How The WGYM spurious signal was located (details by K2XT and WD8DSB)

Details : On October 2nd, 2012 Roger VE3ZI reported via the Topband Reflector a strong "spurious" signal on about 1.8102 mhz and then a flurry of reports came in from hams across the East and Midwest US and Canada regarding this signal. Also on Oct 2nd WA3MEJ and WD8DSB posted recordings of the signal (see links below). On October 3rd the 13 most useful reports (reports indicating actual direction of the signal from the reporting station) were plotted by Don (WD8DSB) using Google Earth and the results are shown below (Plot #1). Don reported the following : "it appears the signal is originating from the half of New Jersey State that's south of New York State (somewhere between New York City and Atlantic City and within 60 miles of the ocean or out in the ocean off the shoreline)".

Over the next couple of days Don continued to estimate the heading of the signal from his location near Indianapolis using two independent directional antenna receiving systems (System #1 : 3 pennants pointing 40 deg, 160 deg, and 300 deg, System #2 : Shielded loop), and both systems indicated the signal was located 90 degrees from his location (line from his location intersecting the coast in NJ just a few miles North of Atlantic City).

On Oct 3rd W8JI recommended that someone capable of hearing the signal during the day needed to use portable direction finding equipment to locate the signal, so Rick (K2XT) volunteered since the signal was a steady S5 at his home in New Jersey. The constant signal indicated it was ground wave, and therefore somewhat local which meant that DFing with a portable loop was likely to be successful. Rick quickly built up a 3 turn loop on a 2 foot by 2 foot PVC frame and used a 1 turn wire to couple with the antenna. Before Rick hit the road on Friday Oct 5th, Jon (AA1K) was asked for a report from his location to verify that Dons original observation was correct, and Jon reported a NE heading from his location which confirmed the signal was originating from Southern New Jersey (near the coast), and not from Maryland or Pennsylvania.

On Friday Oct 5th Rick and Don coordinated their activities so Rick could drive around Southern NJ with his DF loop while Don (located in Indiana) plotted DF readings reported by Rick via cell phone. Rick traveled South along the coast in NJ and Ricks #3 and #4 reading started to indicate the signal was coming from the West (toward Wilmington DE), so Rick started to make his way West from the Atlantic City area (after the fact we believe Ricks #2 reading was perfect but off by 90 degrees when originally reported which caused some early confusion). Around Hammonton NJ Rick reported major improvement in signal strength (reading #5 was S4), but the signal was no longer pointing toward Wilmington. Rick was running out of time but it was decided that one more reading would be taken from the Hammonton area, and they (Rick and Don) were pleasantly surprised when reading #6 was even stronger and accompanied by a major shift in the antenna heading. At this point Don proclaimed that the signal appeared to be originating from the town of Hammonton.

When Rick arrived home he decided to do a search for AM broadcast stations in Hammonton NJ, and only one station was found (WGYM 1580khz). Using Google Earth it appeared reading #6 was pointing almost directly in line with this station, so WGYM became a prime suspect. With this information in hand Rick and Don made plans to continue the search Saturday morning (Oct 6th) with Rick starting off right at the WGYM transmitter site. With great difficulty Rick (and his Dog Rudy) drove their vehicle to the WGYM transmitter site and had to traverse through thick brush to get there. Upon reaching the WGYM transmitter site Rick reported a signal strength of 20 dB over S9 which was actually about the same strength as the signal on the WGYM fundamental frequency of 1580 khz.

When Rick returned home from the WGYM site on Saturday he consulted with Tom (W8JI) and Tim (K3LR). Tim volunteered to use his contacts within the broadcast industry to attempt to notify WGYM officials and request their assistance in verifying and correcting the problem and these efforts began before noon Saturday. At this time users of the topband reflector were asked to be patient and allow this process to work, with the promise that information would be provided as soon as it was available (which turned out to be Monday evening). On Monday (Oct 8th) the Chief Engineer for WGYM was put directly in contact with Rick to help resolve the spurious signal issue. Late Monday afternoon the Chief Engineer went to the WGYM transmitter site and with Rick listening from his home the Engineer took action that resulted in the disappearance of the spurious signal (much to Rick and Dons relief). It should also be noted that Glen (W3JL) and Tree (N6TR) provided behind the scene assistance.

Note : Since Feb of 2008 WGYM has been operating at an output power level of 6 watts 24 hours a day even though they are licensed to run 1000 watts daytime, and 6 watts nighttime. They recently purchased a new 1000 watt transmitter and expect to have the new transmitter on the air later this year.

Videos by Rick (K2XT)

Ricks 1st video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we9qk5dMeEQ&feature=youtu.be

Rick (and Rudy) summary video : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zkhkr_eXv78&feature=youtu.be

Audio Recordings and Spectrum Plots

Spectrum display recorded by Jim (WA3MEJ, Finksburg Maryland) of the spurious signal : http://www.qsl.net/wa3mej/Interference/1.811Mhz/1.81104%20LSB.JPG

Audio recording by Jim (WA3MEJ) of the spurious signal : http://www.qsl.net/wa3mej/Interference/1.811Mhz/1.81104%20%20INTERFERENCE.wma

Audio/Video recording by Don (WD8DSB,Fishers Indiana) of the spurious signal : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAjogeZUxuI

Plot #1 : Original plot of headings reported by 13 stations on the Topband Reflector

Plot of K2XT direction finding headings using portable DF loop

(webpage created and maintained by wd8dsb)