Interesting story Jon. First, I keep the ARRL pamphlets on hand at all
times for just such situations when they come up. Second, if one
neighbor tells me that other neighbors are "hearing" me on their stuff,
I'd simply call his or her bluff saying "Funny, I talk with them all the
time and they have NEVER said anything to me about that!" I'm sure that
would have shut him down on that one, but be sure to tell him to have
the others call you directly if there is a problem so you can give them
an RFI pamphlet and offer to "cure their equipment" of RF susceptibility
as well! We're only here to HELP! Be sure to use the term RF
susceptibility over and over again.
His problem is probably not that bad, especially at low power, but the
dampness might've made his RF susceptibility problem worse if there's
any corrosion problems on the telephone lines or connections. Corrosion
equals P-N junctions equals RF detectors. Wala! Audio rectification
galore. Also, clean that signal up, although I doubt it makes much
difference with RFI. It's the RF detector that counts, but bad audio is
still bad audio.
I'm guessing he has always had a Telephone RFI problem, but you clobber
him worse on 10-meters and this was the Sunday his favorite team is in
the running and on TV during the contest on 10 meters! That combination
is probably almost as bad as the Nebraska vs. Oklahoma game was during
CQWW this year for me. Luckily my one neighbor is a bartender at a
sports bar and had to work, and the other one is gone racing his Porshe
(spell it? Hell I couldn't even afford the taxes on it!) somewhere most
weekends. It's an ideal contesters location, isn't it? Just gotta get
the towers up someday...GL Jon.
73,
de ed -K0iL
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jon Ogden [SMTP:na9d@speakeasy.net]
> Got a knock on the door this afternoon from my lovely neighbor while
> operating the ARRL 10M contest. He told me that I was getting into
> his
> phone. Not only that, he claimed that I was getting into the neighbor
> on
> the other side of him, the neighbor beyond that and the neighbor
> across the
> street from him. He claimed, they were talking about taking "legal"
> action
> (but not him). He said the neighbor across the street had to turn of
> all
> his TVs and radios because I was getting into everything.
>
> Interesting..... I ran about 150 Watts all weekend. And if you've
> been to
> my neighborhood, you know how big the lots are and how far these other
> people are away (they're at least 75 feet away if not farther our lots
> are
> all at least 50 feet wide). And the funny part was, after my
> conversation
> with him, I looked over at the neighbor across the street from him and
> could
> see that he was watching the Green Bay/Tenessee game during the last 2
> hours
> of the contest (big TV)! So I wonder if he REALLY talked to them or
> if I
> was interfering cause I kept checking to see if I could see the TV on
> in
> that other house.
>
> He came over here demanding that I fix the problem on my end. I told
> him
> that I seriously doubted it was on my end and the problem was with his
> phone
> and that he'd need to get a filter from Radio Shack for it. I also
> told him
> that legally, I am in the clear and that I am licensed to do such
> activity.
> He continued to claim that it wasn't his problem to fix, yet he said
> he
> wanted to work with me for a solution. I said, "OK, so you are saying
> you
> want to work with me, but you don't like the solution that I give you
> that
> IS the solution. So I can't help you...." He finally calmed down and
> became more reasonable and said he'd get the filters for his phone.
>
> Now, I haven't had a problem with this guy for over 2 years. And
> during
> that time, I've operated probably 5 to 10 contests and most of them at
> full
> legal limit. So I was shocked that when running 150 Watts, I had a
> problem.
>
> Now, I know that I was running my audio and compressor pretty hot. In
> fact,
> I may have been slightly overmodulating a bit. Now, while that might
> create
> splatter on the ham band, I don't understand how that could cause RFI
> to
> other people near by. It was also kind of rainy and damp here today.
> Could
> that have anything to do with it?
>
> I am stumped. If I really did bother all these neighbors, it's a
> first. My
> antenna SWR is just fine. I was running only 150 Watts, but perhaps a
> little over modulated and it was damp?
>
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