After battling power line noise for about 3 months, I concluded that it was
a power pole problem and decided to find it myself. I got a small AM radio
with a ferrite rod stick antenna (not a vertical whip), for direction
finding, and started walking the neighborhood looking for noisy poles. I got
a lot of strange looks from neighbors, but I tracked the source down to one
of two poles, about a quarter-mile from my house.

I called the power company and success. It took them a couple of weeks to
respond but on one of the poles they found a faulty lightning arrestor. They
replaced it and the noise at my house went down from S9+ to about S3. An
improvement that makes listening be pleasurable again.

I found that being co-operative with the crew and not belittling or blaming
them for the fault, was a big help. I would have offered them a 12-pack, but
I didn't want to be responsible for a high-voltage fried electrician.

If you have horrible noise with a very strong 60 or 120 cycle buzz to it,
it's probably a power line problem. Help the power company crew find it and
they will take care of it for you.

Al KA5JGV
San Antonio, Tx.