Tracking Down Radio Noise at My QTH (A Work in Progress)
Nineteen years ago, I moved into a cottage at a nice senior retirement community in Davis, California. A trapped vertical was permitted in my backyard so I used a Kenwood TS-440S for CW and SSB contacts on the HF bands. Extensive travel then limited amateur-radio operation only to intermittent times for nearly 15 years. As real retirement approached, I again returned to the HF bands, but observed that radio-noise levels had significantly increased over past years. Prior S-meter readings of S1 and S2 had now reached a steady S9-plus. Only exceptionally strong amateur-radio signals now override the radio noise. Since time and instrumentation were available, the reason for the exceptionally high noise levels in the popular HF bands was explored.
Instrumentation
A small instrumentation van used to investigate communications issues at other facilities was available for my use. It was parked in my driveway (Photo A), and the coaxial cable from my trapped vertical was rerouted to the van. Electric power was obtained from a long extension cord running to a 120-volt outlet in the garage. A small Honda generator for power in the field was not used.
is a block diagram of the instrumentation located on
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