Several months ago I was in the market for some bare land for a future
contest site. I sent out a request for advice and got many great replies. The ollowing is that summary. Afterwards is the complete set of replies.
de Scott Tuthill (AA7TF ex KE7UH) stuthill@micron.net
-------------------------------------
I would like to thank everyone for their responses to my
request for tips in making a Contest QTH buying decision. It
was gratifying to think that some of the top names in
contesting would spend a few minutes and send their thoughts
to me. Who said contesting is not a gentlemen's hobby? Thanks
to the following for your advice and thoughts: K1VR, NJ1V,
W6XR/2, N5OK, N5RZ, NT5C, AA6TT, AB6FO, K6XO, N6TR, K7GM,
KI7WX, KK7A, N7AVK, WS7I, WA8YVR, KF9PL, N0AX, and HS0ZBO.
To summarize the hints I received I will use the ever popular
"Top 10" format.
#10 - "Look for land with a not well used prefix attached!"
Thanks to HS0ZBO for this one. Easy for him to say.
But, it could lead to a long commute for most of us.
One does have to work to pay for all this stuff you
know.
#9 - "Of course, the TR Logging program is widely used"
Thanks to N6TR for this one. (Actually the comment
was in a description of his QTH, but I just had to
pass it along.)
#8 - "Go look at the way W7RM put up his station. Then
copy everything" Thanks to WA8YVR for this one.
---- Now getting into the serious advice ----
#7 - When you get around to actually building the station
buy rugged stuff, Rohn 45 or bigger, and the heaviest
antennas you can get, Telrex, Force 12 or M-Squared.
Standardize on everything, tower type, rotor, guy wire,
hardware, etc. Plan ahead, when you run your buried
cables to the towers, (see below), put in several
extras.
#6 - A place with good neighbors, a good address, good
schools, and a good driveway. "You do have another
life, don't ya?"
#5 - Find a parcel that is more or less square. If it is
rectangular, plan on how you want to align the
long and short directions to account for beverages,
arrays, and the like. Place the house in the middle
and be able to run 1,000' beverages from it out to
edges. (Though this I think would take something
like 100 acres. See the last sentence in Point #3
following.)
#4 - A parcel with several >100' trees -- they are cheaper
than towers for wire antennas and the like.
#3 - Regarding site type the advice seemed to summarize
into: "A forest that has grown up in a river bed on
a high plateau that slopes off (at least) to the north
and east for several wavelengths on 160M -- though
sitting on a convex hilltop might be better"
(Thanks to those who recognize their plagiarized
remarks.) Of course, true to the Golden Rule, you need
to find something that is available and you can afford!
#2 - Good zoning. Get the zoning by-laws for the area you
are considering and have a lawyer read it for you.
This includes not only the town but the county as well
if you are considering an unincorporated area. Look
out for easements that might put limits on what can
be done on the property. One thing that is sometimes
helpful is to find an area that already has a tall
structure nearby, such as a microwave relay tower, that
has "broken in" the neighborhood.
#1 - QUIET with LOW NOISE! I had expected to hear this reply
but I was amazed at how strong this recommendation came
back. Fully 50% of the replies mentioned this -- mostly
because the author had a problem of their own and they
did want to wish it on anyone else. Check it out before
buying, not after! A variety of sub-hints were offered.
* Stay away from 500 KV lines and high power commercial
and government radio stations. Several miles away.
* Check with the power company to see what plans they
have to add lines in future years.
* Look for underground utilities. Put them in at your
place. Also bury feed lines, rotor cables, and
the like.
* To minimize your risk at creating TVI, look for
nearness to the TV transmitters or a cable TV system.
* Get to know the neighbors so they might understand
your requests to turn off their electrical fences
during big contests.
* Check in with local hams for their experience
* Keep away from freeways or heavily used roads
==============================================
THE COMPLETE SET OF REPLIES
Others will be more helpful. One thing to consider
which I never gave much thought to before moving
here is to check for man-made noise ahead of time.
Seems that even in the proverbial middle of nowear
this crops up. I typically have S8 or better noise on 80
and 160 from powerlines. Fortunately K6XO is better :)
Cheers,
Mark E. Curran KI7WX
Curran@Corona.Med.Utah.Edu
==============================================
To: apub064@idptv.idbsu.edu
Subject: Re: Contest QTH Tips?
