[RFI] RFI from small indoor Xmas tree lighting 0.22 miles away.

[Dave]

Thanks sir...  I watched the first one you mentioned, and did not see 
it.  I spotted it in the one you just linked.  THANKS!

73, and thanks,
Dave (NK7Z)
https://www.nk7z.net
ARRL Volunteer Examiner
ARRL Technical Specialist, RFI
ARRL Asst. Director, NW Division, Technical Resources

On 1/5/22 10:55, Don Kirk wrote:
> Hi Dave,
> 
> You can see details on this loop at the 3:08 mark of this youtube video: 
> https://youtu.be/vDB8rAwVt5Y <https://youtu.be/vDB8rAwVt5Y>
> The video also shows how I use it.
> 
> 
> 73,
> Don (wd8dsb)
> 
> On Wed, Jan 5, 2022 at 12:27 PM Dave <dave at nk7z.net 
> <mailto:dave at nk7z.net>> wrote:
> 
>     How about a photo of your small loop...
> 
>     73, and thanks,
>     Dave (NK7Z)
>     https://www.nk7z.net <https://www.nk7z.net>
>     ARRL Volunteer Examiner
>     ARRL Technical Specialist, RFI
>     ARRL Asst. Director, NW Division, Technical Resources
> 
>     On 1/4/22 20:07, Don Kirk wrote:
>      > I work hard keeping my noise floor on 160 meters low and
>     hopefully equal
>      > between my 3 different pennant RX antennas that point 40, 160,
>     and 300
>      > degrees from my QTH.  This winter I've struggled with an
>     increased noise
>      > floor on my 40 degree pennant, and a few weeks ago I located a
>     power pole
>      > that was arcing badly and this pole was subsequently repaired as I
>      > mentioned in a previous post.  The noise level on my 40 degree
>     pennant came
>      > down substantially after repair of the pole, but I noticed it was
>     still
>      > higher than my 160 and 300 degree pennants as well as its
>     historical level
>      > by about 3 or 4 dB.  Yesterday I tracked the cause of the 3 to 4 dB
>      > increase in my noise floor to a home 0.22 miles away, and this
>     afternoon I
>      > worked with the homeowner to quickly identify the root cause of
>     the problem
>      > which turned out to be a power supply running the lights on his small
>      > indoor Xmas tree located on the second floor of his home.
>      >
>      > I once again used a very small loop to sniff each circuit breaker
>     in his
>      > circuit breaker panel to identify the suspect circuit, and when
>     we shut off
>      > the suspect circuit breaker the RFI vanished.  The homeowner then
>     unplugged
>      > one device at a time from the circuit until we found what device was
>      > generating the RFI.  Finding the suspect circuit took about 30
>     seconds
>      > using my sniffing loop, and then it took about 10 minutes to
>     figure out
>      > what device on the circuit was the root cause of the problem.
>      >
>      > I can't stress enough how important it is to not try and guess
>     what device
>      > is causing the RFI because the homeowner was pretty certain it
>     was due to
>      > his recent addition of a blower fan that he installed on his
>     fireplace, and
>      > he even had me worrying about how difficult of a fix it would be
>     if that
>      > was indeed the case as the wiring was within his walls.  I told the
>      > homeowner I never guess what device is causing the RFI because
>     the problem
>      > is almost always different from case to case, and after we were
>     done he
>      > fully appreciated my comment.  I use my laptop SDR receiver a lot to
>      > visually see what's going on (behavior of the RFI), but I don't
>     use it to
>      > guess what the guilty device might be except for trying to
>     determine if the
>      > RFI might be power line related RFI.
>      >
>      > Using my small loop to sniff the circuit breaker panel is
>     definitely a game
>      > changer for me, and it sure makes working with homeowners a much
>      > simpler task (very efficient, and least intrusive to the homeowner).
>      >
>      > Here is a link to a video documenting this case for those interested:
>      > https://youtu.be/J6OjwTRNIvY <https://youtu.be/J6OjwTRNIvY>
>      >
>      > 73, and Happy New Year.
>      > Don (wd8dsb)
>      > _______________________________________________
>      > RFI mailing list
>      > RFI at contesting.com <mailto:RFI at contesting.com>
>      > http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rfi
>     <http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rfi>
>      >
>     _______________________________________________
>     RFI mailing list
>     RFI at contesting.com <mailto:RFI at contesting.com>
>     http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rfi
>     <http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rfi>
>