Squirrels have fuzzy tails.
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You need an oscilloscope to view the waveform of the IR emitter circuit. Look for a Radio Shake ProbeScope - http://www.linuxtoys.org/pscope/pscope.htmlor do a web search on serial port / USB oscilloscopes. If you are building your own circuits, you won't use an oscilloscope too often, but when you need it, there is no better tool for sorting out waveform problems.
You can sometimes find the ProbeScope on eBay for around $70. Also, there seems to be a US distributor for the product, which is actually called osziFOX - http://www.biotechproducts.com/wittig-oszifox.htmlAccording to what I've seen, this scope can sample up to 2MHz.I have a Velleman HPS40 scope that cost about $200. It is not the great scope, but it has paid for itself in troubleshooting some problems, including some 38kHz IR circuits.
What IR receiver are you using ?
Well ... if the IR receiver is indicating a received signal from your TV remote, it probably is working fine. The remote sends out a bit pattern by turning on and off a 38kHz IR transmitter, so the receiver will show a HIGH output when it is receiving the 38kHz signal, and LOW when it isn't. The filtering on the receiver isn't that tight, so a 36kHz signal or 40kHz signal will still trigger a HIGH. From your description, it seems that your transmitter isn't producing anywhere close to 38kHz.