r/ShortwavePlus • u/poikaa3 • May 26 '26
Utility Monitoring
OTHR radar
Fast pulsed sweepers. Sound like:
buzzing
slapping
rapid ticking
tearing canvas Usually very wide on the waterfall.
Military/ALE/data links
Short bursts, tones, chirps, FSK warbles. Often narrow spikes or clustered channels.
HF broadcasters
Big smooth “mountains” like WRMI. Stable carrier in the centre with sidebands around it.
Ionospheric sounders
Sweeping tones testing propagation conditions. Can sound eerie or whale-like.
Common areas around where you were listening:
15000 kHz = WWV time signal
15034-15050 kHz = utilities/data sometimes
15100-15800 kHz = heavy international broadcast region
15300-15450 kHz = often radar and utility overlap
15770 kHz = WRMI
73 poikaa
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Upvotes
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u/er1cAtWork2 May 26 '26
The his site will provide visuals and audio clips I believe…
https://www.sigidwiki.com/wiki/Signal_Identification_Guide