High Noise Level

[oldranger]

At my location here in central Alabama I am experiencing high electrical noise levels.Coupled with the low sunspot activity I can't hear anything.
I am using a Sangean ATS 909,antenna tuner and a 75 foot wire.My feed cable is RG58 with the shield grounded.This has worked well for me until the last few months.
I am wondering if anybody else is experiencing simular problems?

 

[ka3jjz]

There are so many possibilities that a little detective work is in order. Take the external antenna off the 909 and collapse the whip. Tune to an empty AM or HF channel and start walking, noting where the noise level increases. Turning off various appliances may isolate the issue. It's also possible that a cable modem is the culprit. They can be one of the worst offenders.

If the noise level comes from something outside the house, like up a utility pole, you may have an uphill battle trying to get that fixed. Some utility companies seem to be responsive, others not. Hopefully it's something in the home that can be fixed.

73s Mike

 

[somme1916]

.... Turning off various appliances may isolate the issue. It's also possible that a cable modem is the culprit. They can be one of the worst offenders....

73s Mike

That is SO true. I was trying to hear/decode a weak ute a'while back but I was getting killed by noise on the freq in question. I'd turned everything off & was working in the dark but no joy. The phone rang & it was my brother calling. Anyway after saying what's up I told him my problem. He said I bet you didn't unplug the cable modem.
I felt so stupid I ran over & unplugged it (i then told him of course i had unplugged it) & said I had to go.
I got my ute id & he never knew the difference.

Rob

 

[zz0468]

I discovered that the two most significant sources of noise at my house are the satellite TV receiver, and the VCR. The receiver has to stay powered up, but since the VCR is so lightly used, it gets turned off. Ferrite beads on the cabling provides only minor relief. The JPS ANC-4 active noise canceller makes life good again.

 

[oldranger]

Noise levels

Thanks everybody for replying to questions regarding noise levels here at my home.
I made a scan here and I couldn't find any villans in the house.I evan went as far as pulling the main breaker and powering the house down for acouple of minutes,the noise level never changed.
I even walked around the property here with the radio.The noise is outside.
I believe it's like you said Mike, electrical line noise.I wouldn't expect that here since I live in a rural area.
I am calling the power company tomorrow,wish me luck.They don't even like to repair an outage let along line noise.

 

[elk2370bruce]

In addition to the rf sources already discussed, dimmer switches for lighting, your computer, and even the electrical components for your HVAC system can be a noise factor affecting your noise floor. Try turning them off, one at a time, and listening for any differences.

 

[RogerH11]

Perhaps they are sending data over your electrical line wires outside. I heard before when they start doing this then that could be the end of S/W listening in the states.

 

[Highlander_821]

Somme1916, nice username. My Grandfather fought in the Somme and was awarded the George's Cross, the highest honor an enlisted man in the British army could attain. He got it for bravery in helping wounded men back to the trench and lost a finger and took shrapnel in his chest.

He went on to become a Naval architect at John Brown's Shipbuilders in Clydebank, Scotland and designed the RMS Queen Mary, the greatest ocean liner ever built!

Sorry about the OT post, but whenever I see a reference to the Somme I think about him. Norman Gemmel was his name. I never knew him, he died quite young, only 43 yrs old.

 

[Rover]

Check out "BPL" Broadband Over Power Line. Lots of noise on HF with this service. The ARRL.org has a page dedicated to it....

73...Rover

 

[somme1916]

Somme1916, nice username. My Grandfather fought in the Somme and was awarded the George's Cross, the highest honor an enlisted man in the British army could attain. He got it for bravery in helping wounded men back to the trench and lost a finger and took shrapnel in his chest.

He went on to become a Naval architect at John Brown's Shipbuilders in Clydebank, Scotland and designed the RMS Queen Mary, the greatest ocean liner ever built!

Sorry about the OT post, but whenever I see a reference to the Somme I think about him. Norman Gemmel was his name. I never knew him, he died quite young, only 43 yrs old.

I'll be damn...that's why I took up the userid. My grandpop was also in the "war to end all wars". He was over there as a volunteer at first. It was from my grandmother that I learned of his exploits.

Unfortunately he did not make it back to her. Worst yet he's in amongst the many brave but unknown/named men who are buried there. He was a Dudley.

Rob

 

[ka3jjz]

Although interesting, let's try to keep this thread on topic. We don't need another rec.radio.shortwave, hi

73 and thanx...Mike

 

[eorange]

You wouldn't have this problem in AL, but up here when it snows and ices up, most of the power lines have an audible "brrrzzzzzzppppppp" when you go outside. This always causes HF noise.

