[RFI] AF4O Power line arc Suggestions to do next

[Mike Martin]

Hey Chuck can you resend the link to your photo or send it to me please. I have trained TVA for years and I'm also the one that instructed them about the grease. If I can look at your photo I can possibly give you some specifics to pay attention to. 

⁣Be safe,
Mike

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On Apr 9, 2021, 8:42 PM, at 8:42 PM, Charles Plunk <af4o at twc.com> wrote:
>Hi All. Some may have been following my hunt. Weeks ago I triangulated 
>with monitoring retransmitted audio from my station and matching by 
>listening to both it and my 2m HT on AM with tape measure yagi which 
>lead me to the pole in my back yard. To make sure I was tracking the 
>right noise. It got dark that day and the arc was almost non existent 
>for weeks after that day until yesterday.
>
>This morning with the arc still active, I got out my W1TRC/QST 
>Ultrasonic dish. I took the picture on the top of my QRZ page of the 
>pole and a red circle of where I am hearing the arc. 180 degrees on the
>
>other side of the pole I hear nothing but getting in the spot where the
>
>picture was taken, I hear it the strongest. The picture is not good due
>
>to sun angle. Will try to take another soon.
>
>In the red circle is bracing hardware, turnbuckles, and an insulator. I
>
>do not think its the insulator as I cannot hear the arc on the other 
>side of the pole where the insulator is located.
>
>Before I contact the power co, will check aiming of my dish & take a 
>better picture. The dishes aim in the past though has been spot on.
>
>My small local util has stated they will get TVA out (the distributor 
>that has RFI location equipment) but I fear with the highly
>intermittent 
>nature of this arc, it will be gone when they get here.
>
>So my question is, when I recheck the dish and do another spot check,
>is 
>it too much to ask the util to tighten the hardware in the circle and 
>apply dielectric grease? They used grease on other poles and it seems
>to 
>help. Or should I risk having TVA verify my findings possibly waiting 
>weeks and they possibly (probably) arrive to no arc?
>
>Are my findings reasonable enough? Any other suggestions?
>
>It rained tonight and the arc has subsided. Prior to the rain it was a 
>whopping 25db over s9 on 80 meters although one end of my doublet is 
>within feet of the pole. Another doublet is further away but its almost
>
>as strong. If it had not rained, I was going to go out in the dark and 
>see if I could see the arc as there is no street light back there.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Chuck
>
>AF4O
>
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