Topband: A Tale of a Successful 160 meter RFI Hunt

[Milt]

Mike and Frank,

If interested, I can sent via direct E-mail the account and associated map 
image of my sleuthing and finding a bad one a few years ago.

It was SIX miles from the station.   As Frank says, NEVER presume anything 
in advance when you are sleuthing for sources of RFI.

73 de Milt, N5IA


-----Original Message----- 
From: donovanf at starpower.net
Sent: Monday, February 15, 2016 5:33 PM
To: topband at contesting.com ; rfi at contesting.com
Subject: Re: Topband: A Tale of a Successful 160 meter RFI Hunt

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
_________________
Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband


_________________
Topband Reflector Archives - http://www.contesting.com/_topband