Loop antenna success story
 

I live in town, three blocks from a failing transformer. At night you
can see it arcing continuously. This produces an S8 noise level on my
Icom 718. The power company has been completely uncooperative now for 6
months of my complaining.

Even though I was warned that a loop antenna would not help with a noise
source this close, I put up a 75 meter full wave loop anyway. I was
desperate.

It was certainly not as easy as putting up my dipole between a couple of
trees. I had to add an aluminum mast to my garage.

My loop is tied to three trees and an aluminum mast at 35 feet. My noise
level on 75 meters went from S8 to S0.

This antenna is fed out of an old Tentec tuner model 229. It then feeds
25 feet of RG213. It then transitions through a Radio Works remote balun
hung from the house into 60 feet of ladder line. The antenna is fed at a
corner. The other three corners our outfitted with small pulleys to
"float" the wire and compensate for tree movement. The wire is hung
loosely to accommodate winds.

All my regular local operators say that my signal went from 20-30 over
with my dipole to 40 over with the loop. I realize this does not make
sense, because the dipole was radiating all 1000 watts of energy too. I
can't figure it out. However, I will not argue with success.

I put up this antenna in hopes of reducing receiver noise. It sure did.

Loop antenna success story
 

On Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:33:55 +0000, Michael wrote:

I live in town, three blocks from a failing transformer. At night you
can see it arcing continuously. This produces an S8 noise level on my
Icom 718. The power company has been completely uncooperative now for 6
months of my complaining.

If you have a transformer that you can SEE arcing, and the power company
is not responding to it. You have a much bigger problem than S8 noise!

Loop antenna success story
 

Michael wrote:
I live in town, three blocks from a failing transformer. At night you
can see it arcing continuously. This produces an S8 noise level on my
Icom 718. The power company has been completely uncooperative now for 6
months of my complaining.
...

Wonderful, can you just imagine all the citizens attempting to listen to
SW/AM radio? (lines/noise in broadcast TV, etc.) Seems like you need to
write a nice letter to the editor and let your fellow citizens in on
that xfrmr. If nothing else, those in your area will know why their
favorite radio programs are no longer possible to hear ...

Regards,
JS

Loop antenna success story
 

Loop antenna success story
 

On Jun 30, 1:05*pm, Bert Hyman wrote:
(Michael) wrote m:

I live in town, three blocks from a failing transformer. At night
you can see it arcing continuously. This produces an S8 noise level
on my Icom 718. The power company has been completely uncooperative
now for 6 months of my complaining.

If that's really the case and you have any sort of record of your
dealings with the power company, the FCC would like to hear from you.

--
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN |

Better yet, report a potential fire hazard to your local fire
department. You'll get action, and fast. Had a bad transformer near
me that caught on fire.

Loop antenna success story
 

wrote in message
...
On Jun 30, 1:05 pm, Bert Hyman wrote:
(Michael) wrote
m:

I live in town, three blocks from a failing transformer. At night
you can see it arcing continuously. This produces an S8 noise level
on my Icom 718. The power company has been completely uncooperative
now for 6 months of my complaining.

If that's really the case and you have any sort of record of your
dealings with the power company, the FCC would like to hear from you.

--
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN |

Better yet, report a potential fire hazard to your local fire
department. You'll get action, and fast. Had a bad transformer near
me that caught on fire.

To get the best results - write a letter to the chairman of the board of the
Electric Company, be sure to send it REGISTERED Return Receipt.

In your letter indicate that since you can't get any service from his
company, (tell them exactly what is happening & that you are a member of the
local RACES/ARES emergency communications group and that you can't
communicate because of the interference), and that If you do not hear from
them with 10 business days that you are going to contact the power
commission of your (county/state) & the FCC and your local congress
people...

The chairman of the board does not like getting those kinds of letters and
usually the CRAP will hit the fan and trickle down very quickly & they
should be calling you to get you out of their hair!

Unless the transformer is actually on fire, most fire depts. won't do any
thing about it - they will just refer you back to the utility.

Best 73's

Loop antenna success story
 

Loop antenna success story
 

JS,
I may be misreading your post, excuse me if I am. But, how are arcing
power transformers a part of a fireman's job, other than putting out
any resulting fire? They certainly can't, and shouldn't try to repair
them. And I don't know how they could turn one 'off', do you?
Referring any complaints to the power company responsible for that
arcing transformer is about all they can do. Expecting the Fire
Department to 'fix' it is a little unreasonable.
- 'Doc

Loop antenna success story
 

Loop antenna success story
 

Loop antenna success story
 

On Jul 1, 2:05*am, John Smith wrote:
wrote:
JS,
I may be misreading your post, excuse me if I am. *But, how are arcing
power transformers a part of a fireman's job, other than putting out
any resulting fire? *They certainly can't, and shouldn't try to repair
them. *And I don't know how they could turn one 'off', do you?
Referring any complaints to the power company responsible for that
arcing transformer is about all they can do. *Expecting the Fire
Department to 'fix' it is a little unreasonable.
*- 'Doc

FD "fix" the xfrmr? *(well, in a round-about-way, YES! *EXACTLY!)

