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Re: [RFI] power line noise

To: "'Facility 406'" <facility_406@bruteforcedevelopment.com>, <rfi@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [RFI] power line noise
From: <mike@rfiservices.com>
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2024 14:44:24 -0400
List-post: <mailto:rfi@contesting.com>
406, 
What's your next action?

RFI Services
Michael C Martin
51 W Bay Front Rd
Lothian, MD 20711
240-508-3760
mike@rfiservices.com
www.rfiservices.com 
FCC P2-4-10920

-----Original Message-----
From: RFI
<rfi-bounces+mike=rfiservices.
com@contesting.com> On Behalf
Of Facility 406
Sent: Thursday, September 19,
2024 11:36 AM
To: rfi@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [RFI] power line
noise

> I had a nice conversation
with the local COOP manager,
but he was not 
> interested in borrowing the
people and equipment from
another local 
> utility to hunt down the
problem(s). He left me with a
caution that AM 
> radio is dying, and that I
should switch to broadband to
hear what I 
> want to from there. I didn't
even get into being licensed
and 
> interested in getting back
on HF, because that didn't
seem to be on 
> his radar, pardon the radio
pun.

Consider the bigger picture...

You are a licensed, and
protected service, you should
START there.  What you do
currently, or are thinking
about doing later, getting
back into HF, has absolutely
nothing to do with what may be
their poorly maintained, or
failing equipment creating
RFI, and affecting
communications.  HF?  Sure,
you may hear it there, but
when I'm sniffing around in a
vehicle, I generally go to 1
GHz, and I check DC-12,000 MHz
by hand.  Noise doesn't stop
at HF.  RFI from power lines
usually isn't a small problem,
or limited to one person, or
one band.  I found one pole
that affected a measured 18
square miles, in reality,
probably closer to 50, but I
gave up when I found the
source.  You hearing some
noise on AM radio, or even HF
can equate to everyone,
everywhere, having everything
affected.  Really bad poles
and lines wipe out local WiFi,
and satellite downlinks in the
GHz range.  The average person
generally doesn't know why
their stuff acts flaky.

You are in the unique position
of being the licensed guy,
with all the rules and regs
behind you.  Chances are,
nobody else even knows why
everything hit the skids, and
the average consumer with
badly operating earbuds
generally isn't listened to.

As for AM radio "dying out",
perhaps for the one old
uninformed/uneducated guy that
doesn't bother to listen any
more (some people don't listen
to vinyl records either, but
as of yesterday, a local
Walmart had 3 sides of 2
aisles full of them, "vinyl is
dead", someone said decades
ago, go figure...), or
believes internet rumours
based on a few very poorly
designed cars, however, in
reality, in addition to almost
every vehicle, or broadcast
receiver ever made, a good
portion of which still exist,
and are used in the tens of
millions daily, with hundreds
of millions in reserve:

"National Association of Farm
Broadcasting (NAFB) reports:

Efforts to keep AM radio in
the dashboards of U.S.
vehicles have taken a step
forward in the House. The
House Energy and Commerce
Committee voted
45-2 to send the proposed AM
Radio for Every Vehicle Act to
the full House for a vote.

"It's been a stalwart of
American prosperity and
information sharing," 
says Representative Jeff
Duncan (R-SC). "Having AM
radio available is important
to my constituents, especially
during emergencies."

If passed by the full House,
the proposed Act would require
the Secretary of
Transportation to issue a rule
requiring access to AM
broadcast stations in motor
vehicles. If they don't,
automakers would get fined.

The role of AM during natural
disasters was cited by several
lawmakers as they spoke during
the bill's markup, noting that
the Federal Emergency
Management Agency spent
millions solidifying the
Emergency Alert System with AM
radio as the backbone of the
EAS.

In addition to serving as the
backbone of the Emergency
Alert System, AM radio remains
a critical tool in delivering
farm news and information to
farmers across rural America.

Farm broadcaster and Vice
President of Hoosier Ag Today
and Michigan Ag Today Eric
Pfeiffer says, "If AM radio
gets removed from vehicles, it
wouldn't be long before
vehicle manufacturers remove
FM radio or attempt to charge
consumers for it. Hoosier Ag
Today and Michigan Ag Today
support free over the air
radio for all consumers,
especially farmers, and we
encourage you to contact your
members of Congress to ask for
their support of the AM Radio
for Every Vehicle Act."

https://www.agrimarketing.com/
s/151153 "

As interesting as all that is,
YOU are the one operating
within a protected service,
and RFI is no more permissible
than any other crime against
an individual, or society, in
part, or whole.  You are
affected. 
  That's all it takes.

Certainly one guy, in one
co-op, can sniff one pole, one
time.  Besides, in addition to
RFI to licensed or regulated
services not being permitted
by numerous CFR's, there's a
lot more, requiring proper
maintenance of power
distribution systems.  Find a
really bad pole, preferably
one that's visibly arcing,
anonymously drop a dime to the
utilities commission to shut
down the system, and while
being overhauled, use that as
an opportunity (aka heavy
leverage) to solve your RFI
problem, cuz, you know, all
those other poles making noise
have the potential to
catastrophically fail, or
cause fires.  Save humanity,
save a radio, win-win.

You are in the position of
power, and hold all the cards.
If you "think" the RFI is
power line related, based on
your observations, it is up to
the co-op manager to go to the
time, effort, and expense, to
find it, or not, and make a
determination either way, kind
of like saying to someone, I
THINK that
plane/train/automobile is
going to go down/crash. 
  Someone is gonna check...
If you are unsatisfied with
his response, find a another
bottom feeding equivalent of a
second level part-time
McDonald's Shift Manager
within the co-op to do his job
for him, when asked the first
time.

Kurt


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