[RFI] Lightning Arrester RFI temperature related.

[K9MA]

I had one that was only active when it was below +10 F. Getting my YL to 
take the video when I pointed the ultrasonic tracker at it was very 
expensive.

73,
Scott K9MA



On 5/24/2020 20:03, Don Kirk wrote:
> Earlier this year I tracked down RFI on 160 and 80 meters to a power pole
> that's 0.5 miles from my house.  A Duke Energy engineer met me at the
> suspect pole one month ago and quickly identified the problem as a bad
> lightning arrester on the pole using his ultrasonic parabolic dish
> receiver, and due to the Coronavirus we had to practice safe distancing.
>
> The interesting point about this case was that the RFI not only stopped
> when it was wet, but also stopped when it was warm.  I noticed the RFI
> would be totally absent on warm days, but would reappear when it was cold.
> I then started manually logging the outdoor temperature versus what percent
> of time the RFI was present.  It quickly became obvious that the RFI was on
> 100% of the time when the temperature was below 45 degrees but as the
> temperature increased above 45 degrees the RFI on time would start
> decreasing.  As an example at 48 degrees F it would appear in bursts with
> an on time of about 50% (during a 1 minute period it would be on about 50%
> of the time).  At 50 degrees it would appear in bursts with an on time of
> 10%, and at 54 degrees F it was almost gone (1 or 2 one second bursts each
> minute).  Above 55 degrees the RFI completely stopped.
>
> Understanding the temperature dependence was very important in my
> coordination efforts with the utility company (Duke Energy).  The engineer
> from Duke first scheduled a day and time when it was going to be above 70
> degrees, and I asked him to reschedule for the following day before 10 am
> since it would be below 45 degrees and that would be our best chance to
> catch the pole generating RFI.  He agreed to reschedule, and sure enough
> the pole was generating RFI when we met, and he quickly identified a bad
> lightning arrester using his ultrasonic parabolic dish.
>
> Here is the link to an unlisted recording I made that documented my RFI,
> and I made this video so the Duke engineer could understand my RFI
> complaint before we met in person at the pole.
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATMkvS1MdgQ
>
> Just FYI, and 73.
> Don (wd8dsb)
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-- 
Scott  K9MA

k9ma at sdellington.us