I'm in much the same boat. I got the Ameren guy to come down,
pointed him to the pole I thought I'd found. Turns out it's coming from
that vicinity but from somebody's house riding on the drop up to the poles
and transformers. It's intermittent and very hard to find from the ground.
Loud as hell on 6m. In any case, Ameren guy says it's not for him to fix if
it's not his pole.
******************************************************************
Mike Cornwall R.Ph.
PGP Public Key available at http://www.keyserver.net
KB9WQJ (ham radio)
WPWG606 (GMRS)
mccornwall@charter.net (primary-personal)
Michael.Cornwall@mercy.net (work)
kb9wqj@arrl.net (alias for primary)
RKBA! - The Right to Keep & Bear Arms is a Fundamental Human Right!
*******************************************************************
-----Original Message-----
From: rfi-bounces@contesting.com [mailto:rfi-bounces@contesting.com] On
Behalf Of w4lde
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2008 8:17 PM
To: RFI - Contesting.com
Subject: [RFI] [Fwd: Noise Follow up]
Original post by Ron W4LDE
>>>If this question is inappropriate for the reflector I apologize but
>>>as
of last Friday 9-5-08 I started to experience significant noise (S-9) on all
bands from 160 through 15M with the lower frequencies much stronger. I
thought that it was due to power line noise but it appears to be
intermittent in that it completely disappeared last Friday evening but once
again showed up last Saturday and stayed this way. On the Ft1000mp the
noise blankers are completely ineffective. At the same time I started
having internet problems and the cable company indicated they should have
the speed issue fixed by Tuesday.<<<
>>>The cables are run on poles until they enter a subdivision which then
run underground. My question is can cable lines be the possible problem to
HF frequencies? The power and cable companies have been installing new
poles and running new lines in the area which initially led me to believe it
was a power issue however, while I was writing this email the noise
completely disappeared for a few seconds and then reappeared. As I was
looking out my window I noticed a cable company buck truck through the woods
towards the main road, I am off now to talk to them and see what I can
discover. Any suggestions?<<<
----------Follow up !!! -------------------- 9-15-08 ------------------
On 9-8 I contacted the local power company via email regarding the above,
unexpectedly I received a call from the Maintenance Manager who stated don't
worry we will be out maybe tomorrow and find the cause. They did show up,
two buck trucks and full crews plus a 332-335 MHz Yagi and noise receiver.
Unfortunately they said that they couldn't find anything and suggested it
might be from a neighbors home.
They scanned my home but couldn't find a thing.
I was one unhappy ham and expressed that they needed to keep looking.
I believe I have ruled out a radio problem since the noise was about the
same on a FT-1000mp and a FT-847 and neither noise blanker would dent the
noise. A MFJ-Noise phasing unit helped some but only improved the noise by
about 1-2 S-units.
I spent some time connecting and disconnecting home devices plus
disconnecting one house breaker at a time.
Friday the 12th I decided that maybe I could help find the problem and using
a Yaesu VX-5R and rubber ducky at 134MHz and also at 329MHz AM started my
search.
I found significant noise at three different power poles, all new ones, with
two west of my antenna about 1/8 mile and the other to the east at also
about 1/8 mile. So I thought I had found the problem and would be reporting
this condition today.
When I came into the shack this AM to compose the email I happen to turn on
the rig and to my amazement the noise was gone.
eleven days I had a Ham Radio Black out on the low bands. Was I one happy
guy. I thought I better go check out the poles.
Off I went and yes the noise was gone at the poles, very quite.
Went out later this afternoon and took the VX-5R, things were still quite up
and down the main road.
After being gone for three hours as I was approaching the sub-division I
turned the VX-5R back on and WAM there was the same power poles and noise.
My heart sunk, O-Sh_t I shouted and my XYL who understood the situation gave
me her famous look and said keep on looking, write the reflector they can
help.
Well after arriving home and one hour later in the shack I turned on the
radio and found NO significant noise.
S-0 on 20-meters, S-2-3 on 30 meters and maybe as high as S-4 on 40M, at 4PM
thats not bad.
I was amazed once again and kinda dumb founded as to were to look next if I
have to.
Here's some of my thoughts,
1. Today for the first time in the past few weeks we finally had a cool
day, high around 80 (occurred around 5PM) and a low tonight of 60
a) Lower temps caused all connections to tighten and when it finally
warmed up around 4-5pm it started again at the poles.
2. Since there is still home building going on near us as the crews were
leaving the construction site a week ago maybe they left chargers on for
there power equipment and after doing there thing finally turned them off
this AM and left the site.
3. I did find out that the telephone company was having lots of noise
problems from there own installation. Not at my home but close.
a) Can't believe thats the fix since the noise stopped early on
Monday which didn't give them much time to complete the task, they started
last Wednesday.
4. Cool days, less power consumed by the A/C units, less amps, less noise
(is it s stretch?)
Ok I thought, maybe I should invest in a 144/440 hand held Yagi plus the
cables and adapters to help in a wider search area but wanted
recommendations as to what I should be looking at if the noise returns I
would be using the VX-5r on 138 am MHz and 332 am MHz.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
I believe I have ruled out a radio problem since the noise was about the
same on a FT-1000mp and a FT-847 and neither noise blanker would dent the
noise. A MFJ-Noise phasing unit helped some but only improved the noise by
about 1-2 S-units.
Any ideas where I should look next time and heres a pray that there isn't
one, is it worth the cost to invest now or wait?
get a 114/440 Yagi or just stay with a 144 hand held Yagi.
Thanks for the bandwidth and thoughts, wish I could take credit for the
current fix but I'm happy right now!
73 de
Ron W4LDE
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