VK2KRR new Power Pole interference case

[VK2MS]

Hi..yes and Owen the costs are then ultimately recovered from you and me !! LOL!

Simply as one who once worked for an authority and fought it to my detriment in compplaining about being asked to do substandard work (the SCC) could I advise this,. I doubt anything has changed in the ensuing 40 years. Government organisms are quite likely to not have to abide by say, SAA rulings, as do "private" contractors.

This extends even into areas of adverse possession which is an area in which I have expertise . Democracy, that is equality of the species is a farce but I'll let that go without pursuit into today's manifestations...

It is unlikely that an effective (note "effective" ) ruling would be made for interference against a statuatory authority or government organism having said that I await an onslaught!! LOL!!

Cheers

[VK2KRR]

Yes, just incase I had not closed this off. The power authority did come out and fix the noise problem.
Very much appreciated.
Cant remember if I mentioned it, but I actually called the local newspaper who gave the power company some bad press regarding lack of maintenance, with a photo of myself standing next to the towers in the article. I'll try scan it in if I can find it. I think they get a bit concerned when they then get 100 people ringing up about lines on there TV and noises on there fav radio stations. So they fix things up quick.

[VK2MS]

Thanks Leigh I thought I wrote more...I must be slipping LOL!! . I think my contribution are coming to an end any way so, "cheers" and thanks for the considerate reply.

[VK3LDR]

... PLI ... I've been suffering some serious PLI across 20m band and upwards all the way through 2m even. Not as strong of course on 2m but s6-7 on 20m and the same across HF and 6m. Not much of an S signal on 2m but definitely audible. Intermittent, sometimes it will cut out for a hours and then other times, hang around for hours... It severely hampered my efforts on the Oceania SSB DX contest on 20m ...

I haven't complained to the power wholesaler yet, I actually want to locate the pole, and at this point that will involve backpack mounting my radio... trouble is I have not detected it on UHF though, but might borrow a yagi off someone and try that to narrow in on the offending pole. The handheld I have doesn't do AM on UHF. I don't know when the problem started, or if it's always been around. With s7 on 40m noise as standard, I can't actually determine if the PLI is evident on 40m as it's currently drowned out by other noise.

I can however drive around the immediate vicinity and find quiet streets with no noise but once I get within range of home, bingo, there it is. It's a lot weaker on 2m so much better to detect the pole while mobile in the car with the vertical, and I can always use the attenuator and might be able to get away with it. Atleast if I do that I can report that to the power company along with the suspect pole, but likely they'll send out someone to see me first when I'm not home (that's what happened last time and we played phone tag). Oh, and in my case, it can be visually observed on channel 2 and some other channels at certain times... bands of dots top and bottom and sometimes middle of screen... and I've already correlated the PLI audio on 20m with the dots on the TV screen (IE, PLI stops, dots stop, PLI starts, dots start... in unison!)

The joy of Amateur Radio, it's actually rather frustrating to be honest. That's why I did the RD contest from the inlaws in an RF QUIET area!

Well, I'll keep you posted on any progress if I make any,
Cheers,
Dave

[VK4XA]

The interference is so bad here from the pole pig less than 30 metres away and the 4 WiFi installations in my immediate vicinity that I have closed down my home station entirely.
Weak signal work on any VHF band to 70cm is hopeless, due to the large amount of birdies emanating from the wifi units.
HF is just as bad, due to the pole pig just down the road.
I spoke to ACMA and the electricity authority and got nowhere fast. (Though eventually ACMA said that they would have a 'look' at it.)

Yesterday I rang ACMA and requested that they change the condition on my licence to allow permanent portable operations from my car, they agreed.
So now I can sign /P when I am at home
A pity that I dont have any antennas in the air for any bands here, Willis Island would have been nice on 6M.

[VK2KRR]

Dave 3LDR, you should be able to get fairly close with 2m yagi and radio on 2m ssb or cw. Ive had to do it a few times.
Its a nightmare. Something should be done about it to make it easier for amateur ops to get things fixed if they can help locate the pole.
Look at THE COST OF SERIOUS RADIOS AND EQUIPMENT that can subsequently be rendered useless because of powerline noise. Its rediculous.

