An amateur satellite tracker accidentally discovered a subset of classified military SpaceX satellites that are transmitting data on the wrong radio frequency. According to NPR, Canadian Scott Tilley found the mysterious signal while working on his hobby of monitoring satellites at home, when he inadvertently set his system to scan for radio frequencies that usually didn’t have traffic. To his surprise, he saw a signal emanating from space in the 2025-2110 MHz band, which satellites use to receive data from ground stations.
It is somewhat unusual, as this should’ve been empty, so Tilley recorded the transmissions for a few minutes. “It was just a clumsy move at the keyboard. I was resetting some stuff and then all of a sudden I’m looking at the wrong antenna, the wrong band,” Tilley told NPR. “[It] should have nothing there. I got a hold of my mouse and hit the record button and let it record for a few minutes.” He then compared his data to a satellite tracking database maintained by other amateurs and enthusiasts, which allowed him to identify the offending satellites. “Bang, up came an unusual identification that I wasn’t expecting at all. Starshield.”
