RFI
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [RFI] Quidance on finding noise?

To: Don Kirk <wd8dsb@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [RFI] Quidance on finding noise?
From: Kenny Silverman <kenny.k2kw@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 9 Jan 2020 12:10:14 -0500
List-post: <mailto:rfi@contesting.com>
Don, I am very appreciative of you time and insight!  Tonight we’re going out 
with a Kx3 and 160m loop, hopefully we can find it this time. 

With the AM radio we found a few nearby options to check first. We also found 
other really noisy areas 2 miles away, but we will start close by.

I will keep you posted. While you already did some analysis, here’s my first 
take of the audio which has about 4 seconds of no speech at the beginning. For 
the trained ear you will also hear a few pulses at the start which are part of 
4 pulses heard every 2 minutes On the nose. But that’s another project. 
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=r98vONfZGH4&feature=youtu.be

Regards , Kenny K2KW 

> On Jan 9, 2020, at 11:45 AM, Don Kirk <wd8dsb@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> 
> Hi Ken,
> 
> Using 3 different audio software tools, I come up with a frequency of 60 
> Hertz, not 120 Hertz.  Typically power line noise has bursts at a frequency 
> of 120 hertz (arcing each half of the sine wave).
> 
> If it really is not power line noise which I suspect it's not, you will 
> probably have a somewhat easier time locating it.  It appears you have a good 
> idea what direction it's coming from assuming the gain of the beverages are 
> similar to each other.  If so I would say the noise is from the East North 
> East.  If it were me I would use a portable tuned loop with portable preamp 
> and portable HF receiver that would allow me to hear the noise just outside 
> the house of KC4D, and then I would use the null (or peak) of the tuned loop 
> to guide me right to the source while heading in the East North East 
> direction (I consider this method a form of infinite triangulation because as 
> you walk you continue to use the null of the loop to guide your direction of 
> travel), I would reduce receiver gain or install attenuation as I get closer 
> to the source so that I could still detect the null as I rotate the loop.  In 
> my experience you should be able to narrow in on this noise within 15 to 30 
> minutes of walking.  Most folks probably are not willing to invest in a 
> preamp (buying or building one).
> 
> The problem is that overhead power lines can radiate the signal, so you need 
> to stay away from the power lines as much as possible.  When this is the 
> case, I then do true triangulation by going to different locations away from 
> power lines to get headings, and then I plot the headings on Google Earth to 
> see where they intersect.
> 
> You should probably be able to hear this noise with a portable AM broadcast 
> band radio too, and you might be able to just use the built in loop stick 
> antenna to guide you to the source (using the null and peak method) but if 
> you can't throw in attenuation as you get close you might have some 
> difficulty when you get very close to the source, but I would certainly try 
> this method.  When you get right next to the source you might be able to hear 
> it up on 136 MHz AM (if you have a police scanner this would be a tool you 
> might try as the aviation band on the radio will provide AM reception), but 
> this is probably not even necessary but might be very helpful in confirming 
> you have located the source.
> 
> If you want to assume it could be a street light (I see a lot of street 
> lights on the main roads near KC4D), and you know the approximate time the 
> noise shows up each day, I would listen on my cars AM radio while parked out 
> on the side of these roads to see if I could catch the noise coming on when 
> the lights turn on (observing both street lights and house lights, etc.).  
> This assumes you are able hear the noise (a lot of new car radios have such 
> good noise blankers that you can't hear this type of noise).
> 
> There are a lot of other tools I use such as portable SDR receiver, but again 
> that's normally more than most folks want to mess with for a one time 
> situation.
> 
> I would recommend driving the streets up to an approximate 1 mile radius and 
> note the noise level during the day and during the night, and note where the 
> noise was horrible at night but not during the day (this might be the very 
> first thing I would try to do to isolate the problem while keeping things 
> simple for you).
> 
> Everyone has their own technique, and you need to work with whatever tools 
> you can easily obtain.
> 
> Keep us posted.
> Don (wd8dsb)
> 
_______________________________________________
RFI mailing list
RFI@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rfi
<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>