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Re: [RFI] 200 khz AC line noise

To: Aaron Kreider <aaron@campusactivism.org>
Subject: Re: [RFI] 200 khz AC line noise
From: Dave Cole <dave@nk7z.net>
Date: Sat, 08 Dec 2012 16:52:21 -0800
List-post: <rfi@contesting.com">mailto:rfi@contesting.com>
Hi Aaron,
I believe that if you actually pin this to the power company, they HAVE
to fix it...  I am sure others will come in with more and better data
than I have...
-- 
73's and Thanks,
Dave
http://www.nk7z.net for equipment reviews, propagation, and more...


On Sat, 2012-12-08 at 16:59 -0500, Aaron Kreider wrote:
> I've got constant hum/buzz that is strongest in the 150 khz - 250 khz 
> area and is coming from the power lines. It is around S7 on my Drake R8 
> (with a low noise Wellbrook 1530+).  On my noise antenna (a 6 foot 
> horizontal wire) it was S9+10db (when using a triplite powerbar that 
> isolated me from the AC noise) or S8 (when using a regular power bar 
> that didn't isolate the radio from the AC and thus cancelled out the noise).
> 
> I went around my neighborhood testing 50+ power poles using a Tecsun 
> PL-380 and holding it up to the ground line on the power pole. This is a 
> portable shortwave radio with a digital dbu meter.  The noise floor on 
> the dbu meter is 15.  About 20% of the poles showed no noise - possibly 
> due to faulty grounds which meant I was too far from the noise to hear 
> it.  The rest of the poles ranged from around 30 dbu to 50 dbu.   I was 
> hoping to find a single pole or two that I could blame, so I could work 
> with the utility to fix it.  But I didn't detect any major patterns.
> 
> I'm wondering if my noise could be coming from multiple power poles?
> 
> Unfortunately the PECO power lines run through my property and thus it 
> is very hard to get away from them, and they are impossible to null with 
> full effectiveness (as they are on multiple sides).  Even if I go up 
> 10-20 feet over my roof line, I'll probably still hear the noise.  The 
> other downside of going up is that Wellbrook loop antenna's ability to 
> receive low angle signals degrades when you go high.
> 
> 
> Any advice?
> 
> Aaron
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