The Curious Case of the Noisy 1670 Modem

While testing a pair of VIC-20s connected via 1670 modems, the author discovered a peculiar noise emitted by the modems in dial mode. This noise isn't pulse dialing, nor is it a hardware malfunction; both modems, and one used back in 1988, exhibit the same behavior. The noise is a regular "pa-tink" sound occurring every 1.2 seconds. The author suspects the noise originates from the modem's local speaker, but hasn't determined if it's transmitted over the line. It remains an unsolved mystery, though functionally inconsequential.