The other day, I tried to DX KYNO, and I was greeted instead by an unrelenting roar of 60 Hz buzz spread out all across the AM band (with a hole at 740 and a couple of other frequencies).
I went outside with my radio, and found that if I aimed the null of the radio at the power pole across the road, which happens to contain the transformer that serves my house, the buzz disappeared. And when I aimed it head on, the buzz got louder.
So, today, I actually called the power company about it, because this happened kind of suddenly (there have been other noises, but all have been inside the house; this is outside) and it could be an early warning sign of transformer failure. I wonder what they will do about it?
c
Well, it turns out it wasn't entirely the transformer's fault.
I run a two-monitor setup for my computer, and the power supply died on one of them recently.
Rather than buying another used OEM one (these are Apple displays that are about 20 years old, so the power supplies haven't been made for them for at least that long), I decided to buy a generic supply of the proper rating and modify it.
So I did.
And now my display works! But when I encountered nothing but noise the other night while DXing, I decided to check something. Sure enough, the display was on, and when I turned it off, the noise stopped! The impressive part was that I was picking up the noise at full strength three rooms away!
So if I want to DX, i have to keep my display off.
Carmichael, CA
Sony SRF-A1
Been DXing 1270, Been hearing KAJO Grants Pass, OR in place of KVMI right before dark, like 8pm on my walk
So, on this same night, once I sorted the noise problem out, I discovered just how puny 97 watts is.
I'm less than 10 or so miles from KXBX 1270's single, nondirectional tower, and on day power (500 watts), it booms in. I thought that even on night power, it would boom in almost as well on night power (97 watts), given my relatively close proxmity to the tower, but I am apparently mistaken, as I discovered that the signal is so bad on night power I can barely receive it, despite being so close. So what comes in to fill the void? KVMI!
The two play similar music (though KVMI seems to lean somewhat newer and a bit softer), so it's hard to tell which is which, especially when they fade back and forth, but I heard KVMI's "The New My975" ID, and that clinched it.
c