Morse Code - Decode - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / rf-microwave

author: ElectricGuy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 21, 2016, 07:17:06 pm
content: Hi;Today i was fixing a radio and noticed a pattern that it looks like Morse code.I recorded the pattern with my phone.Can somebody tell me what is the message?ThanksPS - You have to turn up the volume, because is very noise!

author: gfiber
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 21, 2016, 09:13:10 pm
content: Sounds like the morse being sent is "POR" Might be an aviation navigation station.Gary K8IZ

author: uncle_bob
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: May 21, 2016, 09:28:03 pm
content: Quote from: gfiber on May 21, 2016, 09:13:10 pmHiPretty good bet for a radio in Portugal.Bob

author: ElectricGuy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 21, 2016, 09:33:32 pm
content: Thanks

author: AG6QR
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2016, 05:31:09 am
content: It's definitely the letters "POR", being sent pretty slowly. Was that pattern repeating over and over? It does sound like an aviation beacon.In Portugal, that would be the PORTO NDB, at 327 kHz, located near the Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport.

author: ElectricGuy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 23, 2016, 01:41:26 pm
content: Quote from: AG6QR on May 23, 2016, 05:31:09 amHi AG6QR;Yes, that pattern is repeating over and over! And i live at about 3km from thet Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport.

author: djacobow
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 24, 2016, 08:28:15 pm
content: All radio nav signals for aircraft broadcast their ID in morse so that they can be positively identified by pilots prior to relying on them.The code is quite slow because pilots are not trained in Morse. In fact, the dit-dah pattern is printed on the maps right next to the identifier. Here is this NDB:https://skyvector.com/?ll=41.36433845574141,-8.708656300322021&chart=301&zoom=1

author: ElectricGuy
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 24, 2016, 08:55:57 pm
content: Quote from: djacobow on May 24, 2016, 08:28:15 pmWoW, thanks. New things for me!!!!

author: djacobow
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 24, 2016, 09:14:16 pm
content: Quote from: ElectricGuy on May 24, 2016, 08:55:57 pmSure thing. I know a lot more about aviation than I do about radio. :-)By the way, depending on the type of radio you were fixing, you might have heard the VOR (also "POR") at 114.1 MHz rather than the NDB are 327 kHz.It's interesting to me that there are still so many NDBs operating. When I got my US FAA instrument rating, I had to fly an NDB-approach for the test, but have never flown one "for real," and it has been a long time since I even flew an aircraft with a working ADF.

author: Howardlong
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 24, 2016, 10:32:05 pm
content: NDB approaches are still testing material here in the UK, although I doubt they're used much if at all commercially unless you're out in some third world area somewhere. When I did my IMC rating I found them extraordinarily difficult to get my head round initially.NDBs are far cheaper to maintain compared to VORs, we've seen a decimation of VORs in the UK in recent years.ADFs (for the uninitiated, the ADF is a radio with a directional antenna used to listen to NDBs between about 190 and 535kHz) are affectionately held in high esteem by pilots in the UK for listening to the cricket on BBC Radio 4 long wave on 198kHz. Occasionally, when there's a live sporting event going on and I hear the result from the cockpit on a plane's PA on a commercial flight, I assume the pilots have been using the ADF to listen to an AM radio station. The AM receiver on the ADF is supposedly only there to positively ident the NDB's AM modulated CW tones, but it's equally at home listening to AM radio transmissions.

author: sca
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 25, 2016, 06:33:30 pm
content: Quote from: Howardlong on May 24, 2016, 10:32:05 pmI suppose you get a good view of the pigeons, cranes and busses from up there....sca