[Milsurplus] Noise question, not too far off topic.

[Glen Zook]

During my 10 years with Texas Utilities (TXU, the electric company for almost half the State of Texas) whenever a Vice President, President, or the CEO got contacted about noise I got the "pleasure" of babysitting the complaint.  Frankly, there were field personnel trained to do this.  However, having someone from "corporate" involved made the person complaining happier!  Fortunately, most noise complaints did not get to the executive level!

The single most prevalent cause of noise is what are called "cross over bells".  These are insulators installed where 2 different electric distribution lines cross but are not interconnected.  The "tie" wires which hold the wires in place across the insulators can, and often do, loosen.  This then produces an arc which causes all sorts of noises.

The next most prevalent cause was loose hardware on wood poles.  Especially in the Texas sun, the wood shrinks and the hardware does come loose.  Then, when it rains, the wood expands and often the hardware is again tight and the noise abates for a while.  When the hardware is tightened when the wood is dry it tends to remain tight, at least for a few years.

Unfortunately, many noise sources are not the fault of the electric company.  There are just too many possible sources within residences including things as simple as door bell transformers, aquarium heaters, electric blankets, wall "wort" power supplies, switching power supplies in computers, computers themselves, electric fences, and so forth.  When the noise source can be traced to a private location the electric company is powerless to do anything.  

Glen, K9STH

Website:  http://k9sth.com


--- On Tue, 11/16/10, gl4d21a at juno.com <gl4d21a at juno.com> wrote:

If indeed, the noise is a single spike, then it is a single source.  You need to identify the specific structure it is on, then apply heavy pressure to the power company. Since deregulation, many power companies are bottom line oriented, and do not respond very well to noise complaints.  That is where the FCC comes in.  Thay can, given the right impetus, make life very miserable for the power company.  Take a look at: <www.nps.edu/research/publications/07techrpt.html>, paper NPS-EC-07-002 for some guidance.
 
BTW, a properly designed and applied noise blanker should eliminate that spike and not make an audible "hole" as you describe.  Something wrong there. 
 
Secondly, lightning arresters produce a multiple spike noise, and cracked insulators, in spite of what the misguided believe, are rarely noisy.  you are probably hearing a loose piece of hardware, a lag bolt not tight, loose staple on a ground wire, etc.  See the reference for a list.