Topband: A Tale of a Successful 160 meter RFI Hunt

[donovanf at starpower.net]

Hi Mike, 



We never needed to use the loopstick antenna in the PL-660 
receiver. 


Because I had a very accurate bearing from my 350 foot diameter 
8-circle receiving array, we simply used the PL-660 S-meter as 
we searched for the RFI along the 325 degree azimuth. 


I had initially suspected a large school campus one mile from my 
home directly on the 325 degree azimuth, but we couldn't find an 
RFI source adjacent to any of their facilities. There was good 
reason to suspect the school campus, t here was a serious 
electrical fire in one of the buildings four weeks ago and a 
multi-million dollar high efficiency HVAC system installation 
last summer, 


As we continued along the 325 degree azimuth through a rural 
area beyond the school campus the signal strength of the 
interference increased dramatically as we approached the 
Travellers' Information Service transmitter at the far edge of a 
200 acre county park. 


I had never suspected the TIS transmitter as a source of interference 
but you just never know. Its never a good idea to prejudge the 
interference source, just use good direction finding techniques and 
let physics guide you to the RFI source. 


The county turned off the TIS transmitter within a few hours of 
being notified of the problem. The sweet sound of silence! 


73 
Frank 
W3LPL 





----- Original Message -----

From: "Mike Greenway" <K4PI at BELLSOUTH.NET> 
To: donovanf at starpower.net 
Cc: "K4TEA" <k4tea at bellsouth.net> 
Sent: Tuesday, February 16, 2016 12:12:32 AM 
Subject: Re: Topband: A Tale of a Successful 160 meter RFI Hunt 




FB. I looked up your Tecsun and I have an Eton E10 here that look totally identical to it. Fryes Electronics sold them some years ago. I guess you were using the internal loopstick to DF with? 73 




From: donovanf at starpower.net 
Sent: Monday, February 15, 2016 6:51 PM 
To: topband at contesting.com 
Cc: Mike Greenway ; k4tea at bellsouth.net 
Subject: Re: Topband: A Tale of a Successful 160 meter RFI Hunt 


Hi Mike, 


Ah... The sweet sound of silence! Now if only there were some 
Topband activity,,, 


My county Office of Emergency Management was very responsive 
and took their Travellers' Information Station off the air this 
morning. Their TIS transmitter has been trouble free for many 
years. Hopefully they will take due care with repairs and testing 
before activating it again. 

The on-line FCC database shows only one TIS station in the Atlanta 
area, but its at Atlanta International Airport far from Ken's QTH. 

https://www.fcc.gov/media/radio/travelers-information-stations-search 


I wouldn't limit your search to 1/2 mile, you should search at least 
two miles. A large loop antenna should serve your needs well. I've 
found the Tecsun PL-660 to be an excellent and inexpensive RFI 
hunting receiver. 


Good luck! 


73 
Frank 
W3LPL 







----- Original Message -----

From: "Mike Greenway" <K4PI at BELLSOUTH.NET> 
To: topband at contesting.com 
Sent: Monday, February 15, 2016 11:06:25 PM 
Subject: Re: Topband: A Tale of a Successful 160 meter RFI Hunt 

That is interesting Frank as I was just at K4TEA’s QTH yesterday trying to find why he had more noise from one direction that had no signature of any type, just higher background from 1.7 Mhz up to around 2.5 Mhz. 80 M is fine. He is near an interstate so maybe there is something similar out there. I built a large DF loop for 160 I can haul on a pickup to use with my K3. We moved from location to location trying to triangulate on it but we felt it was going to be within .5 miles but I see your source was 2 miles away. Thanks for the input. Keep us posted on your success on getting it turned off. 73 Mike K4PI 
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