Ghosts & Haunts In Missouri

Terry@missourighosts.net

Review P-SB7 ITC Research

Review:

Spirit Ghost Box P-SB7 by ITC Research

Over the years, several versions have gone into production.

2009 saw the initial model.

2011 update added 119 new FM frequencies in the 76Mhz to 87.9Mhz band.

2015 added new noise reduction and is said to have better build quality. This version will soon be reviewed.

Optional accessories:

External Speaker (must have)

Voice Recorder (strongly recommended)

AC Power Adapter (strongly recommended)

I have seen this device in use at haunted locations now for several years and can provide long term insight of the good and bad points to the design.

First things first, does it work? The answer is yes, I still have a preference for EVP's captured on camcorders and voice recorders -- here's why.

The silent background provides cleaner spirit communication than a radio sweeping through frequencies with a white noise generator.

That being said, the P-SB7 audio quality is much, much better than most of the other spirit boxes I have heard, including its own big brother, the more expensive P-SP11 which can't produce the clear natural sounding voices this one can.

For this reason I can't recommend the P-SB11 because the lower priced model is clearly better. One owner of both speculates that the 9V battery powering the unit is inducing audio distortions compared to the AAA powered P-SB7. He is going to modify his P-SB11 to run on AA batteries to confirm this theory.

The P-SB7's controls are well laid out and simple to use, and the display is large and bright.

It’s powered by 3 AAA batteries which don't last long.

People who think that they’re just hearing speech from a radio station don't quite understand what’s going on with these devices.

If you place an EVP response recorded from the P-SB7 through audio analysis, you will see that all the voices are broken up over a series of equal blocks of time determined by your choice of sweep speed. These EVP audio voice replies at high sweep speeds are not contained in a single block from one radio station; a single word chopped up in this manner will be composed of a collection of many of these blocks. This word-slurring process might indeed produce an occasional false EVP from time to time, but before you jump to the conclusion that discredits its use, remember a random word spoken through this device from time to time doesn't explain how it can reply to your specific questions. The odds of a random reply to one of your questions is astronomically small, and multiple replies during an EVP session compound this issue.

I want you to listen to an EVP captured with the P-SB7.

EVP

This is a sample of what can be achieved with the P-SB7's audio.

This video clip was recorded on a camcorder in the hallway just outside the room where an EVP session is taking place with the

P-SB7 running.

This is one of the most complicated EVPs I have ever captured. If you listen to it carefully, when the question is asked, "Who is the President right now?", even before he finishes the question at the 2 second point, the name "Obama" is spoken. What's strange is no one in the room noticed it. Then at the 4 second point it says "Franklin" (not our current president, but in its time Franklin D Roosevelt might have been the sitting president) followed at the 6 second point, where it says "Obama" a second time, which they did notice. Now what are the odds about asking who the president is and receiving 3 replies within a 12 second clip from words that have been chopped up a dozen times over on each word? An occasional random unrelated reply might happen, but the above reply is from an intelligent source.

From experience I would recommend the FM band over the AM band. Some versions of this box don't offer the AM band, and be prepared to experiment at each site location, speeding up or slowing down the sweep speeds to sync with anything trying to communicate. There might be a learning process for these entities to speak through it.

Also if you have more than one Ghost Box running at the same time we have noticed times where different entities speak to one another through these boxes.

Now some bad news. No piece of ghost hunting equipment is perfect. The quality of construction is unfortunately low, and the unit suffers from serious shortcomings. First the built in speaker is terrible; it’s not loud enough and its clarity isn't the best. Second there is no built in recorder to document your EVP sessions -- you might experience the once in a lifetime EVP communication and have no record of it to review/analyze later, or miss details if you listened from the mostly useless internal speaker.

The unit does have ports to add an external speaker and voice recorder which will counter some the P-SB7's weaknesses, but now you will find yourself lugging around 3 pieces of equipment with all the necessary cables to counter mistakes in poor design, and compromising your mobility. I understand a manufacture corner cutting to hit price points for a low end version, but why not offer a better built model with high end internal speaker and voice recorder? The other thing I found wanting is overall build quality, because some units are breaking down and not through abuse. They are not built to last. Quality built equipment for ghost hunting like Mel-Meters or Tri-Field Meters are still in service after 10 years heavy use; I doubt any of these boxes will last that long!

If you haven't worked with a spirit box before, one thing that drives everyone crazy is the irritating white noise pulsing sound that’s kind of like a locomotive; it’s an assault on your ears, very unpleasant to listen to for any length of time. During ghost hunts it’s best to limit the time of use with the P-SP7's, or wear head phones to prevent distressing your fellow ghost hunters.

Do I recommend the P-SB7 for ghost hunters?

Yes, this is on my short list of must have pieces of equipment for people with long term interest in ghost hunting.

All rated on a scale of 1 to 10

2009-2014 2015

Ease of use 10 10

Speaker quality 2 2

w/external speaker 7 2/9

Produce real EVP's 10 10

Battery life 3 3

Build quality 5 5

Durability 5 New

Cost 10 10

The new 2015 models are shipping and our preliminary opinion was that the audio quality is inferior to the previous models. The volume from the headphone jack/speaker port seems weak. Changing the speaker solved the problem.

We tested several 2015 models

at the Tri-County Truck Stop, the entities at this location are particularity skilled at speaking through these devices. The results?

With the right speaker the new model is better than my previous favorite version of the P-SB7 Ghost Box. Some P-SB7 ship with a second rate speaker, the winner so far is the Altec Lancing IM227 speaker, there probably are even better speakers, but so far this is the best we have listened to.

You can watch the Tri-County investigation footage, its 30 minutes in length, and listen to the new P-SB7 used during our March 28 2015 Ghost Hunt.

Recommended dealer for this item: Ghost Stop

Here is my list of recommended equipment for paranormal investigations.

1. Night Shot IR or Full Spectrum Camcorder

2. Mel Meter

3. Tri-Field Meter

4. Laser Grids or Laser Pointers with Lens pattern generator kits.

5. Ghost Box

6. Voice Recorders

7. Motion Sensors

8. Digital Camera

9. Ghost Meter