[NCC] Re: Power-Line EMI from AEP

[The D. H. Kaiser Co.]

John:

    If indeed to offensive pole was identified on Friday March1st, 2002 by
the AEP RFI investigator, I have been unable to convince them to make the
necessary repairs.

Hearing nothing from them on 3/4/02 - I called Mr. Tom Henshaw of AEP, who
informed me that the repair order had been sent to Mr. Dave Booth for
scheduling.

Hearing nothing from Mr. Booth, I called him on Wednesday 3/6/02. He
returned my call 3/7/02 and told me he would arrange required parts and have
a crew repair pole on Friday morning (this date).  Went home for lunch,
checked the noise problem to find it still there / returned to office and
called Mr. Booth & left message for him to return my call.

I believe, and I have stated to Mr. Booth, that AEP management does not
consider complaints of this nature important.

I no longer have a sense of humor with regard to this 3 1/2 month problem.

On my behalf, please proceed with any correspondence you deem necessary.

Thank you for your help to date.

73,
N8PW
William H. Hannon
319 21st ST. NW
Canton, Ohio 44709






----- Original Message -----
From: "Phillips, John K2QAI" <k2qai@arrl.org>
To: "'The D. H. Kaiser Co.'" <dkaiserc@neo.rr.com>
Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2002 1:59 PM
Subject: RE: Power-Line EMI from AEP


