AAAH!!! The Voices! The Voices!!

[capri0mni]

And something really wierd happened today. I was listening to the radio, this afternoon, and right in the middle of a rave book review on Fresh Air, I started hearing a second woman's voice coming through my radio speakers, on top of the one being broadcast by my local station.

At first, I thought my radio was picking up bleed-through from another station, or something. But there was no static, or anything, and the volume was the same as the first voice (which was really annoying, because I couldn't understand what either one was saying). And then, a man's voice came in, and it sounded like he was having a conversation with the second woman.

And then, the intruding voices ended as abruptly as they started.

When the local announcer came on, he made no mention of anything wierd in the syndicated satalite feed, or anything...

So... Um... Now I'm wondering:

Is it possible for fm radios to accidently pick up cell phone conversations?

---
Anyway, it's a reminder that all the voices you hear on the radio, as you surf your radio dial (and tv, too, for that matter), are coming in on radio waves all the time, simultaneously. Whether or not you turn your radio on.

The air is full of voices, thousands of voices, and they're talking all the time....

Okay. On that note, I will try to go to bed, now.... ;-)

Comments

[audioboy.livejournal.com]

Yes, radios can receive bleed over from other transmitters. I'm not so sure it can happen with cellphones, but certainly with cordless phones, walkie-talkies, CB radios, etc. It's not unusual. My studio music system occasionally picks up a bleed from some guy's CB radio.

Don't worry, hon, you're not starting to hear voices. Well, not those kinds of voices, anyway. :)

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Oh, my brain is already full of those sorts of voices... I'm okay with that... I've had years of experience talking to them. ;-)

(That mood icon is a bit tounge in cheek).

But what does freak me out a bit is the reminder of how crowded the world is, with all those other human-thingies, and also by the idea that I was hearing a couple's private moment (didn't eavesdrop on every word, but they sounded like they were in love) and they had no idea.

Also, it interfered with the radio show I wanted to hear.

[blinovitch.livejournal.com]

I bet I know what it is. Is your house very close to the road?

If it is, you probably picked up on someone's satellite radio. Most add-on units use a low power transmitter to send the satellite signal through the car's terrestrial radio. This means anyone around the car whose radio is tuned to roughly the same frequency will have whatever they're listening to overridden, or at least interfered with, by the rebroadcast satellite signal.

I get it all the time driving around.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

No, I'm not very close to a road -- at least, not a major one. I'm in a culdesac, and even then, I'm 11' further back from the front of my property than the other houses.

Besides, this went on for much longer than a car driving past -- like over 5 minutes. And the longer it went on, the more it sounded like a private conversation...

And, like I said, there was no wobbliness or static in the signal at any time.

Maybe it was a satalite phone

[indefatigable42.livejournal.com]

We used to be able to tune our radio in to something that sounded like people leaving messages on other people's phones. o_O

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. I hope the other people got their messages. If that happened to me, I'd be obsessing over whether the message was important or not, and what I could do to help...