[SADXA] Help identifying this RFI

[Jim Henderson]

Wes:

    A grow light ballast, a thermostat (or a photocell on a yard light) and 
an arcing pole make very similar sounds.
The subtleties of the audio sound slightly different on my speaker. Via the 
audio on the video clips I can't differentiate well enough.

    If it is a pole arc, your power company tech might have better results 
with a ultrasonic detector instead of an RF one. I have found those to be 
useful for my arcs.

    Thermostats and photocells sound very much alike to me, and I have best 
luck tracking those with a UHF yagi and radio with an AM detector. A similar 
setup for VHF works almost as well but gives a bit coarser resolution. Also 
there seems to be a higher
background level on VHF.

    For these bands, I use a Elk 5 element dualband handheld LPDA and a 
Yaesu FT-60.

    I have not (yet!) encountered one of those grow lights, but K7HP in 
Phoenix has... maybe he can help.

    Good luck with it.

Jim, KF7E



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Wes (N7WS)" <wes at triconet.org>
To: <undisclosed-recipients:>
Sent: Wednesday, July 01, 2015 10:31 PM
Subject: [SADXA] Help identifying this RFI


> I've uploaded some videos to YouTube that show the problem I'm having. 
> This is my first attempt at using YouTube and my first use of the video 
> feature of my new Sony A6000, so bear with me.
>
> The link is here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpl3gFMWg58kn7afp_K5c6A
>
> What these show is the noise that is wiping out my HF/6M operations.  This 
> stuff covers the complete spectrum from 160 to 6 meters.  I'm in 
> semi-rural location and have walked about a 1/2 mile in all directions 
> with a Sony ICF-SW7600GR receiver, using the telescoping antenna and 
> cannot pinpoint a location.  My power company (co-op) is trying to be 
> helpful, but the knowledgeable guy has left the company so I'm dealing 
> with a rookie.
>
> Furthermore, in addition to the short-term, cyclic intermittency (5-10 
> minutes) evident in the videos, there can be longer term periods of quiet, 
> which Murphy dictates occur when the power company guy is looking for 
> noise.
>
> I'm hoping there is some expert here that can point me in the right 
> direction.
>
> Wes  N7WS
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