[Elecraft] Atmospheric noise increases

[w7hd at msn.com]

Has anyone else noticed the dramatic increase in atmospheric noise 
lately?  On 20M, 30M, and 40M especially, I see a wide-band noise source 
wandering back and forth across the bands.  At times it almost looks 
like a sine wave on the waterfall display.  The noise will vary from an 
S3 up to a 20/S9.   It is especially troublesome on the frequencies I 
use most, namely, 10.1389, 14.045, 14.070, 7045, and 7070.   With the 
antenna disconnected, the noise drops to S1 or less.

I use 3 different antennas, a Force-12 15 ft vertical about 50 feet from 
the house, a homebrew 25 ft flagpole vertical about 30 feet away and an 
inverted vee for 40M on the tower adjacent to the house fed with 450-ohm 
ladderline to a 4:1 balun at 50 feet.  All three exhibit the same 
patterns and are separated by at least 50 feet from each other.

I am using the Rocky utility connected to the I/Q output of my KX3 to a 
48KHz USB sound card input to the laptop computer.

--  W7HD     KX3#6966
Licensed continuously since 1967
Now retired!
Tucson, AZ

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