Spirit Boxes

[Zetetikosfilm]

Hi everyone!

I'm looking for technical informations about the Spirit Boxes.

-What's inside?
-How does this technically work?
-Does it scans Am and FM frequencies?
-At what speeds does it scans (if I understood there are different settings)
-What is the time between scans? (How long does it stay on one frequency before switching to an other?)
-Is there a more popular model?

Thanks y'all!

 

[KayBur]

To be honest, I haven't even heard of such things. Can you at least show something? Sounds stupid to me. Well, what spirits in the box?

 

[Myriad]

I find this one particularly intriguing: Amazon product link.

I can only assume it's disguised as an inflatable Christmas lawn decoration to fool spirits trying to evade detection.

 

[JayUtah]

For those new to the term, a "ghost box" or a "spirit box" is a tool alleged to reveal EVP. We had a thread on EVP here someplace.

It's really just a repurposed radio-frequency scanner, like a police scanner. It works by sweeping through a programmed set or range of radio frequencies, listening to each for a fraction of a second. Most have programmable sweep rates. When each frequency is tuned, a signal processing module detects whether there is anything being transmitted on that frequency and, if so, holds the sweep there.

For ghost-hunting purposes, the signal processor is usually degraded intentionally so that it's more apt to stop on noise. Then the "ghost hunter" can record the noise and use software tools later to try to eke out something that sounds to him like words.

The popular model these days seems to be the Nuate P-SB11. It's a two-tuner outfit with an integrated thermometer. Scans AM and FM bands, and has a sweep rate adjustable between 50 and 300 milliseconds. (As to why ghosts would prefer the frequencies allocated by the FCC for particular uses, I wouldn't know.)

 

[theprestige]

The FCC is in on it, obviously.

 

[Trebuchet]

They should add CB, so they can find trucker ghosts.

 

[Zetetikosfilm]

Thanks JayUtah! Do you think I could find a precise description of what's inside? Like the electronic components? I'm gonna have a look at the EVP section too.

 

[JayUtah]

Thanks JayUtah! Do you think I could find a precise description of what's inside? Like the electronic components? I'm gonna have a look at the EVP section too.

I don't think Nuate has any incentive to publish their circuit diagrams or other proprietary design information. I certainly couldn't find any, although I was able to find several circuit diagrams for homemade spirit boxes. I think any definitive knowledge of how a particular product works would have to come from buying one and taking it apart.

 

[JayUtah]

The FCC is in on it, obviously.

Obviously.

Or -- and maybe I'm just spitballing here -- there's some $$$ to be made by taking a bunch of cheap, off-the-shelf, consumer-grade RF scanners, stripping out the filters (or just disconnecting the antennas), and marketing them under a different label to a bunch of gullible ghost hunters at a 3X markup.

 

[Spektator]

I got a spirit box as a gift last Christmas. It had a fifth of Johnny Walker Black in it.

I don't drink, so I regifted it to a friend who does.

 

[Bikewer]

Sounds like you’d be most likely to get in touch with the ghost of Marconi...

 

[Wolrab]

Proof of extraterrestrial machine intelligence. It is just using Bumblebee's AI to communicate.

 

[Axxman300]

Hi everyone!

I'm looking for technical informations about the Spirit Boxes.

-What's inside?

It's a ghetto radio scanner.

-How does this technically work?

Speaking as a ghost hunter - technically it doesn't work.

-Does it scans Am and FM frequencies?

Depends on the scanner, and I think some allow you to select. (ghosts, if they did exist, wouldn't use a radio)

-At what speeds does it scans (if I understood there are different settings)

You can adjust the speed of the scan rate.

-What is the time between scans? (How long does it stay on one frequency before switching to an other?)

Again, you can adjust the time.

-Is there a more popular model?

The cheapest.

I mean, they don't really work anyway so why shell out a lot of cash?

Money is better spent on a library card.
!

 

[Crossbow]

Hi everyone!

I'm looking for technical informations about the Spirit Boxes.

-What's inside?
-How does this technically work?
-Does it scans Am and FM frequencies?
-At what speeds does it scans (if I understood there are different settings)
-What is the time between scans? (How long does it stay on one frequency before switching to an other?)
-Is there a more popular model?

Thanks y'all!

Welcome to the Forum.

To answer your question, since ghosts do not exist then you will not be able to get any technical details on just how Spirit Boxes detect ghosts.

 

[Zetetikosfilm]

Welcome to the Forum.

To answer your question, since ghosts do not exist then you will not be able to get any technical details on just how Spirit Boxes detect ghosts.

Hi and thanks!
My point is not to explain how it detects ghosts but how it's actually not. Technical details would help me to prove it's just a radio frequencies scanner able to pick up random words from talk shows, news shows and radio hosts interpreted by the "ghosts hunters" and to point at auditive pareidolias. I'll try to deal without as it seems impossible to find component details. And I don't want to buy a spirit ghost as it would support the scam.

 

[Axxman300]

Hi and thanks!
My point is not to explain how it detects ghosts but how it's actually not. Technical details would help me to prove it's just a radio frequencies scanner able to pick up random words from talk shows, news shows and radio hosts interpreted by the "ghosts hunters" and to point at auditive pareidolias. I'll try to deal without as it seems impossible to find component details. And I don't want to buy a spirit ghost as it would support the scam.

Spirit Boxes are a cottage industry. I'm not a technician, but most function the same way that your car radio does when you scan for stations. There are probably filters built in too so the desired effect is achieved.

