Radio pulses along the galactic plane

We have surveyed 68 deg(2) along the Galactic plane for single, dispersed radio pulses. Each of 3027 independent pointings was observed for 68 s using the Arecibo telescope at 430 MHz. Spectra were collected at intervals of 0.5 ms and examined for pulses with duration 0.5-8 ms. Such single-pulse analysis is the most sensitive method of detecting highly scattered or highly dispersed signals from pulsars with large pulse-to-pulse intensity variations. A total of 36 individual pulses from five previously known pulsars were detected, along with a single pulse not associated with a previously known source. Follow-up observations discovered a pulsar, PSR J1918+08, from which the pulse originated. This pulsar has a period of 2.130 s and a dispersion measure of 30 pc cm(-3), and it has been seen to emit single pulses with strength up to 8 times the average.