[ADXA] Need advice please

Mon Apr 25 22:47:50 EDT 2022

Kenny,

I feel your pain.  Here in Hot Springs we have had good support from a local Entergy Engineer.  One of the local club members gave me his contact info and I worked with him and a fairly new engineering fellow who was tasked with dealing with Power Line Interference.  I had located a couple of spots that seemed to be generating most of my noise using a short 432 yagi and a Yaesu VR-6 in AM mode.  I also have a ultrasonic detector but it isn’t very sensitive and you have to be close to the actual arcing to detect it.  The new Entergy engineer came to do a survey and had a RF detector plus an Ultrasonic detector that was mounted on a hot-stick he could use to get close to the suspected source.  We spent about an hour checking the spots I had isolated and he agreed there was something amuck. Most of the plant in my neighborhood is pretty old and there are several short, slack, spans of Medium Voltage lines (13-14kV) with the porcelain “Bell” insulators.  Since there is very little tension on the insulators, they are prone to form and oxide layer on the metal balls between each “Bell”.  The oxide acts like a diode and generates a lot of RF.  I had asked that they replace the Bells with new Polymer insulators and make sure there was no loose hardware on the poles.  He said he would draw up a work order and get the problem fixed.  I didn’t hear from him in a month or more so I  contacted him.  He said the work orders had been completed but couldn’t/wouldn’t tell me exactly what was done.  I saw no evidence that anything had been done. The RF noise was essentially the same.   Reaching out to him again I learned he had transferred to a new job. I called his boss and he said a new person was coming on-board and would get back with me.  In the meantime my annoying S3 noise has turned into S8-S9 noise with 20, 17, 15 the hardest hit. It’s also affecting 6M.  I like to do Meteor Scatter in the mornings on 6M but it takes a rock the size of a bus to generate a ping loud enough to decode now.  With my Wide Band Noise Blanker and the passband noise blanker engaged on my Flex it takes something over about S4 to be readable.  I’ve been tied up with lots of things on my list but I’m going to try to get out and do another survey and take another run at getting something done.  I know Entergy and other power companies have had trouble with staffing Linemen/Line Technicians. That may be part of the problem.  I haven’t opened a formal ticket with Entergy.  I may have to in order to establish a record of activity.  I also haven’t asked any of my neighbors to kill power to their homes for a minute or so to be sure the “really Big interference” is not coming from a device in someone’s home.  

Have you talked to an engineer or someone who is tasked/equipped to find RFI?  I can ping our local contact and see if he know who you RFI contact would be in Tuckerman.  I guess if everything fails with Entergy you can file a report with the FCC.  The League’s RFI folks could point you in the right direction if it comes to that.

73,

Pat

From: adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net <adxa-bounces at mailman.qth.net> On Behalf Of KennyDianna via ADXA
Sent: Monday, April 25, 2022 8:28 PM
To: ADXA <ADXA at mailman.qth.net>
Subject: [ADXA] Need advice please

Hate to bother the group with this, but I'm having Big power line noise at my home station.  Glenn and David have been trying to find someone in Entergy to help get this solved.  This has been going on since January and I started in February sending in requests through my account online asking them to fix the interference they were causing me. My noise is S-9 to 30 s9 on all HF bands.  I have shut down power to my home for over ten minutes and placed the radio on battery and still the same. 

 I also tried to explain to them that I have three Federal license with FCC, DHS and DOD.  Only once did a new line man come down but then left and said he would be back in an hour as I had a paper signing and said I would be back in an hour.  He never showed back up or called.  

No other contact whatsoever.

Just wondering what I need to do next as apparently this way isn't working.

Thank you for reading

73

Kenny

KG5KS

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