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ELECTRIC INTERFERENCE ALL DAY 9/27

Stellasstillarat

Stellasstillarat

Active Member
Aug 14, 2014
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An annoying popping static on my recive all day. I thought it might've been a nabour running a power tool but when it didn't stop, I became worried.
I'm still concerned.
Has anyone eles experienced this?.
I'm in south Jersey.
The two locals I asked, weren't having issues. WTF could it be? I checked all connections and everything's good.
Nothing different at my home.
Can the strange moon situation be causing this?
The best I can describe it as a quick popping with a constant static behind it..
I'm hopping when I turn the rig on tomorrow morning it's gone. If not my brain might explode.
This static wasn't as pronounced on ssb as it was on AM and I heard it on both my rigs. Thanks. P.s. I tried several times to add a recording to this post but my new Wal-Mart s3 is giving me problems. If it's not one thing it's another.
 
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Oh; big subject you picked here.

LOTS of things will make static. Man-made static is usually vertically polarized, so it is most easily noticed with a vertical antenna. If you also have a horizontal dipole; then flip the antenna switch to that position and listen to the static vanish.

Cell phone chargers make static. Bug zappers make static. LCD computer monitors make static. In general, poorly designed cheap Chinese electronics is a huge source of noise. That is - if they fail to take RFI into consideration when the stuff is designed - which is more often the case than not. There are ways to track the source - though. . .
 
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absolutely no changes in my own home, as far as any new devices. doubt anyone's installed a new one at this time of the year but I must say since you've mentioned it, it does actually should similar to the sound made by one when a bugs unlucky enough to fly into one. phone charger same washer dryer same toaster no computer, I am baffled! When I turned off the radio yesterday evening everything was fine. When I turned it on today the noise, static, whatever the hell it is is there and has been for the whole day. I actually didn't have the radio on all day but periodically turned it on to make a few contacts. Yes, every time I turned it on it was in there, and is very pronounced on AM. It is noticeable on SSB but barely, and when someone modulate it's totally gone. Its the same on AM. When a strong enough station comes in that noise is totally covered up. anything under 3sunit will heterodyne with that popping static sound. I actually have a feeling this is going to be one hell of a problem to track down. My neighbor is having her daughter over and I'm hoping she's just going a little crazy which her viabrator. bug zappers can pretty much be ruled out as it's becoming cool and not too many bugs in South Jersey at the moment. Anyone who had a zapper is now putting them away and My nearest neighbor is about 60 feet away so not sure if there's something that she's using in her house that she's never used before and hopefully will turn it off soon. If it is coming from my own home It is going to be a total nightmare to track down. I'm tempted to turn the rig on right now but it will bother me and might cause me to lose sleep. Lol. I'll just turn it on in the morning and hope it's gone just as quickly as it showed up. Thanks Rob. PS this new Virgin Mobile s3 I purchased from Walmart is a piece of s***! I believe its operating system is different from the one I purchased a year ago in RadioShack as everything is formatted differently from the first one I owned and most likely will be returning it and going back to RadioShack to purchase a galaxy s6 Prepaid virgin mobile. It would have been nice to download the recording I made of the sound I think it would have been a big help but I tried about 10 times and was unable to complete the download with no success. . Thanks
Robb said:
Oh; big subject you picked here.

LOTS of things will make static. Man-made static is usually vertically polarized, so it is most easily noticed with a vertical antenna. If you also have a horizontal dipole; then flip the antenna switch to that position and listen to the static vanish.

Cell phone chargers make static. Bug zappers make static. LCD computer monitors make static. In general, poorly designed cheap Chinese electronics is a huge source of noise. That is - if they fail to take RFI into consideration when the stuff is designed - which is more often the case than not. There are ways to track the source - though. . .
Click to expand...
 
Also in S Jersey had a problem like that years ago so bad it also drove me nuts. I had to call the electric company out and they tested it with a type of meter that had a handheld antenna with headphones. Found bad insulators on about 6 poles and transformer on one pole . I hear you can test this yourself with a cheap am radio on with out turning in a station. Listen for static. When the guy kicked the guide wire I had his headphones on and the noise was like a storm of crashing lightening. THE NOISE was not there when the wires were.wet. try to find the source yourself. But they hAve to correct the problem if they cause it.
 
