I have found the local power company (FL Power) to be pretty good. The guy I
have been working with recently is on the ball. However, he was a
replacement for another guy who tried, but his tecnnical expertise was
lacking.
I too used the progressive frequency method and have been pretty successful
in at least getting within one pole of the right one. I used my portable
radio and car rx for the AM part and then whipped out the MFJ sniffer to do
the rest.
Since I am retired I was able to cruise around with the power company RFI guy
in his truck and check out the offending poles I had noted on a detailed map.
He used several devices including binoculars, a very nice 'sniffer', the
bucket and the standard hammer. We also shook the guying on the poles etc.
In every case over the years (20), with the exception of two times, the
offending noise has been a bad lightning arrestor. That's not too surprising
since central FL is the lightning of the US.
For the two others, one was a bad insulator and the other was a piece of
power cord draped over a 120KV line 100 feet in the air. How it got up there
I can only speculate...a hawk or eagle thinking it would make a good material
for a nest was carrying it and dropped it midway between two poles. It took
a long time to find that one. We kept looking at the power line towers but
they were clean.
I have found keeping the following to be a big help. 1. Keep an open mind as
to the source to be a big help. 2. Don't just tell the power company...I
have a problem. If you can locate it for them, it's a big help. 3.Thank yous
and pleases go a long way. 4.Hammering and shaking are pretty much urban
tales and don't help a lot. 5. Thank yous and please go a long way. 5.
Taking care of RFI is an endless task. 6. Thank yous and pleases go a long
way. 7. Generally, the higher the voltage on the lines, the less likely
they are the offenders. Ones that run 7200 to 14K are the worst since they
have lots of 'things' to go wrong....arrestors, taps, splices. 8 Thank yous
and pleases go a long way.
Bill K4XS ....used to be s8-9 line noise
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