[RFI] Christmas light display - SOLVED

[Dave Cole (NK7Z)]

Jim is a mind reader...  As I was reading that, I was thinking I need a 
photo of the device, and if you have one a snapshot of the RFI on an 
SDR, or SA...

Also, great and detailed report...  Congratz on your lack of RFI!  Nice 
work.

Ask one of the folks that helped you if they get brownie points for good 
customer service, if so, call their boss and tell him how you 
appropriate their professionalism...  Do be sure to ask one of them 
first, they may have gone beyond the normal protocol to help you, and 
you don't want to get them in trouble trying to complement then...

RFI Snapshot page located at:

https://www.nk7z.net/rfi-snapshots/

That will show you what I am looking for in teh way of a photo of the RFI...

BTW, congratz to you for organizing things in a way that worked!

73s and thanks,
Dave (NK7Z)
https://www.nk7z.net
Award Manager, 30MDG Grid Contest
ARRL Technical Specialist
ARRL Volunteer Examiner
ARRL OOC for Oregon

On 1/10/19 11:27 PM, Jim Brown wrote:
> Great report, Jeff.  Many thanks.
> 
> Can you please take a good photo of one of these MOVs on a pole so that 
> we know what they look like? Dave, NK7Z and I can post it on our websites.
> 
> MOVs can be pretty nasty devices. They are a train wreck on branch 
> circuits in surge suppressors, where they are likely to CAUSE 
> destructive failures when equipment plugged into protectors at different 
> locations are connected together. And as they absorb charges over time, 
> they degrade, but it takes a while before they fail destructively. I 
> suspect, but do not know, that in that intermediate state is when they 
> may be causing the noise you've documented.
> 
> 73, Jim K9YC
> 
> On 1/10/2019 10:12 PM, Jeff Blaine wrote:
>> About 10am the noise went silent.  I called the guy and he told me 
>> they checked out the pole with the caps on it first, and then went 
>> over and pulled the MOVs on the NW pole.  I guess the lesson of the 
>> MOVs as culprit was not quite learned - but after the 2nd pole I think 
>> the fellow was a believer.
>>
>> Much greatness was expressed.  And I've enjoyed the quiet conditions 
>> since!  Many thanks to the local that helped me out on the 
>> identification and to the power company who had no problem fixing the 
>> problems once they were convinced the proper pole was identified.
>>
>> 73/jeff/ac0c
>> alpha-charlie-zero-charlie
>> www.ac0c.com
>>
>> On 23-Dec-18 8:15 PM, Jeff Blaine wrote:
>>> Turns out this was not a Christmas light display, but apparently is a 
>>> MOV on a pole in front of the guy's house.
>>>
>>> Diagnosis and tracking involved driving around looking at signal 
>>> levels on a PL660 SWL.   Then looking at higher and higher 
>>> frequencies to try to localize.  I still could not identify a 
>>> particular pole though.
>>>
>>> Next step was to use a MFJ VHF noise detector which allowed me to 
>>> localize down to a 4 pole location over a 200' area.  The local power 
>>> company was not motivated to go out and check into it with this level 
>>> of diagnosis.
>>>
>>> So a buddy K3PA brought over his industrial stuff today and we got it 
>>> nailed down to a single pole which has a pair of MOV. Tools used in 
>>> that were a 440 yagi with a Yaesu FT817, then a confirmation with a 
>>> Radar Engineers Ultrasonic/UHF detector. The guy had an ultrasonic 
>>> dish but we did not need to use it.
>>>
>>> The power company was updated with my single pole diagnosis and today 
>>> promised they would contact me for repair details in 48 hours.  That 
>>> would be great and just in time for the SP next weekend!
>>>
>>> 73/jeff/ac0c
>>> alpha-charlie-zero-charlie
>>> www.ac0c.com
>>>
>>> On 08-Dec-18 12:15 PM, Jeff Blaine wrote:
>>>> I'm going to go see a neighbor today who always has a great looking 
>>>> display about this time each year. This go around, he's expanded to 
>>>> even more and better looking stuff.
>>>>
>>>> The problem is when it fires up the noise floor from 160 up through 
>>>> 10m bumps up a few dB to a few tens of dB.  And the guy is about 1/2 
>>>> mile away!
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Looks like the primary energy point is about 6 Mhz which was a 
>>>> surprise.  Very wide banded.  And amazingly strong.
>>>>
>>>> 73/jeff/ac0c
>>>> alpha-charlie-zero-charlie
>>>> www.ac0c.com
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