# Why is my street beeping? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 3, 2016, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-street-beeping/773781 "2016-12-03T22:48:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-street-beeping/773781/1 "2016-12-03T22:48:03Z")
I walk my dogs almost every day and whenever I walk past this one particular utility pole, I hear it beeping. It’s not loud, it sounds like when you turn a television on (a resistor?) It has to be quite quiet outside for me to hear it, but it’s always there. I’ve been walking this very neighborhood for 37 years now and didn’t notice the beeping until about 8 months ago. I’m not thinking it’s anything nefarious. I am just curious! What would make a utility pole beep? Why yes, I did get a photo! Here ya go [![](http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161203/c583be471c49e29c4d8490db6da82a80.jpg) ](http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20161203/c583be471c49e29c4d8490db6da82a80.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-street-beeping/773781/2 "2016-12-03T22:52:34Z")
By beeping, do you mean to imply that the sound alternates on and off? Or is it more like a constant tone, like you’d hear from a TV? ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-street-beeping/773781/3 "2016-12-03T23:28:16Z")
Maybe a bad valve. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2016, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-street-beeping/773781/4 "2016-12-03T23:31:31Z")
> [@voltaire](#): > > By beeping, do you mean to imply that the sound alternates on and off? Or is it more like a constant tone, like you’d hear from a TV? It is the sound the tv makes but on and off, which ends up sounding like beeps. Sorry, wasn’t clear! 🙂 ---
**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:** [December 4, 2016, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-street-beeping/773781/5 "2016-12-04T00:02:10Z")
Probably a transformer vibrating in the power supply for one of those cable drop boxes. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-street-beeping/773781/6 "2016-12-04T00:13:42Z")
What is “the sound the TV makes”? My TV doesn’t make any sounds independent of the audio track. ---
**Author:** ![ASGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@ASGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-street-beeping/773781/7 "2016-12-04T00:45:19Z")
If there is a box on the pole and a conduit running down into the ground it could be what I call an anode detector or tester. This is some kind of device that detects underground pipeline corrosion. One of these things was installed near my home and I called the local utility because I wasn’t sure what it was doing. The utility guy explained it to me. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-street-beeping/773781/8 "2016-12-04T01:33:42Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > What is “the sound the TV makes”? My TV doesn’t make any sounds independent of the audio track. A traditional TV emits a 20kHz-ish tone caused by the various transformers. Which kids, young adults, and some adult women can hear. Us older grown-up guys, not so much. I’m betting that’s what **ZipperJJ** is talking about. She’s not a kid, but neither is she retirement age. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-street-beeping/773781/9 "2016-12-04T01:55:14Z")
Oh, sorry, that’s my pole, and I was too busy to answer it. Next time, can you take a message? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Me\_Billy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Me\_Billy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Me_Billy)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-street-beeping/773781/10 "2016-12-04T17:29:37Z")
To me “beeping” means a sound like when a truck backs up. (High pitched) And “humming” is what I would call the sound a TV makes or an electrical pole “transformer”. (Low pitched) Truck beeping sound… Transformer hum sound… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/STSfaroyOFE/hqdefault.jpg "Mind Numbing Sound Of High Voltage Transformer") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STSfaroyOFE) ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-street-beeping/773781/11 "2016-12-04T17:35:46Z")
It might be problem or it might not. Have you called your local utility? Don’t be shy, call them! Its a Lot less trouble to fix a problem before a transformer fails than after… and if its nothing, well then you’ll know. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-street-beeping/773781/12 "2016-12-04T17:37:33Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Oh, sorry, that’s my pole, and I was too busy to answer it. Next time, can you take a message? Thanks. Haha!! 🙂 It’s making a high pitched sound that goes on and off, so, beeping. But it’s so high pitched and quiet that it reminds me of the noise a tv makes - which perhaps you can’t hear, Me\_Billy. ---
**Author:** ![Me\_Billy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Me\_Billy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Me_Billy)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-street-beeping/773781/13 "2016-12-04T18:13:45Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > Haha!! 🙂 > > It’s making a high pitched sound that goes on and off, so, beeping. But it’s so high pitched and quiet that it reminds me of the noise a tv makes - which perhaps you can’t hear, Me\_Billy. Two things come to mind… Some very large telephone cables are pressurized with air. Keeps the moisture out. Maybe one is leaking or a safety release valve is letting off pressure? Also street lights have a “ballast” - I think those can make a high pitched noise if malfunctioning? Might want to walk around the pole to be sure it is coming from that and not someone’s house near the pole. Could be coming from that swimming pool in the background - maybe some automatic cleaning robot? ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2016, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-street-beeping/773781/14 "2016-12-04T20:23:38Z")
Our flat screen TV makes a fain but audible click or maybe it could be called a beep when it is turned on / off with the remote. (TV is not totally off for the most part because a hard boot is time consuming and so it is left in a ‘powered’ condition when shut down with the remote. I understand many/most flat screens are so. IMO, this is what she is taking about. Could be as simple as two wires slapping each other ( not the bare main power lines but all the other lines on that pole ) or slapping the pole. OR: It could be alien secret messaging and you better not let them know you noticed. OR: You could call the power company as suggested above. Me, I would take camera, ( with good zoom if possible ) small audio recorder, binoculars and an old AM portable radio to look for pulses and really get all over that pole because not knowing would bug me forever. ---
**Author:** ![alanthemanofchicago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@alanthemanofchicago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alanthemanofchicago)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2016, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-my-street-beeping/773781/15 "2016-12-05T20:56:07Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > What is “the sound the TV makes”? My TV doesn’t make any sounds independent of the audio track. Flat screens really don’t make a sound, but tube-style TV’s do - the flyback transformer (that controls the direction of the electron guns that “paint” the image on the screen) operates at 15.75 kHz, and when it has nothing to display it can make a sound often described as a “high pitched whine”. As we get older (or the hearing impaired) we lose track of it due to how high frequency it is compared to the human’s average range of hearing.