[CQ-Contest] Power Line Interference, addendum

[Pete Smith]

At 03:43 PM 3/24/98 -0500, Scott Ellington wrote:
>Something I should have mentioned in my first posting:
>
>Writing letters to your power company, PSC, FCC, etc. should be considered 
>a last resort.  Make every effort to solve the problem first
>through the usual channels.  If these agencies get flooded 
>with letters every time a little noise is detected, letters will no 
>longer be effective.  Unless you have an unusually enlightened
>utility, YOU will have to find the source of the noise yourself, or 
>at least narrow it down to a small area.  If you have done that,
>and still can't get action from the power company, THEN it may
>be time to consider writing.


Amen, Scott.  I live in a rural area where a very large power company tries
to operate at long distance by remote control.  Luckily, I was able to find
out who locally would be assigned the job if the bureaucrats above chose to
do so, and I wrote to him.  He, in turn, sent a lineman out to work with me
on the thing.  The guy found the problem very quickly.  I put a little
effort into the relationship with the lineman, and now I have a "just call
me" situation if I ever have RFI again. 

At least in this case, the faceless bureaucracy turned into "just a guy,"
who, like most people, liked being appreciated for doing his job right. 

73, Pete Smith N4ZR
n4zr at contesting.com 

"That's WEST Virginia.  Thanks and 73"


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