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[RFI] CATV RFI?

To: <rfi@contesting.com>
Subject: [RFI] CATV RFI?
From: "Brad Pioveson W9FX" <w9fx@verizon.net>
Reply-to: Brad Pioveson W9FX <w9fx@verizon.net>
Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2007 18:20:42 -0600
List-post: <mailto:rfi@contesting.com>
Hey, gang... I'm trying to help a guy that's 80 miles away.  He's a relative 
newbie to ham radio and has been working for some time with the local power 
company to eliminate his persistent, and, apparently, tough (i.e., 20 - 30 
dB above S9 on his rx) noise.  He sez that the utility guy is now pointing 
at the Charter Communications CATV boxes on two specific poles and claiming 
that this unit is one of two such units that are responsible for the 
residual noise.  He's at wit's end.

Our newbie ham has sent me some audio recordings of the noise, and, frankly, 
it sounds to me like a bad ballast in a high pressure sodium or merc vapor 
lamp fixture.  Moreover, the noise is not constant - some days, one pole or 
the other will go quiet.

So...  I am at a loss.  I've never experienced broadband (DC to daylight, he 
says) noise from a CATV installation.  Leaks on VHF freqs, certainly, but, 
never this kind of stuff.

Does anyone have a clue as to what might be happening in a CATV 'large metal 
box hanging on a pole' that would cause this kind of RFI?  I have audio 
files he's sent me that I can share...just not sure if the reflector allows 
attachments, so, if you would like to hear it, I'll ship 'em out if you drop 
me a note.

Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving, all

73, Brad, W9FX


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