I've been working with AmerenIP for about 2 years. I have been
tracking down noise sources with an F6A and a 2m yagi for about a year and a
half. I thought I had found the offending pole and I had their noise guy
come out. We stopped by that pole. At hat point the noise seemed to come
from somewhere else. AT that point the RFI guy indicated that Ameren had
fixed all it could and that the noise was coming from someone's house and
was getting into the lines that way. He indicated that he would be closing
my case and would not provide any more visits.
I have done so many walkabouts with the HT and yagi that the
neighbors all know what I'm about. I just can't (and he couldn't) seem to
track this last one down. It comes and goes and when it's here it's LOUD.
I have so little time to operate and it seems this thing is always howling
right when I have operating time.
I've been cooperating with Ameren since about January 2007. I can't
seem to get any more cooperation from them. Plus, it's hard to be wandering
around the neighborhood at night here looking for this thing. I sort of
needed to just vent a little too. I've been tearing my hair out for quite
some time with this thing.
******************************************************************
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: atrampler@att.net [mailto:atrampler@att.net]
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 7:04 PM
To: Michael Cornwall
Subject: Re: [RFI] [Fwd: Noise Follow up]
Mike,
Do you have a soundcard interface with your radio? If so, there are free
oscilloscope programs that run on your PC audio. I downloaded one that then
showed the frequency of my interference, which significantly helped to
identify and eliminate it. 120hz or 8.66ms is what you'll generally get
with powerline noise. Different sources have different signatures. A real
nasty one is from power inverters that some who use solar to charge
batteries have installed.
I also borrowed an HT from a friend, a Kenwood TF6A, and a 2m/440 yagi, and
did my own scoping of the area. The higher the frequency, the more the
signal dissipates with distance allowing one to hone in on the offending
pole or poles, if indeed that is the cause. I started by driving my
neighborhood and noting where I picked up the noise with the rubber duck on
it. I set the HT for SSB reception so I could hear the noise.
You may want to call Ameren and ask where the point of delineation of
ownership on its power grid is. Some utilities own right up to the meter.
With some, the ownership changes hands at the pole. In short, he who owns
the wire is obligated to fix it, and he who doesn't is not.
You did mention it's coming from somebody's house and riding up. Is that
what Ameren told you? If so, do you have any way of checking with an HT and
2m yagi?
I hope I'm not just ticking you off with these thoughts, because you have
probably covered them all. If not, maybe you can find the time to do this.
I had to do my walkabout Sunday afternoon and it took me a couple of hours,
but at least I pinned down the pole and it should be repaired in the near
future.
73,
Art, K0RO
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Cornwall" <mccornwall@charter.net>
To: <rfi@contesting.com>
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 6:51 PM
Subject: Re: [RFI] [Fwd: Noise Follow up]
> Well, my noise is worse than ever. Ameren says it's not them and
> won't work with me anymore. It's covering all of 6m and way down in HF
> now.
> It sounds EXACTLY like noise source #3 on the rfiservices sounds page.
> It's
> 20 over S9 on all bands down to 40m.
>
> Makes me want to quit ham radio. I haven't got the time or energy
> to fight this crap anymore.
>
>
> ******************************************************************
> 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 Pete Smith
> Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2008 5:44 AM
> To: rfi@contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [RFI] [Fwd: Noise Follow up]
>
> Amen to that - I found a neighbor with an electrically-heated dog dish
> that
> had a bad thermostat. Emphasizing the fire risk ("hear that - that's a
> spark somewhere on your house wiring") is very useful.
>
> Here's an excellent reference on finding which house has the noise:
> http://www.rfiservices.com/residence.htm
>
> 73, Pete N4ZR
>
>
> At 10:29 PM 9/15/2008, Billy Cox wrote:
>>Have the neighbor flip his breakers one by one, and to "encourage him"
>>mention that problems like this COULD cause either a FIRE or higher
>>electric bills ... I did this once and we found he had a loose wire on
>>his hot water heater! Solved my RFI problem, and the 'static' on his TV
>>and he felt a WHOLE lot safer from the steps we took on this.
>>
>>73 de Billy, AA4NU
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>> >From: Michael Cornwall <mccornwall@charter.net>
>> > 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.
>>_______________________________________________
>>RFI mailing list
>>RFI@contesting.com
>>http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rfi
>
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