Topband: Electric Fence QRM

[Floyd Sense]

I spent a lot of time last year fighting a very loud ticking noise from a
nearby electric fence.  The noise was a sharp pulse every second, and I
could not pinpoint the direction.  When I was finally able to walk the
fenceline, I used a Sangean SW portable radio hoping that would help locate
the offending portion of the fence.  I found, in about 1/2 miles of
home-owner installed fence, 56 joints in the aluminum wire that were poor
enough to cause the problem.  Didn't need the radio to find them!  While any
of those joints could have caused the problem, I located two that WERE
causing the problem just by listening closely with my ears.  The problem
joints were arcing sufficiently to be heard from 10 feet away.

After repeated attempts to work with the fence owner in resolving his
problem, I finally gave up and sold my Kenwood 950SDX and bought an Icom
765, with a noise blanker that works without being overly sensitive to
strong in-band signals.


K8AC
Floyd Sense in Angier, NC