No Luck with picking up Radio St Helena last night. I was not too suprised as its a difficult catch at the best of times but the main problem here was QRM. I Had S8 of interference on the frequency of 11092. Doing a little research from the UKQRM website it seems the interference I am getting is from someone nearby using the BT Homeplug system to distribute their internet. It seems this QRM is strong across 11 Mhz here, including the more traditional broadcast frequencies between 11.5 and 12 mhz.I Guess I am lucky that this interference is not affecting the amateur bands at the moment, but it is extremely annoying and seems to crop up all over the place, at varying strengths between around 4Mhz and up to 30 Mhz.
Today I took my Sony ICF7600 portable receiver out and walked a little way around the estate here, but I could not trace the interference source. As I understand it it could be coming from anything up to 500 yards away. I Am very glad I haven't got one of these things next door to me as I don't think I would be able to use HF at all.
I will have another go at trying to pinpoint where the QRM is coming from soon and then consider reporting it to Offcom, in the meantime I am just thankful its not wiping out the amateur bands.
I have an Amateur Radio friend, G3SDW, who is our local noise and QRM man for the RSGB. He says these BT hubs are a very genuine cause for concern and regularly discusses them at a very high governmental level. I am just glad you can use (so far, anyway) the amateur bands.
ReplyDeleteI too noticed 40 was a little quieter than normal the past few days. However up at the radio club, out in the open countryside and by the coast, the signals poured in last night on 40 and 80M with an S0 noise floor. It was bliss! I came home but my poor old 703 was up at S7 noise and very quiet by comparison.
Urban ops can be quite a challenge what with these wretched BT things and all the other QRM.
73 Adam