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RFI issue solved!
12 November 2020 | by 
Back in May I posted regarding an RFI issue I was having and at the time I thought is was the neighbors heat pump. A few weeks ago my neighbor was away on business and his heat pump was off but my RFI was still present and more of it! I took my Eaton FRX5-BT put it on AM with the antenna up and took it for a walk about. When I passed by my Hydro smart meter the RFI was present big time but last time there was no issue at the meter. Upon investigation I read that the meter has cycles were it transmits data and thus the off and on issue with the RFI. The other issue is we are in very close proximity to other homes and I am certain my Endfed antenna is picking up not just my smart meter. The good new in all this is my Icom 7610 has great filtering and my NB is able to filter it out and the issues are gone. It's a problem that I can live with along side the rigs filtering.
12 Responses to “RFI issue solved!”
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A smart meter that produces a fundamental in the frequency range of a Icom 7610?
Here’s another RFI problem which some readers might have some information about it . It’s a wideband pulse type noise ( not unlike vehicle ignition pulses of years ago ) about 15 to 20 pulses per second . Strange thing is that it is nulled out across the main HF bands , 40 to 10 meters . Steep fall off of noise at 50 to 100kHz from band edges . I am in a rural area ( still plenty of noise sources around ! ) and this noise appeared about 6 months before fiber broadband came here . Hardly an internet feed is it , radiating ? ADSL etc I believe have a ‘hash’ or white noise characteristic so I cannot fathom what this RFI might be . No use asking the telecom/broadband suppliers , they would recommend the men with the white coats visiting me ! Any observations gratefully received.
Des Walsh EI5CD
Good evening Bill, funny you should bring that up, and I was thinking along the same lines. I did contact the local utility and was forwarded to their data and meter dept. I asked for times when the smart meters sent data. I was told times when they were not sending data as that was faster than data sending times. On numerous days I checked during off times and low and behold the RFI was gone. They did go on to say that some utilities smart meters transmit short bursts 24/7 while others do not. So with the specific off times they gave me I did lose the RFI.
Thanks for stopping by Bill and have a great weekend,
73,
Mike
VE9KK
Well it looks to me like if there is a rf noise issue with the city’s metering them they are responsible to clean it up. If the shoe was on the other foot and something within your shack was creating a rf noise and it was creating problems with the city they would be knocking on your door with the FCC asking you to fix it. So to me what is good for the goose is good for the gander!
73
NO Q
Good evening Des and thanks for taking the time to stop by and leave a comment, well my fellow blog readers Des put the question out there can any of you help him out with some info?
I always do a QRZ.COM search of my reader just to learn more about who they are and I do find out some very interesting facts! Des I did a search of your call and was not able to find it anywhere.
73 and have a good weekend,
Mike
VE9KK
Good evening Dan, yes in a perfect world the utility would step up. When I called them they were very fast to direct me to their smart meter page outlining the studies, fact sheets and standards. All I can see is a huge drawn out fight, what I want to do is get on the radio and play and if the filtering out the 7610 knocks it out I am happy. I do agree with you but that is a fight that would use up lots of my energy, time and radio time.
73 and thanks very much Dan for taking the time to stop by,
Mike
VE9KK
A lot of folks have asked QRZ to remove their call due to Fred Lloyd selling their info, my good friend Mark WW4DX did so for that reason so if I can’t find a U.S. ham’s call I search the FCC ULS database for it. Here’s N5NOQ’s lookup there: https://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=3881500
Very 73,
Cliff, KU4GW
Good afternoon Cliff and very nice to hear from you. Thanks very much for the info.
73,
Mike
VE9KK
Check out http://www.QRM.guru for a load of ham generated info on identifying, locating and resolving RFI. And please submit your experiences so we can share with others.
73, Chris VK3qB
Good afternoon Chris, thanks for taking the time to read the post and for the great link. I just went there and it seems it’s time for a cup of tea and look more at it.
73,
Mike
VE9KK
Hi Mike –
Congrats on identifying your noise source and getting a schedule of ‘off’ times from your utility. Now you know when to take your breaks from contesting and DX. Most of us are not that lucky. And if they decide that your RF causes problems for their metering system, THEN you can remind them that you hold a permit to operate in the amateur bands.
Good evening Karl very nice to hear from you, yes it’s good to know where the QRM is coming from. As for the schedule of the issue it really does not bother me as my Icom 7610 NB setting takes care of the noise.
73 and thanks for taking the time to leave a comment,
Mike
VE9KK