Yosemite Sam (shortwave)

Yosemite Sam is the nickname given by DXers to a possible number station that first surfaced on December 19, 2004. It transmits on several shortwave frequencies in dual side band: 3700 kHz, 4300 kHz, 6500 kHz, and 10500 kHz. The nickname is taken from the Warner Bros. cartoon character Yosemite Sam, whose voice is played as part of the unusual transmission.

The broadcast series

The broadcast begins on one of the frequencies. Ten seconds later, it is repeated on the next higher frequency, and so on for a total of two minutes. The entire pattern takes precisely two minutes, and always begins seven seconds after the top of an hour.

Each broadcast starts with a data burst lasting 0.8 seconds, followed by the voice of Yosemite Sam exclaiming: "Varmint, I'm a-gonna b-b-b-bloooow ya ta'smithereenies!" The clip is taken from the 1949 Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies cartoon Bunker Hill Bunny.

The broadcasts ceased on December 23, 2004, but returned during February 2005, on its old frequencies plus additional new frequencies, including those of time signals stations WWV and WWVH. Reception reports seemed to indicate that the transmitter site was likely somewhere in the desert around Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. The Albuquerque location suggests another possible coincidental relation to Warner Bros. cartoons: the phrase frequently repeated by Bugs Bunny, "I knew I should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque."

Two amateur radio operators claim to have tracked down the source of the Yosemite Sam broadcasts in February 2005 as being located at the MATIC Center in a factory owned by Laguna Industries, located near the small town of Laguna, New Mexico, about 50 miles southwest of Albuquerque. The two quickly left as they were approached by security guards after taking photographs of the site. Three hours later the radio broadcasts allegedly stopped, and have not been heard since.[1]

See also

References
  1. https://web.archive.org/web/20120302154803/http://www.brogers.dsl.pipex.com/yosemite.html
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