[VK4APN]

I use my Icom R3 scanner on vhf am with a 2 ele quad initially, I also built an ultrasonic detector - QST APR 06 HOME MADE ULTRASONIC POWER LINE ARC DETECTOR BY W1TRC. The quad gets you in ball park and the ultrasonic detector will almost spot the exact culpritt/component - its good for listening to other unusal stuff too.
http://www.farcircuits.net/w1rtc_notes1.pdf

[VK3LDR]

A little bit of rain can be really helpful... a bit of water and the interference goes away.. As soon as it drizzled outside, like right now the interference dissapeared, but I guess as soon as it dries up a bit it'll be back!

Today I played with the handheld. I've now sussed out that the set top box in the lounge is using the entire house mains wiring (and anthing attached) as an antenna to transmit it's annoying pulsating noise on HF. I can put the handheld on 20m AM rx and pick up the pulse at most if not all light switches, power sockets and electric devices. It's even there if the mains is switched off at the powerpoint too of course... all the equipment in my study (computer/radio shack) emits the pulsating noise including the icom rig itself when it's all off. Even LAN cables are carrying it...

Further to that, I can run the handheld on 6m AM and that will pick up the PLI quite nicely.. I ran it around my power meter in the fuse box, presto, there it is pretty strong. Take the handheld away, it's gone. I ran the handheld along my RG213 coax feedline and RG58, yep, PLI coming from it. I can even get it in the front yard near the wire from the power pole on the street. I drove home with it on this evening and it started picking up the interference along the power lines on a street adjacent! My mate has almost finished constructing a 70cm yagi for portable use to track down the offending insulators / poles, so that's what I'm looking forward to. I'll take the dog for a walk on Saturday I think and take the handheld with me and suss a few more poles out

Dissapointing to find all the interference I did and where it is but at the same time satisfying to move closer towards a root cause and potential resolve.

Once I suss out the suspect poles, I'll report it to SP Ausnet directly atleast kindly advising them that some self investigation would point towards certain poles on street x. MAYBE just MAYBE they'll come out and pinpoint it and fix it, I'll even buy 'em a slab for there efforts.

Cheers,
Dave

[VK3LDR]

I've been out twice now with a 70cm yagi on 428MHz AM and pinpointed the offending pole. It's just down the rd, about 4 poles from my place. It's on the corner of my street and another rd and I reported my suspicions back in November, no reply. I went out yesterday again with the yagi to double check and checked a few surrounding poles, all though some give a little noise similar to the PLI they are pale in comparison to the one pole. This one pole has a few forks hanging off it too! You can just get the PLI on 428MHz AM from outside my house on the street or standing on the roof.

I emailed them yesterday with the details of exactly which poles and kindly requested that this time round someone get in touch with me. If I don't hear back within a week I will report it to the energy ombudsman, but, I don't hold much faith there as I already asked them via email if they can deal with this sort of issue in mid December and have had no reply. So I emailed them again as well. I might actually ring the power company as a next step, but this time I was surprised I did not find a calling card from a contractor.

This noise on 2m BTW is s5-6 with pre-amp, there are two different levels of PLI so I can't be certain if they're the same pole. I'm not about to pack up my station and give up any time soon. I think we all deserve a right to be able to enjoy our hobbies regardless of what they are and I don't consider it fair that a profiting supplier that I pay should ignore the issue as they are technically causing me distress (yes I realise there are others in this world with more grave problems than noisy power poles, but keep things in perspective) in not being able to enjoy the hobby! Besides, how long could it take to send 1 truck out with a crew and cherry picker to do a basic repair job on the insulators? Surely it's only a couple of hours work and it would in proportion, a couple of hours effort would atleast go a long way in allowing several hours of enjoyment...

anyhow, just thought I'd give up an update... hear I listen to 14.070 and with a couple of seconds or two of breaks in PLI I can hear some PSK31... I'm off to have a nice cup of hot chocolate.

Cheers,
Dave

[vk3six]

I have had nothign but cooperation from the SEC.
The way to approach it is from a broadcast interference perspective as they ahve funding to investigate that.
The investigator is a ham VK3ZSB.
He is quite sympathetic.

he foudn and fixed a pole for me.



Speaking of interference I have picked up a wide band s7 SPLAT from a solar power electric fence around a wild life compnd some 500 mtres from my house. it is right across 20,15,10 and 6M.
What is the legality and what can I do about it?
If I cut the wire the wild life might get out and eat someone.

