RFI
[Top] [All Lists]

[RFI] Solar question

To: rfi@contesting.com
Subject: [RFI] Solar question
From: "Richard E. Ravich" <richard@ravich.us>
Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2021 12:02:29 -0800
List-post: <mailto:rfi@contesting.com>
Thanks for this list.  I have learned quite a bit about rfi problems, but now that I have an issue that I can't solve, I need your suggestions.

I have a severe rfi problem.  It used to be only from 9AM to approximately noon and the rest of the day was clear -- just the normal background noise that you would expect.  Now the problem seems to be happening all day long -- just about 24 hours a day and it's bad -- s7 on 20m and s3 to 5 on 40m and I suspect that it affects just about every other hf band.

I have been through the exercise of turning off the power to my house and running the transceiver on battery with no difference in the noise level.

I initially thought that it was a solar panel inverter, but since it occurs when it is dark, I'm thinking that is not quite right. Can someone confirm my thought on this as not being a solar issue?  The only thing that I can think of is if there are battery storage of electricity and they run an inverter at night to power the house.  Thoughts on this?  Would that inverter run during the daytime too?

My suspicions right now are that it is a solar cell going bad on a light pole or cable TV leakage.  I have walked around the neighborhood with a portable radio and the only place I hear interference coming from is the light pole across the street and from the power transformer located two houses away.  My thought are that this is just a symptom, but not necessarily the cause. Thoughts?

I've contacted the electric utility company and asked for their help but they seem to be dragging their feet.  They want to send out someone from their 2-way radio group to trace the interference but since that group is located quite away from here, they haven't found the time to send anyone.  I plan on calling them today to see if I can light a fire under them.  In the meantime, I work ft8 when possible, but winlink is usually not available and js8call is totally noise infested.  SSB can not be used at all either.  The noise is fairly wide band noise but I do see a peak at regular intervals which move in frequency.

All suggestions are welcome.

Happy Holidays and best 73's

WD6FIE -- Richard

_______________________________________________
RFI mailing list
RFI@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rfi
<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>