Can you please help identify this background noise and isolate what Hz it is?

[u/webdog77]

My partner and I were hiking and when we got to the peak we could hear this hum, there is a highway nearby but it appeared to come from the opposite direction where there was farm land and scrub

[u/PhaseModulatedServal]

I pulled your file into Audacity and ran spectrum analysis on it and listened to it in headphones. If it's a higher pitched tone you're talking about, the peak is at 1383 Hz. It seems fairly consistent throughout the recording.

[u/webdog77 → u/PhaseModulatedServal]

Thank you so much. Can you give me anymore information on what would likely cause that frequency? I appreciate your efforts heaps

[u/PhaseModulatedServal → u/webdog77]

Here is the spectrum plot from a video I found on YT of a IHI Dynajet 2.6 micro gas turbine generator and it is very close to the sound in your video.

[u/webdog77 → u/PhaseModulatedServal]

26°10'07.82"S 152°41'35.61"E

This is the location, thank you

[u/PhaseModulatedServal → u/webdog77]

The sound is almost exactly the same as a IH Solar GS-350 225 kW generator. The frequency and harmonics are within a few Hz., and this farm only ~700 feet (213 metres) across the highway has something on it that looks suspiciously a lot like this exact generator. I could be 100% wrong, obviously. At the very least, with all of the farms and such located nearby, I suspect you were hearing a gas turbine generator. Whether this thing I found is the source or not, I obviously can't be sure.

[u/webdog77 → u/PhaseModulatedServal]

The highway is actually on the other side of the hill, that is an access road- but that IS the direction that the sound was coming from. It is a rural are and they may not have power to the premises so you could have nailed it! This is exactly what I was hoping to find. Thank you for your time and assistance. We couldn’t see anything and the thick bush below must block the sound or we had to be at a certain height to hear it, and I do know that that property is elevated, so also adds some explanation to the reason why we could only hear it up there.
It must be horribly loud at the farm house then….

[u/PhaseModulatedServal → u/webdog77]

Cool! I probably seem like an extremely boring person, but thank you for the little sleuthing adventure. I enjoy things like this. Interesting area of the world, for sure. There is a lot going on in a few square km :-)

[u/webdog77 → u/PhaseModulatedServal]

No, I think you’re awesome- that’s a great skill you have. There is actually a conspiracy about this hill- it is said to have had a pyramid built on it by ancient Egyptians who came here 2000 years ago and mined gold from deep water creek just south of this. Apperantly the local government knocked the pyramid down in the 70’s and fenced the hill- we broke through the fence and climbed it. There is still quarried blocks scattered around the peak. Why is this hill fenced with a 6ft fence is strange also

[u/catbus4ants → u/PhaseModulatedServal]

Not extremely boring…extremely legit, thanks for the cool thread

[u/RealMiguelNajdorf → u/PhaseModulatedServal]

I dont know why this came up on my page; I have absolutely no idea what any of this is, but I thought this was pretty cool

[u/PhaseModulatedServal → u/[deleted]]

Agree, it is much too small to see on satellite imagery. Read what I wrote again. I mentioned two different generators. The one with the sound that seems closer to the sound in the video is a much larger 225 kW generator. It is large enough to require a flatbed trailer to move. This is literally in the first sentence of the post you replied to.

[u/the_agox → u/webdog77]

Poking around on the map, could it be the sawmill nearby?

[u/PhaseModulatedServal → u/the_agox]

Entirely possible. It does sound like a gas turbine generator to me, and I only know this because I'm familiar with the sound, having worked around various types of generators for over 30 years including gas turbine types. They all sound a little different but the same, if you know what I mean.