On Thu, 2016-08-25 at 11:18 -0400, Frank N. Haas KB4T wrote:
> I have had an SDRPlay for a bit over a year. I use both HDSDR and SDR#
> software. I wanted to know if an SDR would be a good tool for hunting
> down arcing interference sources. I was hoping that the spectrum
> display and waterfall displays would make it easier for me to
> see/measure the intensity/signal strength of the source for which I
> was searching.
>
> Regrettably, the SDR system has proven nearly useless for my intended
> purpose. Sometimes I can hear the arcing source but it never shows up
> on the spectrum displays.
Try upping the averaging on HDSDR. That should help show up long term
sources. I turned up the averaging to show long term noise better, and
it made a big difference for me, it brought up all those wispy sources,
that did not show up with short average times. Let me know if it helps
you with visualizing your sparking.
> Worse, the SDRPlay is easily overloaded by stuff that isn't really a
> problem. I recently investigated an interference situation where the
> 314 MHz +/- range was being disrupted by something which caused Key
> Fobs not to work even when close to the vehicle they work with. The
> interference source went away before I could pinpoint the source. I
> scanned the band with the SDRPlay and all I saw were huge signals
> which turned out to be the 3rd harmonics of 2 or 3 nearby (2 miles
> away) FM Broadcast transmitters. I wasted a couple of hours chasing
> those ghosts that didn't really have anything to do with the problem I
> was chasing.
I was hoping someone would speak to the overload issues... Thank you!
> For now, SDRPlay is a fun toy but offers little advantage to me as a
> utility interference investigator.
Imagine you want to show a customer, or the FCC just how badly an RFI
generating device is crapping up the airwaves...
Do a one hour data take, then turn on the offending device, do another
hour, then kill the device and do another hour... That will pretty well
establishes a cause/effect relationship with the offending device and
the RFI... This assumes you can see it of course on the waterfall. 95%
of my RFI sources I find are not power company related, beyond the grid
transferring the RFI all over the area, so I don't deal with sparking.
I have often wondered if the power companies put ferrite material on
every homes service if the overall RFI levels would go down...
--
73's, and thanks,
Dave (NK7Z)
For software/hardware reviews see:
http://www.nk7z.net
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