7000.0 kHz carrier

[Dag]

For the past few months, there's been a steady strong carrier on 7000 kHz non-stop.   Today, I now hear an adjacent carrier 60 Hz away.

I've not heard any modulation or intelligence on this signal.

They seem to fade slightly from atmospheric changes, but not at the same time which makes me think the transmitters are in different locations.
 
I am in central Florida and this signal is nearly always S9.

What is this?

[autovon]

If you have forum access on QRZ, there is a thread going there about it.
https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/7-mhz-carrier-anyone-else-hear-this.959073/

[n2avh]

Over the last few weeks the two weird things on 7000 besides this have been the anti-vax USB station with an endless loop in English and Italian, fortunately not heard for the last several days, and something I have heard several times but haven't seen any other reports of: Sound of Hope, apparently European rebroadcast rather than Korea-area since I've heard it in E. Asian daylight on European SDRs but nothing on E. Asian ones. I know it was SOH because it was //6865 which is strong enough to be heard in daylight on Japan/Korea SDRs.

[BoomboxDX]

I logged a carrier centered on 7000 kHz for several nights in a row a couple weeks ago. Previous time was in late summer or early Fall (I don't have my logbooks handy).

Seems to have the same strength and prop characteristics as the carriers that appear on 6988 and 6938 (or thereabouts), and I've heard two or three of the carriers on simultaneously -- although that doesn't indicate that they are connected.

[BoomboxDX]

I heard a loud carrier on 7000 kHz early this a.m. It was there for more than an hour as I tuned the 40M band, probably was still there after I switched off my radio. S4 out of 5, some fading. Time was 1037 UTC to around 1140 UTC when I tuned from SW to MW. That's around 3:37 a.m. to 4:40 a.m. Pacific.

I haven't heard a carrier like this on 7000 kHz since the last time I logged it here, in this thread.

FWIW.

Equipment, XHDATA D808, 25 ft indoor, second story antenna.

[BoomboxDX]

I heard this carrier again on 7000+ over the last two weeks or so, after a long time without hearing it. Strength varies, between S2-S3, and no idea where it comes from.

EDIT: I forgot to add here that I'm in the NW US, WA state.

[Rob.]

I have the carrier here as well - S5-7

[QSLCollector]

I noticed it once I started to hunt Peskies, but never questioned it.

S5 via W3HFU Westminster, MD, USA but I see other carries between 6.9 and 7

S5 via OE5SLN Upper Austria SDR without the others

S3 via Blackheath, NSW SDR Australia without the others

When I check New Zealand, the Philippines, or the countries around the Philippines, it doesn't show up on any of theirs.

[QSLCollector]

If you have forum access on QRZ, there is a thread going there about it.
https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/7-mhz-carrier-anyone-else-hear-this.959073/

Can you summarize it for us here, if possible.

[BoomboxDX]

If you have forum access on QRZ, there is a thread going there about it.
https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/7-mhz-carrier-anyone-else-hear-this.959073/

Can you summarize it for us here, if possible.

The last post on the QRZ thread is from mid July, 2025. The thread is 11 pages long, and there were no conclusions as to the location, or exact nature of the signal. Some believed they saw some 'harmonics' about 250 kHz away from the 7000 carrier, others didn't pick up those 'harmonics', so that is inconclusive.

One guy said he's been hearing the carrier on 7000 kHz periodically for about 2 years. A poster from the UK heard the carrier, as did a poster in Puerto Rico. A poster in the Marianas heard it, exactly on 7000 kHz. An SDR from NZ picked it up. One poster found the carrier on SDR's from three locations in Scandinavia. Posters from various regions of the US have heard it, just like here on HFU.

A guy on the QRZ thread peculated that it's possible that there are more than one carrier on 7000 kHz, and some of the signal characteristics noted might be the two (or more) simulcast carriers interfering with each other (frequency beating against another co-channel carrier).

I haven't heard more than one carrier on the frequency when I've heard it, but I don't have an SDR so someone with an SDR, or radio with a waterfall, might 'see' more than I'm hearing.

One poster speculated that it might be originating from the SW Pacific somewhere.

Anyway, that's the basic extent of what the hams on QRZ were saying about the carrier.

Basically, none of us seem to know what its purpose is, or even where it's located.  If it's just one transmitter, it has to be running a bit of power to be heard over the wide swath of territory where it's being heard.

[BoomboxDX]

Last night, from 0724 to 0851 UTC (morning of June 20th), I heard the carrier on 7000 kHz around S4-S5 out of five on my Tecsun PL-330 and 90 ft outdoor wire, very loud signal. There were two other carriers, much weaker -- about S1- or S0+ -- but with the same fading characteristics, at 6998 and 7002 kHz.

On the QRZ forum thread mentioned a couple posts above, there was an SDR printscreen showing the main carrier at 7000 and two weaker ones on each side. I am guessing I heard the same exact thing.

The two weak carriers faded out while was in my den doing some writing, and when I checked my DX-394 (which I had on the carrier) the 7000 kHz carrier was still going fairly strong (S2-S3 or so) until around 8:15 a.m. Pacific time (1515 UTC), when it was so weak it finally faded out.

My guess is that this may be Russia, being that their 7 kHz FSK, which was in the CW section of the 40M band a month or so ago, and the same FSK which was just below the 40M ham band, was just as strong, and just as capable of defying propagation. My guess is that this 7000 kHz carrier, like the Russian FSK transmitters, is a very powerful transmitter.

Perhaps it's the same transmitter? Who knows. I think it's Russia because propagation didn't exactly favor Asia at the hours I heard the carrier the most, and because the online reception reports about this carrier seem to favor Russia more than China, or any other source, for that matter.

This morning I also did not hear the (presumed HFT) carrier on 6938 kHz, which is usually there nightly. That was unusual. Of course, it is unrelated to the 7000 kHz carrier. But an anomaly just the same.

[QSLCollector]

We need a histogram for the times and a graph locations heard.