Topband: Long-delayed echos

[HA0DU Steve]

  Dear All,

Not TopBand, but... Let me first state I have never been an alcoholic 
and never been on drugs.
In the late 1980's we had daily conversations on 24950 with HA0HV and 
HA0NAR. We were new on 160, and new on the WARC bands so we had a lot to 
talk about. On one day after we finished the chit-chat, I left the VFO 
on 24950 and started doing something in the shack. Some minutes later a 
"machine voice" started up on the frequency, repeating the whole 
conversation we had. The same voice for all three of us, repeating every 
sentence in order. The voice was like the voices of "computers" in the 
early sci-fi movies, the same level of voice and no accents at all. 
Monotonely saying everything we have said, for a good twenty minutes or so.
I was frozen. I did have a tape recorder in the shack, but I did not 
have a cartridge, and I just could not move to get one to record the 
speech. Then the voice got to the end of the conversation, said goodbye 
and it disappeared.
I don't think it was a long-delayed echo, and honestly I do not have the 
slightest idea what it could be - perhaps you guys can tell....

73 Steve HA0DU