Posts Tagged ‘powerline noise’
Random Antenna Musings and Power Line Noise
As I have shared in the past I have a 66′ dipole in the attic fed with ladder line. I live in a HOA controlled neighborhood so my antenna options are pretty limited.
Last night I set WSPR up running 2 watts on 20 meters. Started about 2200 UTC. Wow it really seemed open. My 2 watts was spotted multiple times into Europe, Alaska and all over the USA. This antenna does not have a problem getting out.
The problem with my antenna setup is on receive. I have minimum S5 noise on 40 and 30 meters. Typically S7 on 20 meters. Interestingly enough 15 is quieter and 10 meters is typically S2 or so. The noise is static with some noticeable “crackling”.
Last night on WSPR was a great example. I was getting heard ALL over, but I was only decoding about 2 or 3 stations – all in the USA. Also on PSK31 or JT-65 I see guys working DX that I can’t even here or see on the waterfall – my noise level is just too high.
Sometime soon I am going to cut all the power to my QTH and see what the noise level is. If significantly reduced, I will see what I identify as noise sources in my QTH.
Beyond that, less than a 1/4 mile as the crow flies I have identified some very noisy power lines. They are so noisy that it they will completely blank the AM radio in your car when you drive past them.
Here is a picture of where my house sits in relation to the power lines (my dipole runs parallel to the power lines):
Blue marker is my QTH – Red line is power line (X’s are noisy poles) |
I will be contacting the utility company at some point, but first I want to see how much of the noise is coming from my own QTH.
Red markers are trees – red line would be horizontal leg of inverted L |