Most due to crappy power lines and insulators. Now add BPL with wideband
digital signals and you have a notion of how it will sound.
I have been working with Alabama power for almost 5 years now. Including the
ARRL and the FCC on their ass. And its still not fixed. Wait till BPL is
deployed. Dan/W4NTI

Exactly right. 4 mo ago....found an arcing connection on a powerpole 2 mi. from
the house...humid days, you could see the arc...called 4 times to the power
folks....still could pick up the arc S9+ on humid days even after they had
"repaired" it 3 weeks later. Finally, the failing insulator burned thru or
physically failed (I wasn't there that day) and they replaced the entire
assembly on that pole. Amazing what you can hear when the spark gap
transmitter (heh..."beacon?") shuts down! Now, if someone had been STEALING
electricity, they'd have been out 30 seconds later. Hmmmmm.......maybe that
is what I should say next time I've got an arcing line.

A