Re: [IRCA] Noisy cable TV

["W. Curt Deegan" <WWWR@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On a partly cloudy day, with the cable TV RFI noise level about as low as 
it goes during the day, and my DSL working just fine, the cable guy showed 
up to fix the problem.

He did show up as promised, did listen to my tail of woe but with 
considerable skepticism, put his tester on the coax drop from the pole 
where it connects to the grounding block, climbed the pole and did more 
testing, and...

There is a problem, he will write it up for maintenance and in a week or so 
they will check into it.  About all he could or would tell me was that 
there was noise on the line from somewhere.  He said he was surprised no 
one else had reported a problem because the noise should be inducing poor 
picture quality especially on lower channels.  It is true the picture isn't 
great at times -- I've not previously tried to correlate that with all the 
other issues -- but all things considered, I don't think most people expect 
an especially sterling picture based on past cable performance.  If it's 
on, it's working as well as anyone expects.  He removed a dangling 
disconnected piece of coax and tightened the connections at the junction 
box.  Those efforts produced no discernable change in what was already a 
low noise level at the time.

After he had been gone for an hour, right at 4pm, the noise level jumped 
several fold, although still less then when it is at it's worst.  DSL 
dropped out momentarily but returned in a few minutes.

I am less than confident whatever maintenance does, will address my real 
problem with radio and DSL interference.  Indeed, they may end up boosting 
the cable signal and thereby produce even more noise.  But until they fix 
the problem they know they have, I don't expect them to listen to my 
issues.  Who knows, maybe they are related and all things will turn out 
wonderful. :-\

I've uploaded a sample MP3 file which has the noise first at 396kHz 
followed by at 261kHz.  Because the level was much lower today that on a 
bad day, the noise on the MW band was not representative of what it could 
really be.  Just the two samples in this recording demonstrate that the 
noise changes depending on where you listen on the dial.

These recordings were made in AM mode, 6kHz filter with the following:
         Ten-Tec RX-320D; LF Engineering H-800; TotalRecorder
The active vertical antenna is 20+ feet from the closest cable TV coax run.

Anyone who is interested can retrieve the file here (upper/lower case is 
significant):
http://scooterhound.com/WWWR/radio/CableTVNoise.mp3

If a bad day comes up before the problem is fixed, I'll make additional 
recordings of what is heard on different bands.

At 7am this morning I heard what a noise free situation could be, actual 
silence but for a hiss of atmospherics.  Oh, but that someday I enjoy such 
after the sun comes up.

Thanks for all the great input,
Curt
-------
W. Curt Deegan
Boca Raton, (southeast) Florida


Previously I wrote:

>For some time I've had two problems that now seem to come together.  I have
>had a lot of trouble with DSL ever since I switched to it a month or so
>ago.  I have also had periods of serious noise covering at least the lower
>half of the AM band and below.
>
>The last few days the noise has been very bad and my DSL has been
>completely out.  I walked around with a pocket radio and found a huge load
>of noise coming from the cable TV lead.  Since the cable, telephone (and
>DSL), and power all converge on the same place at the back of the house, I
>went around to where the cable TV was away from the rest of the utilities
>and the noise is on it.
>
>I have called the cable company and a technician is supposed to come out in
>a couple days.  I have less than great confidence that my problem will be
>solved, but must start somewhere.
>
>My question is, has anyone else had extreme interference from the cable TV
>radiating noise -- not the TV, the cable?  Has anyone had DSL failures
>induced by extremely noisy conditions?  Does anyone have any suggestions
>what I might do to help the cable rep investigate the problem?  Any
>thoughts regarding extended DSL outages -- it is from Earthlink but
>delivered by Bell South?  Anything at all?
>
>At the moment I'm lucky to hear anything that isn't local on MW, and
>nothing much at all on LW.
>
>One strange thing, the noise seems to disappear at night.  I placed the
>radio next to the cable TV lead last night when my DSL came back on and the
>noise was gone -- one reason I called the cable company today.  And another
>point to ponder, cable TV reception is fine, albeit the only reception 
>that is.
>
>Thanks for any thoughts.
>
>
>Curt
>-------
>W. Curt Deegan
>Boca Raton, (southeast) Florida


_______________________________________________
IRCA mailing list
IRCA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://arizona.hard-core-dx.com/mailman/listinfo/irca

Opinions expressed in messages on this mailing list are those of the original contributors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the IRCA, its editors, publishing staff, or officers

For more information: http://www.ircaonline.org

To Post a message: irca@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx