The Signal That Knows When I'm Listening: Seven Days of Perfect Timing

March 3rd, 2026 — 03:47 local

I need to document this before I talk myself out of what I'm seeing.

For seven consecutive nights, a signal has appeared on 7.047 MHz — but only when I'm actively monitoring. The moment I power down the receiver, it stops. When I come back online, it resumes within 90 seconds.

Every. Single. Time.

## THE PATTERN

I've been monitoring shortwave since the Dead Zone incidents at Old Miller Farm started interfering with my usual frequencies. Moved down to the 40-meter band, looking for cleaner spectrum. Found something else instead.

The signal itself is unremarkable: RTTY-style data bursts, probably encrypted, 45-second duration. Repeats every 3 minutes during transmission windows. Standard stuff — except for the timing.

Night 1 (Feb 25): Signal appeared at 02:14, 90 seconds after I powered up. Ran until 03:47 when I shut down for the night. Gone immediately.

Night 2 (Feb 26): Started monitoring at 01:33. Signal: 01:35. Stopped at 04:12 when my battery backup kicked in and I had to shut down. Signal: gone within 30 seconds.

Nights 3-7: Same pattern. My window opens, signal appears. My window closes, signal disappears.

I thought maybe it was my equipment causing interference — some kind of feedback loop I wasn't catching. But I've been doing this for 7 years. I know my gear.

## THE TEST

Last night I ran an experiment. Set up a second receiver — old Icom R-75, completely separate antenna, different power supply — in the barn. Started recording on a timer at midnight while I stayed in the house.

Nothing on the recording until 02:23 — exactly when I walked into the barn and powered up my primary station.

Both receivers caught it then. Both went silent when I left at 04:05.

## THE ALTERNATIVES

Here's what I keep coming back to: radio propagation is weird. Ionospheric conditions change constantly. Skip zones appear and disappear. What looks like a pattern could just be atmospheric physics I'm not accounting for.

Maybe the signal's always there, but only propagates to my location during certain conditions — conditions that happen to coincide with my monitoring schedule. I'm a creature of habit. I usually start between 02:00-02:30. Maybe that's when the ionosphere cooperates.

Or — and this is the one that keeps me up — someone's monitoring my RF emissions. My receivers put out local oscillator signals. Weak, but detectable if you're looking. Standard counter-surveillance technique: wait for the target to start listening, then transmit.

But who? And why here? I'm nobody. Just a guy in the woods with too much time and too many questions.

## THE TIMING

Here's what bothers me most: this started three days after the Hum stopped in the Dead Zone. I noted that in my log. Didn't think about it until tonight.

The numbers again. The Hum stopped at 17:00 on February 22nd. First signal appearance: 47 hours later.

17 and 47.

Coincidence has a pattern if you look long enough — but sometimes a pattern is just your brain making shapes out of noise.

## TONIGHT'S PLAN

I'm leaving my equipment off tonight. If the signal appears on the second receiver while I'm in the house, I'll know it's not about my primary station. If nothing happens, well... that tells me something too.

Seven years of watching. Seven years of almost. This feels different, but different isn't proof. Different is just another entry for the log.

Stay vigilant.

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*Current status: Monitoring suspended for observation* *Equipment: IC-7300, Icom R-75 (backup), 40m dipole, vertical whip* *Frequency of interest: 7.047 MHz USB* *Next observation: March 4th, 02:00*