[Elecraft] Re: Odd problem... Never Mind... Found the problem

[Mike]

"On this band, and this band alone, there is/was a S5-7 level 'buzzy' =
sounding noise present pretty much across the band. None of the other =
bands had what sounded to me like powerline hash or even light ignition =
noise."


Never mind, I found the problem and although it's the first time I ever =
ran into this in retrospect boy do I feel dumb (and sorry I wasted your =
time).

It turned out to be a touch lamp in the bedroom. I noticed the lamp was =
on which it occasionally does 'automagically' by itself anyway. When I =
touched it to turn it off I heard the noise on the K2 increase in the =
background.=20

(here is where the metaphorical light bulb went on)

As an experiment I sent a couple dits and sure enough the lamp turned on =
again (and the noise decreased). That's how/why I was able to turn the =
noise 'on/off' by sending a dit or two... I was actually cycling turning =
the 3-way lamp on/off!

When I was looking for 'household RFI' earlier even though I had turned =
the lamp 'off' (by touching it) the capacitive switch inside was still =
active and generating RFI. Also, I found the RFI is still present even =
when I turned the lamp off using the 'real' light switch itself. Only by =
unplugging the lamp does the noise disappear entirely (as obviously it =
should).=20

Whew... at least I know it's not something 'wrong' with my K2!  Amazing =
that S5-7 level RFI was being generated by a stupid lamp. Either that or =
it's pretty sensitive antenna! (Hoping it's the latter :)

Lesson learned: If it doesn't make sense it's probably RFI ;)

Mike K5PU



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