First, the Woodpecker; Now, the Foghorn
Old-timers may remember
the "Russian woodpecker," an over-the-horizon (OTH) radar system in
the 1980s that moved through the HF spectrum, creating major interference on
the ham bands whenever its signal passed through. Now, according to the ARRL Letter, a mysterious foghorn-like
signal has been disrupting communications on the 40, 30 and 20-meter bands. The
IARU's Region 1 Monitoring Service says it has traced the source of the signal
to a Chinese OTH burst radar system.