power line interference.

[King Mudduck]

Im going to put up my base soon but i have a question about interference.There are some power lines that run close to my house and wanted to know if there is anything i can do about the interference that they may cause.On my mobile i can hear quite i bit of noise from the lines,does that mean that it will be just as bad on my base?Im going to use a Imax for now but i am also thinking about a small beam,whichever one will lession the chances of interference.Is this something that i am gonig to have to deal with or is there a way around it?

 

[FL Native]

had that same situation years ago. had high tention power lines and every other kind of line above front yard and across the street. had some noise on the recieve but it would go away when it rained.

heres what you do call the power company and tell them your getting interferance on your radios. they will send someone out and fix it. it's that easy.

wont matter the type of antenna if there is bad conections grounds blah blah. so use the imax for now till your ready for the beam.

:beer

 

[King Mudduck]

thanks.

 

[Cheech]

dang kinda hard to beleive they would bust their buts to do something like that. or at least around here it would be shocking! hehe

 

[DXman]

Unless they have some very smart line men, they may not be able to fix the problem. Not all them line men are savvy about their own equipment.

The Power company here, at one time, had hired a specialist just to fix problems that the power lines were causing. This guy had some damn good equipment and he made it himself. He could walk down any power line and with in just minutes he would have a picture taken of the what was causing the problem.
Then he would notifly the line workers as what to fix. But he is gone now and so now I have the line noise back again and the dummies can't find the problem.

Their answer to my question: "did you find the problem"....no, but we checked everything and there's nothing else we can do! Ha Ha, what dummies I say.

When I tried to explain to the guy what the noise was and how it was behaving on my TV and Radio, he wouldn't listen to me ....he must of had a bad day that day.
-----------------
DXman

 

[DXman]

A Horizontal beam will help cut down on the static from the lines.

My beam is about 50 yds from the lines and I do have a level of 4-5 S units at times with the beam right at them. But I can turn it just 10 degress away and the static is down to "0"
---------------
DXman

 

[W5LZ]

King Mudduck,
You may or may not have interference, just have to try it and see. Calling the power company is the first step (not very likely to have much/any results, but the first step). From there i'ts just a matter of finding out how much you are willing to put up with, and then doing a lot of complaining (state utilities commission is a good place to complain to). Putting your antenna as far from the power lines as possible is a good choice, not always very practical though. I wish the polarization of the antenna made a difference but it doesn't. Horizontal/vertical isn't going to make any practical difference, but that depends on how bad the interference is to start with.
There are some 'trick' for the receive side that can help. Pulse filters, 'DSP', and so on. Not ~the~ answer, but they can help.
Good luck...
- 'Doc

 

[freecell]

calling the power company is by no means "the first step."

"the noise will be greatest when the antenna elements are parallel with the wires immediately connected to the bad component........"

generally speaking, noise levels are noticably reduced when the antenna elements are perpendicular or at right angles to the power line wires.

Locate and Fix Power-Line Interference

 

[Switch Kit]

I personally can't believe what some folks put up with ? ..I have a friend that deals with about 2 s units of electrical noise in his receive and he has dealt with it now for about 15 years !!! ....he lives to the side of some major power lines and towers along with a transformer or two ...he says the only time it ever seems to get quite is when it rains ...(grounding) weather it's a base station or mobile operations .....I personally can not stand for that kind of noise concerning my radio operations .....if that was to be the case ? I truly doubt I would be enjoying my hobby very much. Maybe when I was younger I might have dealt with it or done my best to get better results from my situation ? I've heard the stories over the years ....guys litterally taking out there gas tanks to get to a fuel pump to filter it out for better noise reduction in there vehicals /capping off every God Damned electrical unit in there engines ....WOW !!! .....I suppose in 20 years of this hobby I just have been very lucky ? ....but one thing is for sure ....if I didn't have a decent radio over the years that didn't knock out the noise with there anls/nbs within reason ......I would have been gone a long time ago. Good Luck to you K-M

 

[RoadWarrior]

Freecell,

I have trouble opening the links you post. Most of
them come up with a thing that says:
Forbidden-----you do not have permission to access the requested file on this server.

 

[CDX197]

been there. Took down my antenna twice and found just the right spot to put it. Its about 35 yards away from the lines and i dont have any problem with it. Im a tad bit higher than the lines( 50 feet) and it works great. Havnt had a problem since. But all i did was move my antenna and ground the piss out of it and it works great! Might want to move your antenna or get it as high as you can. It made a differance for me anyway!

 

[freecell]

RoadWarrior,

if you know your ip address i might be able to remedy that. you can post it here or send it to me via pm.

 

[King Mudduck]

Thanks all for the info.I think i may have just lucked out because the place i was going to buy burnt(not my fault,bad wiring) to the ground 2 days ago,glad my wife and child were not there.So now im going to be getting a place thats(bigger and nicer) on top of a hill and no lines close by!Doing one of those rent to own deals and after this happened the owners cut me a very good deal on another place thats in a far better location.Now i will have more money to spend on my base

 

[Switch Kit]

sorry to hear about your house there KM ....now it sounds like your move'in on up !! .....Talking about noise !! ...for the last 2 weeks in my area we have had some very dry like weather and what they call Santa Ana wind factors .....mother nature really knows how to put static in the air I'll tell you what !!! ..many of us have had upwards to 5 S units of static during this time !! ...it really is annoying as all hell !! times like these it really don't matter what kind of cb radio or ham rig one has ....We all get the crap until it goes away !! )-:

 

[King Mudduck]

I think i may have found a tower(65 foot)maco 103c,rotor box and all for $150.00.I have heard good things and bad things about a maco antenna but for that price i dont think i can go wrong!