[Scan-DC] PEPCO RFI Investigator

[Steve Rigby]

Frank Carson wrote:

 > There's a member of my ham radio club named Mike Martin that does
 > RFI investigations for PEPCO.  He tracks down complaints from
 > citizens (alot of hams) about interference from power lines
 > (arching, static, etc).

   On a couple of occasions I had complained to the old VEPCO, now
known by the long name that almost will not fit on a check,
Dominion/Virginia Power, about such line noises.  Both times the
same fellow came out, finally, to check the interference.  He came
from the Herndon office, the only area office that has equipment
needed to check for interference, which is why it takes them so long
to respond.

   Anyway, the device he had to use was made in the fifties.  I kid
you not.  He told me so when I asked him, upon seeing the device,
how old it was.  He had to plug different coils into it for
different frequencies to be checked.  It had the Bakelite knobs that
all radio veterans will remember, and it was held together partly
with tape to keep the case from falling apart.  It used batteries
that are no longer made in quantity, and have to be special ordered
from somewhere in Europe, from some Eastern European country he
thought.  The batteries were dead the second time he came, and they
had no spares.

   Such is the concern of the power company in Fairfax County over
such issues.

   Steve