# Reviving Ham Radio -- Noise Woes // 21-07-17

Sundog "katolaz" from the [Republic CS][1] managed to get me back
into ham radio. Congrats for becoming a radio amateur in CW! ^-^

The discussions on `telem` (CS' BBS) led me to review my knowledge
about "ugly baluns" (air coil filters to block waves on the shielding
of a coaxial cable used to connect a transmitter to a symmetrical
antenna), build one for shortwaves, and erect a (somewhat provisional)
"inverted Vee" dipole antenna for 14 MHz. So now I'm again QRV at home
on at least one HF band, and we're (still) trying to establish QSO
between the Zaibatsu and Republic CSs through Morse code on shortwaves.

It's been a lot of fun so far, but also quite some frustration,
because today I tried to extend the antenna for 10 MHz, where we hoped
to get better signals than on 14 MHz. The antenna works, but I found
the entire band from about 8.5 MHz to 12 MHz clogged up with a strong
broadband noise floor, which makes the 30 m band almost unusable.

I roamed the neighbourhood during two hours with my broadband scanner,
and I'm currently suspecting (A)DSL signals on the outside phone
lines to be the source. Our house I can exclude, because removing
the fuses of our mains supply didn't change anything.

I'll have to ask my (various) neighbours whether they would be so kind
as to switch off their internet access for a moment, so that I may
narrow down my search. It's a serious PITA.

With all those digital communication means, nobody gives a sh:t
anymore about HF noise. Because as long as the automates work,
nobody cares about the environment!

.:.

[1]: gopher://republic.circumlunar.space/