[RFI] Grow Lights

[Jim McCook]

Last year I had a S-9 noise problem that I tracked to a specific house 
1000ft away.  It came on about sunset and went off around sunrise.  I 
immediately suspected a grow light, since it was in a typical residence 
along a busy street. The person came to the door, and I explained the 
problem, which devastated 40 meters.  He was more than just 
cooperative.  He led me to the garage and showed me the three huge 
switching power supplies to power several KW of lighting, obviously for 
growing pot.  We did some testing with my Sony ICF-2010 in hand, and 
quickly realized he would need to get non-switching supplies.  He was 
familiar with FCC part 15 rules.

He knew all about the noise problem.  He explained that pot growers like 
him have reflectors, just like this one, and they discuss the issue a 
lot.  These people normally want to be cooperative and do NOT want to 
attract attention or create enemies!  Within two days he had removed the 
old switchers and installed regular non-switching supplies.  Problem 
solved.  He was so anxious to keep me happy that he even offered a free 
massage by his girlfriend, who has a massage business.  That's where I 
drew the line.

I was left with the impression that pot growers do NOT want attention or 
enemies that create problems for them.  BTW I have used the Sony 
ICF-2010 and the Sony AN-LP1 loop that has a bandswitching preamp.  I've 
used them for at least 25 years to track every imaginable type noise.  
The biggest threats to HF are coming from homes in the form of DC 
ceiling fans, LED light switching supplies, and Solar Edge systems.  Not 
only are the Solar Edge panels a problem, but some of the newer 
inverters generate terrible "grunge" noise all across the HF spectrum.  
SE has fixed 8 nearby systems for me so far, and two 600ft away remain 
to be fixed.  An effective FCC would eliminate importing and installing 
all SE systems until they correct their problems, but we know that won't 
happen.  Jim W6YA