[Elecraft] Help identifying this RFI

[jim]

Ref #7.  If you are 100% sure the leaking pole pig is not the problem, then
search elsewhere.

At a club station in Illinois, the pole pig was intermittent.  Power company
did not believe it, as it was intermittent.

One evening during club meeting (alcohol was involved) a 30-06 made the pole
peg 100% defective.  Power company replaced it, and the noise was gone ever
since.

Jim
W6AIM



-----Original Message-----
From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Wes
(N7WS)
Sent: Wednesday, July 1, 2015 7:41 PM
To: elecraft at mailman.qth.net; SADXA
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Help identifying this RFI

Thanks for the many replies.  I'll try to address all of them in one
message.

First, I agree that this sounds like a powerline problem.  I've seen many of
them in my 57 years of hamming.  What makes this different, and the reason
for my call for advice, is the periodic nature of the problem.  Actually,
the problem is nearly continuous but is interrupted periodically.  When I
first started paying attention to this, I saw that the quiet periods were
spaced about six minutes apart.  This led me to think there is a timer
involved. Grow lamps sprung to mind, since the "wild west" nature of this
area makes that a distinct possibility.  That said, my understanding is that
these are on for much longer times.

Regrettably, it's also our time for thunderstorms so my antennas are often
disconnected so a good timeline is problematic.  I do believe after some
more listening that the periodicity is less uniform than previously
believed.  Maybe it's totally random.

Some more data points:

1)  I have opened the main breaker to my house and run the K3/Laptop on
battery power with no change.

2)  To the best of my knowledge there are no electric fences here.

3)  My immediate neighbor to the north happens to be a welder, but he's not
the culprit.  He's put his wife to work and he plays.

4)  The power feed to my house is underground.  The nearest power pole is
~450 feet away from my tower to my WSW.  The power line runs N and S from
that point with another line intersecting at that pole and running to the
west.

5)  To my north there are two E-W feeder lines tapped into the N-S line.

6)  One supplies my immediate neighbor to the north (the welder) via a pole
mounted transformer.  This is 350 feet due north of my tower.  I've strummed
the guy wires to these poles without noting any change.

7)  A second 1000 ft E-W line feeds another transformer that is 850 feet NE
of me.  This transformer appears to have some oil leakage, but shaking the H
out of it via the guy wires makes no change.  The power company guys say
it's OK.

8)  Although we are entering our Arizona summer "rainy season", to date I've
recorded a couple of hundredths of an inch.  The noise issue predates this.
Our power poles never swell, they just get skinnier and skinner.  Years ago
the power company tried to fix some noise problems I was having by replacing
the plain staples that attach the ground wires to the poles with barbed
staples that wouldn't (so they thought) pull out.  Furthermore, the staples
were copper plated and the ground wires are aluminum.  Eventually, the
copper went away and now the staples are rusted steel.

9)  My "sniffing receiver" is limited to 30 MHz but I have a lead to someone
with more appropriate equipment, as well as expertise.

10)  The Elecrafter's will understand this, I have a new K3S almost ready
for delivery (credit card's been charged) it would be nice to be able to
hear something on it.


On 7/1/2015 3:31 PM, Wes (N7WS) wrote:
[snip]
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