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Re: [RFI] Power outages and RFI

To: Dave Cole <dave@nk7z.net>
Subject: Re: [RFI] Power outages and RFI
From: Christopher Wawak <kc2ieb@wawak.org>
Date: Mon, 29 Mar 2021 12:56:08 -0400
List-post: <mailto:rfi@contesting.com>
Dave ... we don't .. we don't have to worry about you ... creating power
"holidays" on particularly nice weekends, do we? :) hihi

This was a great experience for me, and definitely made me look at that
ft857 sitting on the shelf unused in a different, more outdoorsy light.

On Mon, Mar 29, 2021 at 12:53 PM Dave Cole <dave@nk7z.net> wrote:

> The instant the power drops here, my radio is on...  My noise floor
> drops from S7 to +10db over S9, to S2-3.
>
> No amp, but with a 100 watts I am a happy camper.  We had a 6 day outage
> a few years back, and I got a ton of DX I never even thought I could hear.
>
> Loss of power is a good thing here...  I have a Honda EU2000, and
> battery for the shack and house...
>
> The heater, stove, and water heater all run on natural gas, so I do a
> lot of DXing during power outages.
>
> It is truly sad what has happened to HF in the last 20 years.  I used to
> have an S4-5 background noise level on 40, as recently as 15 years ago.
> Now...  No chance...
>
> I have been considering QRP from the mountains of late...
>
> 73, and thanks,
> Dave (NK7Z)
> https://www.nk7z.net
> ARRL Volunteer Examiner
> ARRL Technical Specialist, RFI
> ARRL Asst. Director, NW Division, Technical Resources
>
> On 3/29/21 5:30 AM, Christopher Wawak wrote:
> > Just a short personal story:
> >
> > My entire neighborhood lost power early last night. I sat around in the
> > dark for a few minutes, then realized that this is a rare opportunity and
> > sprinted down to the shack. I quickly hooked up my 7300 to a battery,
> > flicked on the radio, and saw a thing of beauty. NO RFI! For a few short
> > hours before power was restored, I had the lowest noise floor across the
> > bands I've seen in the 6 months I've been active on HF. On the one hand,
> it
> > was good fun catching contacts that were buried in the noise before. On
> the
> > other, realizing that there's this much noise holding me back is a little
> > discouraging.
> >
> > Who else runs to the radio when the power goes out? Anyone have similar
> > stories to share?
> >
> > 73 KC2IEB
> >
> > Chris
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
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