Real or artifact?

Mark_WS7M

Tonight I was just watching SmartSDR on my new 6300 while I watched the Saints football game.  I noticed that 40m was very noisy and I'm wonder if this is real or some shop based artifact?

I was not transmitting nor was the computer actively doing anything else.  This was over an RDP session to my laptop.  This was at about 0215 Z time.  Wonder if anyone else was seeing something like this:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7578983/40Jumpy0215Z.mp4

Lewis Cheek

Check "Display" / Weighted Average" and make sure it's "OFF" I can make my 6500 do this if it's "on".

May not be the problem, but looks same to me.

Lew
N4CO

Mark_WS7M

Hum... It definitely is better with weighted average off... Rats I like that feature.

Kg5dwx

plasma TV?

Mark_WS7M

I don't own a plasma.  I have LCD TVs and I was using the one right above the shack to watch the game when I saw the interference.  I'll check it out and see if something about that TV is noisy.

George KF2T

Lots of fun ahead tracking down noise that your new rig reveals. It is worth it. Search for Ky6LA's presentation on building a quiet station, or check the list on my QRZ page.

Dan -- KC4GO

Mark,

          Welcome to FLEX RX world.

You may be hearing/seeing lightning from a distance

 

You can see the current status of lightning strikes at http://www.lightningmaps.org/realtime

If it's not lightning this is still a good place to look for active lightning. 

We see LOTS of lightning here in FL. 

 

Mark_WS7M

Interesting!  I never considered that and I'm an ex-pilot... I should have easily considered it could be lightning.  It makes sense because we do have a cold front rolling through and I saw that behavior last night when storms might still be very active.  This AM I see nothing like that.

Another comment was to build a quiet station.  I'm working on that for sure.  I do have that presentation.

K1UO Larry

HDmi cables from cable boxes and or sat TV boxes can also cause that type interference..   Here it only bothers on a certain TV channel and even then only when there was a lot of  active video scene changes or action.     A quick check is to just unplug the HDMI cables one at a time.

George KF2T

Good call, Dan. The wideband horizontal lines are almost certainly lightning. There are a lot of noise sources out there that you'll come to know and love. Plasma sets are horrible, but fortunately becoming rarer. Pumps and variable speed motors, lighting ballasts and cheap power supplies all make life miserable. Remember the good old days when ham radio caused interference to the neighbors? The tables are surely turned now.

Ken - NM9P

It would be helpful to hear the actual receiver audio that went along with it.
But as others have said, that is what my display looks like on the lower bands (40-160) when there is lightning static propagating my way.  Lightning static bursts can travel hundreds of miles and sound like they are outside your door!  If it is periodic, every second another pip, then it might be an electric fence.  I have one near me that used to give me fits. Apparently the owner recently had it repaired or turned it off.  Yea!

When your Display Averaging is turned ON it accentuates the effect.  I like it ON myself, but others turn it off.

 The fun part of DSR is learning how to visually interpret the information on the screen as wells as in your ears.

Have fun!

Ken - NM9P

Mark_WS7M

Hi Ken,  Ok next time I see this I will record it.  I'm still getting to know SmartSDR!