There have been some interesting developments and observations
regarding my noise problem on 1836 that I had mentioned in a previous
message. (See below.)
First of all, I'd like to thank those folks who responded to my post
with some excellent suggestions.
I started to search in earnest for the source of the noise. Typically,
I only tune 160M between 1815 and 1840 and use that range on my SDR-IQ
panadapter.
Today, I opened up the range and immediately saw an AM signal on 1840.
I was able to make out the audio and identified two local AM stations:
WGFC (1030 KHz) and WPIN (810 Khz). The first is a low power Mom and
Pop station about eight miles away and the second is a Blue Grass and
Gospel station about 15 miles away. Both are daytime stations and QRT
at around 5 PM at this time of year.
I contacted both stations and both were extremely agreeable and
helpful. It turned out that the engineer at WPIN was a very
knowledgeable ham who also worked 160M. He was able to control the 810
TX remotely, and while we were on the phone together, he turned it off.
The AM signal on 1840 disappeared, but there was still a strong, narrow
carrier. The carrier was also visible and equally strong on 1830, 1820, etc.
After installing an RX 4-square last year, I had observed very low level
signals every 10 Khz on 160M, but they were so weak that I ignored
them. However, this season they were somewhat stronger and today, as
the night progressed, they became extremely strong, comparable to W1AW's
S9 signal at this QTH. Because the signals tonight were as strong as
I'd ever heard them, I could detect some audio, but it was
unintelligible. I also observed that the broad signal around 1836 was
as strong as I'd ever seen it, and there was a similar, though weaker,
signal centered around 1808.5 that I'd never seen before.
I had to QRT because of other commitments, but I will pursue the problem
further tomorrow. In view of Rick's comments and the WDOR problem on
1820 reported by Larry, I wanted to add my current experiences to the
discussion. At this point, I'm convinced that the source of the problem
is the 24 hour station and that the WPIN and WGFC signals are getting
mixed somehow to produce the AM signal on 1840.
73, Joe
K2XX
/
> Regarding noise on 160M, I have been consistently observing all season
> long a broad signal, reminiscent of a plasma TV, centered around 1836
> KHz. Since it seems to be on 24/7 and my closest neighbor is a half
> mile away, I don't think it's a TV.
>> It's more or less centered on 1836 and is quite wobbly and varies in
>> amplitude and frequency. It's about 2.5 KHz wide, and it doesn't
>> vary in strength when I change directions on the RX array.
/
On 12/21/2011 2:44 PM, Rick Karlquist wrote:
> lrpmbt@comcast.net wrote:
>> The BCB on 1820 has become considerably louder lately. The interference
>> has been identified as WDOR www.wdor.com out of WI. As the audio is
>> intelligible. I know of a couple of Emails that have been sent to the
>> station. Maybe if more polite Emails are sent to the station corrective
>> actions will be taken. Larry W8VVG
>> _______________________________________________
>> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
> Intermods on even multiples of 10 kHz are simply a fact of life
> on 160 meters. Never operate exactly on one of these. In the
> recent Stew Perry, a station was absolutely zero beat at
> 1820. I was lucky to be able to copy him. He was probably
> wondering why it was so easy to hold that frequency.
>
> In the rest of the world, change 10 kHz to 9 kHz.
>
> Rick N6RK
>
> _______________________________________________
> UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
>
>
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_______________________________________________
UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
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