Radio/Phone transmissions coming through computer speakers - has this happened to you

[AprilSeven]

Hi ABO members . . .

I've been annoyed by something my brand new computer has be doing . . . some kind of broadcasts are coming through those "built in" speakers they hang on the bottom of the monitors these days.

Mind you, I don't have the radio or anything turned on - but there are voices coming out of the speakers! I heard this was a problem with a few other computers in our office (all Dell). Then last night my husband had the same thing happen with a pair of stand-alone computer speakers he's had for a while (and he's on a Mac).

WHAT IS GOING ON?? Is this related to sunspot activity? Cheap electronics? "Big Brother?"

[diehard67]

I have heard my own voice come out of one of my computer speakers when I would try to talk threw my CB, the speaker wire and the CB antenna feed line were running parallel for a few feet, it is possible that the wires leading to the speakers are somehow picking up a radio signal, the way speakers work would filter out the carer wave and leave the voice part.

[fafner]

Got that kind of thing since months It suddenly stopped a few weeks ago. At this point I was thinking that the broadcaster had stopped. Then it began again, and I found out what was the "culprit". Years ago, I had bought a converter from TV to computer screen; back at that time, TV where still the old big cathodic thing, and hadn't computer plugs by default. I used the thing to plug my consoles on the computer screen. By pressing a button, I switched source from computer and console. Now I can plug the console directly on my computer, but I had left the sound cable plugged on the converter. At some time, I unplugged it and didn't notice the broadcaster had stopped to emit at that moment. Since it didn't emit very often, I didn't notice it. And then, one evening, it came back :d oh: ... and I remembered that by pure coincidence I had plugged the sound cable on the converter again during the afternoon. I removed it, then put it back, there it is: the converter is basically a very good antenna for the precise frequency the broadcaster used

[jeffbert]

I doubt what you hear is coming from radio signals, unless you have wireless speakers or some other item that is a radio receiver. However, as I recall, American consumer electronics that involve transmission or reception of any signal, ultrasonic, infrared, or radio, usually have a disclaimer in the paper work that states that in compliance with FCC regulations, this equipment issusceptible to interference from other equipment. Anyway, I really doubt that the speakers are the problem.

I have heard of some whose dental work allegedly received radio signals, but there are several layers of processing involved that make it very unlikely. 1st needed is to extract the audio from the radio 'carrier' wave, & that is usually a two-step process. I forgot much of the jargon, but that would only add complexity to this discussion, anyway. Anyway, you may indeed be hearing voices, perhaps a visit to your local psychiatrist is in order. Seriously, though, the computer is very complex, & assuming you are connected to the WWW, you may have features of which you are unaware that are responsible.

[Astro Forever]

Many many years ago, if I recall correctly, I heard something very unusual through the TV set. After listening to it for a while, I figured out it must have come from the coast guard radio. I have no idea how the TV set happened to catch that. I didn't live by a watercourse. I think we even had cable, we weren't watching TV through the antenna.

[Seven]

Well, I've just almost had to change my knickers.

I have stand alone speakers, live far from suburbia (in Australia), don't have a land-line, and only wireless broadband works out here.

A short while ago, white noise started coming through the speakers, followed by an American woman's voice shouting, "Hello? Can you hear me?".

Oookaaaay?

After scraping myself off the ceiling, I reasoned that there was, no doubt, some highly technical explanation.

A few minutes later, a crystal clear, male Arabic voice suddenly booms through my nice clean speakers - SINGING, no less.

It sounded quite lovely and, for a moment, I'd almost forgotten that I was going to have to change my knickers, feeling, instead, as though I'd been transported to the Marrakech Market.

This sort of thing only happened once before, a few months ago, and there were no voices, per se; instead, it sounded as though someone had a microphone switched on while they fiddled about on a desk, and had a tv on in the background. Not scary that time, just a bit bewildering.

But the two incidents tonight really take the cake....highly technical explanations notwithstanding.

[Astro Forever]

Welcome, Seven! I'm not sure what the technical explanation should be, but that was random!

[Deep_Freeze]

Stranger things have happened. There where reports of people who used to pick up radio broadcasts on their braces???