Ham Vs Spy: Yosemite Sam

Yosemite Sam is the nickname that has been given to a mysterious station that was first reported on December 19, 2004. It transmits on four frequencies:

3700 kHz
4300 kHz
6500 kHz
10500 kHz

All transmissions are in DSB, double side band. That is, they can be tuned in either USB or LSB modes. It's essentially AM with no carrier.

A transmission is made on one of the frequencies. Then ten seconds later, it is repeated on the next higher frequency, and so on. Since there are four frequencies, a transmission is made on a given frequency every 40 seconds. The entire pattern takes two minutes (120 seconds). Transmissions always start at an offset of 7 seconds, such as at 10:00:07 UTC. The timing of the transmissions seems to be excellent.

Each transmission starts with what sounds like a data burst, followed by the phrase: "Varmint, I'ma gonna blow ya ta Smithereens" said by what sounds like the voice of Yosemite Sam, of the Looney Tunes cartoon fame. The clip is apparently from the cartoon "BUNKER HILL BUNNY", 1949. An audio clip of a transmission is here (on this video)

The data burst is 800 milliseconds long.

The first clip is from: http://www.spynumbers.com/YosemiteSam.html

the second clip is
3700KHz_12-21-04_0415UTC_USB
and the third is
3700KHz_12-21-04_0413UTC_LSB
from bunkerofdoom.com/monitored/sam/index.html

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• ham
• vs
• spy
• yosemite
• sam
• varmint
• ima
• gonna
• blow
• ya
• ta
• smitherinees

[LikaLaruku]

Is it somehow less weird than a radio station that played "Funky Cold Madina" for 24 hours straight?

[RotogenRay]

@LikaLaruku they occasionally play weird stuff like that when they are selling the station, so they can keep the rights to the frequency. If you aren't transmitting something than the fcc can re-allocate the frequency...

but this video was an example of something else...

[codemsan]

man thats acually sorta bone chilling when i went to read about it for some reason, i guess its the way they explain it...

[RotogenRay]

why do you say that?

[ct92404]

That is just WEIRD. It's somehow fascinating too though. I wonder what is actually in those data transmissions. About 4 or 5 years ago, I was getting some strange signals on my tv and on the radio if it was on the AM band. A lot of rapid beeps, like some kind of electronic transmission. I haven't heard it in a long time though.

[RotogenRay]

I think I heard that the digital data burst was the video clip from that bugs bunny cartoon... but I'm not sure if that's right.

If it was anything else, it would have most likely been encoded.

[mybruisedarm]

probably trolling shortwave radio enthusiasts. haha

[ConfusedAndAwesome]

We should have tooken a left at Albequerqe to get to where it was.

[aqdrobert]

@HarvestmanMan I recall it was on QRZ, Monitoring Times magazine, and also Amateur Radio Newsline. Look up "ENIGMA YS Yosemite Sam"

[HarvestmanMan]

@aqdrobert Where'd you hear this?

[aqdrobert]

@ConfusedAndAwesome Radio operators actually found it at the MATIC government facility near Albuquerque. The radio ops took photos, then an armed guard in an SUV told them to leave. Yosemite Sam left the air only minutes later, only to be replaced by the same data burst with no voice on different frequencies. I could log YS on 3700 kHz USB in Phoenix, AZ with a low 80M loaded NVIS dipole at high noon when this was on air

[bud389]

@TRIARII117 says the person whos NOT broadcasting and DOES NOT know anything other then what it's face value transmission is.

[ConfusedAndAwesome]

@manka6 Well, sorry for making one mistake in my life.

[manka6]

@ConfusedAndAwesome *taken, moron

[PresentedIn4D]

What data mode does this use?

[MillBelater]

@LikaLaruku That was the big thing for radio station format changes 20 years ago. Play something annoying to get everybody talking. Now we're back to an abrupt change during drive time. Just fire everyone and change the format.

[TheReal1inflater]

It's supposed to say "I'm a-gonna blow you to smithereenies" ? Well, I hear "varmin, I'm a gonna blooooww you alert, ribbon"....