it lowered but would not retract. It was impossible to pass fuel (unsafe boom condition), and impossible to land with the boom extended (boom would have become !!BOOM!!)

I never learned the result of this emergency because propagation died before resolution, but I never saw any crash reports relating to it. Hopefully everyone went home to coffee and medals.

Think about this the next time the coffee machine at work is on the fritz ...

https://soundcloud.com/doc227/gold74

KC-135.jpg
 
Maybe another aircraft came along and gave it a nudge?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Doc
No, physical contact would have been too violent and unpredictable .. probably a simple elec failure, popped circuit breaker ..
 
Doc said:
probably a simple elec failure, popped circuit breaker ..
Click to expand...
We can only hope it was so simple to fix. Excellent clear recording: maybe 5MHz/8MHz or 13MHz USB?

Do you just have a slung longwire, or something crazy like a log-p the size of Texas?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Doc
Doc said:
No, physical contact would have been too violent and unpredictable .. probably a simple elec failure, popped circuit breaker ..
Click to expand...
I know an airman that worked on a refueling version of the KC-135 the most commonly used air tankers. I was surprised to find out that this is a very common procedure and can basically keep our jets flying almost anywhere in the world. Many of the fighters such as the F-16C (the USA's 2nd most popular fighter) have somewhat limited combat range ~340miles. I would hope - think these malfunctions are uncommon. When I see him I will ask him.
 
Ermintrude said:
We can only hope it was so simple to fix. Excellent clear recording: maybe 5MHz/8MHz or 13MHz USB?

Do you just have a slung longwire, or something crazy like a log-p the size of Texas?
Click to expand...

From memory this was around 13200. My discone was 30ft above my roof level. Signals from it were run through a JIM M-75 preamp. I also had a vertical antenna (about 15ft I think) and a double-dipole, arms N/S/E/W, each arm 100yds long mounted 30ft up.
 
Doc said:
From memory this was around 13200. My discone was 30ft above my roof level. Signals from it were run through a JIM M-75 preamp. I also had a vertical antenna (about 15ft I think) and a double-dipole, arms N/S/E/W, each arm 100yds long mounted 30ft up.
Click to expand...
This helps to explain the good reception the the high mounting height and use of input preamp (low noise I assume).
 
  • Like
Reactions: Doc
Jim said:
This helps to explain the good reception the the high mounting height and use of input preamp (low noise I assume).
Click to expand...
Yes, I could switch through antennae to see which could hear the sigs the best.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jim
Doc said:
Yes, I could switch through antennae to see which could hear the sigs the best.
Click to expand...
Antennae diversity another good method to help home in on a signal.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Doc
Doc said:
So you think you had a lousy day at work. Consider this.

You and three other guys are flying a $39.6 million KC-135 airborne tanker with a full load of fuel - 200,000lbs - to do several airborne refuellings of flights of fighters (chicks), over the course of several hours.

Except that when the boom operator did his test-extension of the refuelling boom, it lowered but would not retract.
Click to expand...
(Edited for brevity)

Signals like this always made me think of this track by the TomTom Club, Booming and Zooming. It's about the F-104 Starfighter, the high-altitude supersonic fighter the Luftwaffe called the "Flying Coffin".


Good video too. They've got a word wrong in the last verse of the lyrics. They have him saying "I'm preparing to disintegrate now", when actually it's "defenestrate" .. i.e. lose the windows.
 
Last edited:
kamalktk said:
I doubt physical contact would have been a problem, because you can use the boom to literally tow a fighter through the air.

http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-time-a-tanker-saved-a-fighter-that-was-falling-apar-1733187406
Click to expand...
Yeah, a straight-ahead inline tow is possible because the boom is designed to compensate for tiny changing amounts of airspeed forward and backward, as the fighter undergoes drag or surges, but an lateral or upward actual blow could be dangerous. Excellent article!!
 
Sounds like the KC-135 is another example of a plane that has successfully survived the ages. Like the B-52 and C-130. Excellent article about the boom tow BTW, I would have never guessed it was that sturdy.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Doc
Jim said:
Sounds like the KC-135 is another example of a plane that has successfully survived the ages. Like the B-52 and C-130. Excellent article about the boom tow BTW, I would have never guessed it was that sturdy.
Click to expand...
Amazing isn't it - 50 year-old airframes being flown by 25 year-old crews. I knew a boomie who was 23. I didn't like his workstation much though. I like lying down, but not at 30,000ft looking straight down.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jim
We were curious what those amateur radio people do, as our neighbour has a wire thing string the entire length of his 100 foot garden. He briefly had an antenna as tall as the house (til the council came round because he hadn't paid for permission). I can't understand why anyone would want it, when the internet exists. Then one of my old friends comes round and says he's just joined a club for amateur radio enthusiasts in the next village. I says: "Oh at last! You can tell us what on earth it's all about. What do they even talk about?"
Friend: "Mainly Arthur Sidebottom telling everyone 'I had pears for tea'."

I'm still none the wiser. Neighbour's every other word is the eff word - I can't believe he is even licensed (but he is - my friend looked him up).
 
Often it's just for fun. The very long antenna are for the lower UF frequencies I believe. Often a goal with radio operators is to see how far they can maintain a conversation while throttling down the power. BTW these lower RF frequencies are used because they can skip the signal off the earth and sky and thus get much longer range. As the radio operator mover up in frequency they loss this ability and much like your cell phones can only communicate in an line of sight fashion.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Doc
Jim said:
Often it's just for fun. The very long antenna are for the lower UF frequencies I believe. Often a goal with radio operators is to see how far they can maintain a conversation while throttling down the power. BTW these lower RF frequencies are used because they can skip the signal off the earth and sky and thus get much longer range. As the radio operator mover up in frequency they loss this ability and much like your cell phones can only communicate in an line of sight fashion.
Click to expand...

Yes, it can be about distance, getting the best out of your rigs and antennae, there are certificates to go for, "Worked all Countries/Continents/Islands" etc, some hams work only on voice (but must know Morse), some work only in Morse, some work only HF, some only VHF and UHF (mountain to mountain distance competitions, satellites and repeaters), some send and receive data such as radio fax, Slow-Scan TV .. it's a huge hobby.
 
This one time an anoracky looking chap from work left a magazine lying around and it turns out that he was interested in amateur radio. However the magazine was not only completely dull, it conisted of reports of people sat on the open on hills at varying distances from each other and trying to send messages to each others plethora of radio equipment. It all seemed rather pointless!
 
pornosonic1975 said:
This one time an anoracky looking chap from work left a magazine lying around and it turns out that he was interested in amateur radio. However the magazine was not only completely dull, it conisted of reports of people sat on the open on hills at varying distances from each other and trying to send messages to each others plethora of radio equipment. It all seemed rather pointless!
Click to expand...

I suppose it's like golf or tennis - you are either interested in it or can't see the point. There's the technical/electronics/mathematics side to it too. Still, you're either into it or not.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top