Eric -
What you describe is most likely a high pressure sodium street light
somewhere nearby that has a bad lamp in it. This causes the ballast in these
light fixtures to attempt to restart the lamp periodically. This is
considered a "feature" of this type of light fixture to indicate that the
lamp has reached its end of life. It does this with a voltage burst that is >
1KV to excite the gasses in the lamp to the point that they will emit light.
Can you say "spark gap transmitter?" The result is not pretty to the
shortwave ears. This noise can be transmitted for fairly long distances over
the power lines, so the offending unit may not be real near by. Drive around
the neighborhood at night and look for a light that is cycling on and off.
Then find out from your local city hall (public works department) who is
responsible for street light maintenance. Call them and give them the exact
location of the light and request that it be fixed. Problem solved. I use a
portable sw radio (RS DX390) to track down noise like this. Tune to the lf
band (<500khz) and you will hear the noise real well.
Good luck,
Tom Moll, NoBS
<< ONCE A MINUTE, particularly at night, I get about a
10 second hit of heavy static - it fades in, and then fades
out...(Usually when a person is sending their callsign
& QTH)
I can't figure it out...I've even timed it - and the static
last between 7-10 seconds, and after fading out comes back
in again about 30-40 seconds later.
>>
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