Topband: RFI - Lots of it

[James Wolf]

Jim,

At each location where I have lived, I have had line noise problems.  It turns out that the main culprit has been the insulators on the pole were either dirty or cracked by lightning or loose hardware.   If they are really old, they may have a ball and socket connection that is *supposed* to conduct electricity without creating noise.  These usually show up in windy conditions.  Hardware can also get rusty which can cause multiple problems.  Be sure not to overlook lightning arrestors and fuses on the pole.

The experience here is that if you can find the pole where the problem is, the electric company seems to be more corporative.  I usually used a 3 lb. hammer to hit the pole and the noise sometimes acts up or gets better depending on the problem.   Many around here,  jerk on the guy line to wiggle the pole, but that can be a risky adventure because you never know what that could come apart and there you are holding onto a wire.  Ask them to replace any hardware that is faulty and try not to let them just clean it, that *never* lasts.   You might call and ask to talk to the person that takes care of these problems.  They may have equipment that they can use to pinpoint it.   Lately they have been using microwave frequency receivers with a dish antenna that has a very narrow beam width to locate the problem.   You also have more than one source; this makes it especially difficult for some noise blankers to work.   

Jim - KR9U

-----Original Message-----
From: Topband [mailto:topband-bounces at contesting.com] On Behalf Of Jim Murray via Topband

Greetings,Last Fall we moved into a new location.  This Summer I spent a lot of time and effort putting up an Inverted L and radial system.  Now after tuning, etc. completed I have what appears to be power line noise, source unknown at this time.  I threw the main in our home and noise still remained.  The closer I get to the power lines or the antenna system the louder it gets.  As I jump in freq., the higher the band the less noise.  I have a portable receiver that is capable of rx on the ham bands.  As it sits right now 160 is just about out of the question.  Rig is a ft1000mp mk5 field and the NB does do a good on the noise but also on the weak signals.  This is the first location in 35 years that I've run into this.  I don't have much faith at this point in the power company finding the source but will call them this week.  Any ideas would be greatly appreciated and also wondering about Noise Phasing with MFJ-1025.  I read w8ji article on it but not sure if it would help on noise of this magnitude.Regards,jim/k2hn _________________ Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband