I have just started investigating into the paranormal with my team in the UK.
I have been building some of my own equipment as I feel if we have an understanding of the equipment we can better understand the results we get.
The two devices I would really like to build myself are 'Spirit Boxes'. One uses a readio tuner to scan through frequencies and supposedly allow spirit to communicate through the white noise generated. The second being a device that use environmental data nad possibly EMF readings to select phonemes from a library and create words.
The first one I have looked around and it seems I would need an Rf chip of some kind or it seems would be easier to just build without the Arduino unless anyone has any ideas.
What I really need help with is how i could get some external variables from probes into some code that will generate numbers and match them up to phonemes to either print out words or speak words.
Traditional spirit communications (not spirit presence detection) is found in the AM radio bands (in which the spirits have some transmission/control capability). If you want to intercept the spirit communications, the AM bands are you need to start.
I agree about the AM bands. And the equipment could hardly be simpler! About all you need to hear spirits communicating in the AM band region is a long piece of wire and a diode (the germanium type is preferred over silicon), which you connect to the "phono" input of an older style audio amp. Unfortunately with such inexpensive equipment you lose some selectivity, but at the same time you get a much better overview of what is being discussed.
polymorph:
How will you make sure you aren't just picking up radio transmissions?
The phenomenon of "hearing" words in static is a well known psychoacoustic effect and nothing to do with the paranormal which does not exist because if it did it would violate the second law of thermodynamics.
No, please stop.
I don't believe in the paranormal (which in my book includes Santa, the Easter Bunny, Big Foot, the Loch Ness monster and any number of deities and prophets) but that doesn't mean I take the piss out of people who do.
Honestly, ignoring the possibility of results, the Arduino is probably not powerful enough for you. You would be better off building your RF receiver without an Arduino and then doing the processing on a computer. It will probably work faster. Arduino's probably can do it, but it seems like it would be difficult for it to do it in real time. Go for something with more power.
My question was a serious one. My followup would be one that Grumpy_Mike has touched on, that of our pattern seeking brains hearing words in static. I used to have a filter fan and an air conditioner that made just the right noise so it almost sounded like words. Quite annoying when trying to sleep.
