Home › Forums › Open Discussion › Droning Hum all night long near Camp Long
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January 10, 2010 at 3:17 pm #593516
LesleyBMemberHi we live very close to Camp Long on the hill that looks over Delridge and all night long we heard a droning hum – sounds like a distant airplane, but continual. It’s been going on nonstop now for at least 8 hours and is still happening right now at 7am. It gets louder and softer in a repetitive way over the course of 30 seconds or so. Does anyone know what this is? We have only heard it once before. It’s annoying enough to want to drown it out so we can sleep.
January 10, 2010 at 4:11 pm #686201
velo_nutParticipantTHE WEST SEATTLE HUM MYSTERY CONTINUES!!!!!
Goldfinger’s secret layer, I think. Either that or it’s the steel factory, the ferries, a top secret boeing aircraft, a 400 cycle TG on a freighter, the motor on the lower drawbridge, someone having sex next door…
Ponderous man, really ponderous.
January 11, 2010 at 12:43 am #686202
LesleyBMember4:45pm – just got home from work and it’s still going on. Continual and constant. I’m going to investigate.
January 11, 2010 at 12:51 am #686203
GenHillOneParticipantJanuary 11, 2010 at 2:28 am #686204
LesleyBMemberThank you for the links. Many of them describe exactly what’s going on. It’s 6:30 and still going on. I drove around to see if I could get closer to it – found that I didn’t hear it all near Nucor. When I drove closer to the Duwamish – at SSCC, it was even louder. Must be something industrial down there. It’s miles away – must be loud! I don’t mind the trains or the planes (in general), but this is annoying because it’s nonstop! –
Anyone think it might be the Lafarge Cement Plant? – it is directly east of where I live (the 5400 block) and also directly below SSCC.
January 13, 2010 at 8:43 am #686205
CrazyDogLadyMemberWe live on not far from Providence Mt. St. Vincent. Right now I am typing this (12:43 a.m. Weds. morning) listening to the hum increase and fade…increase and fade. My husband noticed it the other night and pointed it out tonight, too.
January 13, 2010 at 10:13 am #686206
christopherboffoliParticipantIt was really loud around the Junction around 11pm. I actually took a quick drive around to try to see if I could figure out the general direction of the sound. But it was bouncing off of everything so it was difficult to pin down.
January 13, 2010 at 4:17 pm #686207
sam-cParticipantreally loud in puget ridge too, enough to keep us awake. in my half asleep stupor I almost went outside barefoot to walk around and try to find out what it was. have heard it very loudly for the last 3+ nights, and wonder if this is the reason why our toddler who typically sleeps through the night has been up in the middle of the night unable to sleep for the past 2 weeks- nothing else has changed.
it’s maddening.
January 13, 2010 at 5:51 pm #686208
jwwsParticipantI heard it last night for the first time on Genesee Hill. I remember waking up thinking it was a container ship but it just kept on going so then I realized I was listening to the infamous West Seattle Hum. Alien spacecraft piloted by night-fighting ninja squirrels perhaps……
January 18, 2010 at 10:13 pm #686209
LesleyBMemberGlad I’m not crazy!!! I have been hearing it on various evenings and nights since my first posting, as well, but none of them have gone on as long as the first time (over 22 hours!!!) Considering moving my bedroom to the west side of the house to reduce some of the sympathetic resonance that the east side of the house experiences from it.
I don’t want to obsess over this, but if we can figure out what it is, we should at least try to get the source to stop after 10pm.
January 18, 2010 at 11:17 pm #686210
CrazyDogLadyMemberHave you heard it lately? I haven’t noticed since last I posted. Full disclosure: This is Mary Sheely (CrazyDogLady is my pre-writing-for-WSBlog name) and I’ve been thinking about going full-on late night Hum Chasers mode, but it looks like WSB has tried but never able to pinpoint the source.
January 18, 2010 at 11:27 pm #686211
MTMParticipantBackside of the Alaska Junction…. heard it off and on the same night as the first postings. I kept thinking it was a car running outside, but when I’d go out to look, the sound would move around. It’s weird. I heard it for a little while last night, but then the wind drowned it out. I hear ships on the sound sometimes, echoing off the W. Seattle hills but this hum is different.
January 19, 2010 at 6:11 am #686212
bill8437MemberBeen hearing it north of Westwood Village since April 09.
January 19, 2010 at 4:54 pm #686213
LesleyBMemberI haven’t heard it in a few days, either. I am pretty positive it is coming from the Duwamish, though, as it is VERY loud at SSCC coming from the east. One of these times, I will drive down West Marginal and try to find it.
