IEEE Approved Draft Recommended Practice for Location of Power-Line Gap Interference Sources

This Recommended Practice describes procedures that electric utility companies and others may use to address complaints of interference caused by power-line gap noise to radio, television, and other types of wireless communications. It includes discussion on how to determine if a noise may be considered as harmful interference under the FCC rules. Modern noise-locating techniques, equipment and protocols are also described, including the use of time-domain noise signatures (sometimes referred to as signature analysis) to investigate and identify radio noise in the field. These techniques allow an interference investigator to identify which noise source or sources are associated with the reported interference, thus minimizing troubleshooting and repair costs. Troubleshooting and repair recommendations are also included once all the sources have been identified. This Recommended Practice also describes ways to determine and find interference when it is being caused by a source other than electric-utility equipment, such as an electronic consumer device. The methods and techniques contained herein have been validated by decades of usage with positive results by a wide range of users, including but not limited to utilities, professional interference investigators, radio engineers, and even the home hobbyist.