3880 Carrier

[W1RKW]

What's with the carrier on 3880?  Got home from work and flipped on the receiver and there it was. It's been an hour now. I'm assuming it's been on longer. Someone forget to turn off their transmitter?  No ID.  Anyone else here in the northeast receiving it?   20 over here in Colchester. 

JJ, can you DF it?

[KB2WIG]

"Anyone else here in the northeast receiving it?"

I hear it ...... 10/S9.  for watt thats worth.  And there are some problem children operating nearby.

klc

[W1AEX]

It's S-9 + 20dB plus and minus with the QSB here in East Granby.

[w1vtp]

I'm wondering if it's someone's remote that got stuck on.  Just a comment: if anyone is considering remote operation it important that they have a means to shut off any transmission remotely also.  That doesn't include a jr op or one's spouse unless they're properly licensed

Al

[KB2WIG]

" a means to shut off any transmission remotely also.  That doesn't include a jr op or one's spouse unless they're properly licensed"

 Al, I'm properly licenced, and I still can't shut off the wifes transmissions.

klc

[W1RKW]

Someone stated that it's been on since the early morning. 

one thing is evident is the duty cycle of the TX is 100%. Maybe using it as a heat source?

[WA3VJB]

Whoops, damn !

[W2VW]

" a means to shut off any transmission remotely also.  That doesn't include a jr op or one's spouse unless they're properly licensed"

 Al, I'm properly licenced, and I still can't shut off the wifes transmissions.

klc

I know a really good lawyer.

[KB2WIG]

D,

I know several good bartenders.... ..

klc

[K9PNP]

Must be a New England issue.  Not heard here in SW Indiana from about 1300 CST on.

[steve_qix]

It's been on since early this (Monday) morning.  At least during the day, it was pretty strong at my QTH in Townsend, MA.  Definitely was taking out many of the locals around here.

No hum and not drifting.

[Blaine N1GTU]

"Anyone else here in the northeast receiving it?"

I hear it ...... 10/S9.  for watt thats worth.  And there are some problem children operating nearby.

klc

hmm, problem children?  

[KK4YY]

This reminds me of a story I was told, many years ago, after joining the local volunteer fire department.

The story goes that a local fire chief had taken a young lady out one evening, in his department issued chiefs car, to engage her in activities at some dark, secluded spot. His vehicle was naturally equipped with a fine Motorola two-way radio tuned to the county-wide fire dispatch frequency. Well, apparently, during the ensuing movement within the car, the microphones PTT button somehow became wedged against an object, going unnoticed, into the transmit position. This condition went on for some time, I was told, with the proceedings inside the car being listened to, somewhat intently, at the many fire stations and by the many firefighters who regularly monitor that frequency. The transmission was ended only after the young lady noticed, and asked him "What's that red light on the radio mean?" followed by the chief uttering a brief expletive before he was able to liberate the jammed PTT button. Many whistles and cat-calls were said to be heard on the frequency immediately thereafter.

That's the story. I can't vouch for its veracity and it definitely does have an urban legend feel to it. However, it reinforces the broadcasters old credo: "Every mic is a live mic".

Fortunately, for the OP who left his transmitter on 3880 all day, it did not include an embarrassing audio sideshow.

[w1vtp]

" a means to shut off any transmission remotely also.  That doesn't include a jr op or one's spouse unless they're properly licensed"

 Al, I'm properly licenced, and I still can't shut off the wifes transmissions.

klc

 

[AJ1G]

That's the story. I can't vouch for its veracity and it definitely does have an urban legend feel to it. However, it reinforces the broadcasters old credo: "Every mic is a live mic".

We once got a phone call in the middle of the night which we let ring through onto our answering machine.  It was hard to understand any words, but from the caller ID and what we could hear, we figured out it was a "butt dial" from our son's Motorola sneakerphone style cell phone, from a a very loud party up at UCONN.  Sounded like he was having a pretty good time, so we hung up on the call before any evidence of a REAL good time came across.

[W7TFO]

"No hum and not drifting."

               

We should all be so lucky.

73DG

[K9PNP]

No hum and not drifting.

If you find out whose carrier it was be sure you let everybody know what they are running.  No hum and no drift gear data should be shared.

[W1RKW]

the ham that found that his xmiter was in lock down in full scrote, I'm sure is embarrassed and won't confess. I know I wouldn't, at least for a few years.

[steve_qix]

Oh, heck it's not that bad.

