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iPod I have RADIO on my iPod. How'd that happen?

V

Vtorch

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 31, 2006
31
0
I work in the 12th floor of a very large office complex in NYC.

I was listening to the music on my iPod, when I turned the volume completely down. I noticed that I am still hearing "something" in my iPod. I press the iPod headset harder into my ear and I can literally hear voices or a DJ talking. Then I hear what it appears to be classical music.

Anyone have any theories why I am getting this? I am actually not complaining about it, but just interest to find out what is going on.
 
-Vtorch

You must be close to a transmitter. Try picking up a land-line phone, you should hear it too.

Close to a transmitter, the carrier wave will resonate in pretty much any circuit.
 
patrick0brien said:
-Vtorch

You must be close to a transmitter. Try picking up a land-line phone, you should hear it too.

Close to a transmitter, the carrier wave will resonate in pretty much any circuit.
Click to expand...

Oh, ok. Makes sense.
 
patrick0brien said:
Close to a transmitter, the carrier wave will resonate in pretty much any circuit.
Click to expand...

Yeah, sort of like how if you take a cable television wall port that is not in service, and you plug a television into it partway (ideally so that ground does not touch), you get reception for over-the-air television. The wiring ends up acting like a big antenna. But wow, first time I heard of it happening with an iPod!

Either that, or you're schizophrenic. :D
 
didn't you hear?! steve j. is putting radio into all the ipods for his next line...they must have mixed yours up with the prototypes...jk...it's the first time i've heard it on an ipod but my friend gets the baseball game on his phone sometimes...pretty funny stuff:D
 
Vtorch said:
I work in the 12th floor of a very large office complex in NYC.

I was listening to the music on my iPod, when I turned the volume completely down. I noticed that I am still hearing "something" in my iPod. I press the iPod headset harder into my ear and I can literally hear voices or a DJ talking. Then I hear what it appears to be classical music.

Anyone have any theories why I am getting this? I am actually not complaining about it, but just interest to find out what is going on.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I get the same thing in my crappy external speakers. But I can see a radio tower from my house. I am sure being that high up you get all kinds of radio waves bouncing around.
 
patrick0brien said:
-jayb2000

If you are line-of sight - you'll be getting the strongest carrier signal, so in that scenario, even distance doesn't help much.
Click to expand...

Yep! Wow it's also my first time hearing it happening to an iPod..

So you think it's the earbuds/wire picking up the RFI? (if that's what he's picking up is called)
 
nateDEEZY said:
So you think it's the earbuds/wire picking up the RFI?
Click to expand...

-nateDEEZY

Yes.

Any circuit that has speakers or earphones at the end of it should resonate. But it has to be a circuit - best with a powered device at the other end.

When I was in college we had a radio station, that would do this to my recording equipment. I had to wait for off-air at 2am to do any recording.
 
My favorite similar phenomenon is the cell phone speakers catch.
I can predict my phone ringing by 2 seconds because my speakers give a little buzz on most incoming calls. Not outgoing though, and only just prior to the ring.
 
This raises the question as to where the actual radio tuner resides. Is it in the Radio remote or do all iPods actually have them built in.

Anyone cracked one these remotes to see if there is actually a tuner and not just an aerial lead and a couple of button?

The alternative suggestion of a very strong transmitter being nearby is also possible. I recall when I was a kid, listening to some vinyl on a record player/receiver unit that I would often hear the local taxi companies communication back to base. Those things had very powerful transmitters and would cut through on most things. Those were the days. State of the art was having a clever spindle on the record player that you could stack up 5 singles on and the thing would play one after the other. Never worked too well though. Often 2 singles would drop down onto the turntable at once and when they were playing the top most single would invariably start to slip on the mound of singles beneath it.
 
petej said:
This raises the question as to where the actual radio tuner resides. Is it in the Radio remote or do all iPods actually have them built in.

Anyone cracked one these remotes to see if there is actually a tuner and not just an aerial lead and a couple of button?

The alternative suggestion of a very strong transmitter being nearby is also possible. I recall when I was a kid, listening to some vinyl on a record player/receiver unit that I would often hear the local taxi companies communication back to base. Those things had very powerful transmitters and would cut through on most things.
Click to expand...
A friend of mine used to live near a Ham radio operator who was running an illegally high transmission power. He found out because his TV began talking to him while in the off position and it possessed the voice of his neighbor. :eek:

Needless to say, the FCC came down on the guy hard.:cool:
 
Earendil said:
My favorite similar phenomenon is the cell phone speakers catch.
I can predict my phone ringing by 2 seconds because my speakers give a little buzz on most incoming calls. Not outgoing though, and only just prior to the ring.
Click to expand...
I leave my cell near my iSub just so it makes that noise, does a better job of waking me than the ringer itself when i'm asleep!
 
Vtorch said:
...I press the iPod headset harder into my ear and I can literally hear voices or a DJ talking. Then I hear what it appears to be classical music.
Click to expand...

I'll bet this is an AM station. It is very easy to build an AM receiver. Look at old crystal sets from the early 1900's they where just a coil of wire a hunk of rock crystal (a crude semiconductor diode) and a pair of earphones All connected in series. They got enough power from the radio waves to make the headset work with no power supply or battery. It;s so easy to make an AM radio that Apple was done it by accident. They are so easy to make it actually hard not to make them

With AM the field strength or "power" of the transmitter is varied proportionately to the sound pressure of the DJ's microphone. Some wire or printed circuit path inside the ipod has a voltage caused by the radio waves. this voltage varies depending on the power but the power is controlled by the DJ's mic. The voltage finds it way to your earphones. 1920's tech is not hard to understand.

Funny thing is in the early 20's "AM Radio" was the new "hot" tech. People got rich by investing in AM broadcast stations there is stock IPOs and fast moving stock prices and people bought an sold radio stations. It was just like the Internet "bubble" of a few years back. Then it all came crashing down and the 20 something year old millionaire "techies" went broke, Hitler came to power in Germany and the rest is history.

Cool that an Internet enabled device can hear AM Radio. The technology circle is connected.
 
I used to get the same thing ont he crappy old dell speakers we had on the family PC. We lived within sight of 3 radio towers less than 5 miles away. I never quite got over walking into the room with a powerless computer and hearing Aretha Franklin quitetly singing in the corner...
 
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