Sometimes(AND I'M NOT KIDDING!!) there is a "farting" type sound that comes from the Weather Channel during their "Local on the Eights" forecasts. I think it happens mostly when they roll the radar loops.
Anyone else notice this - or it it time for me to head to the Home?
; )
-ChrisCoaster
Have you been hanging around with Tom Cruise?
N
Could be a 25/35Hz signalling tone for satellite automation?
-- Best Regards,
Mark A. Weiss, P.E.
That will be fine, NSM.
: )
**The Home ;) Avoid the green jello. Actually, there is a part where there is a graphic and then a box slids from the left onto the screen and it carries the present temp and the sun/cloud icon (Your Weather Right Now or something like that). It takes up half the screen, the other half is some dude pretending he's being active. When it slides onto the screen there is a farting sound. I couldn't figure out whether it was my TV or the Weather Channel.
kaboomie
Can't be exactly sure but I bet they are cue tones that the network inserts to cue local media to insert programming... Normally you are not to hear them.. Your local cable company has something out of whack....
They used to use DTMF codes for remote switching to allow local inserts or commercials. but I've been out of the CATV business since
1986 when I used to cue up a commercial on 3/4" U-matic tapes and hand switch the commercials into the system. We sold commercials on three channels. MTV was the worst. Their signal was that they used a multiplexed stereo audio channel on the C-band receiver and they turned off the pilot carrier to control the switch so you had to buy the controller from them. I just waited for their fade to black and switched it then.-- Link to my "Computers for disabled Veterans" project website deleted after threats were telephoned to my church. Michael A. Terrell Central Florida
But there's something I don't understand.
If this noise is a "cue tone", then why is it occuring in the middle of the "Local on the 8s", right after the voice-over announces "Our local doppler radar"?
Aren't these forecasts seen at exactly 8, 18, 28, and so on, past the hour - across the entire US?
For a more accurate description of the sound, turn your bicycle upside down, spin the rear wheel good and fast, take a straw or twig, and let it hit the spokes - interemittently. t-t-t-t-t.......t-t-t-t-t-t...t-t-t--t-t- etc. Right as the doppler radar shows.
-CC
I'm guessing that right after he sais"our local doppler radar" is when the cable company is to switch to your local radar which is generated localy. Everyone gets to see a different map depending on where they are.
Well, this is the last thing I ever expected to read on sci.electronics.repair, but I can respond to this. :-)
Don't worry, several of us have noticed. Cable companies utilize a computer system called the Weather STAR (which was designed by The Weather Channel to display local weather information over the satellite video), which is installed at cable company headends. The latest unit, called the Intellistar, appears to make this buzzing sound during a certain screen on the Local on the Eights, which is what you mentioned. I'm guessing it is a minor software bug--it appears to have come and gone over time. Cable systems that have the older Weather STAR computers don't appear to make this sound during the forecast, so I'm pretty sure this sound is being made by the Intellistar.
There has been discussion of this at the message board
-- Travis Evans [The email address on this post is valid, but may change from time to time. Make sure you use the latest email address; if you use an old one, I will not receive your message.]
BINGO! You and DBLX seemed to nail this one.
Now wait a minute - there's actually a "retro" site for fans of the original Weather Channel? ? ?
And I thought I was nuts for researching classic NASCAR logos - like a rare Dale Earnhardt #2 that he drove just a couple seasons into his career.
-CC Travis Evans wrote:
I installed one of the first STAR units when the Weather Channel was being launched. Here is a piece of trivia I'll bet you never heard about the Weather Channel: They tried to launch on the wrong satellite. They insisted they were transmitting, but the transponder only had noise so I asked them if they were monitoring the downlink. A few minutes later they sheepishly admitted they were on the wrong bird.
-- Link to my "Computers for disabled Veterans" project website deleted after threats were telephoned to my church. Michael A. Terrell Central Florida
I can't get the Weather Channel right now. Tell me, do you hear the buzz when there is bright white computer generated text on the screen? The modulator at the CATV head end may be set a little too high and the over modulation causes an intercarrier buzz. The modulation for services like that should be set at 95 % to give a little headroom for variations in the received signal. Most of the techs are in a hurry and just tweak it to 100% on normal video rather than wait to see if the level is stable.
Been there, done that, wore out both the HBO and United Video Tee shirts. ;-)
-- Link to my "Computers for disabled Veterans" project website deleted after threats were telephoned to my church. Michael A. Terrell Central Florida
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