# What are these strange beeps? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 25, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-strange-beeps/530404 "2010-02-25T16:19:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![brujaja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4af34b/32.png) [@brujaja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brujaja)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-strange-beeps/530404/1 "2010-02-25T16:19:52Z")
I got some new (to me) speakers, some old-school Creative speakers. They are powered; none of my previous speakers have been. (I use headphones to rock out.) Shortly after I plugged them in, they started doing this: Two or three times in an evening, AFAIK only when nothing was playing, they will emit a series of relatively low-pitched beeps that sound like the cadence of Morse code, except all short beeps. Well, what I mean is that some are close together, and some are further apart. It averages about a dozen beeps or fewer per incident. What _ **is** _ that? Are these beeps originating on my motherboard? I have the speakers plugged into the onboard sound, no sound card. Why are these speakers picking it up, when the others didn’t? And, is there any possibility that these beeps might indicate some kind of incursion into my network? I have a router, hard-wired, with 2 PCs on it on a cable modem. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-strange-beeps/530404/2 "2010-02-25T16:24:53Z")
Cell phone interference? ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-strange-beeps/530404/3 "2010-02-25T16:30:54Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > Cell phone interference? That was my thought. My old speakers pick up the mobile calling in. Try making a call and see if there is a correlation with the beeps. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-strange-beeps/530404/4 "2010-02-25T16:34:25Z")
Cell phones can also do that when they’re just checking for a signal, not just when calls are involved. Move the cell further away. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-strange-beeps/530404/5 "2010-02-25T16:54:24Z")
This is definitely your cell phone. They do it either when you’re getting a call or text, or just intermittently to check its own signal. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-strange-beeps/530404/6 "2010-02-25T17:10:14Z")
That happens with my headphones as well, when my cellphone is sitting next to the cord. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-strange-beeps/530404/7 "2010-02-25T17:14:37Z")
A guy at work always kept his cellphone next to his computer speakers so that he would hear the Morse code sound a few seconds before he got a call. Also works with Blackberries checking for messages. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-strange-beeps/530404/8 "2010-02-25T18:37:46Z")
Another vote for cell phone. I’ve even heard the beeps, looked at the phone and see the little indicator on showing that it’s sending or receiving data (checking for messages). ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-strange-beeps/530404/9 "2010-02-25T19:45:43Z")
Yes it’s a cellphone, and congratulations **brujaja** , you are now the last person in the industralised world to discover this phenomenon. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-strange-beeps/530404/10 "2010-02-25T19:46:15Z")
I’m voting cell phone too. If I put my cell phone close to my computer speakers I hear the beeps right before it rings and periodically when it sends out its location ping to the cell tower. ---
**Author:** ![TerpBE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc8723/32.png) [@TerpBE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TerpBE)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-strange-beeps/530404/11 "2010-02-25T20:10:59Z")
Here’s a video of cell phone interference: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1mlponX\_jw](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1mlponX_jw) ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-strange-beeps/530404/12 "2010-02-25T20:53:21Z")
Beeps is not how I’d describe the cell phone sound. OP, is it really “beeps” you’re hearing or lower pitched “dits”? ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-strange-beeps/530404/13 "2010-02-25T21:20:45Z")
They even model it in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV. If you’re driving, right before you get a cell call you can hear interference on your car radio. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-strange-beeps/530404/14 "2010-02-25T21:29:04Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > They even model it in the video game Grand Theft Auto IV. If you’re driving, right before you get a cell call you can hear interference on your car radio. No doubt so you can have time to safely pull over to the side of the road before answering, right? ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-strange-beeps/530404/15 "2010-02-25T21:42:52Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > No doubt so you can have time to safely pull over to the side of the road before answering, right? Certainly. Or else a bunch of mobsters come and pull you out of your car and beat you savagely. 😉