TV interference source
 

Need an antenna or some device to locate TV interference.
Interference is local and is within 600 feet of house.
Usually appears on Channels 2, 4, & 5. Somtimes on higher channels.
Appears on screen as electrical noise similar to car ignition noise.
I have detuned FM band to use as aviation band (108-136 MHZ).
Can hear noise on portable radio within aviation band.
Any help would be welcome as we have limited income and can not afford cable.

Dave Champagne wrote:

Need an antenna or some device to locate TV interference.
Interference is local and is within 600 feet of house.
Usually appears on Channels 2, 4, & 5. Somtimes on higher channels.
Appears on screen as electrical noise similar to car ignition noise.
I have detuned FM band to use as aviation band (108-136 MHZ).
Can hear noise on portable radio within aviation band.
Any help would be welcome as we have limited income and can not afford cable.

You'd probably be better off to use a regular broadcast band portable to find the
interference. Trying to use an FM radio will be difficult.

Now, if you had a radio scanner that could pick up AM modulation up in that
frequency range it would be even better.

Good luck tracking it down. It's most likely some power line interference coming
from a transformer or some defective insulators.

Had a similar occurence here late last year, the power company came around and
replaced a lot of equipment! But, the noise is gone, and it only took me a couple
of weeks to get it accomplished after the interference started.

Steve
Holland, MI
Drake R7, R8 and R8B

I agree with Steve. Most likely something defective on a power pole. I had
the same problem which turned out to be a ground wire that was loosely
attached to a transformer housing up on a pole abt 400 feet from the house.
Noise was worse when it was dry out and often disappeared when wet or rainy.
My theory was that the moisture was bridging the air gap of some loose
connection... which turned out the be the case after all. I used a small
homebrew 3-element yagi attached to a handheld scanner on 138MHz in AM mode.
Since the powerlines themselves helped radiate the noise, I needed to add
some attenuation between the antenna and the scanner or else it looked like
the noise came from everywhere. Made detetection of the offending pole and
transformer a breeze. My neighbors thought I was nuts walking around the
neighborhood with this funny antenna hooked up to a walkie-talkie looking
thing and me with my headphones on. But they all thanked me when Pacific
Gas & Electric came out and fixed the problem a week later. That was two
years ago and the ambient noise level from 150kHz and up is S0 on my
Icom756ProII. It used to be S7 to S9 all the way through 54MHz. It was
like getting a whole new QTH !

73's and Good Luck!
Craig

"N8KDV" wrote in message
...


Dave Champagne wrote:

Need an antenna or some device to locate TV interference.
Interference is local and is within 600 feet of house.
Usually appears on Channels 2, 4, & 5. Somtimes on higher channels.
Appears on screen as electrical noise similar to car ignition noise.
I have detuned FM band to use as aviation band (108-136 MHZ).
Can hear noise on portable radio within aviation band.
Any help would be welcome as we have limited income and can not afford
cable.

You'd probably be better off to use a regular broadcast band portable to
find the
interference. Trying to use an FM radio will be difficult.

Now, if you had a radio scanner that could pick up AM modulation up in
that
frequency range it would be even better.

Good luck tracking it down. It's most likely some power line interference
coming
from a transformer or some defective insulators.

Had a similar occurence here late last year, the power company came around
and
replaced a lot of equipment! But, the noise is gone, and it only took me a
couple
of weeks to get it accomplished after the interference started.

Steve
Holland, MI
Drake R7, R8 and R8B

"Dave Champagne" wrote in message
m...
Need an antenna or some device to locate TV interference.
Interference is local and is within 600 feet of house.
Usually appears on Channels 2, 4, & 5. Somtimes on higher channels.
Appears on screen as electrical noise similar to car ignition noise.
I have detuned FM band to use as aviation band (108-136 MHZ).
Can hear noise on portable radio within aviation band.
Any help would be welcome as we have limited income and can not afford
cable.

I'll 3rd that. Power line noise peaks in the 40-80 MHz region. If the noise
appears as 2 horizontal bars slowly rolling up or down on the screen-
guaranteed power line noise from arcing.

Dale W4OP

If the noise appears as 2 horizontal bars slowly rolling up or down on the
screen- guaranteed power line noise from arcing.

Also, check pole transformers and capacitors. I had a transformer arcing down
the street, although the arcing couldn't be seen because it was internal. Power
company replaced it after I called them.

Also check sodium vapor (yellow) street lights.

73,
Bill, K5BY

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.

DC,

Since you have this De-Tuned FM Band 'portable' Radio to use as a Sniffer.

First try turning Off your home electricity at the Main Circuit Box.

Make Sure that the problem is not originating in your house itself.

Then try and identify sources that are beyond your property.

jm2cw ~ RHF
..
..
= = = (Dave Champagne)
= = = wrote in message om...
Need an antenna or some device to locate TV interference.
Interference is local and is within 600 feet of house.
Usually appears on Channels 2, 4, & 5. Somtimes on higher channels.
Appears on screen as electrical noise similar to car ignition noise.
I have detuned FM band to use as aviation band (108-136 MHZ).
Can hear noise on portable radio within aviation band.
Any help would be welcome as we have limited income and can not afford cable.