Topband: 160M_AC_BUZZ

[EP Swynar]

On 11th August, Jerry wrote...

"... I located the lightning arrestor that was the problem, called the power
company, gave them the info, and said the magic word. I took three hours
before they came out and
 disconnected the wire to the lightning arrestor.  Problem gone."

*************************

Hi All,

Living here on a concession street out in the country, our AC comes from the
main overhead service line, which is attached to a pole in front of each
house. The actual drop line going to our homes is made by way of a huge
knife switch, which is mounted atop the pole, and exposed to the elements...

These switches have occasion to become pitted with time, due to arcing, and
the resultant noise on the bands can be VERY vexxing.

I had a problem on 40-meters several years back that practically made the
band impossible to use on all but the strongest of signals. The noise would
stop only when it would rain (thus dousing the arc...?). Its location was
traced --- by way of the AM radio in my car, tuned to a vacant portion of
the BC band --- to the service pole in front of my next door neighbour, some
150-feet to the east of me.

I'm sure that the arrival of the power company's repair crew --- complete
with 2-way radios & a "cherry-picker" truck --- was made that much more
expeditiously when I told them that the noise was affecting my reception of
the sports station on the AM band! (after theur arrival, the crew members
were given a tour of the Ham shack, & heard the noise for themselves,
first-hand).

In any event, they came within a matter of days after my call, whacked a few
poles in the area with a huge sledge hammer to confirm the location of the
noise, then replaced the pitted / arcing knife switch in (literally) a
matter of minutes...

I wrote a letter of thanks to the power company, praising both the timing
and the helpfulness of their crew.

I figured that an expression of gratitude like this certainly couldn't
hurt, and might even go a long way toward creating a positive feeling toward
Hams on the part of the "...powers that be" in future...

~73~ Eddy VE3CUI - VE3XZ