Hi Paul, what a headache!  I have heard a lot about that, and some of the
TVI, is simply TV DX in those high sunspot years.





On Mon, 31 Oct 2005, Paul Bolduc wrote:

> Good evening to the list,
>
> In the late 1980's I asked the town building inspector for the proper
> paperwork for putting up a 50 to 75 ft. tower.  I showed him the plans and
> there was no problem.  This area is very rural and there were only three
> houses on the road when we first moved in.  I was OK with the building
> permit because it would not fall on anybody else's proprty and so here's the
> rest of the story.
>
> I purchased a 75 ft. crank up tower and brought the whole thing home with
> two trips to get every part on to the back of my pickup.
> I dug the hole and prepared the base for pouring cement.  The three weeks of
> letting the cement cure was a trying time because it was ready to go up and
> I was anxious!
>
> The day finally arrived when we could man-handle the heavy base on to the
> bolts or threaded rods coming up through the cement and plumbed up the whole
> thing.  We then used the winch and cable to lift the collapsed tower on to
> it's mount.  We got it most of the way into position, but the rest was a bit
> too much for only two people with one of us not seeing to line up the pivot
> point!  We tied it off so no wind or movement would knock it over and quit
> for the day.
>
> I had not finished wiping the sweat off my brow when the first TVI call came
> in!  These were our nice neighbors and after I had working antennas on the
> tower I invited them or all three of them over to watch TV here while I
> operated.  I was told that I must do some sort of a trick to cause
> interference only on their TV's.  The man of the house came and saw TV on my
> screen and heard me talking to another station.  He understood and I
> mentioned that there was a way to eliminate houses and that was to turn off
> the main breaker to each house while the others watched to see if the TV
> cleared up.  He agreed to do that.  The next time they had interference he
> called and I said OK and asked my wife to flip the main breaker.  All the
> battery backups on the alarms started going off and it was a headache.  He
> said that they still had it and I asked him to turn off his power and have
> the other neighbor watch.  His wife said No because they were not the cause
> of the interference.  I called the FCC and asked what I could do and they
> mailed me a pamphlet on this topic which basically said the problem was that
> of the TV owner and very unlikely that it was the Ham operator.
>
> I couldn't wait to deliver this package.
>
> We could expect a call about twice per week with me causing TVI, even when I
> was in Florida and the shack was unplugged!  I was also the cause of their
> TV receiving two stations on the same channel when most people were outdoors
> observing The Northern Lights!  I probably also caused the Aurora Borealis!
>
> The best one yet is when the lady of the house and primary instigator had to
> come over and complain during a torrential downpour just to find us at home
> doing something not involving the radio.  She was soaking wet and refused to
> come into the house to check out my equipment.  They finally moved and
> things have been quiet ever since.
>
> The new neighbors were quite upset with the TV reception so they replaced
> all the old spliced twin lead and put up a new antenna and they are quite
> happy and now satellite has come to Royalston, no cable yet and we're
> thankful we have electricity!
>
> Have a great day,
>
> Paul Bolduc
>
> Amateur Radio Operator: WR1X
> Email: [log in to unmask]
>
> Located in the only town named Royalston in North America and maybe even the
> world!
> Royalston is located in Massachusetts, the home of the
> World Champion New England Patriots!
>