I too suspect this maybe as well. He has some old ass dimmer switches from like 30 years ago installed in places. What about GFCI outlets? say outside not far from the antenna placement?
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Power line noise with my dads A99 and 980SSB?
- Thread starter tchr01
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- a99 bearcat980 rfi
Would solar quiet down at night time too no? Yep S5 all the time or worse. Clicking is 24/7. Some of the rooms in the house are wired with older style outlets too that have devices plugged in. I'm really thinking this is something inside the house, and im hoping flipping the breakers reveals the culprit!That noise does not sound like any power line noise, I have ever heard. That is a "device" of some kind generating that.
Touch Lamps: Even when turned off can generate lots, lots of garbage!
Air purifiers ... Bug zappers ... daylight/nightlight photocells
The list can be extensive. Best to check if there is a "pattern" for interference. Time of day/night only ... 24/7...only certain hours of day?
Hearing on SSB and not AM strange, guessing ambient noise level covering the "clicking" sound on AM. Your ambient level seems way high...S5+ all the time???
In my case with noisy solar panels, the noise disappeared as soon as the sun went down.
Not sure what the solar tech did to fix the noise problem because I did not ask. Anyway, noise levels are normal here now for the last eight weeks.
On the other hand, spazzing cable amps are 24/7.
Not sure what the solar tech did to fix the noise problem because I did not ask. Anyway, noise levels are normal here now for the last eight weeks.
On the other hand, spazzing cable amps are 24/7.
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Update: Went out to my dads place today. Did some stuff, learned some stuff:
Thanks everyone for all the inputs!
-Matt 121
- Did the battery and breaker test. This noise is NOT from his house
- Added appropriate wound choke balun loops at the antenna and before it comes in the house for extra CM reduction.
- It looks like OTHER noise has dissipated by the look of the meter. this is good!
- Made sure the antenna mast was grounded properly.
- Noise still persists.
- Walked property and street with a portable shortwave. He has a long random wire length on his fence for SWL. That was buzzing from whatever was leaking this RF.
- Pole across the street with a janky looking transformer was BUZZING on the shortwave. Sounded just like the noise in the radio.
- Note: We were able to get the noise on AM too, and it was like a buzzsaw
- Tried other poles, no buzzing.
- Contacted the power company to look at this deteriorating transformer looking box.
Thanks everyone for all the inputs!
-Matt 121
By law your power company is required to eliminate the noise. Usually it's not the transformer itself but the primary bushings. They develop hair line cracks over time and trap dirt and moisture leading to tracking which will emite rf trash. Bushings, cutouts (switches), lighting arrestors, porcelain bells (insulators and blivets) all notorious for cracking and tracking with age. Also dirty connections especially between dissimilar metals. Poor or loose grounds.. these can all become rf generators.
Stand at the suspect pole while monitoring it on your receiver. Strike the pole with a hammer and listen for any variation in the noise. This will guarantee you have located your problem.
Pass along your findings to the utility engineer or lineman that come to investigate.. this might speed up the fix.
Good luck
Stand at the suspect pole while monitoring it on your receiver. Strike the pole with a hammer and listen for any variation in the noise. This will guarantee you have located your problem.
Pass along your findings to the utility engineer or lineman that come to investigate.. this might speed up the fix.
Good luck
So they came out that night. The power company thought it was an outage. They didn't read the email too closely. BUT they said similar things and now have a support request documented and in to come look at the pole and its hardware.
Your local troubleman was probably happy with that call out. Responds for an outage.. no outage found...easy overtime. Miscommunication between customer service and dispatch happens a lot. Not your fault lol. They will probably send out a crew during normal working hours to address the problem.. sooner hopefully than later!So they came out that night. The power company thought it was an outage. They didn't read the email too closely. BUT they said similar things and now have a support request documented and in to come look at the pole and its hardware.
I've had a computer power supply cause a ton of noise, both on HF and VHF frequencies. It was a external "brick" for a Dell USFF Optiplex 745. So, not a low quality unit, they're built fairly well. Unplugging it from AC, letting the caps drain, and plugging it back in resolved the noise. Guess something inside was getting wonky.
i made that switch,never to go back to A99. my 2008 blows the 99 out of the water
Hi all. quick update.
We moved the A99 and mast away from the house and away from the neighbors house. After doing some location testing, the loud sound is coming from the next door neighbors house. the noise would get louder and louder the closer the antenna got to their property.
Since we are not able to attach it to the house directly, and the deck where we had it was too close to the funhouse next door, we opted for just behind the fence up in a tree. Noise is now S1 or less, much bigger ears on his station now. Not sure what the foliage will do to TX but being in Massachusetts, foliage is only temporary HA. Now we can compare summer TX to winter TX.
We moved the A99 and mast away from the house and away from the neighbors house. After doing some location testing, the loud sound is coming from the next door neighbors house. the noise would get louder and louder the closer the antenna got to their property.
Since we are not able to attach it to the house directly, and the deck where we had it was too close to the funhouse next door, we opted for just behind the fence up in a tree. Noise is now S1 or less, much bigger ears on his station now. Not sure what the foliage will do to TX but being in Massachusetts, foliage is only temporary HA. Now we can compare summer TX to winter TX.