[VHFcontesting] RE: RFI/Power line noise problem

[Hare,Ed, W1RFI]

I am only subscribed tot he VHF at w6yx@stanford.edu list, so please forward this to the rest of the lists. (But only one of you -- don't want this to appear 312 times!)

ARRL has an MOU with the FCC (mostly Riley) that will usually result in his sending the case to John Phillips, K2QAI at arrl.org, before that letter goes out.  Behind each of those FCC letters is usually 10 to 20 hours (or more) of ARRL staff time work. The reason Riley does it this way is that power-line cases are only a small part of the work he needs to get done and he really does want to save the FCC staff time for those areas where only the FCC can be effective.

What you should do is as follows:

Read the ARRL material at http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/rfi-elec.html. Use any and all of this to work with your power company to try to resolve the problem. Especially useful is the generic text from the "FCC letter."  Hopefully, your power-company personnel would rather read the one printed from the ARRL Web page than to get a customized version of their own. In some cases, the power companies actually do the right thing when approached by the ham.

If that doesn't work, contact John at ARRL HQ. He doesn't mind talking on the phone, but what helps is if he can get a synopsis of the attempts you have made to resolve the problem, in a form that can be sent to power company personnel. In some cases, the power company is actually willing to fix the problem, but don't have a good feel for what to do. John is pretty good at giving the power-company folks a crash course in how to find and fix power-line problems. If they really do not intend to fix the problem, (those famous words, "We have spent a lot of money on your case...", John will also nee dhte name and mailing address of the CEO or a senior vice president in charge of customer service or power distribution.  John then sends a letter to the CEO, under the wing of ARRL's cooperative agreement with the FCC. This often gets cases somewhat back on track. 

If that doesn't work, and it looks like the company is going to stonewall, or refuse to fix the problem, at that point, Riley is convinced that every reasonable effort has been made to try to resolve a local problem locally, instead of literally making a federal case out of it, so he is then more than willing to write the FCC letter.  John already has the mailing info, so he sends Riley a brief summary of the case, and an attached Word .doc file, all filled out ready to go, formatted for Riley's printer.  That usually gets things back on track. :-)

I will do a separate post on some of the techniques hams or power companies may be able to use to pin down the noise.  Probably Monday, as it will be a fair amount of writing. :-)

73, 
Ed Hare, W1RFI
ARRL Lab
225 Main St
Newington, CT 06111
Tel: 860-594-0318
Internet: w1rfi at arrl.org
Web: http://www.arrl.org/tis


> -----Original Message-----
> From: cboone at earthlink.net [mailto:cboone at earthlink.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2002 10:15 PM
> To: John Geiger
> Cc: dx at mailman.qth.net; dx-list at yahoogroups.com; 
> yaesu at mailman.qth.net;
> FT100 at yahoogroups.com; FT-100 at yahoogroups.com; vhf at w6yx.stanford.edu;
> vhfcontesting at contesting.com; wsvhf at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: Re: RFI/Power line noise problem
 
> Contact Riley Hollinsworth at the FCC...
 
> Riley at FCC.gov is his email address...
 
> THE FCC (and RILEY!) is getting tough on utilities and their
> noisy lines....(I used to be a RFI/TVI troubleshooter for one
> of the largest power companies in the US now.....but they too
> have gotten lax!)....
> 
> Riley will get them off their fat a$$es.
> Go get em!
> 
> Chris
> WB5ITT
> 
> John Geiger wrote:
> > 
> > Turning to the reflectors for some help in this
> > problem.  I seem to have a decent amount of static
> > (s5-6) at times on HF (especially 30 meters and below)
> > and on 6 meters.  I even bought a FT100D to use on the
> > reputation of its noise blanker,and the NB does work
> > on it at times.  Other times it even overcomes the NB.
> >  I called the local power company who came out to
> > check for power line noise-using some equipment that
> > received in the VHF range.  They found nothing from
> > power lines, but did locate 1 house several blocks
> > away that was throwing out some static-it isn't this
> > house that is affecting me as we tried some tests
> > yesterday turning off their power, etc.
> > 
> > The power companies conclusion is "Sorry, it is not
> > our lines, we can do nothing more, good luck."  So
> > what do I do now?  This noise is frustrating at best,
> > and really interfering with my receiving at worst.  I
> > am not ready to conclude that it is not power line
> > noise, as it seems to me that most people with line
> > noise problems, get them in the lower HF range, not in
> > the VHF range like the power companies equipment
> > tested.
> > 
> > I have tried to locate the offending source in my own
> > house, and nothing here seems to be causing it.  Cant
> > seem to null it out using my miniquad-it seems to be
> > coming from all directions and it is worse still on my
> > G5RV dipole.
> > 
> > I do have some noise on 2 meters, not as bad, that is
> > coming from the NE-I can null this with my 13B2.  I
> > also can't figure out what this is, or if the two are
> > related.
> > 
> > Anyone else been through something like this, and any
> > help or ideas?
> > 
> > 73s John NE0P
> ------
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