[R-390] powerline noise

Wed, 26 Mar 2003 19:22:05 -0500

Terry: First, I think I'd check to see if my own house was in order.  If you
can drop power to your entire house, do that with the Sony on batteries and
see if the spur goes away.  If it does, then restore power and drop breakers
one at a time till you find the offending circuit, then go figure out what
equipment is causing the problem.  Since it's strongest close to your house,
chances are good that it's something in the house.  I have a TV set that
causes these kinds of problems from time to time, as well as some network
gear that does also.  Be sure you are listening to the fundamental so that
you get the most signal from the device.

Hope this helps.

Dave Maples

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]On
Behalf Of Mark Richards
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2003 7:00 PM
To: 'Terry O'Laughlin'; [email protected]
Subject: RE: [R-390] powerline noise

If you think that this is something that's being generated by your electric
utility, they have to investigate it, and within a specified period (which
escapes me at the moment).  Same thing with the smelter.  If they are
radiating crap, they have to clean it up.  The FCC will get involved if the
utility does not comply (sometimes with a nasty-gram).
Check in with the ARRL.  They have considerable experience in this area and
are often called on to act on the Amateur's behalf.

We had an issue with our local power company and they contracted with a
former FCC inspector who had all the necessary test gear to locate the
source, at least one of which they found.  It's in the utilities best
interest.  In our case, the utility replaced some equipment which was about
to fail.

Mark Richards
K1MGY

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On
Behalf Of Terry O'Laughlin
Sent: Wednesday, March 26, 2003 18:47
To: [email protected]
Subject: [R-390] powerline noise

My QTH has a horribly high noise level starting from what appears to be a
raspy fundamental that wanders between 400 and 450 kHz.  It persists to
well over 15MHz and has rendered all my shortwave radios essentially
useless.  It even overwhelms my R-390, R-390A and R-388 on a medical
isolation transformer circuit with a Kelvin ground.  My antenna ground
system is extensive as well.

I tried tracking it down with my Sony 2010 and it seems to follow some of
the power lines around the neighborhood.  But I can't pinpoint it.  I've
been assuming for 2 years the source is the aluminum recycler (smelter) 2
blocks away (the largest electrical user on the east side of town).  My
Sony 2010 detects little or no noise around the factory and tons in a one
block radius of my house.  I assumed it was the recycler because the noise
is often much lower or gone on Sundays.

I let this go for a long time assume I couldn't get the Al recycler to deal
with EMI.  Now that it appears to be coming from somewhere else I want to
nail down and get somebody to fix it.

Any ideas?

73
Terry O'
WB9GVB

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