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[TowerTalk] Interference Problem (long)

To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
Subject: [TowerTalk] Interference Problem (long)
From: Cqtestk4xs@aol.com (Cqtestk4xs@aol.com)
Date: Mon Feb 3 12:56:34 2003
I have found the local power company (FL Power) to be pretty good.  The guy I 
have been working with recently is on the ball.  However, he was a 
replacement for another guy who tried, but his tecnnical expertise was 
lacking.

I too used the progressive frequency method and have been pretty successful 
in at least getting within one pole of the right one.  I used my portable 
radio and car rx for the AM part and then whipped out the MFJ sniffer to do 
the rest.

Since I am retired I was able to cruise around with the power company RFI guy 
in his truck and check out the offending poles I had noted on a detailed map. 
 He used several devices including binoculars, a very nice 'sniffer', the 
bucket and the standard hammer.  We also shook the guying on the poles etc.  
In every case over the years (20), with the exception of two times, the 
offending noise has been a bad lightning arrestor.  That's not too surprising 
since central FL is the lightning of the US.

For  the two others, one was a bad insulator and the other was a piece of 
power cord draped over a 120KV line 100 feet in the air.  How it got up there 
I can only speculate...a hawk or eagle thinking it would make a good material 
for a nest was carrying it and dropped it midway between two poles.  It took 
a long time to find that one.  We kept looking at the power line towers but 
they were clean.

I have found keeping the following to be a big help.  1. Keep an open mind as 
to the source to be a big help.  2. Don't just tell the power company...I 
have a problem.  If you can locate it for them, it's a big help. 3.Thank yous 
and pleases go a long way.  4.Hammering and shaking are pretty much urban 
tales and don't help a lot. 5.  Thank yous and please go a long way.  5. 
Taking care of RFI is an endless task.  6.  Thank yous and pleases go a long 
way.  7.  Generally, the higher the voltage on the lines, the less likely 
they are the offenders.  Ones that run 7200 to 14K are the worst since they 
have lots of 'things' to go wrong....arrestors, taps, splices.  8  Thank yous 
and pleases go a long way.

Bill K4XS ....used to be s8-9 line noise
. 
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