[K3PZN-List] Help with Noise on 160M - Finksburg Area (J Sears)

[Stu Benner-W3STU]

While it's true that leakage paths are usually the reason that these types
of problems go away when it's raining, it is highly unlikely that it's due
to a poor earth connection.  The water usually provides a leakage path
across the damaged pole hardware thereby squelching the spark. Pouring water
on a pole's  ground rod is not likely to do a thing other than make the
weeds grow better :)

Sparking noise typically occurs across damaged insulators, damaged lightning
arrestors, or loose conductive hardware. A continuous buzzing noise would
not likely be caused by and electric fence charger. The typical problem with
a fence charger is either the "popping" due to the HV impulses intentionally
generated by the fence charger or by sparking between the fence wire and
brush that has grown into the wire.

If you are dealing with a 160 M or broadcast band problem, using a portable
AM radio (or your car AM radio) will get you in the neighborhood of the
problem - maybe +/- 3 poles, but you'll have to go higher in frequency (VHF)
to locate the pole with any certainty using a small yagi. You can also
collect data using directional antennas at VHF/UHF from your station to gain
a little better insight into the direction of the noise. After that, an
ultrasonic microphone is necessary to identify from the ground what hardware
on the pole is actually sparking. All of this assumes that the problem is on
the power line and not in your house or a neighbor's house. My usual warning
here: don't smack a pole with a sledge hammer. If there's something wrong on
that poles, that 'something' may drop on you, not to mention that you're
messing with someone else's private property.

BGE still has an RFI team that will investigate these problems. You'll have
to file a service repair request with them. I'm not sure if BGE will require
completion of an information survey form before they will arrange a service
call. It's always a good idea if possible to do the field work described
above so you'll have better information to provide the RFI guys before and
when they arrive.

Regards,
Stu Benner (W3STU).

-----Original Message-----
From: Philip Karras [mailto:ke3fl at yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, December 12, 2011 12:53
To: k3pzn-list at mailman.qth.net
Subject: Re: [K3PZN-List] Help with Noise on 160M - Finksburg Area (J Sears)

Jim,
 
Stu, let you know what kind of noise it was so I'll let you know the
mechanism and at least one likely cause. I've read a number of articles in
QST about noise and this kind, which most often goes away when it rains, is
because the rain is giving the system a better path to ground and thus the
noise is reduced or completely eliminated because the sparking is
eliminated. Almost any kind of electrical system can cause this but the most
written about cause seems to be electric fences, the kind that keep animals
in & people out
 
A case in point, assuming I remember this correctly, was an electric fence
that would spark to ground because the Ground wire was not enough of a
Ground when the soil was hard and dry. Once water was added to the ground
around the Grounding wire, and they waited long enough for it to soak in,
the wet ground was once again a good enough Ground to take the otherwise
building up potential different which was causing the sparking from fence to
ground and thus the sparking noise was eliminated.
 
This is usually a very localized noise problem and you'll need to take an AM
receiver to the field to locate the source, see if a portable broadcast
receiver works, tune it to a non-station frequency for best results. Once
you've located a potential source of the problem see if you can locate the
ground wire and add some water to the ground at that point.
 
Then, if it is not your property ask your neighbor for help in eliminating
the noise source.
 
73 de ke3fl
Phil 

--------------------------------------------------
 
Date: Sun, 11 Dec 2011 20:00:16 -0800 (PST)
From: J Sears <aat3ok at yahoo.com>
Subject: [K3PZN-List] Help with Noise on 160M - Finksburg Area
To: k3pzn-list at mailman.qth.net
Message-ID:
    <1323662416.99566.YahooMailClassic at web130107.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1

Can those of you that live in the general area of Finksburg listen to the
160M band and see if you are hearing a broadband AC noise that covers the
entire band.? CHeck in the AM mode if you have it..
?
At my place off sandymount road it is S6-7 most days. What is supprising is
that it comes and goes from time to time.? It seems to me that it goes when
it rains most of the time.? It seems counter intuitive to me that it should
do this.
?
Pete it might be more in evidence at your place but Steve and Bill may also
hear it from their QTH.
?
Thanks?
?
Jim WA3MEJ

It is better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission.

Radm Grace Hopper
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