Roger on the power lines, AND I'd suggest doing a survey for other "domestic"
noise. In my neighborhood and many others it is the "Tap Lights" that are the
RFI devil incarnate!
They are the little devices that have a 2" touch sensitive pad or even the base
of a lamp is touch sensitive and are commonly installed inline to give 3
levels of brightness to the lamp. To make matters worse, if they are used to
control 12v Halogen lamps they may have a noisy switching "dimmable" wall-wart
as part of the system. All of this racket runs thru the house wiring and can be
heard from several housed away -- nasty stuff.
I have been fighting this noise for years and even had the TelCo and Electric
Utility RFI folks out with no luck. Below is what I sent out to some pals a
few weeks ago. Now if I can find the source of the intermittent "arc welding"
(spark gap) noise I'll be a happy camper!
Regards, John NA6L
Remember how I was complaining about the wide band, badmuffler motor scooter
RFI noise that was about 100 KCs wide that kinda'wandered around, it even
changed tone and varied its staccato pulse. All thingsconsidered, it was a very
weird noise. One other detail is that the noise was up to S-9 and loudest on
thelower bands and it cut off within a few KCs like a SSB signal.
It turned out that it was my neighbors 2 sets of 30 yearold 3 way dimming TAP
light systems that fed some 12v halogen lights. There ismore to the story,
first I bought a new version of the TAP light system -- sameproblem. The next
step was to buy andinstall a replacement dimmer system using corded slide
controls and that gotrid of 50% of the noise. As it turnedout the other 50% of
the noise is from one of the 110v (line) to 12v (halogenlights) transformers --
it really makes a hell of a lot of racket when it isenergized. The little wall
wart typetransformer is labeled "dimmable" but I'm going to try replacing
itwith one of my 12v wall warts from the great big box-o-converters.
-----Original Message-----
From: Bob K6UJ <k6uj@pacbell.net>
To: Towertalk <towertalk@contesting.com>
Sent: Sun, Mar 11, 2012 2:22 pm
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] high tension power line noise...
Gary,
I'm with Joe, good idea to take a portable AM radio and tune off a broadcast,
turn the volume up and check out the property.
Also, do the same with your car radio, drive all around the neighborhood and
check. Drive under the power lines with
a cross street and see what you get. In our area, when I drive under the big
hi
power lines, from about 4 houses away I get RFI noise on AM.
So the RFI it extends out about 300 feet on each side of the lines. I can't
imagine how it
would impact 160 meters ! I would be very careful about buying property this
close to the hi power lines.
I know what you are going thru, we spent a long time looking for our house that
we were comfortable with putting up a tower/ antennas.
We finally ended up buying in an unincorporated area of the county, it is
difficult to find antenna/tower friendly property. I wish you
good luck on your search !
Bob
K6UJ
On Mar 11, 2012, at 12:55 PM, Joseph or Ruth Patrick wrote:
> Hey Gary
>
> If you want you could take a tour of the property with a small battery
> powered
> am radio. I have located many noise sources this way. All power companies are
> different. some do little to no maintenance. Some guys are all over it. The
> bottom line for the power company is if there is noise, there is loss not
> just
> in power but money. If this property is the one you have to purchase then
there
> will be times you will have to deal with this situation. Keep on looking.
> When
> we bought our house we were in 45 homes in 30 days. No HOA, No Deed
> restrictions, & no CC&R's.
> I know it's getting harder and and harder to find property like this so you
have
> to make the decision. Good luck.
> 73 DE K4XZ Joe Patrick
> God Made Man
> Sam Colt Made Them Equal
>
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: StellarCAT <RXDesign@ssvecnet.com>
> To: towertalk@contesting.com
> Sent: Sat, March 10, 2012 2:24:27 PM
> Subject: [TowerTalk] high tension power line noise...
>
> Hello... my wife and I will be moving soon to a new area... one of the
> properties we are considering,
>
> and its really difficult to find something anymore that meets ALL the
> criteria
–
> county (no restrictions),
>
> no HOA, no deed restrictions, and of course a house... one of the places has
> a
> high tension line ~400’
>
> away from where I’d install my tower... and about 600’ from where I’d have a
> 160/80 receive 4 sq array....
>
> now I’d THINK that this should not be a problem – assuming the power company
> takes care of any issues
>
> (as required by the FCC and as is prudent for them to do for power
> lose/longevity)... however having
>
> never been THAT close I’d love to hear from anyone that says otherwise – that
> there will be a problem.
>
> I operate weak signal from 160 through 6 meters...
>
> thanks
>
> Gary
> K9RX
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
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>
>
>
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