Fw: [Kenwood] Good rigs for power line noise

[John Geiger]

SO if it is neighbors wiring or appliances, or my own
wiring, what is the course to take-all I can think of
is:

1. Grin and bear it
2. Move
3. Stick to VHF or higher HF bands
4. Hope an Iraqi scud aimed for Kuwait hits the
neighbors house

73s John NE0P


--- Dan Zimmerman <n7bhb@nwi.net> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> > Knowing the general direction the noise is
> > in, start walking in that direction pointing the
> beam at every house and
> > power pole along the way, at S6 the source is less
> than 1/4 mile away
> > probably less than 1000 ft.
> 
> Not in my case. The power company here finally
> resolved a case of RFI I
> suffered with for 2 years, primarily on 160m. They
> brought in a specialist,
> also a ham, from a neighboring co-op and they
> isolated it to a particular
> style of lightning arrestor ( I think they called it
> a Cooper?). It wasn't
> defective but just was typical of that style of
> arrestor. My noise was well
> over S9 and the arrestor was just over a mile away.
> 
> 73 Jamie WW3S
> 
> Noise signals can travel easily for miles along
> power lines.  Many utilities
> do not have people trained in locating radio noise
> problems.  Many more may
> have someone who has the responsibility, but very
> little experience or
> training, and many other things he is responsible
> for.  Some utilities have
> only an AM radio in a vehicle to try to track noise
> down with.  It can vary
> with intensity enough to make that almost useless. 
> By useing an AM receiver
> (for instance the high end of the AM aircraft band
> on a scanner) you might
> be able to track it down to a pole.....if it is a
> hardware or insulator
> problem.  Many utility folks use trackers capable of
> 400 Mhz or higher, with
> beam antennas insulated for high voltage to pin down
> the exact location...if
> the problem is in fact coming from their lines.
> 
> Cooper Power makes a great many products for the
> electrical industry.  Most
> work very well and have a long life span.  One type
> of their lightning
> arrester worked very well in a vertical position. 
> The same arrester mounted
> horizontally tended to let moisture leak in over
> time, and became a very
> effecient noise generator.  I've changed a number of
> them in my 30 years in
> the industry.
> 
> Power lines can and do occasionally create
> interference.  This can be a
> temporary condition, or a dielectric breakdown that
> gets worse over time, or
> something as simple as loose hardware which builds a
> charge from nearby high
> voltage until it finally discharges.
> 
> A great deal of the interference I've worked on
> originates in the home
> appliances or very occasionally the wiring.  A
> neighbor's wiring or
> appliances, on the same transformer or secondary
> district, is also a very
> likely source.  This is not the power company's
> problem and they are not
> responsible for finding or fixing it.  The power
> lines in this case are only
> an incidental radiator (or re-radiator) of the
> interfering signal.
> Generally the percentage of problems traced back to
> the utility equipment is
> less than about 20%.  About 50% of those are
> intermittant, and a real bear
> to attempt to locate.  Much of the location work is
> part art, part
> experience, part science, and some luck thrown in.
> 
> My experience......for what its worth.
> 
> Dan  N7BHB
> 
> - - -
> 
> 
> - - -
> 
> Your moderator for this list is:
> Larry Wilson KE1HZ kenwood-owner@mailman.qth.net
> 
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