Sorry this isn't exactly BBC-related, but sure there's enough collective knowledge of radio and bizarre 'broadcasts' to help me identify this mystery sound.
I recorded this a while ago (3rd of January 2011) when I was scanning MW and LW bands late at night... as one is wont to do when one is bored. This was at my Dad's old place in Steeple Claydon, picked up right at the bottom end of the MW band: http://chriswoods.co.uk/files/ste-036_strange_mediumwave_signal.mp3 Sorry for poor quality reception, this was the best I could pick it up on the handheld Sony radio I was using. (used an H2 pointed at the speaker!) Anybody have any idea what it is? There's also a very strange broadcast I picked up on 87.5FM in the south of France many years ago which has stuck with me vividly ever since. I never recorded it - used to listen on my walkman when in the car on holiday - but could synthesise it. Was only well receivable in and around the town of Collioure; a repeating pattern of pure sine tones (mostly wavering around two semitones with occasional arpeggios from a lower note), some slight variations in the pattern - the 'sequence' would always end with a 'signoff' note which would sound like one half of a dialup handshake procedure before beginning again. This was in a coastal area with several bays, I was wondering whether it might have been an automated weather buoy / weather station or somesuch similar? If there's any hams or radio buffs who enjoy identifying strange noises and transmissions get in touch on- or off-list :-) - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. Unofficial list archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/