What Would Cause Static/Noise Across ALL GMRS Channels?

[OffRoaderX]

There is a radio/tower site in the desert (right HERE, exactly) that blankets everything south of the mountain for several miles, in static/digital noise across pretty much all GMRS channels. It renders radios like UV-5R/other SOC radios useless and depending on where you are/how close you are it is very annoying on SuperHet radios, but you may be able to squelch it out. My XTL5000 doesn't hear any of it.

What kind of transmissions would cause so much interference across such a wide range of frequencies?  The site is in direct view of the Chocolate Mountain Gunnery Range and my guess is that it is something of theirs, but that's a pure guess.

 

[Socalgmrs]

Aliens? Secret something?   Beats me just had to chime in.  

[WRYZ926]

Is this something that happens all of the time or did it just start since Friday?

The solar storms have definitely been causing issues with all of the bands and GMRS since Friday night.

[OffRoaderX]

2 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

Is this something that happens all of the time

Yes - been going on for several years.

[WRQC527]

9 minutes ago, OffRoaderX said:

There is a radio/tower site in the desert (right HERE, exactly) that blankets everything south of the mountain for several miles, in static/digital noise across pretty much all GMRS channels. It renders radios like UV-5R/other SOC radios useless and depending on where you are/how close you are it is very annoying on SuperHet radios, but you may be able to squelch it out. My XTL5000 doesn't hear any of it.

What kind of transmissions would cause so much interference across such a wide range of frequencies?  The site is in direct view of the Chocolate Mountain Gunnery Range and my guess is that it is something of theirs, but that's a pure guess.

 

The Winsystem, the unofficial home of sad hams, or as some call it, The Island of Misfit Hams, uses quite a few UHF repeaters, including one on Santiago Peak. It's . occasionally shut down (and maybe others) because of U.S. Navy radar interference when the fleet is in. At least that's what I've heard. That said, you may be right, our military friends might be playing with their toys.

[WRYZ926]

It is possible that military radar is causing the interference. Or it could be government data transmission bursts.

I do know that 70cm repeaters are restricted in certain parts of the country close to air bases because of their radar systems.

I usually see large government data transmissions on the 17m band every weekday evening around 5 - 7 PM central time.

[JoCoBrian]

Not sure about GMRS but in the amateur radio portion of 440 Mhz, we are essentially guest users.  US Military or US Government are the primary users according to the FCC.  Means we hams have to put up with whatever they need to use it for.   In 35 years I have NEVER once been asked to move off a 440 frequency though....but if they ask, you have to move. 

[Lscott]

31 minutes ago, JoCoBrian said:

Not sure about GMRS but in the amateur radio portion of 440 Mhz, we are essentially guest users.  US Military or US Government are the primary users according to the FCC.  Means we hams have to put up with whatever they need to use it for.   In 35 years I have NEVER once been asked to move off a 440 frequency though....but if they ask, you have to move. 

The official band runs from 420 to 450 MHz. Between 420 and 430 MHz it’s a bit interesting. There are a few users, some police or fire departments, that have licensed frequencies there.

[nokones]

2 hours ago, OffRoaderX said:

There is a radio/tower site in the desert (right HERE, exactly) that blankets everything south of the mountain for several miles, in static/digital noise across pretty much all GMRS channels. It renders radios like UV-5R/other SOC radios useless and depending on where you are/how close you are it is very annoying on SuperHet radios, but you may be able to squelch it out. My XTL5000 doesn't hear any of it.

What kind of transmissions would cause so much interference across such a wide range of frequencies?  The site is in direct view of the Chocolate Mountain Gunnery Range and my guess is that it is something of theirs, but that's a pure guess.

 

I believe that is the Chuckwalla Remote Radio Site that you pointed out.

I wonder if the interference is a result of the geomagnetic storm that hit us for the 3 days or so which gave us the Northern Lights.

[OffRoaderX]

8 minutes ago, nokones said:

I wonder if the interference is a result of the geomagnetic storm that hit us for the 3 days or so

Since it's been going on for several years, I doubt it.

[nokones]

6 minutes ago, OffRoaderX said:

Since it's been going on for several years, I doubt it.

Good point. 

