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Three radios plugged into the same outlet

V

vchimpanzee

I never had a real problem with interference from this.

Lately I've been getting the loud noise from somewhere on the two radios that are set to the same AM station. One comes on at 8:30 for Mike Huckabee's morning broadcast. The other is set to come on for his 3:00 broadcast. This morning, no real problem. This afternoon, that sound again. It goes away briefly and then comes back. I picked up the radio to see if maybe something about the cords was causing the problem and I did notice the cords were touching. I unplugged the radios and plugged them back in and manipulated the cords so I don't think they're touching now. That's the only outlet on that side of the room and they're plugged into something with three plugs, which has a third prong and has to go into an adapter. Now I've never had nterference caused by the three cords touching before. There is a second outlet near the sink but that would require an extension cord and I've already got enough of those in use. One is for a tape recorder to record Mike if I'm not home.

By the way, listening to him online is a pain. My Internet at home isn't fast enough for sound and I don't have the speakers hooked up for various reasons. I have to go to a library where the headphones are provided, not sold. And the audio files have to still be there.

Whatever is causing the noise, I hear it in the car too. It starts some days as soon as I turn onto the road, which has major power lines running along it, though those have never been a problem at home. I found out after I got interested in the subject these are about 24 kV and supply a rural cooperative just down the road. Most of the residential customers are on 24 kV around here. In the dark ages there was a substation with 4 kV going out (and it still has a few customers), but too much has been added for that to serve everyone now.
 
Well if its in the car too, then you can rule out direct interference through the wiring. Chances are its over the air interference from the electrical lines you mentioned. Does it still do it only with 1 radio plugged in? And the power splitter you are using doesn't have any sort of surge protector or anything like that in it that would add noise to the wiring.
 
spunker88 said:
Well if its in the car too, then you can rule out direct interference through the wiring. Chances are its over the air interference from the electrical lines you mentioned. Does it still do it only with 1 radio plugged in? And the power splitter you are using doesn't have any sort of surge protector or anything like that in it that would add noise to the wiring.
Click to expand...
Today the noise went away if I tried to move the wires (but I don't know exactly what I did), and it got better when I picked up the radio. But I can't figure out how to make the noise go away entirely without touching something. The radio cuts itself off after 20 minutes. I was hoping to record Mike Huckabee with a timer when I go to the beach but he is online and chances are his site will have the broadcasts when I get home. I don't have sound on my computer but I can go to a library that does. The tape recorder that I was going to use seems to have a problem. No tape that I put it will play and I don't know whether that means it recorded nothing because something's broken or the sound is broken. The reason I think it could be the sound is I put in a 40-year-old tape and got no sound. I thought maybe something was wrong with the tape.

The really bad interference that I heard in the car wasn't there indoors today. I haven't driven the car.
 
Regarding the problem in the car, it seems worse when air conditioning is running, though that doesn't necessarily cause it. I've blamed everything from big lawn mowers to heat pumps to whatever equipment my neighbors with a greenhouse might be using.
 
vchimpanzee said:
Regarding the problem in the car, it seems worse when air conditioning is running, though that doesn't necessarily cause it. I've blamed everything from big lawn mowers to heat pumps to whatever equipment my neighbors with a greenhouse might be using.
Click to expand...

Sounds like an issue with your car then. Many cars have bad AM radios or get worse over time. Its hard to keep all that engine interference away from the AM radio, especially in newer cars where everything's computerized. My car sounds pretty bad on AM when running. But try AM radio when your car is off, put the key in the accessory position. If you have anything plugged into your car's 12v lighter slot, unplug it as they can sometimes cause interference. For example my cellphone charger in my car. You should notice much better reception.

If your serious about recording stuff off AM, get a decent radio, something with an external antenna, or you can buy an external antenna to add to an existing AM receiver with an internal antenna.
 
Have you tried rotating the radio(s) to minimize the interference?
The problem could be bursts of data being sent over the powerlines.
 
frankberry said:
Have you tried rotating the radio(s) to minimize the interference?
The problem could be bursts of data being sent over the powerlines.
Click to expand...
I did that and it seemed to work.

I'm trying not to spend too much money because I don't really have it. The recording was going to be done while I was at the beach, but Mike Huckabee's web site has the broadcasts (supposedly). Paul Harvey's web site didn't have the "Rest of the Story" broadcasts that aired at that time, so I HAD to record them. I didn't get the Huckabee broadcasts when I went to the mountains, either by recording or by the web site. I don't know what went wrong on the web site. I contacted the man over and over and all I ever get is spam with his views that get sent to everyone.

I may need to replace the recorder. Nearly $50 and it doesn't play! It's not that old. Now did it record? I don't know yet. I have to buy a recorder, and I'm not spending a lot this time.

As for interference in the car, this is bad, not something that will go away by making any changes, though it hasn't been a problem much lately. Normally, there's not a lot and it goes away for the most part if I'm stopped, but if it's really messing up inside, it's messing up to the point the noise never goes away in the car. It makes noise when I step on the accelerator and the brake, but that's not what this is.
 
In the car there is undoubtedly a poor ground connection somewhere like the radio to auto body, antenna to auto body,
body panel ( like the hood) to main chassis ( May have to add wire where bolts were enough before) , fender antenna is mounted on to main body, engine "ground strap" to battery and ground strap to frame...bond all these point with a spider web of wire back to your radio chassis for best results.....but seriously, once the grounding isn't good, the coax is no longer transmission line, doing its job of shielding the pickup along the line, and letting the antenna be outside the high noise zone.
It then acts more like a simple whip antenna and picks up everything.
 
Getting back to my original problem, it hasn't happened lately.

In the car, as the weather gets cooler the air condtioner will no longer contribute and, while it won't be clear enough for you true aficionados, it will be clear enough for me to listen.

If I was really willing to spend money I'd get XM, but it doesn't have a channel comparable to this one. I also need a channel for Mike Huckabee because listening online is just complicated.
 
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