[RFI] What would you do, and what do you think of the situation?

Sun Jan 8 13:07:55 EST 2023

David, Ed, et al,
Ed's advice should not be considered to be solid advice!

When I put up an EZ-way tower in my yard, my snarky neighbor asked me if I had a permit for it.  I replied, "It has all the permits required."  This was true because it was set in clay dirt and required no permit anymore than a swingset would.

Then another neighbor across the street indicated that I was interfering with his TV.  As there were no antennas or cables, I invited him into my backyard to see for himself.  He walked away embarassed but determined, so I quickly developed a plan.  I NAILED an aluminum snow coaster to a 2x4 and lashed it to the top of the tower.  Sure enough, the next day he came by to complain about the interference.  I told him that it was a dummy antenna and then showed him. Again, I cranked down and tilted over the tower and showed him the snowcoaster.  He was NOT AMUSED.

Next came real antennas and coax cables to the bottom of the tower and again the complaints came.  So once again, I showed several neighbors the cranked down and tilted over tower and antennas.  I made it clear at that point that their complaints had no credibility and that they needed to contact the cable company or the FCC.  I provided contact information for both.  Never heard another direct complaint, but every so often they would call the police who got to see my log clearly showing a pattern of harassment.

Fast forward a few years to the time when the FCC had to address cable tv system leakage.  The contractor tightening the grounds went through our neighborhood and did a poor job. I was able to turn the ground strap with my hand.  I caught up with the guy and told him to fix this at EVERY HOUSE within two blocks.  He redid several with mixed results.

Then one night I was laying in bed trying to sleep when my TV had RFI from airplanes and from local PD mobiles at the cable tv head end site.  My phone rang several times with neighbors calling me to get off the air.  I stood up and yelled out the window across the street that I was in bed and then hung up the phone.

The next day I called the cable company executive office and indicated the scope and details of their issues.  They told me that the GM would never called me back.  They had head-end system issues with their satellite feed and the OTA feeds.  Further, they still had leakage issues.  I told the nice lady to get me a call back to set up a plan or the FCC would be my next letter and call.  They called me back.

The head-end issues were addressed and the remaining issues were inside the homes with jury-rigged tv connections.  They agreed to make crews available on our block on a Saturday to address any cable issues.  I let my neighbors know and left it in their hands to address their issues with the cable company.  Several homes were resolved, and several more were not due to theft of services issues within their homes.  I helped test those who needed help and the rest remained in their state of misery.  Several more qere cleaned up by later appointments.  That day thirteen cable tv company trucks/personnel largely  solved our block and the head-end OTA amplifiers were adjusted.  Finally, the two C-band dish feeds had wasp nests removed, resolving their issues of RF overload.

Now I live in the countryside with a wonderful power co-op and a local telco that address intelligent complaints of their interference issues.  Life is good!

73,
J. Gordon "Gordie" Beattie, Jr., W2TTT
201.314.6964
W2TTT at ATT.NET

Get On The Air!

________________________________
From: RFI <rfi-bounces+w2ttt=att.net at contesting.com> on behalf of David Eckhardt <davearea51a at gmail.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 8, 2023, 12:01 PM
To: Hare, Ed, W1RFI <w1rfi at arrl.org>
Cc: RFI <rfi at contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [RFI] What would you do, and what do you think of the situation?

Good proposal, Ed.

*SUGGESTION*:   ARRL author and publish a "tongue-in-cheek" RFI book full
of suggestions as below:

QUOTE:  "When amateurs put up new towers and antennas, ARRL recommends that
all of the interference complaints be resolved before the feed lines are
hooked up to transmitters.

Ed, W1RFI"

Dave - WØLEV

On Sun, Jan 8, 2023 at 1:24 PM Hare, Ed, W1RFI <w1rfi at arrl.org> wrote:

> When amateurs put up new towers and antennas, ARRL recommends that all of
> the interference complaints be resolved before the feed lines are hooked up
> to transmitters.
>
> Ed, W1RFI
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: RFI <rfi-bounces+w1rfi=arrl.org at contesting.com> on behalf of Dan
> K2YWE <dan.k2ywe at gmail.com>
> Sent: Saturday, January 7, 2023 11:56 AM
> To: Jim McDonald <jim at n7us.net>
> Cc: RFI <rfi at contesting.com>
> Subject: Re: [RFI] What would you do, and what do you think of the
> situation?
>
> It reminds me of a neighbor when I was a youth that complained about
> interference from my station when I was in Europe with my parents. She
> filed a complaint with the FCC without ever contacting me or my parents. We
> provided info showing I was out of the country and the complaint was
> dismissed.  Our club had a TVI committee that contacted and helped resolve
> TVI problems at no cost to the party being interfered with ( HP filters,
> copper screening inside the TV, etc or LP filter at the station). They
> would have fixed the problem had it existed.
> Dan
>
>
> On Sat, Jan 7, 2023 at 11:45 AM Dan K2YWE <dan.k2ywe at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > It seems to me that the first step is to have (pay) an independent lab
> > measure the susceptibility of the pump and see if it meets the
> appropriate
> > standards for such a medical device as well as to measure the fields from
> > my radio station to see if they are compliant.
> > 73, Dan
> >
> >
> > On Sat, Jan 7, 2023 at 11:39 AM Jim McDonald <jim at n7us.net> wrote:
> >
> >> Forwarded from a local reflector.  I hadn't heard of this.
> >>
> >> Jim N7US
> >>
> >>
> >> -----Original Message-----
> >> From: EN52net at groups.io <EN52net at groups.io> On Behalf Of Pierre Berube
> >> via groups.io
> >> Sent: Saturday, January 7, 2023 10:43
> >> To: en52net <en52net at groups.io>
> >>
> >> Subject: [EN52net] What would you do, and what do you think of the
> >> situation?
> >>
> >>
> >> Subject: This Ham Radio Operator Got Banned Because of "RFI"
> >>
> >> https://youtu.be/9-CKATuf9po
> >> Pierre Berube
> >> K9EYE
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> RFI mailing list
> >> RFI at contesting.com
> >> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rfi
> >>
> >
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--
*Dave - WØLEV*
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