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Re: Topband: Re. RFI - lots of it

To: "Jim Murray" <adkmurray@yahoo.com>, <topband@contesting.com>
Subject: Re: Topband: Re. RFI - lots of it
From: "Tom W8JI" <w8ji@w8ji.com>
Reply-to: Tom W8JI <w8ji@w8ji.com>
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 2015 21:30:14 -0400
List-post: <topband@contesting.com">mailto:topband@contesting.com>
Rain on the way so will know for sure what conditions are best. Hopefully not the same as Tim or Kriss since this is big Lake effect snow country although you'd think snow would melt at an arcing area. We are expecting 60mph winds tomorrow and rain. Regardless, power company is sending someone "to take a look". Noise is still down but not gone since the wet weather stopped.jim/k2hn
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Wet weather noise is often corona related, but sometimes defective insulators, cracked, scored, or dirty. I had problems with 345kV line corona in Ohio when the weather was damp.

Dry weather noise is often slack spans allowing the metal pin joints or ball and socket joints in insulators to arc from capacitive coupling. The metal on metal corrodes and makes a tiny layer of oxide that arcs from capacitive coupling and leakage. Hitting a pole with a hammer finds that, because it shakes the wires and wiggles the metal joints.


There are so many different things that can cause noise, however, that any Internet diagnosis is mostly a wild guess.

The best thing to do before doing anything is try to track it with a VHF AM radio, like a portable aircraft radio. I have commercial noise locating equipment, but the last time I lent it out it came back broken. :(

73 Tom
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