Re: [IRCA] Third new Wobbler on 950

["WWWR" <wwwr@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Charles,



I agree with you, a Cuban origin seems almost certain, and Cuban broadcast
transmitters the source of the Wobbler signal.  Direction finding by several
people including myself, have narrowed the location of some Wobbler sources
down to specific Cuban regions in the vicinity of known Cuban broadcast
transmitters.  Your assessment of the likely and unlikely causes of the
Wobbler is also a well considered one.  I find myself moving from one
possible source and cause to another as different people make such good
arguments.  



If the only examples of the Wobbler were the strong disruptive signals that
have been heard at considerable distances from their apparent Cuban origin,
I would also have to put stock in your jammer suggestion.  The problem is,
from my close proximity to Cuba I can heard Wobblers more distant listeners
can not.  These range from those extremely strong, overpowering signals that
are heard beyond the midwest, to very weak ones which require special effort
to hear even as close as I am.  This is sometimes related to signal strength
 but more often the intensity of the fluctuations.  



You can see a log of my Wobbler listening on the Wobbler web site.  The log
includes a relative strength indication on different frequencies throughout
each day.  It seems to me if the Wobbler were intended as a jammer there
would be no reason to produce a signal that requires special effort to hear,
let alone cause interference.  The bubble jammer, which is the kind of
device you describe, has been suggested and a comparison of it and the
Wobbler is presented on the Wobbler web site.  The similarities are there,
but the Wobbler is not nearly as effective as a true bubble jammer would be.



If intentional, I would have to describe the Wobbler as more a nuisance than
a jammer.  But then, a nuisance to whom? Just the Cubans as far as I can
tell. Not to say that isn't a possibility.  Who knows, maybe the Wobbler is
the result of a malfunctioning, unstable, underpowered jammer! 



As to your argument against unstable power as the cause.  Certainly a power
grid like ours in the U.S. would not tolerate wide instances of instability.
 The power grid in Cuba is a far smaller and dare I suggest, unsophisticated
arrangement of just a few power generators.  The failure of one generator
has been reported to have diminished power generating capacity by 30%.  True
it was a major generating unit, but still, that indicates a pretty small
grid, as far as generator capacity goes.  And such a small grid, it would
seem, might become generally unstable, all generators staggering under the
extreme overload produced by the loss of this substantial resource,
resulting in power and frequency fluctuations.  Rolling blackouts are an
acknowledged fact of life in Cuba and have been for many months, a planned
effort to deal with these power shortages.  



Even if the overloaded grid is not the direct cause of transmitter
instability, how about emergency backup generators which it would seem could
well be called into service during these rolling blackouts.  Obviously, an
emergency generator would not be connected to the grid, instead supplying
power only to the station.  It would not be unreasonable to assume that
these emergency generators are not the most sophisticated of units either,
nor are they likely to be substantial in every case nor well maintained.  A
local, stand-alone generator, itself unstable and probably overloaded at
least at times, would seem to also be a likely source of some sort of
transmitter instability.



I do not have any idea what affect an unstable power source would have on a
transmitter, which itself may be antique and poorly serviced.  But the range
of Wobblers from barely perceptible to wildly exaggerated, just seems to me
to be the result of some unintentional situation, rather than any planned
activity.  But that is just an opinion, not the result of any first hand
knowledge of broadcast transmitter engineering.  And certainly with no
knowledge of Cuban government intentions.



All that having been said, I am still anxious to hear well reasoned opinions
founded on extensive experience, such as yours.  The truth of the Wobbler is
yet to be determined, and somewhere in the many observations and opinions
being offered, the real origin and cause will one day be found.  It may be
exactly as you have suggested.



Thanks for adding to the growing base of knowledge from which we can work to
solve this mystery ... or at least talk it to death.



Curt

---------

W. Curt Deegan 

Boca Raton, (South East) Florida 

http://ScooterHound.com/WWWR/wobbler/



-------Original Message-------



Date: 03/30/05 10:51:43



Curt and Crew,



It sure seems to me that the Cubans are the source for this carrying-on. AND
let me assure everyone this carrier frequency shifting cannot be be
accidental. The Cuban government is trying to accomplish something, and it
sure seems that they are fitting wobbulators (there is such a device) to
broadcast station transmitters.



[snip]



Can't blame the wobbulation on instability of the Cuban power grid, either.
That kind of instability would make it impossible to synchronize generators
in a power system....especially a mix of small and large machines. As soon
as a real-world system starts experiencing such instability, circuit
breakers between Campbellsville (KY) and Hell (MI) would have tripped big
time.



[snip]



Charlie Your Friendly Transmitter Troll



----------- 

Charles A & Leonor L Taylor 

Greenville, North Carolina 

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