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Author Topic: I can’t hear anything  (Read 375 times)

K0XS

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I can’t hear anything
« on: September 08, 2022, 09:57:22 AM »

It’s been some time since I turned on my radio but that’s it I just can’t hear anything but noise on my HF radio…..NOTHING

I must have over two dozen wall warts powering routers, modems, hubs, raspberries, phones, clocks, AeroGardens, sound equipment etc.

The noise level is so great that I cannot identify a culprit using a portable radio or spectrum analyzer.

I just cannot even begin to think of the problems associated with shutting everything down and attempting to bring things up one at a time then resetting it all.

I’m at a loss as to where to go from here.
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AB6RF

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Re: I can’t hear anything
« Reply #1 on: September 08, 2022, 10:31:11 AM »

What kind of antenna are you using?

In terms of trying to find the worst offenders, you need to start "diving the universe in half".
Meaning, instead of trying each device one at a time, start testing if the biggest offenders are "in this half, or in the other half".

Step one, flip the main breaker in your house and use a battery powered receiver. Is the noise still there?
If it is, the source is very likely outside of your own house.
If it's gone, great, the noise comes from your own house.

Then turn power on one breaker at a time.  At what point does the noise come back?

To do that will take no more than half an hour, and at the end of that you'll have a very good understanding of where most of the noise is coming from.
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K1VSK

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Re: I can’t hear anything
« Reply #2 on: September 08, 2022, 10:36:31 AM »



I just cannot even begin to think of the problems associated with shutting everything down and attempting to bring things up one at a time then resetting it all.

I’m at a loss as to where to go from here.

Sounds like you already know how to Identify the source(s). Not sure anyone here can solve that problem.
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G8FXC

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Re: I can’t hear anything
« Reply #3 on: September 08, 2022, 12:08:20 PM »

Does your radio have an input for an RX only antenna? I've had terrible noise problems for years - eventually installed a non-resonant small loop antenna for receive with a low noise pre-amp at the feed point and all my problems have gone away.

Martin G8FXC
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K0XS

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Re: I can’t hear anything
« Reply #4 on: September 08, 2022, 12:15:55 PM »

What kind of antenna are you using?

I have a mag loop and a dipole they bout sound the same.
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K0XS

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Re: I can’t hear anything
« Reply #5 on: September 08, 2022, 12:23:33 PM »


In terms of trying to find the worst offenders, you need to start "diving the universe in half".
Meaning, instead of trying each device one at a time, start testing if the biggest offenders are "in this half, or in the other half".

Step one, flip the main breaker in your house and use a battery powered receiver. Is the noise still there?
If it is, the source is very likely outside of your own house.
If it's gone, great, the noise comes from your own house.

Then turn power on one breaker at a time.  At what point does the noise come back?

To do that will take no more than half an hour, and at the end of that you'll have a very good understanding of where most of the noise is coming from.

I just cannot even begin to think of the problems associated with shutting everything down and attempting to bring things up one at a time then resetting it all. If it's the who house or a breaker at a time.  The time to reset and restart everything is a huge issue there are several items that I really don't remember how to deal with :-(.

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WA3SKN

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Re: I can’t hear anything
« Reply #6 on: September 08, 2022, 01:37:29 PM »

First, disconnect the antenna and short the antenna jack or connect a dummy load... and verify you lose the noise.  Then you know the noise is incoming via the antenna.  This is true in about 95-98 percent of the time, but it is good to verify.  Then it sounds like you know how to trouble shoot the problem.  You just don't want to.  Understandable, but the problem won't fix itself.
So have at it!  You won't fix it by waiting!

-Mike.
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AC2EU

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    • McVey Electronics
Re: I can’t hear anything
« Reply #7 on: September 08, 2022, 01:45:27 PM »

It’s been some time since I turned on my radio but that’s it I just can’t hear anything but noise on my HF radio…..NOTHING

I must have over two dozen wall warts powering routers, modems, hubs, raspberries, phones, clocks, AeroGardens, sound equipment etc.

The noise level is so great that I cannot identify a culprit using a portable radio or spectrum analyzer.

I just cannot even begin to think of the problems associated with shutting everything down and attempting to bring things up one at a time then resetting it all.

I’m at a loss as to where to go from here.

Well, if you start now, you will get through all of it eventually!  ;D
Did you install any LED lighting in your home? some had cheap , non compliant inverters in them.
There's even some in those "led replacement bulbs", but most I've gotten lately were OK.