> Thanks for the update Bill, and congratulations on your ability to keep a
> sense of humor about this very aggravating stuff. :-)
>
> 73,
>
> John Phillips - K2QAI
> ARRL Lab
> EMC/RFI Engineer
> 225 Main St
> Newington, CT 06111
> Tel: 860-594-0392
> Internet: k2qai@arrl.org
> Web: http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/rfigen.html
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The D. H. Kaiser Co. [mailto:dkaiserc@neo.rr.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2002 7:51 AM
> To: Phillips, John K2QAI
> Subject: Re: Power-Line EMI from AEP
>
>
> John:
>
>     Thank you for the prompt response.   I decided to phone my AEP contact
> again yesterday (02/25/02) and the latest plan is for me to meet with
their
> RFI investigator later this week.
> This AM we enjoyed a rain shower and I enjoyed quiet bands again.  Drove
> past the most objectionable noise sources, on my way to the office, and
> quiet when wet !
>
> I think the local repair guys are trying, however the problem is above
their
> heads (HI HI).
>
> I will keep you informed of the progress via E-Mail -
>
>
> 73,  Bill Hannon, N8PW
>
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Phillips, John K2QAI" <k2qai@arrl.org>
> To: <dkaiserc@neo.rr.com>
> Sent: Monday, February 25, 2002 1:45 PM
> Subject: Power-Line EMI from AEP
>
>
> > Hello William,
> >
> > Normally, we recommend that the affected Amateur contact the power
> company,
> > file a complaint, wait three months, then get back to us and we can
write
> a
> > letter to the CEO explaining their responsibilities, etc. You have to
> supply
> > us with the name, title, and mailing address for the CEO.
> >
> > However, in your case, it certainly sounds like you have done all that
can
> > be reasonable expected of you, and it has been well over three months
> since
> > your first contact with them. So, what I will do is include a copy of
our
> > usual "first letter", just FYI. It is up to you what you would like us
to
> > do. Since we already have a number of other AEP related cases going, we
> have
> > the CEO info, and all you would have to do is give us the GO signal, and
I
> > will jump right on it and it will go out within a day.
> >
> > This is maddening stuff, but the process we are now using at least keeps
> on
> > track as we follow it. If they don't respond within another three
months,
> we
> > refer the case to the FCC and ask them to get involved. In your case, it
> > would probably be a lot less than three months since the others
involving
> > AEP have already been going on for a while and we like to lump as many
as
> > possible in one submittal, both to keep the work for Riley
Hollingsoworht
> > and the FCC to a minimum, but also by lumping a number of cases
together,
> we
> > can better demonstrate a lack of committment on the part of the company
> > responsible for the noise.
> >
> > Please let me what you would like me to do next. I will hold off on
> anything
> > until I hear from you.
> >
> > Thanks & 73,
> >
> > John Phillips - K2QAI
> > ARRL Lab
> > EMC/RFI Engineer
> > 225 Main St
> > Newington, CT 06111
> > Tel: 860-594-0392
> > Internet: k2qai@arrl.org
> > Web: http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/rfigen.html
> >
> >
> > In response to your inquiry about the power line noise you are
> experiencing,
> > we have found that the best way to bring the matter to a positive
> resolution
> > is to enter the complaint with your local power company and keep
detailed
> > records of what takes place including what you are experiencing, signal
> > levels, time of day, intermittent or constant, etc., and especially note
> > every communication you have with anyone regarding this problem
including
> > time, date, person you spoke with, their title or function in the
company,
> > what they said or promised, as well as any attempts they do make to fix
> it.
> > The better you can document the problem and your efforts in resolving
it,
> > the better the chance that the FCC will be inclined to step in if the
> power
> > company can not or will not take care of it by themselves.
> >
> > It may take several tries for them to fix it but they do have the
> > responsibility to do that. While the FCC does understand that there can
be
> > delays resulting from emergency needs such as power outages, that does
not
> > relieve the power company of the final responsibility of fixing the
noise
> in
> > a reasonable amount of time.
> >
> > To give you a better idea of how we have been approaching power-line
noise
> > complaints, let me give you some general background on the subject. To
> take
> > it from the top, you are not supposed to be experiencing harmful
> > interference from power lines. The FCC covers this clearly in their Part
> 15
> > Rules. Power-lines are considered to be "incidental radiators" and are
not
> > allowed to generate "harmful interference", something that is clearly
> > happening in your case. The FCC tries to be reasonable, and if you had
an
> > S-1 or perhaps even an S-2 level, they might not be inclined to require
> the
> > power company to fix it unless you could find it yourself. However, that
> is
> > not what is going on here so you need to proceed with this in the
> following
> > fashion:
> >
> > As mentioned above, keep good records. Next, familiarize yourself with
the
> > information available about power-line noise on the ARRL web site and in
> The
> > RFI Book, published by ARRL.
> >
> > The relevant url is:
> > http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/rfi-elec.html
> >
> > In addition, there is an entire area having to do with the FCC Part 15
> rules
> > and regulation at:
> > http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/part15.html
> >
> > It may be helpful to pass this information on to the power company in
any
> > way you can. Print it out and give them a copy, or refer them to the
links
> > we have sent you regarding this subject. The important thing is to get
> them
> > to realize that they have a definite responsibility here. Some of the
> things
> > you might want to show them include the following excerpt from an actual
> > letter that the FCC sent to a power company that was causing harmful
> > interference. This letter can be found in its entirety on the ARRL web
> site
> > at:
> > http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/fcc_utility_letter.html
