[Elecraft] FM Broadcast Station Interference

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Tom -

This is a follow-up to Stuart's excellent recommendations.

A quite useable and cheap "sniffer" for whatever may be
carrying/re-radiating the FM around your shack is a portable radio that will
tune a frequency were you can hear the "crud". If it uses a whip, collapse
it down to minimum size and then move it around looking around for any place
where the signal gets stronger -- near house wiring, phone lines, etc.

A not-so-cheap "sniffer" is your K2 itself!  It only needs to supply a
couple of hundred mA if you don't have the built-in battery option. Some dry
cells can run it quite a while. . If switching to a battery supply cures the
"crud", you know it's coming the power supply leads. If it doesn't, try
disconnecting your key, mic, headphones, etc. If it's not clean with all the
accessories disconnected, start moving it around looking for wiring or a
piece of equipment where the "crud" gets stronger.

Ron AC7AC
K2 # 1289