I think my PC is Haunted

[C(Sea)Bass]

Maybe one of you PC knowledgable people can convince me otherwise.

I notice that while playing AH I could hear voices while in the hanger. I got in the plane and could still hear them. They were not coming from VOX or Range and sounded like a mexican radio station. I turned my speaker volume all the way down and the voices/music got louder. When I turned off the speakers the voices stopped. I checked and nothing is running other than AH on my PC. SO why are there voices coming from my speakers?

[E25280]

AM radio bleed through.

There are stories of people hearing nearby AM radio stations through the fillings in their teeth.  Speakers would be easy.

[uptown]

         

[Chalenge]

You can go to radio shack and get audio chokes for your system. It is probably an illegal radio setup causing the problem and the law says it is their responsibility to eliminate interference. The FCC has cut back on policing the AM bands and its a shame but also many many people sell illegal amplifiers for radios that were never intended to have that much power. Get in touch with the local HAM club and they might be able to trace it down for you.

[Mustaine]

I think this answers the problem

[trax1]

A long time ago I use to make people think there computer was haunted, I'd get access to peoples PC's with a trojan, then d/l onto their pc a recording of myself saying "Redrum, redrum" over & over in a deep voice, then play it, needless to say almost everytime they would shut the computer down real fast after that.

[Banshee7]

A long time ago I use to make people think there computer was haunted, I'd get access to peoples PC's with a trojan, then d/l onto their pc a recording of myself saying "Redrum, redrum" over & over in a deep voice, then play it, needless to say almost everytime they would shut the computer down real fast after that.

 

[Delirium]

I notice that while playing AH I could hear voices while in the hanger.

Do they say, "Skuzzy is the devil, the emperor, and the albatross of the known world."? That is what my speakers say when it is a quiet night...

Jokes aside, having you tried recreating a new ground for the speakers?

[ROX]

Maybe one of you PC knowledgable people can convince me otherwise.

I notice that while playing AH I could hear voices while in the hanger. I got in the plane and could still hear them. They were not coming from VOX or Range and sounded like a mexican radio station. I turned my speaker volume all the way down and the voices/music got louder. When I turned off the speakers the voices stopped. I checked and nothing is running other than AH on my PC. SO why are there voices coming from my speakers?

Be analytical.

As a licencee of the FCC with 2 licences, I have seen some pretty bizzarre cases.


Let's take it step by step, answer these simple question, and let's go from there:


1)  Can you hear the voice(s) clearly?

2)  Is it constant (say, sunrise to sunset) or only intermittent?

3)  Do you also hear music (when there are no voices)?

4)  Is it only at night?

5)  Do you also notice interference to your tv or other electronic devices at the same time?


From your answers to these questions, we can whittle down the possibilites from commercial RFI to some other source.

Commercial broadcasters do NOT use outboard RF amplifiers.  They have self contained transmitters with their own RF exciters and RF amplification decks.  Anything else sticks out like a sore thumb on a spectrum analyzer and causes interference to other commercial broadcasters--who would complain to the feds in a heartbeat.

Get me those answers and we can get you fixed from there.


 




ROX

[Babalonian]

AM radio bleed through.

There are stories of people hearing nearby AM radio stations through the fillings in their teeth.  Speakers would be easy.

^^ my bet.

When I graduated High School one of my first job was doing non-union production sound recording and also being a boom operator (the guy who has the big fluffy mic on the end of a pole).  Lots of Mexican radio stations that broadcast on the AM band around here, and yes I frequently found myself in certain locations hearing them.  Some line drivers and rerunning the wiring would usually fix it up.  One time I was at this location directly next to a tower that I assume was an AM transmitter.  I was running 200 feet of audio line from the set to where I had most of the recording gear setup.  Anytime I powered up that line, even with the mics disconnected from the line drivers, it was the Mexican radio.  I tried different wires, mics, line drivers, everything and the only thing that it didn't come through on were these wireless lob mics (the ones you plant on someone) which I guess had some encryption on their signal or were just not effected.  Horrible quality but at least the radio was gone.

To try fixing you're haunted computer try to rerun all the wires and connections...  do you also have a little constant crackling or buzzing in your computer's audio?  If so then what you may have is actually some Alternating Current interference, and that AC interference can also come the Mexican radio interference too.  Seporate the AC-power cords (the ones that plug into your wall socket) from the rest of your non-AC-power cords.  Rerun the AC cords with the other AC cords and the others with the others.  AVOID as much as physically possible running or letting the AC power cords run parallel to or touch/intersect with the other cords, especially your audio ones.  Where an audio cord must intersect or touch with an AC cord, try to get them to cross as close to 90-degrees perpendicular to each other as possible.  Loops in an AC cord that has an audio cord running over or touching it can also cause this interference.

[ROX]

Dude, the station is just fine...the problem you encountered was having 200' of flippin' cable.  That's a wonderful antenna for AM!  A nice half wave antenna for AM is about 290' long.  (Your chief engineer should have known better).

Examples:

Back in the 80's, a friend of mine had RFI problems in the PA system at his church from passing motorists using CB radios.  He asked me to take a look at the setup.  The mic and cables were clean back to the mixer box.  The problem was they had two 75' runs of speaker wire back to the upper balcony for the PA.  That's 150' of wire, not including all the cables for the mics and electrical cords. The long lengths of wire made excellent antennas, even though they weren't hooked up to any reciever.  Stray RF, harmonics, and spurrious emmisions from everywhere and anywhere could be picked up and come over the PA system.

I broke up the wires into odd wavelengths, and also installed torroidal cores at odd wavelengths and also at the mixer box itself. 

Problem cured.


After some years of being off the air, I fired up my ham rig on 7.030 mHz one night--I was using 100 watts, my radio was grounded to 2 9' ground rods by 3/4" copper grounding strap.  Antenna grounded as well.  The tranciever was state of the art.  The city's former chief of police (a former ham) came knocking on my door a couple of days later and asked if I had been transmitting.  I invited him in and showed him my station. 

Turns out he had done a "do it your self" wiring job from his living room sound system out to an out building (workshop).  I asked him that when he went home, to measure--exactly--the run of wire.  He called me back the next day..."66 feet", he said.  I asked if he remembered that 66' is the exact length for a half wave antenna on 40 meters (7.0 mHz) and he chuckled.  He said that there was a good 15' of wire he didn't even need, and pruned it off, then installed torroidal cores at both the TV and the cable box.

Problem solved.



Long runs of cable or wire are not always your friend.

RFI/TVI is not always the transmitting station's fault.

I have more friends that have RFI problems from dirty electric fences and poorly maintained street lights and electrical pole pigs than any commercial or publicly transmitted signal.  Even plasma tvs put out a NASTY array of harmonics and RF trash.

We'll get Bass's problem fixed.




ROX

[Treize69]

1)  Can you hear the voice(s) clearly?

2)  Is it constant (say, sunrise to sunset) or only intermittent?

3)  Do you also hear music (when there are no voices)?

4)  Is it only at night?

5)  Do you also notice interference to your tv or other electronic devices at the same time?

1) No, I have to listen closely to understand them. They often speak to me in Spanglish.

2) Usually only when it's quiet, but sometimes when I'm talking to a pretty girl they try to give me 'advice' (Like "Grab her boob, girls like that sort of thing").

3) I wouldn't call it music, but often when I try to do math I hear a sound like an AM radio trying to tune to a far away station.

4) Usually, but not always. They seem to be afraid of sunlight.

5) I don't turn the TV on anymore, its too judgemental.

[crazyivan]

[C(Sea)Bass]

Be analytical.

As a licencee of the FCC with 2 licences, I have seen some pretty bizzarre cases.


Let's take it step by step, answer these simple question, and let's go from there:


1)  Can you hear the voice(s) clearly?

2)  Is it constant (say, sunrise to sunset) or only intermittent?

3)  Do you also hear music (when there are no voices)?

4)  Is it only at night?

5)  Do you also notice interference to your tv or other electronic devices at the same time?


