Probably a daft question, but ....
why is it, when I leave my mobile near the computer speakers, every now and then they do a weird, crackly sort of morse code?

It doesn't happen if the phone isn't nearby, and I tried leaving my daughter's mobile nearby as well and the same thing happened, so it has to be the phones. Being a logical sort, it's beginning to bug me.

Are the mobiles sending out some sort of signal every so often? Or do I just have weird speakers?
(TheWeeWitch hasn't been here much recently .., Thu 23 Oct 2008, 18:08, 10 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

No they
send out signals every so often.
( Mrs Entity is in hiding., Thu 23 Oct 2008, 18:19, Reply)

You'll get it when texts come through too
and you'll hear it on your landline if you receive a call or text when your mobile is nearby.
( Bert Monkeysex is waiting for the mods to delete him, Thu 23 Oct 2008, 18:21, Reply)

It's how they're controlling us
*dons tinfoil hat*
( chickenlady b3ta's very own Elizabeth Taylor, Thu 23 Oct 2008, 18:23, Reply)

Your mobile is constantly polling cellsites (masts)
to work out the best signal strength for best quality coverage.

Each time there is a better signal on another mast, it will do the beepy type noise through the speakers while it swaps over to it.

It will also do it:

When you switch the phone on, this is when it registers and contacts the cellsite

When you switch the phone off, this is to inform the network that it is being switched off

When you make/receive a phone call, text or create a data connection.
(Ethelred is watching cheese grow, Thu 23 Oct 2008, 18:26, Reply)

thanks guys
*dons tinfoil hat*

just in case, you understand ...
(TheWeeWitch hasn't been here much recently .., Thu 23 Oct 2008, 18:31, Reply)

Lies, I tell you. LIES!
It's the demons in the workpocket on your phone, talking to each other over the dimensionwave.

Honestly.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Thu 23 Oct 2008, 20:16, Reply)

No3L
have you been drinking?

*slides slowly away*
(TheWeeWitch hasn't been here much recently .., Thu 23 Oct 2008, 20:38, Reply)

Erm... yeah. A little...
Was it that obvious? :)

A bit too much Pratchett too methinks.
( Noeli overtheshoulderboulderholderthingstraplatchboobs, Fri 24 Oct 2008, 6:23, Reply)

It's a homing beacon ... effectively
Not sure if anyone else remembers this, but the coppers caught that bastard who killed Holly and Jessica by sending a text to one of the girls' phones.

When the perve opened the text message, the dit-dit-dah signal that your speakers amplify was sent out, and the coppers triangulated his position from that.

Blasted media went and blew that little known piece of info, so same strategy can't be used twice.
(Que?, Fri 24 Oct 2008, 8:14, Reply)

No, you're on the right lines, but it was even more dastardly clever than that.
When a mobile's turned off it sends a 'goodbye' signal to the last mast it communicated with. So by finding out which mast received that signal, the police learned what area the phone was last used in.

Spookily, a small 'hot spot' including Huntley's back garden was the only place on the girls' last known route which was covered by the mast in question.

This impressive evidence helped persuade Huntley to confess.
(Juan Quar is clinging to her front teeth on, Fri 24 Oct 2008, 9:05, Reply)