You have two problems:
1) The noise.
2) The owner of the neon sign.
ARRL's RFI Book has a fix to try for the noise. A good AC line filter
mounted right at the transformer, and 10Kohm-1W resistors in series with
each high voltage line. Make sure the transformer case is bonded to a good
ground. It also says if that doesn't do it, try winding thin magnet wire
around each tube's entire length (Ugh!) and ground each end of the wire. 6
or 7 turns per foot is sufficient. From your description, it sounds like
you may need to do the magnet wire.
As for the 2nd problem: The owner. Perhaps you could talk the local power
company into visiting the owner's pizza place with DFing equipment looking
for a source of noise that they've traced to the sign? This might make the
owner more cooperative since it now appears to be a problem with the
utility, and nobody wants to tick-off the power company, especially someone
who's business is dependant on electricity! We've tried this before, and
when our tech says something to the effect that we cannot have his equipment
feeding noise onto power company lines per federal rules, they invariably
get an electrician to fix the problem. It's good if the power company guy
leaves some tips on how to fix the problem as well since a run-of-the-mill
electrician might not know how to fix it. Hopefully you'll be able to get
some help along these lines.
73,
de ed -K0iL
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stephanie WX3K
> Hi folks,
>
> My turn to share an ongoing interference problem. Actually, I have 2 noise
> sources......The power line problem I mentioned earlier AND the neon light
> problem I have had for a couple of years now.
>
> The pizza place down the road, 1/4 mile away, has a large externally
> mounted
> neon light array on their building. This blasted array is emitting so much
> RF across the whole HF band, it is amazing. The pizza owner as the
> previous
> one is ignorant and unwilling to cooperate to help resolve the issue. All
> the noise problems I have are emitted right off the light array around the
> edge of the building. I have consulted with some neon light experts and
> they
> are basically telling me that the array is breaking into oscillation
> because
> the installer used the wrong voltage transformers.
>
> Suggestions on the approach I should use with this problem ?
>
>
> Stephanie R. Koles WX3K
> wx3k@arrl.net
> http://www.wxpage.com
>
> Mt. Holly Skywarn Technical Committee - Vice Chair
> Skywarn Coordinator for Somerset County, NJ
> Mt Holly Skywarn Webmaster
> Eastern PA Radio Assoc. - Vice President
>
>
> --
> FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/rfi
> Submissions: rfi@contesting.com
> Administrative requests: rfi-REQUEST@contesting.com
> Questions: owner-rfi@contesting.com
--
FAQ on WWW: http://www.contesting.com/FAQ/rfi
Submissions: rfi@contesting.com
Administrative requests: rfi-REQUEST@contesting.com
Questions: owner-rfi@contesting.com
|