EMI/BPL

[N4GRF]

I've been licensed for 47 years and I have been fortunate never to have experienced the kind of, and magnitude of, noise on the lower HF bands (1.8, 3.5, 7, 14) which just recently appeared on my radio. I've operated from my home here in south Florida for seven years without any unusual noise problems until now. Nothing seems to have changed: no new appliances, no new construction in the neighborhood.

The noise appears on my band scope as a series of spikes, equally spaced in the spectrum, which drift slowly from lower to higher end of the band scope. (I have a photo but can't seem to attach it to this post.) The noise is high level: +10/+20 on the S-meter.

Does this sound like BPL or an arcing transformer?

Thanks in advance. Tom NY2RF (formerly N4GRF)

[KH6AQ]

What is the spacing between the spikes?

[N4GRF]

Looks like about 3 khz.

[WB5ITT]

I am not aware of any new BPL operations...Most, if not all of the major ones, have shut down due to lack of profit. If it recently popped up, it's likely a bad insulator or transformer...is it only in one direction? Does it change when it rains or I'd be interested in the photo.....also any recording of the audio you can make...my email is my call at earthlink dot net.

Chris
WB5ITT
(fought TVI/RFI for 14 years at Gulf States Util/Entergy, TX)

[N4GRF]

Thanks to Chris WB5ITT and Mr. Cuthbert.  Sent you both pix via email. Thanks, again, Tom NY2RF