My guess it has something to do with military operations

[OffRoaderX]

1 hour ago, nokones said:

My guess it has something to do with military operations

Mine as well - i guess the real question is does the FCC regulate what the Fly-boys do?  No way that you, me, or any company could blast-through all GMRS channels like that without at least getting a mean letter.

[WRYZ926]

Good luck getting the FCC to do anything about the military's use of the bands. The military has priority no matter what.

[nokones]

2 hours ago, OffRoaderX said:

Mine as well - i guess the real question is does the FCC regulate what the Fly-boys do?  No way that you, me, or any company could blast-through all GMRS channels like that without at least getting a mean letter.

Not sure who is the spectrum manager for the military. The NTIA is the spectrum manager for the Federal agencies. The FCC is the spectrum manager for the non-federal agencies and entities.

[kidphc]

Do you have a SDR screen capture of the interference? Is it like the noise floor is way higher or there is something like a carrier on all the frequencies?

Maybe our government decided to build uhf version of the Russian woodpecker..lol

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[OffRoaderX]

36 minutes ago, kidphc said:

Do you have a SDR screen capture of the interference? Is it like the noise floor is way higher or there is something like a carrier on all the frequencies?

Jeezus, Kripes.. SDRs are not allowed when off-roading..
It actually sounds like a digital (P25/DMR/NXDN) carrier, but with much more static mixed-in.

[kidphc]

Jeezus, Kripes.. SDRs are not allowed when off-roading..
It actually sounds like a digital (P25/DMR/NXDN) carrier, but with much more static mixed-in.

Lol.. Now I am imagining chuffing mixed the sounds from the movie Contact.

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[OffRoaderX]

Next time i'm out there I'll record it and necropost the recording here.  

[kidphc]

Next time i'm out there I'll record it and necropost the recording here.  

Sounds kinda like this or similar? This uhf radar.

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[tweiss3]

Holy crap, there is a ton of things licensed there, 2 FM stations, 1 AM station for Ontario Int Airport, 3 AMR trunk systems (2 vhf, 1 UHF), ATT Cellular, State of CA 800, VHF, UHF Trunking systems, VHF low conventional, microwave links, Riverside County VHF, VHF low and 700 systems, plus a ton of private companies. Could be a mix of that much RF, or could be UHF over the horizon radar, or both.

[OffRoaderX]

3 minutes ago, kidphc said:

Sounds kinda like this or similar? This uhf radar.

No, that actually sounds cool.. It sounds like a digital (P25/DMR/NXDN) carrier, but with much more static mixed-in.

[OffRoaderX]

1 minute ago, tweiss3 said:

Could be a mix of that much RF, or could be UHF over the horizon radar, or both.

The thing is that its only a problem when you are directly south of the site... drive-by on the freeway, slightly north, and even though you can still see the towers, its not an issue... But drive 1 mile south, and you have to turn off your (cheap) radios.  Go another mile or two south-east or south-west, and it goes away.

[kidphc]

The thing is that its only a problem when you are directly south of the site... drive-by on the freeway, slightly north, and even though you can still see the towers, its not an issue... But drive 1 mile south, and you have to turn off your (cheap) radios.  Go another mile or two south-east or south-west, and it goes away.

At least it is localized.

If you like cool sounds. Here is a video clip of a guy recording different sounds of EMF and their source.

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[kidphc]

And some more sounds from hf and like radios these are the transmissions over the bands. They even have some of the military transmissions encrypted of course.

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[tweiss3]

1 minute ago, OffRoaderX said:

The thing is that its only a problem when you are directly south of the site... drive-by on the freeway, slightly north, and even though you can still see the towers, its not an issue... But drive 1 mile south, and you have to turn off your (cheap) radios.  Go another mile or two south-east or south-west, and it goes away.

So you can't hear it on I10, but you can at Red Cloud? That could mean it is directional, like the microwave links, could be a bad horn causing a mix of something else and transmitting it only south. 

It could also be some of the SCADA equipment making a heterodyne, or a bad 932MHz pager transmitter. If it's that bad, I wonder why there isn't one of the UHF systems guys up there all the time trying to figure out why their repeaters are deaf/desensitized.