I just found a continually arcing lightning arrestor on the 7200v overhead lines with the help of the local utility.  I pinpointed it  first ( about 1 mile west of my house) , and called them out.  It wasnt on the first pole we tried but it was on the second pole.

The rubber boot around the spark gap in the arrestor had blown open  all the way around, and you could hear the continual arcing across the gap  from ground level right under the pole in question.  A new arrestor and  insulator  on the 7200v line and no more problems. 

With more homes come more service line drops and arrestors and more chances for loose hardware, loose wires, etc.  Keep walking and map it out.  Google maps are a great way to  identify  poles in question and keep track of what youve surveyed. Each pole should have its own number  labeled right to it.  Get that info and call out the utility.  Dont just call them and take your chances. 

Also, anywhere you see  power lines running THROUGH tree limbs and branches/twigs, notify the utility. They are powerful sources of noise, and the utilities are  required to keep their lines clear.  The major power outages have put many of them in  hot water with the government.   

Look for  loose wires, chains, and other items hanging on the power lines.
80% of  RFI from PLN is reportedly due to loose or defective hardware.

Anytime a lineman comes out, make sure he goes up in the bucket and tightens all hardware while he's up the pole you think is a problem.  Some are too lazy to go up.  Ask them to and they usually will.

If you have a 6m yagi, and rig that listens on AM on 50 mhz, try rotating your 6m yagi and get a direction.  Plot the noise levels on a polar graph and  compare that to a google map for some ideas  as to the location of the source.

It worked for me on my PLN.  Turned out to be  less than 1 mile away at 255 degrees.  An arcing  lightning arrestor which the utility changed  right in front of me. 

With  RFI, in general,  go by steps, as high in freq as you can, the closer you  get to it, until you find the spot.    My RFi was audible from  broacast band up thru 50 mhz but  just murdered the 160-80-60 m bands. 

Power Line Noise resolved.  The local utility came by and we tracked down the  source....a continually arcing lightning arrestor with the rubber boot around the spark gap blown in half.  Noise has now dropped to a much more manageable S-5.  but it uncovered a whole family of pops,  crackles and  tick tick ticking sounds I never heard before.   But at least 160-80 and 40m are now fn to operate again.

Utility linemen were great to work with and did everything I asked.  Actually finding a source     ( that was also costing them money)  didnt hurt either.  IE do your homework first and just guide them to the pole or poles in question.  Make sure they go up top and inspect adn ticghten ALL the hardware.  In our case I could see they  gave some  loose through-bolts  some extra cranks.  BTW  The line carried 3 phases of 7200v on steel poles.  They also voluntarily  changed to  phase  in question's  top insulator.  And the guys  advised  anytime a tree has branches or twigs  touching their lines it will usually result in substantal RFI.  So if you see lines running through trees, report it and action will be taken.  They will first ask the homeowner IF they can cut back the tree.  In our case, they were denied,  and backed off, instead reporting the problem to HQ for legal action.

Good luck with  your PLN. Utilities are cooperating!

Despite it's imperfections,  you cant beat the price!  My first  quad ( for 15m)  and  a 2nd quad  I used in Ghana were made from   bamboo.  My first   was from  bamboo purchased from a rug store ( commonly used to wrap carpet around..at least in the old days)  and the 2nd one was fresh cut.

They lasted several years before I  moved and took them down. 

I'd say Go for it!  Even if hurricane winds  prove too much, how hard cana it be to replace the broken spreaders. 

Other uses are for ground plane antennas...work great.   Stick them in the end of  aluminum or  fiberglass mast sections or  the longer ie 40m etc antennas.

Good luck

W1VT: Thats encouraging!  I can more easily do a half wave on 160 than a full wave.   Is your half wave beverage cut for 160 or 80m?    how did you tweak your half wave Beverage?  Shortening or lengthening it and uprooting the ground rod at one end each time you changed lengths? Or is there a simpler  more effective way? ie changing termination resistance?

Thanks.

...frequently heard, usually someone who just turned on the rig or just tuned to the frequency and hasnt been listening:

QRL? pause for 1 second.
CQCQCCQCQCQCQCQCQCQCQCQCQCQ.....
==========================
It  comes across as trying to hijack the frequency by expecting someone who is already there in QSO, to notice, drop everything, and give an immediate response, while ignoring the station he is already talking to.

On a quiet or noisy band with other qrm, qrn, some qsb, filters cranked in,  the existing  qso may be fairly busy trying to copy each other, or  have such good copy that the brief newcomer isnt enough of a problem to copy/answer or even notice very much.

It's also surprising how  often CQ's are answered by  someone elses QRL? quickly followed by CQCQCQCQCQCQ.  For some reason this is especially  noticable around 7.025-7.035.

Nothing beats listening on the frequency first.  Then, to be sure, calling a QRL? is  the right thing to do.

For those contest operators out there, well, that's another story!