W1VT

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Re: I can’t hear anything
« Reply #8 on: September 08, 2022, 02:08:29 PM »

Have you tried moving the antenna as far away from  your house as possible?
Old school thinking was to make the feedlines as short as possible to improve efficiency on transmit.
But, my thinking is that a few dB is worthless if you can't hear anything!  Trading a few dB on transmit may be worth it if you pick up several S units on receive.
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AB6RF

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Re: I can’t hear anything
« Reply #9 on: September 08, 2022, 02:42:54 PM »

I just cannot even begin to think of the problems associated with shutting everything down and attempting to bring things up one at a time then resetting it all. If it's the who house or a breaker at a time.  The time to reset and restart everything is a huge issue there are several items that I really don't remember how to deal with :-(.

I don't know what equipment you have in your house, but in my case, if power is lost and then restored, I don't need to "reset and restart" anything.  Everything starts back up as the power is restored.  And I have a LOT of electronics in the house.   Are you sure you aren't over thinking this?

There are no magic fixes.  If you can't move the antennas so far away from the noise source that the situation improves, you just have to identify at least the worst offenders.

And what if you find that noise is not even coming from your own house.  It takes only one test to find that out.
That finding would totally change your next steps.
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K0XS

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Re: I can’t hear anything
« Reply #10 on: September 08, 2022, 04:06:05 PM »

It is so bad I can't even  use digital...........

I'm sorry I should not have posted my problems here.

I KNOW how to trouble shoot this issue...

I just cannot decide if it is worth the HOURS and HOURS of work find and fixing the issues......

It's probably time to just bag-it :-(
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K6BRN

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Re: I can’t hear anything
« Reply #11 on: September 09, 2022, 07:53:04 AM »

Hello, Neal (K0XS):

Check for the high pitched tones of FT8 on various bands.  Band openings vary by time of day.

Even with a VERY high noise level, it's VERY unlikely that the FT8 segment (around 14.074 MHz) of 20M would be "dead" between 12 noon and 6 PM each day.  Signals on that band often "boom in" at better than 20 over S9 on my dipoles, which means they can be heard over even extreme noise.  If you're just looking at 10M, that band is alive much less often.

I suspect an antenna/feedline/radio ... or operational problem - because overall propagation is very good these days and hearing no signals at all means that either your setup is incorrect or you're looking at the wrong frequencies at the wrong time of day.

A "magnetic loop" is very narrow-banded and its pretty easy to miss signals if the the loop isn't tuned to the right frequency at the right time of day.  But that's not the case with a dipole which is more broad-banded - it should pick up signals from across any band it's cut to.

What radio are you using, what is its indicated noise level (s-units) on what bands (pre-amp OFF), how is it connected to the dipole, what kind of "dipole" is it (please describe) and how high is it?  This should provide some clues to the forum. 

Maybe we can suggest some approaches to getting you "up".  Its not time to give up yet.

Brian - K6BRN
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K0XS

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Re: I can’t hear anything
« Reply #12 on: September 09, 2022, 11:44:16 AM »

To compound my problems I live in a mountain community surrounded by high hills with a very restive HOA controlling my antenna selection.
The antennas are a G5RV up about10 feet and hidden as best as possible the Mag loop is attached to a deck railing.

Each antenna is carefully tuned to the desired operating frequency with a antenna tuner prior to use.

I'm aware of best operating times for the bands but haven't had a look for some time due to frustration.

My old ANAN-1000D has the capability of doing diversity and I "may" try to use a third antenna on it to see if I can null out any of the noise, but I have my doubts.
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K6BRN

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Re: I can’t hear anything
« Reply #13 on: September 09, 2022, 01:23:44 PM »

Hi Neal:

I hear your frustration.

One of my QTHs is a similar situation (HOA) and I've used a discreet, deployable EFHW/49:1 multiband wire antenna at that location - up only 10-14 feet.  Unit heat and cooling is by heatpump, so winter or summer there are noise sources.  It's NOT surrounded by high hills, though.  I still make a lot of contacts on FT8 and even a few DX contacts on SSB.

Hearing nothing but noise is unusual.

Recently the HOA chopped down my "Secret Antenna Tree" and I was forced to find another solution.  There's always a way.  Just relax and think it through over a beer, whiskey or cup of tea.  You'll get there.

What's the noise level you see on the G5RV mid-day, RX preamps OFF?

Brian - K6BRN
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K0XS

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Re: I can’t hear anything
« Reply #14 on: September 09, 2022, 01:51:44 PM »

Not much S8 to S9+  :-(
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