[50mhz] Noise

[bonddaleena at aol.com]

Hi. Unfortunately, through the years, I have become an 'expert' on power line noise..... The local utility actually requests my help when they have a nearby noise issue.

Here's my recommendation;

I assume you have a beam at the home QTH. Determine the heading the best you can.
Make a 3 element 'Cheap Yagi' (Kent Britten style), cut to aprox 123 MHz. Costs nothing but a short piece of PVC and some stiff wire.
You'll need a small hand held radio that will cover both 6M and 123 MHz. I have an Icom R10. Perfect.

Just walk around and 'sniff'. It should be easy to find. Once you hear it on 123, you should still be able to hear it on 50 MHz.
I use the R10 with several of these Yagis that are cut for 50, 123, 144, and 432 MHz. These are all 'one handed' antennas. Most noise is VERY broadbanded and the 9 el 432 antenna is VERY sharp.

Additional. The ARRL (and others) have some great books on RFI. I started tracking this stuff over 30 years ago, before these resources were available. (Believe it or not, one utility company back in Kentucky uses the FM RADIO in the service truck to look for noise. NO WONDER they could NEVER find any! That's when I started finding the causes on my own. ha ha)
.
Also, MFJ makes several products including a Yagi/radio combination.

I know how frustrating it can be to have towers, thousands of $ worth of radios, only to near S9 noise!

Ron
N4UE