> >
> > Title 47, CFR Section 15.5 General conditions of operation.
> >
> >
> > (b) Operation of an intentional, unintentional, or incidental radiator
is
> > subject to the conditions that no harmful interference is caused and
that
> > interference must be accepted that may be caused by the operation of an
> > authorized radio station, by another intentional or unintentional
> radiator,
> > by industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) equipment, or by an
incidental
> > radiator.
> >
> > (c) The operator of the radio frequency device shall be required to
cease
> > operating the device upon notification by a Commission representative
that
> > the device is causing harmful interference. Operation shall not resume
> until
> > the condition causing the harmful interference has been corrected.
> >
> > While the FCC has confidence that most utility companies are able to
> resolve
> > these issues voluntarily, the FCC wants to make your office aware that
> this
> > unresolved problem may be a violation of FCC rules and could result in a
> > monetary forfeiture for each occurrence.
> >
> > Once you have done this, the ball is in their court. If they do not
> respond
> > positively in a reasonable length of time, the next step is to get back
to
> > me with a history of the problem and we will see what we can do.
> Sometimes,
> > a call from ARRL gets their attention and things begin to move. If not,
we
> > can send a letter directly to the CEO of the company explaining their
> > responsibilities in the matter and pointing out that we have an
unofficial
> > arrangement with the FCC to try to resolve the complaint by facilitating
> > communication between the affected Amateur and the power company. If
that
> > gets no response, as a last resort, we forward the complaint directly to
> the
> > FCC for their action which usually happens fairly quickly since they
> depend
> > on the ARRL do most of the initial work with investigating and
documenting
> > the complaint. In every case so far, it has never gone beyond this step.
> > Once the FCC sends them the official letter, they have taken whatever
> steps
> > were necessary to locate and fix the problem.
> >
> > I hope this gives you the information you need to begin clearing up your
> > problem, but if it does not, let me know by phone or e-mail and I will
be
> > glad to assist you with it in any way I can.
> > Finally, the link below will take you to a recent article which appeared
> on
> > the ARRL website. It tells about some of the success that has resulted
> from
> > working through a number of these cases using the approach described
> above.
> >
> > http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2001/08/21/1/?nc=1
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: The D. H. Kaiser Co. [mailto:dkaiserc@neo.rr.com]
> > Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2002 1:37 PM
> > To: rfi@arrl.org
> > Subject: Power Line Noise
> >
> >
> > John Phillips, K2QAI:
> >
> >     I have been experiencing S9+ noise which I believe is power line
> noise.
> > My initial complaint was phoned to the local power Co. (American
Electric
> > Power) on Friday November 23rd, 2001.  At that time I had noticed
> > intermittant RFI (8-10 seconds on & 2-3 seconds off) comming from a
power
> > pole mounted light fixture 3 blocks away. I found the offensive sodium
> vapor
> > light by driving past with an Icom R-10 (AM) radio tuned to 128 MHz and
my
> > dual band VHF auto antenna.  The intermittant noise was eliminated when
> AEP
> > replaced the light.
> >
> > CONTIUNOUS NOISE - A second call to AEP one week later informend them of
a
> > very strong continuous noise source  which I believe is located East /
> North
> > East of my home.  To date the following facts are known:
> >
> > 1. Noise is present when power is shut off to my house. (Operate
receiver
> on
> > battery power using Force 12 C4S at 60 feet)
> > 2. Noise is at S9 + 5 /10 dB East/North East beam heading on 28.890 MHz
> +/-
> > OR S6 on 6mB without tuning the F12 (AM MODES) - Less strength at other
> > headings, but always present (clear days)  regardless of beam heading
> > 3. Detailed logs as to time - weather conditions and noise levels have
> been
> > maintained - beginning on December 26, 2001
> > 4. Noise becomes intermittant and erratic when rain begins - and shortly
> > thereafter stops - With cold or dry snow noise remains constant.
> >      From log review no day of the week or time of day cycle is
noticable
> > 5. On Icom 756PRO scope shows repeating peaks and at times a second
> > peak/lower level - out of phase with the major peaks. (2 sources ??)
> > 6. I have surveyed the neighborhood by auto with car AM radio  tuned to
no
> > station, as well as an Icom R-10 AM tuned to 126 Mhz +/- using dual band
> > antenna
> > 7. I have prepared an Auto-Cad drawing of the neighborhood with "hot
> spots"
> > marked
> > 8. All attempts to use AM radio on 10 mB have produced continuously
> strong,
> > source unidentifiable, RFI - (IC-R10 w/hamstick on mag mount)
> > 9. Power company supervisor has joined me on the FOX HUNT, at times.
> > 10 Logs, drawing and details of the noise have been presented to
American
> > Electric Power on January 23, 2002.
> > 11. I requested that their RFI investigator (who as they say, is very
> busy)
> > become involved as I did not have confidence in my abitlity to find all
> > problems.
> > 12. Approximately one week later, I phoned my contact at AEP who said
> their
> > investigator found sufficient poles to repair that would take up to five
> > days work.
> >       When asked the name of their RFI investigator - no response. I
> suspect
> > they may have used my drawing to develop a list of poles to repair.
> > 13. On Friday, February 15th AEP had completed all their listed work -
> Still
> > S9 + noise
> > 14. On Monday (2/17/02) I informed AEP that I still had problems and
that
> > the noise source had had not been eliminated or reduced. They mentioned
> the
> > possible use of an outside contractor or RFI investigtor.
> > 15. Subsequent phone call  (1) to my contacts at AEP (later in the week)
> > have not been returned.
> >
> > Please advise your suggested next steps !  Thank you for your efforts.
> >
> > William H. Hannon,  N8PW
> > 319 21st St. NW
> > Canton, Ohio 44709
> >
>