bpnjensen wrote:

Running dogg, when you say "N. California location," where is that?
Near SF?

Sacramento. Close enough.

I am near SF (East Bay) and I get scores of seemingly random noises
across 5 - 10 MHz. 49m is especially bad for weird unidentifiable QRM.
Some of it sweeps (moves up and down the frequency scale), or changes
pitch while maintaiing a single RF.

I know that practically the whole 49m band is filled with weird QRM at
my location. It's so bad that the BBC is practically unlistenable most
nights on 5975-I have to use 9525 even though that freq has problems of
its own.

I get intermod junk from local 50kW MW stations. Bad in wet weather
when the ground improves.

On 9525 I'll get some other signal that occasionally wipes out the BBC
for several seconds at a time. Usually it's talking in Spanish, but a
couple nights ago it was American sounding jazz music, sounded like that
"soft jazz" muzak stuff that seems to be a popular FM format nowadays.
The transmitting tower of a soft jazz FM stn is near my location. But
that doesn't explain the Spanish.

I also get screwy stuff that just comes on and off. Some of it fades
in and out like the HF signals, so some of it may be far away.

Also get the usual streetlight junk, too - that's fixable.

Bruce Jensen