Thank you gentlemen, BUT, I've already asked the electric company to
come out and check lines. They found a loose ground wire at the
xformer next door. However, that did not solve the problem.

Four years ago, I was able to locate problem to a pole 3 houses down.
I convinced the power company to come out and check. They found one of
my neighbors had hooked up some equipment to a bad electric outlet.
When the equipment would start arching, she would shut it off. Then
turn it back on, a few minutes later.

Electric company found this out by entering the house and questioning
the occupant. They advised her to have an electrician fix the problem.
I had no problem for about two years after that.

Now, for the past year or so, I'm having trouble again. This time I
can't seem to locate problem by driving around neighborhood with
portable TV.

Since problem is intermittent, power company will not come out again.
I'm on my own. The FCC is useless. They told me that Congress has cut
back on their funding so they don't have money to help homeowners.

If I hold the portable radio so that the antenna is parallel to the
ground, I can turn around and I get dead spots where the noise level
is not heard. That's why I was hoping I might be able to make some
type of antenna that would help me pinpoint the source.