Joerg wrote in :
Scott wrote:
Joerg wrote:

If a huge drab-green truck stops in front of the house and folks in
fatigues and army boots hop off then the unfound oscillation has been
found ;-)

Listening to all the "crap" on the bands these days, I doubt ANY truck
from the government would ever show up However, that being said, as
hams, we all need to make sure our "house is clean"...now about all that
other "crap"...has anyone else noticed all the interference these days
on 2M from other sources of "spurious junk"??? Examples: I pull up to
gas pumps and the squelch opens on my 2M radio...driving down the
Interstate, I pass semi trucks and get a static burst from the
speaker...Drive through town, listening to 145.19 and get static bursts
(this just happens to be a cable TV frequency...isn't the idea of cable
TV to keep the signals INSIDE the cable?)....

Sure, but when you see how cable "professionals" handle stuff you'd get
the goose bumps. We don't have a cable subscription but a cable box down
the street. Often I see workers in the street and when walking the dogs
next day the lid on the green box is askew. Heck, often they didn't even
slide the lid all the way in, let alone lock it. Being a guy who can't
stand the sight of electronics just rotting and corroding away because
of neglect I always push it back on. Once the lid was completely off, it
rained and water was dripping from all the coaxes. This doesn't exactly
improve shielding effectiveness ;-)

The FCC *does* sometimes pursue interference and leakage complaints
against cable companies. It may take a while to get them moving, but
there are NOVs (Notice of Violation)s filed by the FCC against some
cable companies with more leakage than allowed.

A fair number of cable techs are hams, too, though not all. Calling the
cableco office and reporting interference, with a followup paper letter,
generally will get someone's attention.

Around here (Central Oklahoma, EM15gf in particular), it's the LED
traffic signals and the casino signs that put out hash. The traffic
signals are bad up around 2 meters, and there's one casino sign that was
taking everything from 40 (or 80) meters up through 2 meters.

HB content: I'm thinking of building one of the little receivers shown
at http://mikea.ath.cx/1-chip-rx.html/, just for hunting QRM. Note:
the second image has some editing performed on it to make some things a
little clearer; the first one is as it came off EDN.

--
Mike Andrews, W5EGO

Tired old sysadmin