[TowerTalk] Re: [Tower Talk] Noise that won't go away

[Rick Mainhart]

Your "garden variety" silent wall switches use a mercury vial with two
electrodes as the switch. I suspect the mercury switch is arcing.

73,

Rick, WB3EXR


On Thu, 01 Jan 1998 18:33:55 Pete Smith <n4zr@contesting.com> writes:
>At 02:40 PM 12/31/97 -0400, Jack Goforth wrote:
< SNIP>

>When I lived in a townhouse community, I identified three standard, 
>garden
>variety 72 cent silent light switches (in two nearby houses) that were 
>the
>source of tremendous noise signals on 75-80 meters.  Unlike many such
>sources, these were not broadband, but seemed to consist of a very 
>rough
>carrier around 3760, another at 3520, and "sidebands" of noise below 
>both
>center frequencies.  I've never been able to figure out what 
>electrical/RF
>mechanism could be responsible, but in all three cases, when I 
>replaced the
>switches the noise went away.  In one case, the switch was on an
>incandescent bathroom light circuit, and the noise was present only 
>when
>the light was OFF.  In the other, it was both switches on a 3-way
>incandescent kitchen light like Jack's, with similar correspondence
>between switch position and noise.
< 'NOTHER SNIP>

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