[ADXA] Solving power line RFI

[Stan Stockton]

Jussi,

In cases where you have noise on the bands where you have Yagis you can find the general direction off the front of the antenna and if it is strong enough can then null the noise off the side of the antenna.  The Yagi will have a very sharp null off the side.  If you have the direction reading dead on you can add or subtract 90 degrees to get the heading and in many cases plot a line from your tower in that direction on Google earth or other mapping program.  160 is more difficult to pinpoint it.

Usually the noises come from a transformer, lightning arrestee or hardware on a pole.  If you are accurate enough you can see your plotted line going right through or extremely close to a pole.  Then with a portable radio you can go to that pole and confirm it.  I’ve done that on Cayman Brac and had some success although the electric provider was uncooperative and I had to then go to the equivalent of the FCC to get anything done about it.

Sounds like you have established a good relationship with the guys and if you have a serious problem they will fix it with some help from you in identifying where it might be.yiur letter was very thorough.

73…Stan, K5GO

> On Sep 30, 2026, at 3:03 PM, Jussi Eloranta via ADXA <adxa at mailman.qth.net> wrote:
> 
> Forgot to say that this source was 2.7 miles east from my QTH on Lawrence Rd 224 as I had suggested in the letter. It could only be heard on 160m. When 80m was very very quiet, I could sometimes hear it there too. As the wire got thinner, the noise increased - it was already S7 on my inverted-L (it started around S5).
> 
> Jussi (aa6kj)
> 
>> On 9/30/26 14:09, Jussi Eloranta via ADXA wrote:
>> Hi,
>> 
>> As everyone has probably read emails where I am whining about power line noise - especially on 160m, now the trouble maker was finally located and fixed by Craighead Electric. There is one minor issue remaining that I can weakly hear on 10m but they have confirmed the presence of noise at that location but still need to use ultrasonic dish to locate the exact source & fix. They will look into that next week.
>> 
>> I am attaching the letter I sent to Craighead Electric in case it would give some ideas to others suffering from power line noise. As you can see there, I was not able to locate the exact pole(s) but only give them the approximate location of the RFI. When I submitted the letter, I got the to sign a copy of the front page acknowledging that they have received it (paper trail).
>> 
>> Their COO received the letter on Monday and got confirmation letter of receipt on the same day. On Wednesday I got phone call from their COO asking if the noise was present on 160m. I confirmed that it was and then they said that check again in about 30 min. After that the 160m noise was gone: they found it and fixed it (photo of the trouble maker attached). Arcing had started eating the wire (brownish area).
>> 
>> It turns out that the COO's grandfather is a ham and he had gotten some "guidance" for dealing with the situation :-) I was lucky that there was such a connection.
>> 
>> Jussi (aa6kj)
>> 
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