I left my 24 MOSFET rig on at full power for *5 hours* once by accident.  Someone wanted to know how warm the heat sink got after about 10 minutes, so I id'ed, and when to put a pot of oatmeal on the stove.  I got a phone call with an outage at a customer, so I wolfed down my breakfast and left - yes, the xmtr was still on.

Finally got home, turned on the kitchen receiver and - it was dead (that receiver mutes when I transmit)..  That was the OH S**T moment.  Anyway, that was several years ago, although I did talk about it the next day.  A lot of people figured out who it was anyway.  At least I was outside of the 3870 - 3890 "AM Window".

By the way, everything with the rig was fine - nothing was hot, and everything worked perfectly.

[ke7trp]

The Flex has/had a bug that if the computer was turned off, it would key up the last mode it was on.  Most did not notice since it was on Slop bucket last. No talkie, No output. However, if AM was the last mode, then it would hold the carrier until the computer was turned back on.  This of course led to carriers being on 75 meters all night as people signed. with the owner never having any idea about it.  This happend several times here.  The good thing is the power is low so we just shifted gears (turned up the HV) and kept talking.
 
Maybe its a flex thats on.  Who owns a flex in that area.. Probably everyone.

C

[DMOD]

It's about 11:15PM CDST here in the midwest and the CC of 30/S9 is now on 3.885.

Phil - AC0OB

[Mike/W8BAC]

The Flex has/had a bug that if the computer was turned off, it would key up the last mode it was on.  Most did not notice since it was on Slop bucket last. No talkie, No output. However, if AM was the last mode, then it would hold the carrier until the computer was turned back on.  This of course led to carriers being on 75 meters all night as people signed. with the owner never having any idea about it.  This happend several times here.  The good thing is the power is low so we just shifted gears (turned up the HV) and kept talking.
 
Maybe its a flex thats on.  Who owns a flex in that area.. Probably everyone.

C

That's bad information Clark, without a computer the flex is not a transmitter. It simply cannot happen. If a flex stays powered up when the computer is shut down you might hear a relay click or two but transmit is imposable.

Mike

[KF1Z]

The Flex has/had a bug that if the computer was turned off, it would key up the last mode it was on.  Most did not notice since it was on Slop bucket last. No talkie, No output. However, if AM was the last mode, then it would hold the carrier until the computer was turned back on.  This of course led to carriers being on 75 meters all night as people signed. with the owner never having any idea about it.  This happend several times here.  The good thing is the power is low so we just shifted gears (turned up the HV) and kept talking.
 
Maybe its a flex thats on.  Who owns a flex in that area.. Probably everyone.

C

That's bad information Clark, without a computer the flex is not a transmitter. It simply cannot happen. If a flex stays powered up when the computer is shut down you might hear a relay click or two but transmit is imposable.

Mike

The old SDR-1000 could indeed "transmit" with the computer powered off.
IF the local oscillator was not nulled properly, and the rig was somehow locked in TX ( via a fault),
it is possible to be "transmitting" a carrier at the losc frequency.
Granted, in most cases that would be a watt or less.

Now, if the computer is ON, but the software closed, and the hardware was on, and locked in TX......
That's a different story, in that case, if there is any signal out of the soundcard ( music etc) being played,
Then that's where the rig could be transmitting at full power ( still at the local osc frequency)
But this would NOT be "in the mode last used", because the mode is selected and determined by the software only.
What you would get is DSB with a low carrier, at the local osc frequency.


As far as what I have heard, the most common fault was with the flex being run remote, and the control link lost, keeping
the TX on until the remote link was restored, or someone went to the TX and turned it off.

[ke7trp]

I am sorry Mike. You are wrong this time bud.  It was an epidemic with the Flex radio.  There was a situation where if you powered down the rig, it would key up the last mode it was on. If it was SSB, Nobody noticed as there was no audio and little no power output. But on AM, It would carrier all night long.  I am sure there where cirumstances that had to be met on setup and hardware for this to happen, Software or hardware updates fixed it I believe. I remember talk of some relay issue.

Its been years since this was happening so maybe the person here has an older 5000 and he or she does not even know the radio is on and throwing a carrier.  We all sat there talking over the top of carriers from the guys that owned those radios after they went to bed.

C

[KF1Z]

Can't be...

The mode was generated by the software. No software running, no mode selected. That is certain.
Could only be noise at the LOsc, and ONLY DSB, possibly with a light carrier.

Plus, if the rig was powered down... there is no power to transmit with.   

At least that is the case with the SDR-1000.



But, if were talking the flex-5000, I don't know, never had one.