[Harc] 145.8 signal - print this to paper

Thu Mar 26 16:42:04 CDT 2020

Ha!  Sometimes smart is not so much so...

On 3/26/2020 1:20 PM, Jason Durant via Harc wrote:
> Howard,
> Thanks for the reply! It is definitely terrestrial. I went to get gas to
> take advantage of the price drops and the signal stopped once I got about
> 50 feet from the house. I'll find out if it is cause by my power at the
> beginning of April when I do my monthly generator testing. I would not be
> surprised if it is caused by one of the many "smart" devices in my house.
> 
> Thanks again and 73,
> Jason
> KA6F
> 
> 
> On Thu, Mar 26, 2020 at 12:55 PM Howard, KB6NN via Harc <
> harc at humboldt-arc.org> wrote:
> 
>> Jason,
>>
>> Running behind on my email as you can tell by me saying nothing heard on
>> that frequency here in Cutten today... (your original question was posted
>> more than 24 hours ago).
>>
>> And after reading, print this to paper if you are using a desktop/laptop,
>> etc., (something other than a cell phone) to read this, because some
>> troubleshooting steps below require you to turn off your computer.
>>
>> The audio files you submitted makes me guess it's something terrestrial,
>> that it is noise, not a signal.
>>
>> You said 145.800, so presuming it is only on that frequency, makes advice
>> by email more difficult, but there are things you can do right now, if you
>> still hear the signal.  (By the way, FLDIGI does have a slightly
>> configurable scope, enable it in the View menu.)  The fact that those who
>> responded said they don't hear it at their location, strongly suggests it
>> is terrestrial and close to you.  In that case, and if the signal is still
>> present for you today, suggest you do the following:
>>
>> 1. First step in almost any case is to rule out the noise/interference as
>> something in your house that's powered by AC: if you can hear the noise on
>> a portable/handheld radio, turn that on, and while listening to the signal
>> on the portable radio, go and turn off the main breaker to your house.  If
>> the noise stops, it's powered by AC in your house.  If so, turn AC back on
>> at the breaker and when the noise resumes, walk around your house and find
>> it by either sussing it out by its strength or by selectively turning
>> things off until you locate the culprit.  If not, it might be an AC powered
>> device in a neighbor's house.
>>
>> 1a. If you can't carry around the radio you hear the signal on but can run
>> the radio you are hearing it on off a battery, do so.  At least you can
>> rule out an AC powered device/appliance in your own house.  Years ago, I
>> had PG&E come out to locate a noise, and the technician used a portable
>> radio to walk around the block with me and found the problem coming from a
>> neighbor's garage.  PG&E opened the meter box, shut off the neighbor's
>> power, and the noise stopped.  Simple basic troubleshooting paid off there.
>>
>> 2. I almost forgot: if you have/have a photovoltaic panels/panel on your
>> roof, rule that out by listening for the sound at night.  This also rules
>> out your neighbor's solar system, where charge controllers are the most
>> likely culprit.
>>
>> 3. If you have a battery powered device that you are using to get the
>> FLDIGI display you attached, that might be the culprit (not very likely but
>> not impossible - could be power supply or display), so if you can listen to
>> the noise and turn that laptop or tablet off (full off) (battery out if
>> it's a laptop - probably unnecessary but gotta say it's easy to do).  If
>> the sound disappears, bingo.  If not, keep testing.
>>
>> 4. If you have not eliminated the source as your own house or a
>> neighbor's, turn your gear back on and change frequency, better, listen
>> with a radio with a means to change frequency by small increments (it's own
>> dial, CAT tuning by computer/FLDIGI), and see if the sound is on other
>> frequencies besides 145.800.  Your FLDIGI screen snippet shows a wide
>> signal, so you'll need to change frequency in steps of 1KHz or more.  This
>> is just to see if it is only on 145.800 and does not reappear every so many
>> KHz up and down the dial.  If it does appear on other than 145.800, very
>> strong indication that it is noise from a local device.
>>
>> 5. If it does not appear on other frequencies (repeater outputs, other
>> satellite frequencies), check to see if it appears on frequencies well
>> below the subject frequency by dividing 145.800 by 2, 3, 1.5, etc. then
>> listen on those frequencies for the source "fundamental" and apply the
>> crude direction finding technique of walking around with a portable radio
>> to sniff it out.
>>
>> 5a. If it does not appear to be in your house but is likely in your
>> neighborhood and you don't have a portable radio to listen to it on, but
>> you do have a mobile radio in your car and can hear the signal on that, you
>> can do drive around the block to find where the signal is the strongest.
>> If you are driving down a street and the noise is constant and strong, but
>> if you move to another street and it's negligible or gone, it may be on
>> either the power lines or telephone or cable lines.
>>
>> 6. If you don't have a portable to listen on, someone in the club does.
>> Please post back here to say if you found the source, and answers to
>> questions like if the sound is only on 145.800, and what you did to find
>> it.  Would love to hear you used the steps above to find it.  Or if you or
>> anyone else has another troubleshooting step I've overlooked, let me know.
>>
>> We have not had, to my knowledge, an RFI Committee within HARC, but we
>> have had ad-hoc teams formed to solve specific issues.
>>
>> Hope any of the above helps you or anyone, and hope it is not too long an
>> email to read.
>>
>> Howard
>> --
>> KB6NN
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 3/26/2020 8:59 AM, Jason Durant via Harc wrote:
>>> Anyone know what the signal on 145.8 is? It seems like it is always
>> there.
>>> I'm guessing it's a geosynchronous satellite or beacon...
>>>
>>> 73
>>> Jason
>>> KA6F
>>>
>>>
>>
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> 
> 
> 

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