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Shoot, I have been trying to hunt down and S7-S9 signal that is 24/7 for well over a year now. Thought I had found the issue but it's still there. Even on my horz. Dipole at 35ft I still hear it. The one pointed at the noise anyhow. My other dipole doesn't pick this up. If the noise doesn't go away soon, get a car batt and isolate your base from the house electrical system if possible. This is eliminate anything that might have gone bad at your qth. Then if you have a mobile drive around and see if you can find the noise. I use both a mobile and a handheld am radio to search for the leak I have and I can get to the house or near enough to one of the 2 houses to know about where the noise is, but IDK what is causing it. I've had the cable company come out twice and they eliminated one noise source but one remains. I think it might be security system or something that runs 24hrs a day 7 days a week. It's annoying to say the least, especially with an A99!! Hope you find your issue or it goes away. Could just be conditions.
 
Had similar problem years ago, power company hired a RF tracking guy to come out. He eventually traced it to a house 3 away from mine. The paper shredder in his office that was plugged into a power strip was making the noise. We unplugged it - noise gone. Whatever was wrong in the power supply was causing a noise signal to travel back through his house power lines, out into the main box and to all the other houses in the area for 3 blocks. Of course it was only effecting 10/11 meters so I was the only one effected. Seems impossible but it can happen.

It was 3 months to figure this out. The guy agreed to leave it unplugged but a month later the noise was back. He plugged it back in. Luckily we moved a month later but I couldnt use my home station the entire time I had the issue.
 
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Thanks Big Kahuna, add some more crap to my list!!! :D :cry:
I'll never find it at this rate. Honestly though, it makes radio not fun!! Esp. When you want to just use your vert for local talk!!
 
Surprised that no one stated the obvious yet . . .

The thing to do is to first eliminate all possibilities from your own home. Run your radio off of a 12v battery first, and then shut down the breaker panel. This will ensure that your home itseIf is not the source due to some device on any one circuit generating the offending static. If the static goes away, then you net need to find the offending breaker and locate what is on that circuit. Turn your breakers on one at a time and see if the noise happen/are still hearing noise; then it is coming from another home.

This is where getting a CB walkie talkie and walk around your immediate neighborhood and see if the static gets louder or quieter. Take your time and be thorough as you can . . .
 
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Robb, look at the 5th post. The 1st one I made, states to do this. I didn't go into big detail. but it was mentioned. You went into great detail as to how to do it. Great info!! And I also stated the same with a hand held am walkie talkie and also using your mobile can help as well!! The hand held works much better as you get close to the source for sure!! Again all great info and should be able to find the issue or where it's coming from at least. Good luck Stellasstillarat
 
I had the same problem with my old 135 Cobra. Some days there would be nothing but S9 noise all day and night. I live out in the desert far from sources of noise. There were no electric fences or grow light houses anywhere near. Nothing in the house was generating the noise. It drove me nuts.

Turned out that the filter caps in the 135s PS were going out.

Sometimes it's the simple things.

Have you tried a different radio?
 
I wish that was the issue. It's been 7 days now and it's still in there. Luckily it barely affects ssb. All the advice on how to find the source was great, and as soon as it gets to the point where it drives me insane I'll begin to at least attempt to track it down. It's obvious not going to be easy and being a procrastornators not helping. I've a friend sending never a DSP filter. I always look for the easy fix first. The filters free and if it's free it's fot me. Although my friend didn't use it to eliminate interference he did say iy just might drop it to a level where the noise is not as pronounced. It's at about 1 s unit but it definitely is unpleasant to listen to (on AM. I can only be thankful that I don't operate AM offten. I'm hoping it disappears just as it appeared. Thanks to all who replied.
Atlasta said:
I had the same problem with my old 135 [photo=medium]3280[/photo]Cobra. Some days there would be nothing but S9 noise all day and night. I live out in the desert far from sources of noise. There were no electric fences or grow light houses anywhere near. Nothing in the house was generating the noise. It drove me nuts.

Turned out that the filter caps in the 135s PS were going out.

Sometimes it's the simple things.

Have you tried a different radio?
Click to expand...
 
A decent old am hand held walkie talkie with an extendable antenna or even a cobra 75. They do work for finding bad noise of all sorts.
 
I use a portable short wave receiver to hunt any noise in my area. I use both the whip antenna and a short wire plugged into the external jack, in this way I can change the receive signals as I close in to the source.
Sometimes I use my Kenwood F6A for its portability and I use a wire soldered to an antenna adapter so I can vary the length, again as I get closer to the source.
Most times I find a neighbor's 'new' device is the cause. I have found a jacuzzi heater, computer router, AC power inverter for a fifth-wheel camper, in my own house my antenna rotator control box was at the end of travel but still demanding a few more degrees of turn! All of these were easy fixes but one neighbor has a plasma TV.... thank God they do not make these anymore as these TVs are terrible producers of RFI!
Solar storms can cause noise as the energy can bleed along the power grid and is similar to a plasma TV in noise but is more wide spread. You have to wait this out!

73 mechanic
 
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