[RFI] power line noise

[Facility 406]

> I had a nice conversation with the local COOP manager, but he was not 
> interested in borrowing the people and equipment from another local 
> utility to hunt down the problem(s). He left me with a caution that AM 
> radio is dying, and that I should switch to broadband to hear what I 
> want to from there. I didn't even get into being licensed and interested 
> in getting back on HF, because that didn't seem to be on his radar, 
> pardon the radio pun.

Consider the bigger picture...

You are a licensed, and protected service, you should START there.  What 
you do currently, or are thinking about doing later, getting back into 
HF, has absolutely nothing to do with what may be their poorly 
maintained, or failing equipment creating RFI, and affecting 
communications.  HF?  Sure, you may hear it there, but when I'm sniffing 
around in a vehicle, I generally go to 1 GHz, and I check DC-12,000 MHz 
by hand.  Noise doesn't stop at HF.  RFI from power lines usually isn't 
a small problem, or limited to one person, or one band.  I found one 
pole that affected a measured 18 square miles, in reality, probably 
closer to 50, but I gave up when I found the source.  You hearing some 
noise on AM radio, or even HF can equate to everyone, everywhere, having 
everything affected.  Really bad poles and lines wipe out local WiFi, 
and satellite downlinks in the GHz range.  The average person generally 
doesn't know why their stuff acts flaky.

You are in the unique position of being the licensed guy, with all the 
rules and regs behind you.  Chances are, nobody else even knows why 
everything hit the skids, and the average consumer with badly operating 
earbuds generally isn't listened to.

As for AM radio "dying out", perhaps for the one old 
uninformed/uneducated guy that doesn't bother to listen any more (some 
people don't listen to vinyl records either, but as of yesterday, a 
local Walmart had 3 sides of 2 aisles full of them, "vinyl is dead", 
someone said decades ago, go figure...), or believes internet rumours 
based on a few very poorly designed cars, however, in reality, in 
addition to almost every vehicle, or broadcast receiver ever made, a 
good portion of which still exist, and are used in the tens of millions 
daily, with hundreds of millions in reserve:

"National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) reports:

Efforts to keep AM radio in the dashboards of U.S. vehicles have taken a 
step forward in the House. The House Energy and Commerce Committee voted 
45-2 to send the proposed AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act to the full 
House for a vote.

"It's been a stalwart of American prosperity and information sharing," 
says Representative Jeff Duncan (R-SC). "Having AM radio available is 
important to my constituents, especially during emergencies."

If passed by the full House, the proposed Act would require the 
Secretary of Transportation to issue a rule requiring access to AM 
broadcast stations in motor vehicles. If they don't, automakers would 
get fined.

The role of AM during natural disasters was cited by several lawmakers 
as they spoke during the bill's markup, noting that the Federal 
Emergency Management Agency spent millions solidifying the Emergency 
Alert System with AM radio as the backbone of the EAS.

In addition to serving as the backbone of the Emergency Alert System, AM 
radio remains a critical tool in delivering farm news and information to 
farmers across rural America.

Farm broadcaster and Vice President of Hoosier Ag Today and Michigan Ag 
Today Eric Pfeiffer says, "If AM radio gets removed from vehicles, it 
wouldn't be long before vehicle manufacturers remove FM radio or attempt 
to charge consumers for it. Hoosier Ag Today and Michigan Ag Today 
support free over the air radio for all consumers, especially farmers, 
and we encourage you to contact your members of Congress to ask for 
their support of the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act."

https://www.agrimarketing.com/s/151153 "

As interesting as all that is, YOU are the one operating within a 
protected service, and RFI is no more permissible than any other crime 
against an individual, or society, in part, or whole.  You are affected. 
  That's all it takes.

Certainly one guy, in one co-op, can sniff one pole, one time.  Besides, 
in addition to RFI to licensed or regulated services not being permitted 
by numerous CFR's, there's a lot more, requiring proper maintenance of 
power distribution systems.  Find a really bad pole, preferably one 
that's visibly arcing, anonymously drop a dime to the utilities 
commission to shut down the system, and while being overhauled, use that 
as an opportunity (aka heavy leverage) to solve your RFI problem, cuz, 
you know, all those other poles making noise have the potential to 
catastrophically fail, or cause fires.  Save humanity, save a radio, 
win-win.

You are in the position of power, and hold all the cards.  If you 
"think" the RFI is power line related, based on your observations, it is 
up to the co-op manager to go to the time, effort, and expense, to find 
it, or not, and make a determination either way, kind of like saying to 
someone, I THINK that plane/train/automobile is going to go down/crash. 
  Someone is gonna check...  If you are unsatisfied with his response, 
find a another bottom feeding equivalent of a second level part-time 
McDonald's Shift Manager within the co-op to do his job for him, when 
asked the first time.

Kurt