What is that noise?

[jackrabbit]

I moved into a new house. I'm about 16 miles from my old house. Antenna is a few feet higher, and the property is at a higher elevation which is great. Turned on my radio and hear a loud cracking noise. I see it on the meter. Sounds like lightning noise but its keeping perfect time, like a clock. I could hear it and see it on the meter. I swapped from my FT-950 over to my DX2517 to verify it was not my radio or power supply. Still heard it and saw it on the meter (alot quieter due to the difference in the radios receiver sensitivity). So i started looking for the source. It seems to be on every channel. not varying in strength. So i turned off the power to all other parts of the house. I mean everything...AC, washer, dryer, security system....all but that one room. The noise was still there. So i went out to my car and turned on the CB. Didnt hear it. It drove me nuts. Not in the sound, but in the fact that i didnt know the cause. After turning it all off i went to town for a bit. When i got back the sun had gone down, and i turned on the radio again. I could just barely hear the sound, eventually it got so faint i couldnt hear it. I just installed my equipment on Saturday. I dont remember hearing it that day, but i didnt use it much either. My coax, antenna, and GPK are all less than a year old. My tower is up in the same exact manner as it was at my old house. This house is about 40 years newer than my old house...

Im going to see if i hear it again when i get home today.

If i do...Im stumped.

[231]

Hi Jackrabbit,

Well, based on your description I'd say it's probably an electric fence arching nearby. That is if you could set a watch by it because it's so constantly "popping." On my home computer I think I have bookmarked a VE2 or VE3 call sign sight that he has many recordings to listen to so you can know what to go look for. But the first thing I would do is get a short wave radio (or even a CB) and go to the frequency you hear it the loudest and start walking (or driving) around the area and track down the source. If it's a serious crackling (and sometimes buzzing) along with the popping, it's likely a bad transformer. And again, walking around with a radio often will prove worth it to identify the culprit(s).

If you have your ham ticket, often a call to the local power company will solve the problem if it's a bad transformer or insulator. If it's an electrical fence, you'll need to approach the property owner and have a friendly chat with them and offer to help fix the problem. Sometimes they aren't too neighborly about it, sometimes they are. But first things first, identifying the source(s) is likely to be your long term solution.

I'll try and remember to look for that site when I get home this afternoon that may help you identify for sure what the noise it. I tried googling it, but came up blank (at the moment)

Just a few ideas for ya' for now.

[jackrabbit]

thanks. I didnt think about those things. When i got home today i turned on the radio and there it was again. And again, i turned it off, went to town for a bit and came home. Sometime around 4:00PM EST it stopped. My radio is on beside me right now and i dont hear it anymore. I wonder why it seems to go away in the evenings. Or maybe it only happens for a certain amount of time and i just always catch it at the same time of day...i'll see if i can track it whith my handheld scanner. Like i said, if i get in my car which is parked right outside near my tower, i cant hear the noise.

['Doc]

Lots of possibilities!
Since it appears to be sort of 'localized', you don't hear it in the mobile, then I'd start in your house (smart thing to do anyway). If it's regular, and quits at some particular time, is there anything you can think of that is 'timed', on/off like that in your new house? There are a lot of appliances that use timed thingys like that. About the only way of checking those is to un-plug the things, since they may not be really 'off' when you turn them off.
whatever it is can be getting to your radio by the power lines, or by radiation. So, is there any way of powering your house radio besides wall current? How about that scanner, hear it on that in the house? If you don't hear it on that scanner, and if it runs on batteries, I'd bet on the power grid being where the noise is coming from.
Ain't this $#!+ fun??
- 'Doc

[jackrabbit]

I already tried turning off the power to every part of the house except the cb room via the circuit breaker panel. i didnt hear again at all after 4PM yesterday so i was unable to continue searching for it. The FT-950 runs off a power supply, so if i had a spare battery i could run it off of that for a few minutes. If this keeps occuring i'll take the battery out of my car and see if this fixes it. if it is dirty power, what actions can be taken to correct it?

['Doc]

First, rather than using your car's battery, does that scanner pick up the same noise on the same frequency(s)? That'd be much easier to do, if it does.
If it is 'dirty' power, then you've got two directions to go with that. One is to try filtering that noise out (doubtful). Or like suggested above, contact the power company about it. Hope your power company is more 'friendly' than mine! As far as the company here is conserned, all -their- stuff is clean, it's your stuff that's 'dirty', even when it's proved to be the other way around. The 'cure' for that sort of thing is to go over 'their' heads, as in complain to the state utilities commission. You do get a 'reputation' if you do that, just be ready for it.
The whole key is to find the source of the noise. Appliances are the first bet, then the power suppliers. Nothing very specific about that, because it's 'new'/different in every situation. Sorry 'bout that.
- 'Doc

[jackrabbit]

my scanner didnt seem to pick it up but its just using a rubber ducky antenna, my mobile also didnt pick it up. I will check again when i get home, and possibly post a video of the sound.

[ussixtysix]

I've got a couple of channels like that strange mechanical clock kinda sound. Haven't figured it out yet. It's just a couple channels but it sux..

[heavyD]

Just a shot in the dark.....yours or neighbors pool pump timer. The 4 o'clock thing makes me think that

[Lost Ram]

Just to rule out receive differences see if you can connect your tower coax to your mobile or your hand held.

[jackrabbit]

Rule out receive differences? I dont understand. Its not caused by the receiver, i just may hear it better on one rather than the other because they are more or less sensitive. I heard it on the DX2517 connected to the IMAX and i heard it (more pronounced due to receiving amp) on the yaesu. I have an adaptor to run the scanner on my tower. I didnt hear it as much, but i could tell it was there. i did notice one of my neightbors has an electric fence, i never noticed before. But whats odd is that the noise is not always there. When i get a chance, i might see if he will unplug it long enought to see if the noise goes away.

['Doc]

I think asking your neighbor to turn off that fence is a very good idea. I think I'd ask when that noise is happening, see if it's at least contributing to the noise. Electric fences cause noise in several different ways. One is by how it makes the 'pulse' though that wire, another is by what is touching that wire, and how much it is touching that wire.
If you can figure what may be running during the times that noise is present, that's time sensitive as to when that mystery device is used, you'll probably find several of whatever it is at varying distances. That can certainly account for for one radio hearing it and others not hearing it, or as loud.
Good luck!
- 'Doc

[Lost Ram]

Rule out receive differences? I dont understand. Its not caused by the receiver, i just may hear it better on one rather than the other because they are more or less sensitive. I heard it on the DX2517 connected to the IMAX and i heard it (more pronounced due to receiving amp) on the yaesu. I have an adaptor to run the scanner on my tower. I didnt hear it as much, but i could tell it was there. i did notice one of my neightbors has an electric fence, i never noticed before. But whats odd is that the noise is not always there. When i get a chance, i might see if he will unplug it long enought to see if the noise goes away.

My electric fence got into my radio to. I have replaced my fence since but at times it was worse if the grass or weeds had grown up to it.