Make them a batch of your world famous magic brownies. Wait thirty minutes, and they'll be very cooperative.
Make them a batch of your world famous magic brownies. Wait thirty minutes, and they'll be very cooperative.
A clear conscience is usually a sign of a bad memory
RIP ALBI-W3MIV RIP RUSS-W5RB RIP BOB-VK3ZL
Actually I can understand where Warren is coming from. Maybe things have changed today with respect to RFI complaints from hams and swl's. But a couple of decades ago RFI complaints to the FCC or the power company rarely brought any satisfaction. Most of the time they would simply send the homeowner a booklet about RFI and that was as far as it went. Neighbors were often uncooperative. The usual argument from neighbors was , "well, your ham radio comes through my (enter name of cheap consumer electronic piece of junk) so how can you accuse my house of interfering with your ham radio gadget". Most people don't comprehend how their electronics can interfere with ham radio. After all they don't have an antenna, they aren't transmitting, so its impossible that it could be coming from their house. And complaints to the FCC rarely got action. Perhaps its different nowadays.Originally Posted by KJ6BSO
The overall noise floor has risen considerably on HF here. Considerably higher than it was 10 or 20 years ago. Most of it is noise from all the computer and networking gear installed in my own home, neighboring homes, and throughout the neighborhood in general. In the aftermath of hurricane Sandy it was incredible how quiet the radio spectrum was as the power was down and most of the neighborhood and computer networks blacked out. I could hear weak stations on a little piece of wire, Soon as the power came back on and all the computing stuff came back online WHAMMO... the noise floor shot right back up to normal.
Last edited by n2ize; 08-12-2013 at 02:58 AM.
I keep my 2 feet on the ground, and my head in the twilight zone.
If a ham gets interference and also shows it's a problem in another radio service, it will get dealt with eventually. The sound clip does sound like an electric fence, but it might be for a cordless drill or something similar. There are some appliances that do some weird RFI clicking as well.
If they cooperate to the point of switching off circuit breakers in the house, it could be found quickly.
Last edited by WØTKX; 08-12-2013 at 09:08 AM.
"Where would we be without the agitators of the world to attach the electrodes
of knowledge to the nipples of ignorance?" ~ Professor "Dick" Soloman
Well, likely not a drill, as it's 24x7 (For the past week). I'll revisit them in a few days, to see if they made any progress, and impress upon them the need to rectify the issue, and again, offer my assistance to find out.
I'm thinking whatever it is wont last much longer. It's arcing, and not supposed to (They have no battery maintainers, no electric fence, none of the usual suspects), and it's pretty bad; which means it'll die soon (Hopefully).
There have been cases of regular clicking caused by arcing in bad wiring. I found one of those last time I searched the "RFI subject. Could probably find it again. Wires were terminated inside a metal box that was dampened. The arcing actually caused charring. It got caught before a potential fire, because Ham Radio Always Saves the Day. But seriously, it is a malfunction, possibly dangerous.
Sell 'em on that.
I fixed a leaky cable install in my neighborhood AFTER I got my 200 watt 2M SSB signal out of a cheap home entertainment system.
Used CAT5. Their splitter leaked a nice carrier at about 144.201.5. Bad installation. Easily fixed by terminating unused ports.
When you go QRO, you'll might be able to install shielded twisted pair wires to all their speakers when they hear you on SSB.
Without complaints. ;)
"Where would we be without the agitators of the world to attach the electrodes
of knowledge to the nipples of ignorance?" ~ Professor "Dick" Soloman
What's funny, is I actually pressed that issue (Likely arcing at high voltage) more so than radio interference... It's likely I was talking to the wife, who was less than trusting of me (It's the beard, I think).
Main reason I plan on revisiting in a couple of days, to hopefully get a chance to speak with the husband, who may be a bit more receptive to hunting down a potential fire hazard.
Last edited by KC2UGV; 08-12-2013 at 10:40 AM.
Now, you boys don't happen to be HAM RADIO OPERATORS... Approach it like these guys did and you won't have any problems with the neighbors.
I keep my 2 feet on the ground, and my head in the twilight zone.
It sounds like some kind of clock motor to me... I wonder what the actual frequency of the clicks is?
Thank you IZE, that post was based on personal experience with touch controlled lamp dimmers and a totally hateful neighbor. So I don't know what I'm talking about? Yeah, right.
Shelley Fabares was just too <pant slobber pant> CUTE. That was 1964 and now it's 2013---EEK! But I just have to ask, what kind of ham antenna is this???
Rod Serling had a thing for ham radio, another episode it was mentioned in was The Monsters Are Due On Maple Street. "Claude has a ham radio in his basement - sending messages to them aliens?"
"The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you."
Neil deGrasse Tyson
73 de Warren KB2VXA
Station powered by atomic energy, operator powered by natural gas.
I was kind of thinking on those lines myself.
Most clock motors are synchronous, of the induction type. They typically run at 1 RPM, (60 cycle synchronous) although I have come across some over the years that are different, but they are rare. Another thing that I was pondering was the control box of a sprinkler system. Some of the older ones use the above style motor, however, more recent ones are mostly all electronic. There is the possibility of a timer on most anything, electric water heaters and refrigerator defrost timers for example. I can see a whole pot load of possibilities, but the majority are negated by the fact that the symptom is consistent and a 24/7 constant. It sure would be nice if they could pull power for just a few minutes. Can you get to the breaker panel when they are at church? Another thing I found at my own place last year, was the whole house surge suppressor I had installed at the service entry panel started generating noise during the summer, in the afternoon, as the sun was beating down on it. I disconnected it and the noise cleared, hooked it back up, and a few minutes later, noise again. I shot the shit out of it with freeze spray and it cleared up for the rest of the day, but returned the next afternoon. I swapped it out with one of my extras and never had another problem. Just something else to consider.
A conundrum, indeed, I shall ponder it further.
A clear conscience is usually a sign of a bad memory
RIP ALBI-W3MIV RIP RUSS-W5RB RIP BOB-VK3ZL
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote