The radio inside my head...

I've heard that certain tooth filling discontinuities can act like a crystal radio detector.

...Jim Thompson

That could well explain it. My teeth (what's remaining of them) are a nightmare, chances are the right discontinuity will be there.

It is a shame it cannot be blamed on the cylons, though - or on some other alien race, I 'd have settled for any little green men.... :-).

Dimiter

Jim Thomps> >

Another possibility is that there was some sound cue from the phone or something nearby, before the phone itself started to beep.

Cellular phones are notorious for introducing audible interference into nearby electronic devices, when the phones "talk" to the transmitter on the cell tower. Many cellphone systems use time-division multiplexing, with the phone transmitting short bursts of signal at a relatively high instantaneous power level (e.g. a watt or so). This RF is enough to get into the electronics of nearby radios and telephones, causing them to squawk or chirp or warble or mumble or make some other sort of noise.

Transmissions of this sort will often take place just before a cellphone rings, as the cell tower interrogates it and confirms that the phone is switched on and is configured to accept calls. Ditto for an SMS transmission... the radio transmission burst occurs a second or so before the phone beeps.

So, if the cellphone in question was sitting on a bedside table, and there was (e.g.) a clock radio nearby, the radio's speakers may have emitted a recognizable sound a second or so before the phone beeped. The OP may have heard and recognized this (while still asleep) and the "Oh, the phone is about to beep" idea incorporated itself into the current dream... and then the phone beeped and the dreamer awoke.

Some years ago, I became convinced that my body somehow "knew" the exact time so perfectly that I'd awaken a second or so before my clock radio went off in the morning. I'd awaken, lie there for a moment, and then the radio came on. It happened repeatedly... quite uncanny.

Then, one morning, I was awakened earlier than usual by some noise from outside the house, and lay around in bed until the clock radio went off... and realized that this radio emits a mild but audible "thump" when its audio circuitry is powered up, and that the music doesn't come out for a second or so after that. I'd actually been awakened, all those times, by the "thump" of the radio powering up, and not by some preternatural awareness of the time.

This can be ruled out, my wife was awake, she would have heard it. There has been no sound to precede the beeps. The TV-set indeed thumps like mad if the phone is at its table, this is why I am not allowed to leave the phone there...

Dimiter

Dave Platt wrote:

Oh, feh! Cylons are so twentieth-century - these days, you want the Wraith or the Borg or one of those Terminators from the future....

Cheers! Rich

Well I would not really want to have much to do with the Terminators, I suspect they would not bother planting radios in my head. So much easier - and 21st centurish - to just smash it in the wall or something. (although the terminator films were all made in the 20-th century IIRC.. :-). Don't know about that Wraith of Borg but somehow this does not sound like someone who would mess around with tiny radio toys either, I'd rather stay away for now... :-)

Dimiter

Rich Grise wrote:

Enjoy. There are some decent stories in their free library.

I have, i read "Mountains of Mourning" again even though i have it in hardcopy at least once. Damn, but i like the vorKosigan stories.

As a kid i had a transistor radio that i could hear radio with even with the power off, including FM stations. Sometimes even with the battery removed. Admittedly only the strongest stations.

While working as a broadcast engineer, I had the radio in my car start preaching at me, when I was about a half mile from the tower. The interesting thing was, all the transmitters were FM, and the radio's output transistor had an open emitter.