Chasing A Phantom Beacon In Miami

By Lt. Col. Robert J. Miller, Commander, Miami Senior One Squadron, Civil Air Patrol

Lt Col Joseph M. Martin is the former commander of Miami Senior One Squadron, Lt Col Robert J. Miller is the new commander and 1Lt. John I. Hendricks is the Chaplain of the unit. Both Cols. have DF experience and the Chaplain recently earned his 101 card.

We were traveling homeward from our weekly meeting about 10:00pm local time when Col. Martin, an IC, received a call from AFRRC requesting assistance with a DF/ELT mission. The signal was on both 121.5 and 243. In order to expedite things, and since we were already teamed up, we accepted the mission: 04M2531: opened at 10:10pm local, 23 November 2004.

After picking up our mission bags, mounting antennas and powering up two DF's: "Old Reliable" and a brand new tracker unit, "New Kid." We headed out.The nearest coordinates were those given on the second satellite pass, so we programmed the GPS to guide us there. This location proved fruitless, no signal. We conducted an expanding block search out to a mile. Nothing heard in any direction by either device. The GPS was reprogrammed to the first-pass coordinates. We remounted and set out again.

Southbound on a busy avenue in a residential section, the GPS beeped us to turn right; still no signal and the GPS showed a half-mile to target. All that changed when we passed the seventh house in, westbound from the avenue, both "Old Reliable" and the "New Kid" came alive. They aired a strong and very unusual signal.What we were hearing was not the usual chirping or yelping signal we had heard so often before.

The signal was a low-pitched wave being counter-troughed by a much higher one. It sounded similar to someone trying to tune a HAM radio. We stopped and dismounted. Now afoot and using both DF's we spread out to find the signals best strength. Within a few minutes we met each other on the north side of the street in front of the same duplex and determined the source to be one of two windows each in a different side of the duplex and near the center. Just to be sure, we scanned south. Nothing.

Rather than awaken people at this time of the night on a "probable," we moved one block north, seven houses in, and scanned again. Same result. We returned to the front of the duplex and noted that the signal was only heard within about 60 feet from our ground locations.

We called Miami-Dade Police for assistance in waking the occupants. They responded within minutes and were very cooperative after we explained our mission. The occupants of both apartments were also very cooperative, but the interview and subsequent search inside the rooms both proved negative. Yet, the signal persisted and seemingly came from adjoining bedrooms, one in each apartment.

We called AFRRC. The third satellite pass had just been completed and we were exactly on point. We explained that there was no visible ELT device present and that the audible was very strange. AFRRC suggested that we unplug any televisions and related a recent unusual find in Oregon. We re-entered the first apartment where two televisions were then unplugged. The occupants were still up and watching us intently.

The signal persisted. We went next door, to find three television sets. We unplugged the first in the living room. Still, the signal went on. We unplugged the TV in the back bedroom. The signal continued. We went to the third and last television in the front bedroom. It held the second window from which we thought the signal was coming. We concentrated both DFs about the television.The signal was loud and we noted a 'clicking' sound as we passed "Old Reliable" and it's rubber-ducky in front of the set. The set was off, but still plugged into the wall outlet. The owner reached down and unplugged the 27" Toshiba color television from its power source.

Silence.

The signal stopped and the signal strength indicator lights on the newer "tracker" ebbed. Colonel Martin and I looked at each other. The resident looked at us. We all looked at the TV.

We plugged it back in. The signal returned. We left it unplugged. Just to be sure we scanned the room and TV again for a signal, finding nothing but static. We went outside, separated and scanned again. Static -- louder, but just static.

Col. Martin again called AFRRC with our report and began steps to closeout the mission. We remounted our vehicle, re-scanned with the three-antenna array and left the area. As it turned out, the site was almost exactly a mile from my home. Col. Martin and I were both happy that we found and disabled the target. We were also curiously happy that our find, with the exception of a similarly puzzling case in Oregon, was unique. And Chaplain Hendricks was happy -- not just because he decided to be a member of the team, but because he would soon be sporting a "find" ribbon on his chest.

FMI: www.flwg.cap.gov, www.cap.gov