Morse Code

[PADemD]

Are there any tech persons who can help with this?

When I am on the Internet (dial-up), a sound like Morse Code intermittently comes out of my speakers.

[Homer Wells]

1. That happened to me briefly last night

The odd thing was, I shut down the system, and the speaker system, and the morse-code like buzzing continued for sometime after that. I figured some HAM radio operator was firing up a high powered system nearby, but it did make me wonder.

:wtf:

[thunder rising]

2. We WERE trying to contact you

but not anymore...blabber mouth (sarcasm)

[dorkulon]

3. Cell phone?

Sometimes if you place a cell phone near the speakers, that'll happen. It happens to my roommate just before his phone starts ringing.

[PADemD]

4. No cell phone in the room. This has been happening for weeks.

[dorkulon]

6. Any wireless device might cause similar interference

or it could be... a g-g-g-g-ghoost!

:scared:

[silverweb]

5. I was having a similar problem for a while.

Then my daughter came home to visit. When it happened again, she yelled from the other room, "Mom! Move your cell phone away from your speakers!" Sure enough, the noise stopped.

I don't know why it happens only intermittently, but I've tested the response by purposely leaving my cell phone near the speakers and immediately moving it away when the noise starts, and that stops it every single time. Furthermore, the noise has never occurred when the cell phone was at least three feet away from the speakers.

On the other hand, your problem may be of an entirely different nature....

On Edit: Just saw your post #4, so it's not a cell phone. I hope you're able to resolve the problem somehow!

[deadmessengers]

7. interference from a ham radio operator

Cheap crappy computer speakers are pretty bad about failing to reject signals for which they were not intended. My guess is that you have a local ham radio operator who is using CW, or Morse code. Get a couple of cheap snap-on ferrite beads and wind them around the speaker leads. http://ask.metafilter.com/51296/104-Good-Buddy">Here is a thread on another board which I participated in that goes into some detail about this.

[PADemD]

9. Thanks for the Link!

I think I'll go out and buy some better (more expensive) speakers.

[deadmessengers]

10. Try the beads first

The ferrite beads I mentioned in the thread I linked to should be your first step simply because they're a hell of a lot cheaper than buying new speakers. Unless, of course, you've been drooling over a set of new speakers ;)

[Javaman]

8. It's the aliens in their steam powered space ships trying to contact us. nt

[Tesha]

11. To ask a basic question...

You're not peaking about the sound a dial-up modem
makes as it establishes the connection, are you?

You know, the "eeeeee-bree-zee-brawk" noises?

Depending on the settings on your computer, this
sound can repeat even when you think you're connected
to the Internet because the modem may hang up if you're
idle for so many minutes, only to reconnect when you
next open (say) a new web page.

Tesha

[PADemD]

12. No. It's not the same noise.

[Tesha]

13. Okay, thanks. (NT)