Re: [IRCA] Drake R8A MW listening

[Lenny Silver <len@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks to Nick who gave me many interesting clues.

> By the sound of it, Lenny, your R8 is fine, but your noise producer took a 
> holiday briefly to allow MW signals to show through.

This sounds truer than anything else I've thought. It just happens
that I was operating the R8A when the holiday happened (believe me,
it felt like a holiday!). All the other radios in the house suffer
the same noise.

> You might want to see if you can find what is producing the noise by 
> checking the examples  at *The RF Noise Identification Website*
> at: 
> <http://www.ve3hls.com/noise/rfihome.html>http://www.ve3hls.com/noise/rfihome
.html 
> (this recently posted here by Curt Deegan; thanks!), and see whether the 
> noise producer can be switched off while you're DXing, replaced with 
> something less noisy etc.

I tried these, no luck. I went around the house with a noisy radio,
switching off the television, the cable modem, the air cleaner,
turning on and off light dimmers -- no luck. I didn't go so far as
to switch off circuit-breakers -- I'll have to wait until my wife
is out of the house for that :-)

I might see if the local electric company can offer some help.
Do the power companies respond well to such uninformed calls?

> 
> Finally, given that the noise is not bad out in your yard, and that is 
> where your antenna is located, can you re-configure your antenna so that 
> it, and its end point is as far away from the house as possible, then use a 
> separate ground rod out there, and an isolation/matching transformer to 
> drive coax back to your radio?  Ground isolation does wonders with local 
> noise.

I've considered that, but I need to hire a young strong body to help me

>       I can give you more details if you don't already have them.  (Maybe 
> Lynn could post the relevant pages from a DXer's Technical Guide as a 
> public service, as well as advertising the book??)  There's also details on 
> the dxing.info website articles.

I have that book -- page references would help.

> As has already been mentioned, if your house is electrically noisy, using 
> an indoor loop antenna like the Kiwa, will not be advantageous.

A select-a-tenna helps some radios.  Is that a clue?

Tonight is a particularly noisy night. I turned 660 from New York,
about 250 miles, on a CCradioPlus. At first it's pure noise. But
on the right slant and with the Select-A-Tenna posiitioned right,
the noise recedes and the station comes in clear.

> It would be nice to get the R8 performing to its capabilities.  Good luck.
> 
> best wishes,
> 
> Nick
> 

Thanks to Nick and all the rest of you who have written.

Lenny
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