[VK2JH]

Hi,

If you do suspect a pole, try the 14lb sledge hammer test (might be best done after dark). Go and give the mongrel a good whack at the base. It might make it better.... this is what the power blokes do as a first test often. Could make it worse and be a better example, or if the pole is termite infested, it might be the start of a pole replacement!!

Just a thought,

John
VK2JH
QF58KR
(Home of a CH 0 TV translator)

[VK5AYD]

I have had several experiences with power line interference and have used the sledge hammer method with permanant and partial success......BUT be carefull cos' the whole bloody lot may come down on you and it may be a little embarassing trying to explain that one......IF YOU SURVIVE!!!!.......Some power line workers take a dim view of others (who may happen to be wiser and know what they are doing) playing with their system.....

David VK5AYD

[VK2JH]

Of course, Safety First ALWAYS!

John
VK2JH

[VK3LDR]

If I should open a new thread let me know..
Just another update.
I phoned sp-ausnet on Tuesday the 13th after emailing them Sunday the 11th. The lady on the phone insisted I explain the problem to her so I told which pole it is and she said she'd log a job in the system. 4 hours later I get an email... from the Interference Consultant bloke that I spoke to early in 2008 about street light interference... the same bloke is back again to investigate!! He didn't seem to remember me at first but he does now!! I gave him a detailed run down and he's been by once in the area to check (Wednesday this week) but unfortunately there was not much PLI on Monday... he left a calling card advising as such so I stormed into the house and whacked the radio on 20m and wadda ya know, broken intermittent PLI ...

He also emailed me yesterday and did say he'd picked up a little PLI but wants to come round and see me so that he makes sure he's chasing the right interference.. I suspect he wants to confirm for himself exactly what I'm seeing as I guess the power company wont take my word for it but will take his! I'm staying home 2 days next week so hopefully he comes then, and hopefully the PLI is there at its fullest. Lastnight it was also somewhat reduced and intermittent... but on the blistering hot days it's there in full force. You should have seen the damn TV at my place the other day... spot city!

So, it's progressing a long. Oh, and the EWOV (energy and water ombudsman of VIC) did respond to my email offering to assist in the matter but I'll wait until the Interference bloke is done with his investigation. If he tells me he's going to submit a report to sp-ausnet I'll give them say 1 week before I ring them again asking if they have the report and what they intend to do and when...

So there you go. Incidentally, my mate John, VK3TVZ is also suffering PLI in his QTH... He's got the handheld back that I used to track the pole near my place so I'll try and help him pinpoint the pole but his QTH is a different power wholesaler and I'm not sure if the same Interference guy will be employed to investigate but I'll ask him.

I don't care about the noisy poles that aren't around my home QTH, they can arc all they like as long as they're safe and not causing RFI to me!!! Seems as though the RFI field is about a 200m radius at HF/6M and maybe 100m at 2m and 50m or less at 70cm.

hmm, back to work.

[VK3LDR]

Got a call today from the maintenance contractor to the power wholesaler telling me a job has been scheduled on the 13th of April to do maintenance on 2 power poles and he even gave me the numbers! I didn't get a chance to not them down, but I'm guessing they're likely to be the ones I referred them in the first place. Fingers crossed they can meet this date and sort the issue out, however, there are some more serious issues they are likely to need to deal with at present with Victoria's out of control bushfires so my interference complaint can wait till the life threatening issues are resolved of course.

In the meantime, I play pot luck with interference... HF was relatively quiet last night which was nice, but 2m had steady PLI hum on AM ..!!

The streetlight interference is still present, and I doubt I'll get a resolve to that one without lodging yet another complaint which at this point I don't want to do as I don't wanna stir the waters!

Cheers,
73,
Dave

[VK2JDS]

@vk3ot, That splat would indicate a fault on the fence.
they do that when there is a flash-over point. Its right now that you should approach them about maintenance on their fence as they cause bushfires. I am with the nsw rfs , like your cfa, and have dealt with electric fence fires , even followed a fire investigator around watching how he found the problem section.
A poorly maintained or unmaintained electric fence with grass growing up into the tape or wire will cause the grass to die, dry out then ignite on a hot summer day possibly burning out themselves and their neighbours properties. (poison along under the wire to stop growth)
Another possibility is the tape/wire is touching or close to the netting or other grounded parts of the fence which is equally as bad meaning an open spark is occurring every 15-30 seconds somewhere along it due to sag in the wires.
I fix electric fence controllers, along with other electronic stuff... i hate the racket fences make too
good luck, 73's de Dave