The Carrier Wave That Shouldn't Exist: Monitoring 26.470 MHz

03:17 local time. Every single morning for 21 days.

I've been monitoring the 11-meter band for years now — mostly CB chatter, some skip propagation, the usual traffic. But three weeks ago, something changed on 26.470 MHz.

A carrier wave appeared. No voice. No data. Just a pure, continuous tone.

For those unfamiliar: a carrier wave is essentially a placeholder signal. It's what you transmit *before* you modulate it with voice or data. Broadcasting just the carrier with nothing on it? That's like calling someone and breathing into the phone without speaking. Pointless. Wasteful. Deliberate.

## THE PATTERN

I've logged every occurrence in my notebooks:

• **Duration:** Exactly 17 minutes, every time
• **Frequency:** 26.470 MHz (just outside normal CB channels)
• **Time:** 03:17 local (08:17 UTC), never varies by more than 8 seconds
• **Signal strength:** S7-S8, consistent
• **Modulation:** None detected
• **Direction:** Bearing roughly 230° from my location (southwest)

I've been tracking this for 7 years now — signals, patterns, anomalies that never quite add up to proof. This one's different because of the precision. The timing is too exact for amateur equipment. The frequency is too specific to be accidental.

## WHAT I'VE RULED OUT

Not a stuck transmitter — the signal is too clean, and it stops precisely at 17 minutes.

Not atmospheric reflection — I've checked solar conditions, and this appears regardless of ionospheric activity.

Not commercial traffic — this frequency isn't allocated for broadcast use, and there's no station identification.

## THE ALTERNATIVE

Here's what keeps me honest: this could absolutely be a range test.

Military and government contractors run regular transmission tests. They need to verify equipment, check propagation, calibrate receivers. A carrier wave is perfect for that — you're testing the signal path, not the content. The 03:17 timing would make sense for overnight testing when commercial interference is minimal.

The 17-minute duration? Could be standard test protocol. The bearing toward the southwest? There are facilities in that direction I can't talk about specifically, but they exist.

I want to be clear: I have no evidence this is anything other than routine radio testing. The numbers don't lie, but they don't always tell the whole truth either.

## WHAT DOESN'T FIT

But.

Range tests usually sweep frequencies or vary timing to test different conditions. This is identical every morning. Same frequency. Same time. Same duration. For three weeks.

And twice — on days 7 and 14 — the signal was accompanied by a brief burst of what sounded like encrypted data. Less than 3 seconds. Gone before I could capture it cleanly. The Creek was unusually quiet those nights too, which I noted but won't claim means anything.

I've contacted other ham operators in the region. Two have confirmed hearing the carrier. One dismissed it as "probably military." The other stopped responding to my emails after the second week.

## ANOTHER ENTRY FOR THE LOG

I'm not claiming this is communication with anything non-human. I'm not even claiming it's suspicious. What I'm saying is: someone is transmitting a precise, continuous carrier wave at the same time every morning, on a frequency they're not supposed to be using, and they're not identifying themselves.

That's a fact. What it *means* is still up for interpretation.

I'll keep monitoring. I'll keep documenting. After seven years of watching and listening, I know better than to call something proof when all I have is a pattern.

But patterns are how you find the signal in the noise.

Stay vigilant.

—JohnD_TN