Dutch Shortwave radio transmissions 1927, 1928
Attempts at communication by an ET Probe?
The following material has been brought to my attention by
Peter C Pawsey
"... The idea of a probe programmed with an extensive store of
information and containing a computer by which it could "converse"
with us is a logical extension of the concept. As we have said, it is
just possible that such a probe is already lurking somewhere within
the boundaries of the solar system. Here, Bracewell raises a most
interesting point, suggesting that in order to ensure the use of a
frequency that could penetrate our atmosphere yet lie in a band
certain to be in use, the probe would first pick up some of our
domestic radio signals, then retransmit them back to Earth. This would
lead to radio echoes having delays of seconds, even of minutes. These
words are peculiarly significant in the light of an event that took
place over forty years ago. In the weekly scientific journal Nature
there appears in the issue of November 3, 1928, a letter written by
one Jorgen Hals, a radio engineer of Bygodo, Oslo, to physicist Carl
Stormer, couched in the following terms:
""At the end of the summer of 1927 I repeatedly heard signals from
the Dutch short-wave transmitting station PCJJ at Eindhoven. At
the same time as I heard these I also heard echoes. I heard the
usual echo which goes round the Earth with an interval of about
1/7th of a second as well as a weaker echo about three seconds
after the principal echo had gone. When the principal signal
was especially strong, I suppose the amplitude for the last
echo three seconds later, lay between 1/10 and 1/20 of the
principal signal in strength. From where this echo comes I
cannot say for the present, I can only confirm that I really
heard it.""
Stormer initiated certain tests as a result of this communication and
on October 11, 1928, these bore some fruit. During the afternoon of
that day Station PCJJ in Eindhoven emitted very strong signals on 31.4
meters. Both Hals and Stormer heard very distinct echoes several
times, the interval between signal and echo varying between 3 and 5
seconds, most of them coming back about 8 seconds after the principal
signal. Sometimes two echoes were heard with an interval of about 4
seconds. Physicist Van der Pol confirmed these observations in a
telegram that read "Last night special emission gave echoes here
varying between 3 and 15 seconds. 50% of echoes heard after 8
seconds!" At the time these peculiarly long echoes were attributed by
Stormer to auroral causes but the feeling today is that they have
never been adequately explained. Six years later, in 1934, radio
echoes of a similar kind from Holland were also heard. ..."
Taken from:
Macvey, J.W., Whispers From Space. Chapter 13 "From What Far Star"
P.193. London Abelard Schuman. 1973. ISBN 0 200 72243 3
There is also an extended article in:
Lunan. D. INTERSTELLAR CONTACT. Chapter 12. "The News From Bootes".
P.223 - 262. Henry Regnery Company: Chicago. 1975 ISBN 0 8092 8258 5
(First published in Great Britain 1974 under the title "Man and the Stars").
Where the delayed radio echoes were plotted on graphs - producing what
appeared to be star maps - presumably transmitted from the
hypothetical probe.
According to the book's author (Duncan Lunan), at the time of writing
(April 1973), (Introduction - P.viii), experiments were about to begin
using satellite tracking equipment to put the probe hypothesis to the test.
Data points for Eindhoven delayed radio echoes October 11, 1928:
8 seconds, 11, 15, 8, 13, 3, 8, 8, 8, 12, 15, 13, 8, 8.
Quotation begins (pp 225-226)
" ... If the data points are plotted with delay time on the y-axis (normal
scientific practice, followed by all the 1920s experimenter' s who presented
their results graphically), nothing significant appears. With delay time on
the x-axis, however, the graph looks more like an intelligent signal (fig.1).
There is a vertical "barrier" at 8 seconds dividing the diagram into two
parts of an equal area; on the left there is a single dot, at three seconds,
which was unique in being an exact repeat of the transmitted signal, three
dots, the other echoes being 2 second long dashes.
On the right of the barrier the main figure has a striking but incomplete
resemblance to the constellation Bootes, the Herdsman (fig 1c). If the 3
second dot is transplanted across the barrier to a corresponding position on
the right, it occupies the position of the star Epsilon Bootis and so
completes the constellation figure. ..."
End quote.
Further,
"... In May 1929, a French expedition was in Indo-China to study an eclipse
of the Sun. J B Galle and G Talon, captain of the naval vessel L'Inconstant,
had orders to study the effects of the eclipse on radio propagation,
particularly long delayed echoes. (17) They used a 500 watt transmitter with
a 20 metre aerial attached to an 8 metre mast, powered by the generators of
the Indo-China Hydrographic Service vessel La Perouse. The two aptly named
ships sailed from Saigon on May 2nd, and on May 5th they conducted test
transmissions in "la baie de Penitencier", PouloCondere, and detected
long delayed echoes. Weather conditions prevented work on May 6th and 7th,
but on the 8th the ships were back on station and transmitted for the first
ten minutes of every half hour. On May 9th, the day of the eclipse, signals
were sent for nearly six hours with one 20 minute break, and again for ten
minutes in every half hour the following day. Two dots were sent every 30
seconds on 25 metres wavelength, varying in a fixed musical sequence to aid
correct identification and timing of the echoes.
Large numbers of echoes were heard, clearly divided into two groups:
weak echoes, about 1/100 the original signal strength, and strong ones
1/3 to 1/5 the intensity of the transmitted signal, with no significant
relation between strength and delay time. (These intensities are too great
for natural reflection at such apparent distances, but no-one seems to have
thought of that at the time.) In their preliminary report Galle and Talon
said echoes stopped altogether during the totality of the eclipse, (18) but
in fact they paused 3 1/2 minutes before the eclipse became total and began
again half way through it.
Delay times ranged from 1 second to 30 seconds, though two 31 second
echoes and of 32 seconds were heard between 15.40 and 16.00 on the day of
the eclipse. 1 and 2 second echoes might seem impossible for a probe in
the Moon's orbit, but for an extraordinary circumstance. At 14h 19m 29s
on the day of the eclipse the operator "forgot" to send the required dots,
but 5 and 10 second echoes were heard nonetheless. From this Galle and Talon
concluded that some echoes might have 40 seconds delay or more: either their
musical tone sequence let them down, or they were unable to believe evidence
that the probe was anticipating their signals as it transmitted its
"replies".
The overall intensity of the echoes decreased as the Sun approached the
horizon, as we would expect if there were a probe in the Moon Equilateral
position descending from the meridian. Fig. 7 shows part of the May 9th
sequence, published in the "Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh"
(19), it gives an idea of the complexity of the echo patterns and the
difficulty of transcribing them, even from the complete fold-out record in
"L'Onde Electrique, 1930.
[...]
When transcribed in the same way as the October 1928 signals, the May 9th
sequence separates naturally into "panels" of about 40 signals' duration.
Like all good puzzles the panels are subtle and intellectually demanding,
and the solutions are aesthetically satisfying as well as informative. ..."
End quote.
References referred to in quotation:
(17) J B Galle, "Observations relatives a la radio-electricite et a
la physique du globe", L'Onde Electrique 9 (1930), pp. 257-265
(18) J B Galle, G Talon and M Ferrie, "Recherches relatives a la
propogation des ondes radioelectriques effectuees a l'occasion de
l'eclipse du 9 mai 1929", Comptes Rendus de L'Academie des Sciences,
vol. 130 (1930), pp 48-52.
(19) C. Stormer, Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 50,
Part II, no. 15 (1933)
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