Crazy Atmospheric Bounce the last couple of nights. Anybody else? HAM peeps check in?

Magnetosphere changes. The signs are all around us. Prepare.

It's called "bounce" or "skip". Normally a radio signal (if it's strong enough) hits the atmosphere and is reflected back down. It's why on say 40 meters, you can hear a station 100s of miles away a LOT better than a station 10 miles away. When there's solar or atmospheric irregularities, the signal can stay up there and travel through the atmosphere, instead of being reflected right away. It happens a lot with VHF signals. That's probably why the kids talkies were picking up that other traffic. It's not out of the ordinary, but it is rare. I can often hear stations 100s of miles away on a wavelength and power setting that "should" only be readable 20 or so miles out. Especially in the morning when it's especially clear, or very cloudy. Solar activity, and unnatural (very strong/think military) radio signals are usually the cause. It's a big soup of electromagnetic waves up there, and sometimes they can act weird. It's one of the things that makes the hobby compelling. Atmospherics.

The fun is just beginning

The frequency of the signal can get "bent" / changed as it interacts with other signals flying around. So you can transmit on one, and someone receives on another. Also not uncommon. You can be close to the sending frequency and still copy it. Doesn't have to be precise. Especially if "bounce" or "skip" is involved. The signal goes up (actually it goes out spherically, but the ground absorbs a lot), interacts with everything else going on in radio world, and may or may not come back down (get received) on the same frequency. If you want to teach/encourage the kids get a shortwave radio. You really can't go wrong. You can hear all kinds of interesting traffic by just running a wire out the back, or a coat hanger or something. It's much better with an antenna, but designs are simple and make a fun project. You can legally listen to anything you can (as long as you're not cracking encryption which you'd know if you were). VERY interesting traffic can be heard sometimes. Especially at night. That's when the atmospherics get really good and the traffic gets interesting. It's a lot of fun.

to track what else folks pick up.

they caught the skip...the sky is full of energy, it is being bombarded by scalar weapons

Also, if you or the kids catch the radio bug, go find your local amateur radio club. They usually meet monthly and LOVE to get new folks involved (especially kids). Every club meeting I've ever been to (and I've been to a lot) has been VERY welcoming and eager to help spread the knowledge of the hobby. I don't operate much nowadays, but even still, getting my license was one of the best things I've ever done.

Thanx for the info!!!

The best part was listening to the confusion between the two Operators about the school bus channel.