A New Way to Detect Sources of Power Line Interference

The equipment described is believed to represent a new approach to the problem of pinpointing noise sources on power lines. A unidirectional receiver employing a loop and dipole antenna is used in the 30-MHz band. The operation of the device relies upon the fact that noise sources generally contain components covering a wide frequency range and that the components in the range of the receiver are attenuated fairly rapidly along the line due to radiation and other losses. This attenuation in effect partially terminates the line so that reflections causing standing waves are greatly reduced. When a noise source is to be located the operator stands under the line in question and takes readings of the noise level first with the unit pointed along the line in one direction and then in the other. The direction of the noise source is generally in the direction of the higher of the two readings. The locator unit is completely self-contained. The total weight is 5 1/2 pounds. The battery life is approximately 75 to 100 hours.