29780 FEC AMTOR (?) at 0145 UTC on August 26

[l0ngwire]

Around 0130 UTC here in Southern California I was hearing some fading Latin American signals on 11 meters.  I tuned down to 25500 and only heard a few weak Spanish langauge "freebanders".  Tuning the 10 meter ham band, I heard nothing, not even CW beacons.  But tuning a little above the 10 meter ham band, on 29780 I heard what sounded like FEC AMTOR.  From 0145 to 0200 the signal went from S5 to S1. 

Any idea what this signal was?  If I keep hearing it, I'm going to drag my old TNC out of the closet and try to copy it.

Thanks for any info from Leigh in Santa Barbara, Calif.

[Token]

Drift buoys can sound like that and do operate in that frequency range.  Without a recording that would be my guess as to what you heard.

T!

[Dag]

On 29950 kHz,29890 kHz,and 29725 kHz at 1830z 6 SEP 2014, I copied similar signals with about a 150 Hz shift. See attached audio clip "29950".

In addition, the 29780 kHz signal seems to be about 300 Hz wide, and is heard in the "29780" audio file, attached.


I've copied these signals many times before and have always wondered what they are.  

Dag

[l0ngwire]

Dag and Token, thanks for the replies.  My old PK-232 TNC is in "deep storage".  Do you suppose were I to drag it out I could decode this signal?

Dag, wonder what your location is?  I'm in Southern California.

I've heard the 29780 signal on days when 10 meters is totally dead--not even propagation beacons.  I've noticed that the 29780 signal fades out around the time of my local sunset.  Perhaps this signal could be a local ground-wave signal, and perhaps it is powered by a solar panel, as it stops at sunset?

[DOCTOR]

If I were you I would not drag it out, just download a free software program that covers all the digital modes such as fldigi or multipsk, just have to put a cable into the speaker plug and into the computer.

Also I have noticed that a number of MEXICAN stations are running psk31 in freeband or cb, how nice!

DOCTOR