What do you call these weird warbling noises?

[357]

I've heard them since I got into the radio in the 80s. When the skip is really rockin these noises show up. Yesterday was bigtime and I never seen them on the waterfall much before. they look pretty cool like snakes.
Is there any info on these? some tumbling star dust blasting through the atmosphere?

 

[Greg T]

Someone has digestive issues!

 

[RT431]

I can't explain what the noise is but I hear it all the time. Kind of annoying at times.

 

[SuperLid]

That is an ionosonde.

 

[Shadetree Mechanic]

And into the rabbit hole we go.

Ionosonde - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

What is an Ionosonde & an Ionogram » Electronics Notes

Ionosondes are test instruments used to generate ionograms and assist determining the state of the ionosphere and selecting the optimum frequencies for HF radio communication.

www.electronics-notes.com

Ionosonde Stations - Catalog

catalog.data.gov

 

[357]

yes I've seen the long carrier going through the whole band but these are something else and short lived

 

[Eldorado828]

I occasionally hear similar noises and they are especially weird at times. Maybe we really aren't alone and they're far away dx junkies trying to qso with us. Roswell NM isn't all that far from me....

 

[nomadradio]

Ionosonde transmitters change frequency constantly. The receiving station rejects any signals that stay on a steady frequency. This improves accuracy measuring the ionosonde's skip strength since it rejects signals with a fixed frequency and only measures the strength of the swept signal.

73

 

[Lomchivok]

Don't know if it's true but I heard it was a solar flair that may or may not have been ejected. I think it might have been from the Space Weather Chick... Tamatha Skov.

 

[357]

I found this shot online and it shows the long falling Ionosonde then the shorter snake looking ones in the middle.
They are both Ionosondes? People I talked to said the short weird ones have been there in the 70s when they got into the radio.

 

[Alan Blackmon]

I have seen them. Tonight my brain goes down this rabbit hole. Hmmm. Could be super secret government transmitters traveling across the bands.

 

[TM86]

Slow Scan Spread Spectrum?

 

[Eldorado828]

I have seen them. Tonight my brain goes down this rabbit hole. Hmmm. Could be super secret government transmitters traveling across the bands.

I try to stop myself because if not I'll full blown take off down that rabbit hole. With all the lies, you can't help but wonder.

 

[DXman]

I've heard them since I got into the radio in the 80s. When the skip is really rockin these noises show up. Yesterday was bigtime and I never seen them on the waterfall much before. they look pretty cool like snakes.
Is there any info on these? some tumbling star dust blasting through the atmosphere?

These noises are typical for when we get closer to the "peak" of the cycle, they are really more pronounced on 27.555. Chris if you had a beam and would point it towards Alaska, then you would really hear the stronger signals.
Lots of FM/AM signals will be showing up from Japan and along the Asia coast when the propagation gets stronger.

So don't worry to much - they will be hear for several more years until the peak of the cycle is over.