Lots Of Noise On AM After Planned Power Outage

[Steve Green NEPA]

@K6JHU
A few of us were readying a fixer-upper for a buddy to sell. The sadists put guinea pig Green in charge of some electrical stuff, like checking where circuits went, testing stuff, putting in a few outlets, checking switches, etc. I had one of those long, red, 3 X 11 84 Lumber manuals on the subject though.
Black wire here .... stripped to 3/4-inch bare ..... copper wire goes there ..... no, the white wire goes THERE, and out of THERE, jerk...... 'Steve!!! The lights just went out here. What did you DO ?!?!?' ...... etc
Well, the guy in charge wound up getting a room-by-room map, corridors included, of every (gosh-darned) outlet and switch in the house, including the new ones. My piece de resistance was a working outdoor wall outlet, done with people watching and hearing me say bad things.
Lol -- the GE SR 2 was used as a gauge for the entire operation.
(My buddy got the place for $6600, and sold it for almost $40,000 after the Four Stooges got done with it.

 

[cc333]

@Steve Green NEPA That houses' electrical wiring must have been pretty close to ideal from an RFI standpoint

c

 

[boombox4]

In the alternative, just switch off lights. My offending CFL was one of two front porch lights I leave on 24/7. I found that one was bad by switching off the front porch lights in exasperation, wondering if it could be something so simple as a CFL light bulb, which it was.

The offending LED bulb was one I had in a light I leave on in the kitchen nearly 24/7. That was easier to nail down, as I have a kitchen radio nearby and it was sounding like an AC hash machine.

I also just noticed my previous post had like 4 bad typos. Man. Gotta double check everything these days......

 

[Kelly A]

If the noise is coming from inside he house, set up the portable on batteries, check the noise level. Then one by one turn the breakers off until the noise disappears. Then turn that circuit back on and unplug devices on that circuit one-by-one until you find the noise.

But, that means if he flips the wrong breaker, his lights might go out. Then he'll be in the dark, unable to whine that now not only is his radio noisy, but he can't log into this site and whine that his lights went out.

 

[boiseengineer]

Sounds like a 'pole hog' (aka transformer) in your neighborhood is probably getting ready to fail. Older pole transformers have been known to create arching internally after power is removed and reapplied.

I call 'em "Pole Pigs"

 

[Steve Green NEPA]

@ Kelly A
I used the GE SR 2 as a test device, Kelly, rather than the stingy two-wire probe that emits this wee orange light.
I think the radio testing approach was more efficient. No one idly plugs one of those tongs into a socket. That's just plain theory. A radio or a clock is practcal usage.
You may even get some nice DX as a side-effect.

A few times as a kid DXing in the basement, I'd turn off the noisy oil-burner and the dial was nice and clear. Once, I forgot to turn the switch back on. Wow, did I hear about THAT one for a while.