Again, you are joking right?

Logic dictates they would call the power company whose
property/responsibility the xfrmr is and tell them it is SERIOUS fire
hazard which they cannot ignore ... and that would carry a LOT MORE
WEIGHT than "joe blow amateur" saying he had noise on his receiver.

But then, you already knew that ... silly!

Regards,
JS

Amen to that! I have seen a fire marshal shut down a nightclub
when even the police couldn't. A fire marshal can shut down the
IRS!

Loop antenna success story
 

Have I ever seen... etc? Yes, I have. About the exploding
transformers, Fir Marshals, most of the other thingys too. Just
depending on where you live, a Fire Marshal usually does have quite a
bit of authority to recommend things. Same conditions, most places do
not allow that Marshal to have a "My word is final." authority.
That's usually reserved for the judicial system, except in cases of -
immediate- life/death circumstances. The case of that noise
transformer just doesn't fall into tha catagory, sorry 'bout that.
How do I know all that? Cuz I worked around that sort of thingy for 20
years.
- 'Doc

Loop antenna success story
 

Loop antenna success story
 

On Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:33:55 +0000, Michael wrote:

I live in town, three blocks from a failing transformer. At night you
can see it arcing continuously. This produces an S8 noise level on my
Icom 718. The power company has been completely uncooperative now for 6
months of my complaining.

Even though I was warned that a loop antenna would not help with a noise
source this close, I put up a 75 meter full wave loop anyway. I was
desperate.


I have had excellent results with eliminating urban near field RF noise
with loop antennas such as my T2FD. Went from s7 noise floor to almost
nothing. Desirable signals went from S7 to S6, but S7 in a S7 noise floor
is not anywhere usable as a S6 in a near quite noise floor!

Also, if the arc is visible on the xformer, I'd call the fire dept

Loop antenna success story
 

In
wrote:

I may be misreading your post, excuse me if I am. But, how are arcing
power transformers a part of a fireman's job, other than putting out
any resulting fire?

I think the expectation is that the fire department would be sensitive
to something that has an obvious potential for starting a fire.

Fire departments also know who to talk to at the power company to get
things turned off during fire emergencies, who might either be the same
people who would actually care about an arcing transformer or would know
who would.

Lastly, fire departments are local and easier to deal with than the FCC.

--
Bert Hyman St. Paul, MN

Loop antenna success story
 

....substitute 'arcing' for 'noisy', same thing applies.
- 'Doc

Loop antenna success story
 

Loop antenna success story
 

Bert Hyman wrote:

...
Fire departments also know who to talk to at the power company to get
things turned off during fire emergencies, who might either be the same
people who would actually care about an arcing transformer or would know
who would.

Lastly, fire departments are local and easier to deal with than the FCC.


Bert:

In this case, at least, our logic is toe-to-toe, and at least a good
place to begin ... but like I indicated--not everyone seems to be doing
their "jobs" these day--but then, you already knew that. wink

Warm regards,
JS

Loop antenna success story
 

Bert Hyman wrote:
In
wrote:

I may be misreading your post, excuse me if I am. But, how are arcing
power transformers a part of a fireman's job, other than putting out
any resulting fire?

I think the expectation is that the fire department would be sensitive
to something that has an obvious potential for starting a fire.

Keep in mind that as far as the fire department is concerned, that
arcing transformer is already "on fire". Fire departments are trained to
respond to electrical fires, which include downed power lines. That
arcing transformer looks a lot like the arcing from a power line - just
on a smaller scale. They work with the power companies, who have the
responsibility of turning off the power, while the FD takes care of
whatever extra fire that happens.

Do the immediate neighbors know the transformer is malfunctioning? Does
the power company know? Not taking care of that would be gross
negligence. A discreet caal to the Fire department might help, maybe
even a call to the home insurance company (you'd be surprised how
helpful they can be when property they insure is at risk.


Fire departments also know who to talk to at the power company to get
things turned off during fire emergencies, who might either be the same
people who would actually care about an arcing transformer or would know
who would.

Lastly, fire departments are local and easier to deal with than the FCC.


In this case, definitely. There is a clear danger. The FCC is of better
use when there are problems that are more nuisance than danger to the
public.

- 73 de Mike N3LI -

Loop antenna success story
 

:)

I think my point has been 'gotten across'. Not to everyone, but that
seldom happens about anything. There really are advantages to being
thought of as the 'village idiot'...
- 'Doc

Loop antenna success story
 

Loop antenna success story
 

Hey! I worked hard for that title. I expect it to be used! I don't
expect any bowing or scraping, but you WILL acknowledge the title!
- 'Doc

Loop antenna success story
 

Loop antenna success story
 

"Michael" wrote
My loop is tied to three trees and an aluminum mast at 35 feet. My noise level on 75 meters went from S8 to
S0.


Could you give the dimensions of the loop, please ? And the size of the materials ?
And maybe a link to a picture ?