Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by crumbits 1597 days ago
He didn’t make any transmission. If you’re a radio person you’ll see instantly how and why this is fake. Since you’re not, and neither is your purported pirate, I won’t tell you the critical error which was made. You should be careful that you don’t get rused, or worse - spread misinformation intentionally.
1 comments

Roughly 30min ago there was music being played at 4625kHz in various receivers around Europe. Am I wrong in my understanding that if you can hear a radio signal, there is something being transmitted?

The only possible scenarios I can imagine where this is fake is either A) there is no transmission and the signal is somehow being directly injected into these WebSDRs who have all conspired; B) there are transmissions but they're very low-power and local near each WebSDR; or C) the transmission is actually coming from Russia's buzzer transmitter.

I find A to be extremely unlikely as it would require some kind of grand conspiracy. B might be possible with enough motivation but I fail to see one. C seems unlikely as I found the music's signal strength to vary differently based on location than the buzzer.

I tried to pick up the music with my own SDR at home and a shoddy antenna setup. I was able to pick up the buzzer and not the music, while some WebSDRs had loud music, so I don't consider C to be true. I do live in what could be a skip zone for the pirate's transmission.

If there is a critical error in my assessment, it would be helpful to point it out if you truly wish to curb this supposed misinformation.

B sounds the most logical but even that is a stretch. Whoever hoaxed this forgot one essential thing about radio which I won’t say, because I suspect we haven’t seen the end of these hoaxes. All in due time though.