[600MRG] City-wide noise problems

[sbjohnston at aol.com]

Ken W7EKB wrote:

>the entire city of Moscow, Idaho is plagued with an incredible noise level. 





Just a couple ideas for city-wide sources of noise...

(1) I've heard of towns in which the radio background noise level grew over the period of a few months.  It turned out to be the installation of a distributed wireless internet service using small WiFi nodes mounted on telephone and power poles all around town.  The nodes themselves were not the problem, but it was the imported switching power supplies that were used to power each one.  The symptom of the noise level growing over a few months was the effect of the system being gradually deployed by the installation crews.

(2) I've investigated (and an FCC field engineer confirmed) high noise levels in several cities in Wisconsin caused by the installation of new LED traffic light systems.  I suspect that these light systems have noisy switching power supplies - my original clues were that the noise seemed to peak at intersections, and while waiting for the light to change you could can hear the noise change character as the light patterns change. 

In these cases I've tried to work with the city governments but all refused to acknowledge the possibility of any problem.  I was surprised that the FCC field engineer actually came to our state at all.  He confirmed that the noise by far exceeds Part 15 limits, but refused to do anything to help.  He said, "You can't fight City Hall.  I guess you'll just have to listen to stronger radio stations."  Absurd, isn't it?


Steve WD8DAS

sbjohnston at aol.com
http://www.wd8das.net/
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Radio is your best entertainment value.
--------------------------------------------------------------------