Intermittent Whistling Noise on Radio 3 FM

[Geoffrey]

Hi,

This is my first post so I hope that I am putting in the right section.


When listening to Radio 3 VHF/FM from Sutton Coldfield I can hear a low level intermittent whistling, on Wednesday afternoon I could not hear it at all but this afternoon Friday it was there on the Edinburgh Festival, Anvil broadcasts and announcements in between. Two friends can also hear this effect, one in Stourbridge and one near Coventry. I have a 3 element roof top aerial and Kenwood AV system at home the car radio came with the car. Driving from Stratford-upon-Avon to Birmingham with an ever increasing signal strength for 45 minutes this afternoon the effect was very pronounced. On arriving home I put the Kenwood on and used an audio spectrum analyser to view the effect. There seemed to be two low level whistles, one fast rising towards 7 kHz and a second which rises towards 1 kHz and then reduces in frequency, on the analyser it shows as an inverted U or V.


I would stress that these are low level signals and many people would not notice them but they are annoying and can be plainly heard on quiet passages, especially if you turn up the volume.


Has anyone else noticed them, or know what is causing them?


Best wishes, Geoffrey.

[Bryn]

Hi,

This is my first post so I hope that I am putting in the right section.


When listening to Radio 3 VHF/FM from Sutton Coldfield I can hear a low level intermittent whistling, on Wednesday afternoon I could not hear it at all but this afternoon Friday it was there on the Edinburgh Festival, Anvil broadcasts and announcements in between. Two friends can also hear this effect, one in Stourbridge and one near Coventry. I have a 3 element roof top aerial and Kenwood AV system at home the car radio came with the car. Driving from Stratford-upon-Avon to Birmingham with an ever increasing signal strength for 45 minutes this afternoon the effect was very pronounced. On arriving home I put the Kenwood on and used an audio spectrum analyser to view the effect. There seemed to be two low level whistles, one fast rising towards 7 kHz and a second which rises towards 1 kHz and then reduces in frequency, on the analyser it shows as an inverted U or V.


I would stress that these are low level signals and many people would not notice them but they are annoying and can be plainly heard on quiet passages, especially if you turn up the volume.


Has anyone else noticed them, or know what is causing them?


Best wishes, Geoffrey.

Hi Geoffrey,

Go to https://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/radi...ption_problems and search it for "birdies". It tells it better than I can.

[Old Grumpy]

Hi Geoffrey,

Go to https://www.bbc.co.uk/reception/radi...ption_problems and search it for "birdies". It tells it better than I can.

Result: There are no results to display.

It's all in the mind...

In early years of attending concerts at SageGateshead Hall 1 (the big one) I was always annoyed by the low level whistling sound emanating (I thought) from the amplification system on standby, I eventually came to realise that the whistling sound was actually (not in my mind), but in my head, i.e. tinnitus! Too many years of headphone abuse, perhaps.

OG

[cloughie]

When I saw the heading I thought it might be Petroc or Skelly providing accompaniment or maybe KD or SK being wolf whistled!

[vinteuil]

Result: There are no results to display.

It's all in the mind...

OG

... perhaps 'search' was not the most unambiguous instruction - but if you scroll down the page you will find 'birdies' in the 'twittering and whistling' section.


.

[antongould]

When I saw the heading I thought it might be Petroc or Skelly providing accompaniment or maybe KD or SK being wolf whistled!

Steady there ......

[Bryn]

Result: There are no results to display.

It's all in the mind...

In early years of attending concerts at SageGateshead Hall 1 (the big one) I was always annoyed by the low level whistling sound emanating (I thought) from the amplification system on standby, I eventually came to realise that the whistling sound was actually (not in my mind), but in my head, i.e. tinnitus! Too many years of headphone abuse, perhaps.

OG

Oops! I use Firefox as my browser and in that, you can simply search for a word or phrase using "Find in this page". All I meant was that if you search the text of the site linked to for "birdies", it takes you to the relevant section.

[Old Grumpy]

Oops! I use Firefox as my browser and in that, you can simply search for a word or phrase using "Find in this page". All I meant was that if you search the text of the site linked to for "birdies", it takes you to the relevant section.

Gotcha!

Thanks

OG

[Geoffrey]

Dear Bryn & Old Grumpy,


Many thanks for your replies and suggestion, I had already been to the BBC reception site but in my case there is an outdoor aerial and a check with an RF spectrum analyser shows no nearby signals other than R2 & R4 which are spaced 2.2 MHz to prevent spurious products. I have also checked + & - 10.7 MHz in case of IF breakthrough etc. Weather conditions have not been good for long distance reception for the last few days but a return to hot and humid may find me on a hilltop looking for DX reception.

What I am really interested in is are other listeners hearing the same whistles or are my friends and I the only ones still using VHF/FM?

Best wishes, Geoffrey.

[LMcD]

Dear Bryn & Old Grumpy,


Many thanks for your replies and suggestion, I had already been to the BBC reception site but in my case there is an outdoor aerial and a check with an RF spectrum analyser shows no nearby signals other than R2 & R4 which are spaced 2.2 MHz to prevent spurious products. I have also checked + & - 10.7 MHz in case of IF breakthrough etc. Weather conditions have not been good for long distance reception for the last few days but a return to hot and humid may find me on a hilltop looking for DX reception.

What I am really interested in is are other listeners hearing the same whistles or are my friends and I the only ones still using VHF/FM?

Best wishes, Geoffrey.

Hello there and welcome to the Forum! No, you're not the only ones still using VHF/FM and no, we are not hearing any whistles.

[jayne lee wilson]

I do still use FM for R4/R3 talks etc, but for R3 music mainly as a backup for the webfeed...
No birdies here in the NW, but I have a 7.5 element roof aerial (a Magpie ran off with a glittering half...), and it might be your only solution is a bigger aerial to screen out birdies (apart from the ones that will find a larger array even more enticing to perch on...) and other interference.

Years ago when I got my first Pioneer FM tuner, I needed an absolute minimum of 4 Elements for quieting from the 60km distant Home Moss transmitter, so it may be that your local conditions have changed and you need something bigger now... I'm afraid excess is best for FM (but it is true of broadband as well, so...), personally I'd go for a 6-element, Triax if they're still around...

[Frances_iom]

Are you listening to a main high power txmtr or to a relay station - some years ago Guildford repeater had a similar problem due to a dry joint on the rcvr mast causing intermod between two high power transmissions from an adjacent transmitter tower one component of which fell within the R3 reception band.

[Old Grumpy]

Are you listening to a main high power txmtr or to a relay station - some years ago Guildford repeater had a similar problem due to a dry joint on the rcvr mast causing intermod between two high power transmissions from an adjacent transmitter tower one component of which fell within the R3 reception band.

OP states Sutton Coldfield Transmitter. Radio Listener's Guide quotes this as 250,000kW...


...BIG!!

OG