There was one time in the past year when I encountered the same thing for about 1-2 weeks, and it was more like a loud buzz across ALL the lower ham bands. Then it just stopped! You'll never know what causes that junk.

Other than that, not sure what to make of it.

 

[somme1916]

You wouldn't have this problem in AL, but up here when it snows and ices up, most of the power lines have an audible "brrrzzzzzzppppppp" when you go outside. This always causes HF noise.

There was one time in the past year when I encountered the same thing for about 1-2 weeks, and it was more like a loud buzz across ALL the lower ham bands. Then it just stopped! You'll never know what causes that junk.

Other than that, not sure what to make of it.

There was a thread a'while back , can't remember where , that talked about rain causing this guy to have all kinds of problems. And it wasn't like water was seeping in somewhere and causing it. He was convinced it was the act of a rain "event" that was the culprit.
At first I thought they were talking about a thunder storm & that made sense but it was the rain doing something that they were talking about.

I'm sure wind & dry humidity could cause a problem but that rain deal was a new one for me.

Rob

 

[KD8HHO]

i get noise sometimes. its just what it is noise.

the rain "noise" ive had it happen to me myself. i think its a "dirty" transformer and when it gets "wet" it just go's nuts

 

[CharlesDom]

Here are some of the sources of noise that I get sometimes until I turn them off. My Ionic Air Purifier (causes a lot of HF noise), Television of course; WACOM Graphics tablet has a wireless pin and mouse - when I touch the pen to the pad, it causes slight noise and one of my external hard drives.

I have an ETON1 so it's a little sensitive to noise interference.

 

[N8DV]

I am experiencing terrible noise not coming from cable or inside the house. How can I upload a sound file to let others hear?

 

[somme1916]

I am experiencing terrible noise not coming from cable or inside the house. How can I upload a sound file to let others hear?

Us hearing it probably aint gon'a help you. Get a small am radio & walk outside your house & track the noise down. Did it just start happening out of the blue ?

Rob

 

[k8mcn]

At my location here in central Alabama I am experiencing high electrical noise levels.Coupled with the low sunspot activity I can't hear anything.
I am using a Sangean ATS 909,antenna tuner and a 75 foot wire.My feed cable is RG58 with the shield grounded.This has worked well for me until the last few months.
I am wondering if anybody else is experiencing simular problems?

Is your shield grounded to an earth ground? Coupled with your house ground? try unhooking the ground and see if noise floor increases or increases. Also, does the tuner have a ground lug? When you detune the line with the tuner does the noise change or disappear? just an idea!
Good luck

 

[jim202]

HF noise sources

Haven't seen anyone list a number of common noise generators.

Touch lamps - you may or may not get the noise when they are off.

Fish tank heaters - cause random static when the thermostat calls for heat.

Electric fence chargers - You hear a pop or short static burst with each pulse.

Radio scanners - Generate a signal that goes on and off rapidly as the scanner
changes frequencies. This one is very frequency specific.

Door bell transformers - Transformer coils go bad and cause arcing noise most
of the time. Door bell or chime may or may not work. Finding the transformer
and power feed may be a major issue as they could be mounted inside a wall
if you can't fine them in the attic or cellar areas.

Pole mounted transformers - Cause a wide area noise from them arcing internally.
Power company may or may not be of help in locating this problem child. Noise
is carried over the wires and as such will cover a wide area. one way of trying
to locate this noise is with a portable AM radio. Use your car to localize an
area. Then when no one is around (normally at night) take the largest sledge
hammer you can find and rap the pole about 5 feet up. Your trying to shake
the pole and change the noise.

Power line insulators - Same as above. Hard to locate, hard to get the power
company to respond. Generally changes when weather is wet or dry.

Large power transformers at sub stations - Generally noise gets worse when
you have very cold weather. There is an internal arc that gets worse when the
transformer gets cold. Had this problem once and got the power company to
work with me. Actually they asked for my help as the customers were
complaining about noise on their TV and radios. Actually got them to kill
the power to the sub station during the day for a couple of minutes. Pulled
the feed on each transformer one at a time till the culprit was found. They
had already made plans to upgrade the sub station the next year, so the problem
managed to cure itself without the power company spending any heavy
money.

Tracking down HF radio noise takes some skill and lots of effort. Good luck.

Jim

 

[somme1916]

Re: HF noise sources

For every ten that are listed there are 50 more sources.

One that aggravates me is my hard drive. As long as it's not accessing it's alright. But I can always tell , if I'm laying there reading & listening to a HF sta , when the p/c does a virus update check or time correction. Funny thing is the C:\ drive makes alot more "noise" than the D:\ drive.

But no doubt the worse two are the cable modem & Directv DVR.

Rob