[RFI] Grow Lights

[Clay Autery]

By and large.... the cannabis growers with whom I have come in contact, 
not only do not want to draw undue attention to their ops (even the 
legal guys), the VAST majority of them are nice folks who genuinely want 
to be helpful because it's "what you do".

______________________
Clay Autery, KY5G
(318) 518-1389

On 01/11/20 12:40, Jim McCook wrote:
> 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