PLN Finally Eliminated

Описание: #hamradio #noise

If you have been watching my channel for a while you know that I have been plagued by power line noise (PLN) for the past two years. It has gradually gotten worse and worse.

Most power line noise (PLN) is caused by arcing between power pole hardware. As a difference of potential (voltage) builds up between components on the pole, the air gap between them ionizes and current flows. This equates to a spark gap transmitter. Loose hardware is often the cause, such as loose nuts, bolts, clamps, and ground wire staples, but dirty insulators and blown lightning arrestors can also result in arcing.

Power line noise can be worse in the afternoon of a warm day with low humidity. With a high humidity, the moisture in the air allows the static buildup of electricity to discharge at a lower voltage, which is usually not strong enough to cause unbearable radio frequency interference (RFI). But when the air is dry, the voltage builds to a much higher level before discharging. This can cause significant RFI.

Since my power company wasn’t responding, I wrote to the FCC, but they asked the ARRL to handle it. That is normal now. The ARRL reached out to me about 3 months later. The ARRL asked Jeff, W4DD, an RFI expert in my area, to help me out. Jeff stopped by and tracked down 4 more offending poles, with a couple producing 30 and 33dB of noise.

I made a video of Jeff tracking down the noise sources. You can watch it at this link: Pinpointing Power Line Noise (PLN) #hamradio #powerlinenoise #rfi
   • Pinpointing Power Line Noise (PLN) #hamrad...  

Jeff compiled his report and sent it to the power company. It took a while. The power company personnel wouldn’t respond to Jeff either. The ARRL was on standby to address it legally, if the power company wouldn’t respond. Jeff got in touch with someone at the power company whom he has worked with in the past, and whom was very cooperative. That person was able to get a crew to come out. This video documents the results.

Note: Click the link below if you would like to see the slides from Jeff’s presentation to the Gwinnett Amateur Radio Society regarding this subject. It goes into more detail.

https://www.gars.org/presentations/20...

Also note that Jeff did an online presentation for the Antique Wireless Association. You can watch that video at:    • Hunting Down Power Line Noise and Other RFI  

Important: The RFI Mapper software mentioned in the video was written by Jeff himself. He is willing to share it but he wants to be clear that it is a WAN (Wide Area) tool, not a LAN (Local Area) tool. You must also use a LAN tool, like his Ultrasonic Dish, to pinpoint the exact hardware that is the culprit. You can reach out to Jeff via his QRZ page. Search for W4DD.

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73, de N4HNH