[amsat-bb] Re: RFI identification

[Nate Duehr]

On Jan 23, 2008, at 10:12 AM, John Heaton wrote:

> unless you live in the middle of a desert or forest, then switching
> off your computer probably wouldn't make a blind bit of difference as
> in a typical street there may be another 100 or so still switched on.


Well, the distance-squared rule still applies.  Since we can assume  
that most PC's put out similar levels of RF hash (not always true, but  
"true enough" for this point), the further away your station is from  
them, the weaker they will be in your receiver.

The ones under your own roof and the very closest neighbors are really  
all one typically needs to be concerned with, unless you have a  
receiver so ultra-sensitive and a high gain antenna pointed at the  
offending signal source (which someone else already mentioned they  
were able to do, on purpose, to find their localized noise source).

The real problem is later on, when you have to diplomatically approach  
a neighbor with your "findings" and ask them if you can assist with  
cleaning up the offending electronics.  That can be more difficult  
than finding the source, which is often quite a challenge in and of  
itself.

--
Nate Duehr, WY0X
nate at natetech.com