For the past few weeks, we [meaning "myself and some friends in the San Gabriel Valley"] have been hearing some kind of digital signal bursts on 145.200. This frequency is coordinated as the output of the N6AH repeater in Arcadia, as well as repeaters in Palm Springs, Littlerock, and San Diego. None of us have packet equipment, so we can't decode the signal or contact the operator, who either can't hear us or perhaps chooses to ignore us. Indeed, I don't actually know whether it IS packet, because I'm not exactly sure what a packet signal sounds like.

A rough description of the signal is that it always starts with a very brief high-frequency "beep" which is followed immediately by what I assume to be digital "white noise" and pulsed buzzing. Is that packet?

It appears randomly throughout the day, and is strong enough to interfere locally with the Arcadia repeater's output. It's not going through the repeater, though - it's definitely on the output frequency - and I don't think there's any connection to the unidentified and unmodulated "phantom" on 145.2125 that I mentioned here quite a while back.

It may be south of my Temple City location. No bearings are known from my friends' locations in Covina and Rosemead.

Any help?

KG6YTZ
xfire905@aol.com