A Room With A View

Posted on Sunday, March 10th, 2013 at 5:33 pm in

View from my Shack

View from my Shack

This is what I see when I look up from my radio in my shack. This picture speaks a thousand words if you know anything about ham radio. Since the details are going to be a little unclear in this photo taken with my cellphone, can I point out something interesting?

Yes, behind that big tree (and I’m surrounded by big trees) is one of two big Eskom power line towers.

And yes, I get a full S-9 noise on 40 meters. It is a little better on 20 but not much, and by 10 meters one can hear yourself think but it is not silent by any stretch of the imagination.

The dimensions are awesomely interesting: The power lines are about 40 – 50 meters away from my shack and I’m not sure about the height but they could be 40 meters high or more. That is a full wavelength, and the lines are running East-West (the same as my antenna). There could not have been a worse situation even if I invented it!

I don’t know what to do to get rid of the noise. Watch this space though, there must be some things one can start looking at.

Top