[RFI] Amtrak electric noise

[Gary Smith]

Peter,

I'm about 10 linear miles from RI so that would make it Amtraks 
ownership. Though our family has been at this location 40+ years, I
was gone for many of them for college out of state & then work in the
Midwest. I came back in 04 and noticed the low band QRM was 
noticeable
& spent my time on the upper bands. It was when I started an interest
in 160M I noticed the problem & up till then had written the QRM off
to lightning crashes somewhere far away.

There was an issue 4 years ago with QRM from faulty lighting 
electronics in the street lights which the local company immediately
came out and fixed.

Three years ago I put up several beverages to help reduce the QRM on
160M Rx and by default those beverages needed to be close to the 
track
and seemed to amplify the "QRN" so to get a more quiet Rx I went with
different directional arrays but the problem persisted.

As to any big wind storms lately; other than the hurricanes, not
particularly but the problem was there before Irene and has persisted
through Sandy. Walking with the radio along Amtrak I heard exactly
what has been bothering me. I can't get underneath offending areas to
have a look see from all directions as this section of the track has 
a
hurricane fence barrier on both sides. The intensity of QRM beside 
the
track was impressive and seeing as my antennae are within 100' of the
track, this is a problem. While the trains were diesel there were
never issues as there are now and being localized to alongside the
track, it seems apparent the issue is with the overhead lines. This
used to be dead quiet electrical QRM-wise and now I can hear hash 
from
electrical devices but nothing like this power line experience.

T'is joyful... 

Gary
KA1J

> On Sun, Dec 9, 2012 at 9:14 PM, Gary Smith <Gary at ka1j.com> wrote: >
> I may have power line noise in addition to Amtrak noise but the >
> Amtrak QRM from arcing is deafening and has to be addressed. Since >
> this isn't a Public utility and it crosses state borders albeit the
> > QRN for me is local in Connecticut. Who do I complain to that will
> > actually do something about it? I've asked around and gotten no
> phone
> > number to call & I seriously doubt I would get any action if I >
> contact Amtrak anyway.
> 
> Between New Haven and the NY state line, the right of way and power
> system is owned by Conn DOT, not Amtrak.  East of New Haven, it's
> all new (well, ~12 years old instead of 100 years) and is owned by
> Amtrak.
> 
> None of the overhead system is new so if this just started then
> something may well have changed.
> 
> Had any big windstorms lately?
> 
> 
> -- 
> Peter Laws | N5UWY | plaws plaws net | Travel by Train!
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