UGH!
Got a knock on the door this afternoon from my lovely neighbor while
operating the ARRL 10M contest. He told me that I was getting into his
phone. Not only that, he claimed that I was getting into the neighbor on
the other side of him, the neighbor beyond that and the neighbor across the
street from him. He claimed, they were talking about taking "legal" action
(but not him). He said the neighbor across the street had to turn of all
his TVs and radios because I was getting into everything.
Interesting..... I ran about 150 Watts all weekend. And if you've been to
my neighborhood, you know how big the lots are and how far these other
people are away (they're at least 75 feet away if not farther our lots are
all at least 50 feet wide). And the funny part was, after my conversation
with him, I looked over at the neighbor across the street from him and could
see that he was watching the Green Bay/Tenessee game during the last 2 hours
of the contest (big TV)! So I wonder if he REALLY talked to them or if I
was interfering cause I kept checking to see if I could see the TV on in
that other house.
He came over here demanding that I fix the problem on my end. I told him
that I seriously doubted it was on my end and the problem was with his phone
and that he'd need to get a filter from Radio Shack for it. I also told him
that legally, I am in the clear and that I am licensed to do such activity.
He continued to claim that it wasn't his problem to fix, yet he said he
wanted to work with me for a solution. I said, "OK, so you are saying you
want to work with me, but you don't like the solution that I give you that
IS the solution. So I can't help you...." He finally calmed down and
became more reasonable and said he'd get the filters for his phone.
Now, I haven't had a problem with this guy for over 2 years. And during
that time, I've operated probably 5 to 10 contests and most of them at full
legal limit. So I was shocked that when running 150 Watts, I had a problem.
Now, I know that I was running my audio and compressor pretty hot. In fact,
I may have been slightly overmodulating a bit. Now, while that might create
splatter on the ham band, I don't understand how that could cause RFI to
other people near by. It was also kind of rainy and damp here today. Could
that have anything to do with it?
I am stumped. If I really did bother all these neighbors, it's a first. My
antenna SWR is just fine. I was running only 150 Watts, but perhaps a
little over modulated and it was damp?
Is this a recipe for RFI??????? Any ideas?
73,
Jon
NA9D
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Jon Ogden
NA9D (ex: KE9NA)
Member: ARRL, AMSAT, DXCC, NRA
http://www.qsl.net/ke9na
"A life lived in fear is a life half lived."
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