Starting from the low-end of the market there is the Necrophonic App:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chillseekers.Necrophonic&hl=en_US&gl=US

The link includes a description of how the app was designed:

The audio has been mastered in a way to bring out various sound properties .
Using Pro Tools I was able to enhance high, mid, and low range frequencies. I also applied
other filters to create unique sound characteristics to help layer the audio and create an
environment suitable for spirit communication.

The audio itself is made up of phonemes,
partial words, reverse audio, foreign languages, and other parts of speech that can help
spirits communicate. Besides some basic phonetic sounds such as na, no, da, do, di, ma, may, etc.
there are no real words of phrases contained in the banks.

The obvious problem is that there is no way to test this product because you'd need an actual ghost to do so.

There is a description for the Para4ce Box:

https://ghosthuntersequipment.com/collections/spirit-boxes/products/paraforce-ghostbox

How Does it Work?

The ParaForce Ghost Box scans FM radio frequencies between 76 and 108 Mhz. You can remain on the frequency of choice for an unlimited duration by pausing. It has a built-in antenna that you can turn on and off. As an analogy you can say that when it is turned off it is kind of like using a Faraday bag since there will be a minimum of interference from radio stations when the antenna is turned off. Therefore, with the antenna turned off, when something comes through, it is not a voice from a radio station. If you prefer to use the Para4ce Ghost Box like other ghost boxes -spirit boxes then you can simply turn on the antenna. An icon on the screen indicates if it is turned on or off.

Interaction Use

The Para4ce Ghost Box can also be used to interact with an entity. Put the Ghost Box into pause mode and ask the entity to touch the screen to start it scanning again. Contact by transfer of energy can cause the Ghost Box to restore normal mode and start scanning again.

If you look at the rest of that site you'll find spirit boxes from $199 to $800.

Spirit Boxes are just Pareidolia combined with instant gratification.

 

[LongFuzzy]

Hi everyone!

I'm looking for technical informations about the Spirit Boxes.
Thanks y'all!

-What's inside?
Resistors, Capacitors, Diodes, Coils, Power Source... (The kind of stuff you make radios out of. You can build a Arduino based radio very easy. Schematics and code available, just search the internet.)

-How does this technically work?
It receives a RF signal, and decodes it. AM is pretty easy (ever hear of a crystal radio?) FM takes a litter more.

-Does it scans Am and FM frequencies?
Yes, and any other RF frequencies the builder wants.

-At what speeds does it scans (if I understood there are different settings)
I have a scanner that can scan slow or fast. Don't know how many frequencies per second.

-What is the time between scans? (How long does it stay on one frequency before switching to an other?)
This is a great question. It has to be slow enough to get a word or two, but no so slow that you can actually tell what you are hearing (Like a commercial, or talk show or whatever.) Just so you can relate the word(s) (or partial word) to whatever you want.

-Is there a more popular model?
I have no idea what is popular in the EVP world.


Good luck with you endeavor.

 

[Zetetikosfilm]

Thanks Axxman3OO and LongFuzzy for your answers that helps a lot.

 

[JayUtah]

I'm not a technician, but most function the same way that your car radio does when you scan for stations.

I could be considered a technician, and yes.

There are probably filters built in too so the desired effect is achieved.

You'd want to filter the demodulated signal with band-pass filters in the 90-180 Hz range, but with long enough tails to keep some ambient noise in for effect. That's guaranteed to make anything that sounds like a human voice stand out, whether it started out life as noise or not, but not in a way that would make it immediately identifiable as EM interference, an intentional broadcast, or whatever. It's the Vaseline on the audio lens.

The obvious problem is that there is no way to test this product because you'd need an actual ghost to do so.

Well, yeah. The problem is that it's purely hypothetical to say that ghosts can "speak" via latent signals recorded on tape, or by manipulating the electromagnetic ambient such that an RF tuner would pick it up. It's even more hypothetical to supposed that ghosts elect to communicate in the frequency ranges that just happen to correspond to commercially-available, off-the-shelf RF tuning ICs.

Spirit Boxes are just Pareidolia combined with instant gratification.

Essentially yes. I think I mentioned this before, but it's like the audio equivalent of fiddling with the sliders in Photoshop until the "ghost" appears in the image, regardless of what's happening under the hood.

You'd want a software-defined radio, a small CPU to drive it, an ADC (if you opt for digital filtration), and some judiciously calibrated band-pass filters. I love the notion that "switching off" the antenna disables all outside signals, such that whatever remains that sounds like voices "must" be a ghost. These people have either never built their own radios from scratch, or are intentionally selling nonsense to people who have never built their own radios from scratch.

Thanks Axxman3OO and LongFuzzy for your answers that helps a lot.

It might help if you tell us what your background is in electronics and signal processing so we know how much detail will be helpful.

 

[MRC_Hans]

Hi and thanks!
My point is not to explain how it detects ghosts but how it's actually not. Technical details would help me to prove it's just a radio frequencies scanner able to pick up random words from talk shows, news shows and radio hosts interpreted by the "ghosts hunters" and to point at auditive pareidolias. I'll try to deal without as it seems impossible to find component details. And I don't want to buy a spirit ghost as it would support the scam.

These days, with so many electronic devices around, FM but especially AM bands are full of noise sources. So, tons of "mysterious" signals can be found.

So, you can scan for them and ... make up your own story about what is is.

I suggest you obtain some radio with AM bands. They are still quite common.

Now you can peruse the AM bands, and especially after dark *), you can find lots of strange signals.

Hans

*) The long wavelengths typical for AM transmission propagate via ionosphere reflections and can, in principle, reach around the globe. However, the ionosphere is higher at night, so with fewer reflections (each inducing signal loss), AM signals have much increased range.