January 20, 2010 at 12:58 am #686214
CrazyDogLadyMemberLesleyB, feel free to PM or DM me (whatever it’s called on here). Together we can be a hum-fighting team.
January 20, 2010 at 5:12 am #686215
JayDeeParticipantAs a disciple of Cliff Mass, I would recommend you focus your hunt on those nights where there is a stable layer of clouds above us (stratus) or fog. The stable atmosphere and likely temperature inversion above West Seattle is probably reflecting the sound from the Duwamish Corridor. Active weather impedes formation of stable reflecting layers.
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Oddly enough I suspect the source isn’t Nucor just because the sound is more likely to reflect at shallower angles rather than at steep ones (IMHO–I am a generalist when it comes to science). Like light, the simplest explanation is that sound travels at equal angles–A sound wave hitting the temperature inversion at 25 degrees will reflect off the at 25 degrees. So the Duwamish corridor is the more likely suspect.
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While I live near Alki, an out-of-town guest over New Years asked: “Where is the train?” so we went on a drive the following day to Harbor Island. Good hunting (my two cents).
January 20, 2010 at 6:50 am #686216
WSBKeymasterI think this came up in one of the earlier discussions, but … While leaving the West Seattle Crime Prevention Council meeting (story in the works) a little earlier tonight at the Precinct, I noticed Home Depot had some sort of vehicle (I don’t know if it was a mini-forklift, the parking lot equivalent of a Zamboni, or what) running around (close to 8:40 pm) and humming like mad. That’s down the hill from some of the areas that frequently mention The Hum O’Mystery.
January 20, 2010 at 7:03 am #686217
velo_nutParticipantJesus H Christ people.
The answer is this….
it’s the 400 hertz from the the steel plant.
All of you that want to go out and hunt it down will get NO WHERE due to the frequency.
There is only two places you will feel a 400hz tonal… a nuclear submarine motor generator and the steel plant in West Seattle.
January 20, 2010 at 7:27 am #686218
celeste17ParticipantHey Velo,
Thank You for this information. How long have you known what has caused the hum? How do you know that this is what is causing the hum? I have never noticed it so it doesn’t bother me. I enjoy information and whenever I can I look information up on the internet.
January 20, 2010 at 7:01 pm #686219
dawsonctParticipantYeah Velo, quit holding out. Where did you come by your information? And when you refer to a “400 hz”, what exactly are you talking about? A generator? How did you arrive at your certitude.
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I’ve never noticed the hum, but Velo’s oblique response to this subject is a bit irritating.
January 21, 2010 at 2:21 am #686220
JayDeeParticipantFrom Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utility_frequency
Skip to the bottom and there is a little audio track comparing 50 Hertz (Hz) noise, 60 Hz noise, and 400 Hz noise. Now as I haven’t heard the mystery hum, so I can’t say whether velo-nut is correct in his assumption, but perhaps others who’ve heard the hum can see if the tone is right.
While Nucor may use 400Hz frequency power for their mill I was not able to source this on the Intertube. The 400 Hz tone sounds pretty high in pitch, so it should be distinctive if Nucor was the source. Also Nucor shuts down frequently as market demand and maintenance requires it too, so if you hear the hum and Nucor isn’t melting iron, that would rule them out.
January 21, 2010 at 4:39 pm #686221
LesleyBMemberI’m actually a trained audio engineer with a little equipment, so next time i hear it and have a chance, I will try to find out what the frequency is. Also, with regards to the cloud cover, that can be accurate, but with low bass waves, they tend to travel far, and also move around objects that are in their way. They are sort of omnidirectional, which is why it is very difficult to isolate sounds from bass frequencies when you are setting up a mic to record something. I’d be interested to find out if its 400hz – that seems kind of high to me. It physically shakes my bedroom wall.
January 21, 2010 at 4:43 pm #686222
LesleyBMemberCrazyDogLady, pardon my ignorance. I don’t know how to PM or DM. If you know how to do it to me, please go for it!
And I’m starting to think maybe Velo Nut is making money or something from this hum, as he seems to be taking a lot of time to come onto this thread and discourage us from even talking about the Hum. ;)
January 21, 2010 at 5:13 pm #686223
JanSParticipantLesleyB…there is no PM function on here….it’s been gone for quite some time now. If she wants a direct message, guess she has to give you her email addy.
January 21, 2010 at 5:49 pm #686224
JoBParticipantvelo_nut may have ruled out the steel plant..
i have heard this hum and like LesleyB, think it too low pitched to be 400 Hz
this is better than a scavenger hunt… can’t wait for her to measure it…
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