From your answers to these questions, we can whittle down the possibilites from commercial RFI to some other source.

Commercial broadcasters do NOT use outboard RF amplifiers.  They have self contained transmitters with their own RF exciters and RF amplification decks.  Anything else sticks out like a sore thumb on a spectrum analyzer and causes interference to other commercial broadcasters--who would complain to the feds in a heartbeat.

Get me those answers and we can get you fixed from there.


 




ROX

1.) Yes the voices were very clear. no static or anyhting like that. It sounded like spanish to me.

2.) Last night was the first time I have heard it. It stopped about 20 minutes after I posted and hasn't come back.

3.) There was music and voices at the same time. The music contunued when the voices stopped. It seemed like the voices had nothing to do with the music as it did not sound like singing to me.

4.) It was about 9pm when I heard them first. it may have gone on earlier, but I was not on that PC.

5.) My laptop was 3 feet away and din't pick anything up. Neither did my cell phone or TV.


I am going to try using my scanner to see if I can pick up anything that sounds similar to what I was hearing.

[Babalonian]

Dude, the station is just fine...the problem you encountered was having 200' of flippin' cable.  That's a wonderful antenna for AM!  A nice half wave antenna for AM is about 290' long.  (Your chief engineer should have known better).

Examples:

Back in the 80's, a friend of mine had RFI problems in the PA system at his church from passing motorists using CB radios.  He asked me to take a look at the setup.  The mic and cables were clean back to the mixer box.  The problem was they had two 75' runs of speaker wire back to the upper balcony for the PA.  That's 150' of wire, not including all the cables for the mics and electrical cords. The long lengths of wire made excellent antennas, even though they weren't hooked up to any reciever.  Stray RF, harmonics, and spurrious emmisions from everywhere and anywhere could be picked up and come over the PA system.

I broke up the wires into odd wavelengths, and also installed torroidal cores at odd wavelengths and also at the mixer box itself. 

Problem cured.


After some years of being off the air, I fired up my ham rig on 7.030 mHz one night--I was using 100 watts, my radio was grounded to 2 9' ground rods by 3/4" copper grounding strap.  Antenna grounded as well.  The tranciever was state of the art.  The city's former chief of police (a former ham) came knocking on my door a couple of days later and asked if I had been transmitting.  I invited him in and showed him my station. 

Turns out he had done a "do it your self" wiring job from his living room sound system out to an out building (workshop).  I asked him that when he went home, to measure--exactly--the run of wire.  He called me back the next day..."66 feet", he said.  I asked if he remembered that 66' is the exact length for a half wave antenna on 40 meters (7.0 mHz) and he chuckled.  He said that there was a good 15' of wire he didn't even need, and pruned it off, then installed torroidal cores at both the TV and the cable box.

Problem solved.



Long runs of cable or wire are not always your friend.

RFI/TVI is not always the transmitting station's fault.

I have more friends that have RFI problems from dirty electric fences and poorly maintained street lights and electrical pole pigs than any commercial or publicly transmitted signal.  Even plasma tvs put out a NASTY array of harmonics and RF trash.

We'll get Bass's problem fixed.




ROX

Ah... my sound engineer... he had the wise idea to pack light for that day's shoot, we were in a stage studio and on one set for the whole day.  As such he brought along just one 200' harness (multiple audio cables setup together, we recorded in stereo with two mics at least and always had at least one cable for communication between me or another boom operator and the engineer), and it was one I had just built the weekend before and didn't have any torroidal cores on it (or was even tested while hooked up to the equipment before  ).  I ended up running out and buying some cores real quick during the lunch break ( ), the wireless lobs are horrible quality and eat up batteries like a fat kid eats cake and we were getting into the "important stuff".

Now mind you had my engineer brought the van instead of his civic I would of had crates full of tested harnesses of all various shapes and sizes with torrodial cores and other toys that would of been helpful (we really only needed about 25-50' that day, not including whatever the boom operator needed to work with).


But yeah, doing that job, I HATE AC POWER!  Bloody thing.