[OT] Locating source of FM radio interference

Jim Kuzdrall gnhlug at intrel.com
Thu Feb 16 22:50:01 EST 2006


On Thursday 16 February 2006 09:09 pm, Michael ODonnell wrote:
> Something near our house has recently started
> generating spectacular amounts of radio intereference
> that's most noticeable around 89MHz.  I have no
> portable radio equipment of any kind except a humble
> little $10 handheld with a normal telescoping antenna
> that seems not to be very directional, or at least I
> don't understand its directionality.  Is there some
> way I can use it to do some sort of triangulation on
> the source of interference?  Maybe some particular
> way of holding/orienting it, or selectively/partially
> shielding it, or tuning it, or...  ?

    We had an RFI source once that I tracked to a power pole.  One of 
the high power coupling had oxidized until it was loose.  It then 
started arcing.  It took a long time to convince the power company to 
fix it, but that was the culprit.

    You might collapse the antenna on the FM radio so the audio is not 
saturated by the noise.  Then walk under the nearby power poles to see 
if it gets discernibly louder.

    If you can find a noisy pole, you can sit back and enjoy a week or 
so of conversations with the power company trying to convince then to 
come out and check it.

    You can triangulate by noting which directions you must walk to make 
it go away - assuming it is present outside of the house also.  If it 
is just inside the house, start unplugging things.  The generator 
requires electricity quite certainly.

Jim Kuzdrall



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