I  used my 6M yagi  and  xcvr on AM mode to  graph a major lobe  at about 255 degrees.  Last summer a friend and i drove around the two streets  I suspected and found a power pole with major noise using his  AM radio with a loop to walk right up to the offending pole.  My car radio on AM identified the next pole to the north.  So we  have a good idea  that the problem is hardware on one of those two poles.  But after notifying the local utility, nothing was done.

Ive again notified them and will follow up again next week before  notifying the FCC. 

I also have a phased 40 meter array ( a pair of ground planes beaming ENE and WSW) that show more noise when  beaming WSW.

So we now have a good idea about where it is.

The RFI peaks on 160m at 20/9, is  loud on 80m at S 7 and  is annoying on 40m at S5-7, then diminishes as you go up in frequency.

All my antennas are  inverted L's or  ground planes, which are  more suceptible to  PLN that a dipole or yagi would be.

Clearly something is  arcing as there are spikes across my bandscope, likely due to a bad insulator, broken  ground wire or loose hardware at or near the poles in question.

Up until two years ago I had a beautiful quiet QTH and working 160m and 80m was fun.

Another Question:   Can I get away with bending the Beverage 30-45 degrees without losing directivity and F/B?   i.e. how straight is straight when it comes to a Beverage?

I can go 500 ft max but in order to put up two, Id have to bend one.  Sudden bend? or gradual curve? Does it make a difference?

K9AY claims a  20-30 db F/B, and its steerable.  So putting the null on the source of the PLN ought to do something.   I have the direction identified.

Also, with a  K9AY they recommend 15 db preamplification to make output equal to a Beverage.  My receiver has two stages of preamplification ( an   IC-7600) so  couldnt I do without the external preamp?

Im dealing with 59+20 power line noise.  Long term.  Im working with the utility, but would like to know  if anyone has  compared the above two antennas and can tell me what difference they have noticed in power line noise rejection between them??? By how many dB/ S units?

Thanks

You're right!  50 HZ is entirely too close to operate.  Of course, he may not be hearing any/all of the stations  you do.  That's a dilemma on HF.  It's different from VHF. And there are no easy answers. 

If you are hearing stations 50 KHZ away, check the noise blanker and turn it off.   That's the usual cause of splatter for me, but admittedly during contests  a fair number of guys overdo the processing.  Receivers do a lot better job of rejecting adjacent channel interference that way.   Even attenuation ( the thingie that when pushed shows 6dB 12dB 18dB etc  or a fixed degree of  signal reduction can help reduce adjacent signal splatter.

Try to go with the flow.

Appreciate all the  input, guys. 
How about sources for inexpensive ladder line? I found one source at $100/500 ft which uses #22 solid copper rather than the usual #18 transmit ladder line which costs a bit more than double that.

I avoid vent pipes, chimneys, and other sources of flue gas/moisture after seeing  what happened to a tv antenna after 2 years on a vent pipe.  Corrosion was well underwayaround where the coax met the antenna hardware and phasing stub. 

SS hardware does well but not so other metals like aluminum, steel, etc.

I also prefer to avoid  potential wind damage to the house itself, and put all antennas on a separate ground supported/house braced mast rather than the house or oof itself.

What is the overall  QSL rate.....5%, 3%?   So lots of folks find reasons not to QSL.  Some retired folks and others cant afford it. Others arent organized enough to bother.  Others dont keep logs.

Using an eLog that prints labels is a big help in reducing the drudgery.  And Via the Buro is another.  I appreciate them both. 

I often wonder how DXpeditions and  rare ones  manage these things.  More ask for green stamps these days so if I really need it I will pay the fare. But otherwise printing off an eQSL to add to my  shoe boxes for  DXCC/WAS on 160-80-6m etc satisfies me.  Dont ask how much Ive spent over the years mailing Qsls with sase's or green stamps.  My wife may be reading this.....

Im coming to appreciate eQSL.  I  never got going with LOTW because it was too complicated for me back in the old days.  eQSL was simpler. So Im there now. 

But getting a nice card from someone who has a special reason for  wanting to QSL makes reading them and replying to them worthwhile to me.

I especially appreciate swl QSLs from far away places.  It's a bridge or a bond of some type, and I'll never forget whatsername....

But it IS hard work when youre active in the contests.  Yet, Ive volunteered to  handle the paper QSLs  we get at our club ( Last year our club events  racked up 6820 qsos, and a surprising number want a paper card, even though we are on LOTW.  I figure as a retired guy its something I can do to give back a little to the hobby.  Our average age is  around 60, and many guys I work are in their 70s-80's and some in their 90s, still banging away on cw. Pretty cool.  One Belgian guy  still goes to Mauritania each year to give 5T to the world.  Now thats dedication. 

take a peek on 60m.  Im hearing  a fair number of stations, mostly rag chewers, with good to outstanding signals from Nebraska, TX, MO, MN, as well as back East.  Im in Ohio.

Might be what youre looking for!