03-10-2018, 12:47 PM
Just joined this site a couple of days ago so this is my first post here.
A few years back I first noticed quite strong garbage around S7 to S8 all over the HF spectrum and it even extended up to 50MHz where I could detect
a few weak birdies there as well. So, using my five element beam for six metres, I determined that it appeared to peak to the north west of my house.
A very important point I observed was that as soon as the sun set the garbage would all disappear, and it would also drop to a very low level (around S1)
when a very dark cloud blocked out the sun during the day. So, I reckoned that this problem had to be caused by some device that was solar powered.
A dirty high powered solar inverter in a house close to me would be a very likely suspect.
I tried walking around the neighbourhood with a portable broadcast receiver (all I had) to see if I could locate the source. I couldn’t find any definite
source, so I thought it might be best to approach the ACMA and see if they could figure out where it was coming from. My first response went like this:
“Thank you for your email relating to interference to your amateur equipment. We are unable to resource an investigation into this matter at this time. HF Amateur
Radio systems in suburban areas are more susceptible to interference due to the size of antennas and extra sensitive equipment and can be difficult to resolve.”
That response looked like I was not going to get any help from them so I then wrote to the minister for communications via my local member Peter Dutton.
This time I got something back that was a little more encouraging:
"Mr Cooper was advised that in the first instance he should attempt to locate the interference and then try and resolve the matter cooperatively with his neighbours."
So I drafted up a polite explanation letter about the problem and dropped copies in several letter boxes around the area where I believed the problem
was originating from asking to do a test. I got no co-operation from any of them even after visiting most of them in person a few weeks later! Then
it was time to get onto the ACMA again. This time I finally managed to get an officer from the Brisbane office to come out and look into the problem.
That was in early August 18, and so far no culprit has been located. One neighbour did get around to doing a test with me but his inverter was cleared.
The others are still refusing to do a test! I’m sure the ACMA can force co-operation if they want to.
Has anyone had any experience with this type of problem and can offer any advise on how to track down a dirty inverter. Perhaps someone who has
had plenty of experience in doing “Fox Hunts” might be good at tracking down this culprit. If it’s not a dirty solar inverter, what else could it be? Sorry
about the long post, but as you can see, my interference problem has become difficult to resolve mainly because of lack of co-operation all round!
Nev VK4CV
A few years back I first noticed quite strong garbage around S7 to S8 all over the HF spectrum and it even extended up to 50MHz where I could detect
a few weak birdies there as well. So, using my five element beam for six metres, I determined that it appeared to peak to the north west of my house.
A very important point I observed was that as soon as the sun set the garbage would all disappear, and it would also drop to a very low level (around S1)
when a very dark cloud blocked out the sun during the day. So, I reckoned that this problem had to be caused by some device that was solar powered.
A dirty high powered solar inverter in a house close to me would be a very likely suspect.
I tried walking around the neighbourhood with a portable broadcast receiver (all I had) to see if I could locate the source. I couldn’t find any definite
source, so I thought it might be best to approach the ACMA and see if they could figure out where it was coming from. My first response went like this:
“Thank you for your email relating to interference to your amateur equipment. We are unable to resource an investigation into this matter at this time. HF Amateur
Radio systems in suburban areas are more susceptible to interference due to the size of antennas and extra sensitive equipment and can be difficult to resolve.”
That response looked like I was not going to get any help from them so I then wrote to the minister for communications via my local member Peter Dutton.
This time I got something back that was a little more encouraging:
"Mr Cooper was advised that in the first instance he should attempt to locate the interference and then try and resolve the matter cooperatively with his neighbours."
So I drafted up a polite explanation letter about the problem and dropped copies in several letter boxes around the area where I believed the problem
was originating from asking to do a test. I got no co-operation from any of them even after visiting most of them in person a few weeks later! Then
it was time to get onto the ACMA again. This time I finally managed to get an officer from the Brisbane office to come out and look into the problem.
That was in early August 18, and so far no culprit has been located. One neighbour did get around to doing a test with me but his inverter was cleared.
The others are still refusing to do a test! I’m sure the ACMA can force co-operation if they want to.
Has anyone had any experience with this type of problem and can offer any advise on how to track down a dirty inverter. Perhaps someone who has
had plenty of experience in doing “Fox Hunts” might be good at tracking down this culprit. If it’s not a dirty solar inverter, what else could it be? Sorry
about the long post, but as you can see, my interference problem has become difficult to resolve mainly because of lack of co-operation all round!
Nev VK4CV
