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Re: [RFI] W8WWV noise

To: W0UN -- John Brosnahan <shr@swtexas.net>, rfi@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [RFI] W8WWV noise
From: Pete Smith <n4zr@contesting.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2004 07:36:57 -0500
List-post: <mailto:rfi@contesting.com>
At 10:36 PM 2/16/04 -0600, W0UN -- John Brosnahan wrote:

Greg, W8WWV asked me about his noise problem and I am
checking on some radar and sounding systems to see if anything
is out there that might make this noise.   But I also thought
the collective wisdom of the group might have some ideas.

His description of the noise is at:
http://www.seed-solutions.com/gregordy/Amateur%20Radio/Experimentation/DXNoise.htm

And he has a 30 second mpeg at:
http://www.seed-solutions.com/gregordy/Amateur%20Radio/Experimentation/Noise75.mp3

If you have any good ideas let me and/or Greg know.
"Greg Ordy" <ordy@seed-solutions.com>


This may be totally off the wall, but 15 years ago I was trying to finish my 5BDXCC and put up an 80-meter full-wave loop behind my townhouse. I was immediately confronted by a signal that sounded much like what Greg describes. It was discrete, only on a small band of frequencies, but with some audible short-term changes evident. I *think* (from memory) the sound was much like his recordings.


In my case, there were actually two bands of frequencies in the 80m band, one ca. 3505-3515, the other at 3765-3775.

I went around my neighborhood with a portable shortwave radio, and eventually determined that the noise was radiating from one house. The guy was willing to be helpful, and so I walked around his house with him trying to determine where the noise was coming from. At one point, he switched on the lights in an upstairs bathroom, and the noise suddenly ceased. The lights were incandescent, and there were no complex electronics anywhere, just a 72-cent Leviton silent SPST wall switch.

To cut to the chase, I replaced the switch for him, and the noise disappeared. A few days later, I noticed another, on a slightly different set of frequencies. I traced that one to a 3-way switching setup in the dining room of a townhouse across the street. Again, the homeowners let me replace a switch, and again the noise went away. I think that switch cost $1.15 -- again, no dimmer or anything else fancy, just a switch.

I have no idea what physical mechanism was responsible, but empirically, that's what it was. Particularly given Greg's description of the signals that appeared at different frequencies, from different directions, I have to wonder if he isn't experiencing something similar.

73, Pete N4ZR
Check out the World HF Contest Station Database
Updated 9 Jan 04
www.pvrc.org/wcsd/wcsdsearch.htm



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