Status: O
Howdy Scott,
I'm sure you will get alot of answers, but let me share a very important one
that has bothered me.
We purchased 5 acres twenty-five miles NW of downtown Oklahoma City. It's on
a ridge on one of the highest points around (which is good from a radio
situation, but a bitch relative to wind and lightning, which have caused
$21,000 worth of damage claims in two years).
But I'm protecting things for those problems. The one thing I have constant
problems is NOISE! The power lines and equipment out here are old, and in bad
need of repair. I have battled S9+ noise in almost every contest I've done
from here. The utility company has usually been pretty cooperative, and in
fact have made improvements, but I guess there is more wrong out this way
than they can keep up with.
So, maybe you may want to sniff out your potential areas before you commit.
Also, as I'm sure you are aware, make sure you check all deeds and covenants
to insure that the county, state, or feds can't give you any problems.
Let me know if I can be of any other help.
GL es 73.."victor"
John Guida NJ1V
nj1v@aol.com
=============================================================
Subject: Re: Contest QTH Tips?
Reply-To: tigger@prairienet.org
Hi, Scott-
I'd hardly consider myself experienced in assembling contest QTH's, but
my friend Matt, NM9H, has been going through this process recently. The
one piece of advice I can offer you, based on observing Matt's
circumstances, it to allow youself a good shot to the NE for beverage
receiving antennas. If you can hear the 100-watts & dipole guys on 80
meters, you'll be able to run there, and that's beaucoup points.
You might want to consider doing the same thing towards JA, too.
For transmit, set up your towers so you can phase them on the low bands.
I know nothing about stacking beams, so I'll leave my advice at that.
Good luck,
Sean Kutzko Amateur Radio: KF9PL
Urbana, IL
========================================================
To: apub064@idptv.idbsu.edu
Subject: Re: Contest QTH Tips?
Well, decide which contests you want to be competitive in. If you are
mainly interested in domestic contests, then you will have more flexibility
in what you can deal with.
Make sure you are as far away as possible from any 500 KV lines. These
lines generate a lot of noise when they are wet. The single conductor
ones are the worst. I had really bad line nose on 5 acres in the country
from a 500 KV line 1.6 miles away on 160 meters. Wasn't too bad on 80.
Don't put your antennas so that they obstuct someones view. Mine are
hidden against some trees and aren't easy to spot (I live on 14 acres).
Use Rohn 45 or bigger. The 25 is just too small.
Here is my antenna system if you are interested:
N6TR Antenna Farm - Circa October 1994
There are three towers as follows:
TOWER #1 - 45 feet of Rohn 45. It has a Wilson SY-36 on it, but the
driven element has been replaced with a full sized 20 meter element.
The tower is loaded on 80 meters and it REALLY gets out. It has about
20 radials and is sitting in the drain field of my septic tank (no jokes
about a sh**ty ground please). The tribander will turn into a 4 or 5 element
monobander for 10 meters someday (no hurry I guess).
TOWER #2 - 85 feet of Rohn 45. This tower has been since the summer of '92.
now. There is a 10 foot mast sticking out of the top of it. At the top
of the mast is a 5 element YO designed 10 meter beam using Hy-Gain hardware.
At the bottom of the mast is a KLM 5 element 20 (42' boom) with 3 KLM
40 meters interlaced. The two reflectors are about 18 inches apart, the
40 meter driven element is near the mast and 40 meter director is in
between the two 20 meter directors. The pattern on 20 seems to be fine.
At 52 feet on tower 2, is a 4 element 15 meter beam that can be rotated
300 degrees. This antenna was used by AA7NX for the first three hours
of the SS CW in 1993 and he was 25 QSOs ahead of me at W7RM.
TOWER #3 was erected during the summer of 1993, but was without antennas
until Jult 1994 (many thanks to K2MM and WN4KKN for their help). The tower
is 72 feet tall with an 8 foot mast. At the top is a 5 element 15 on a
32 foot boom (design from N6ND). At the bottom of the mast is a
4 element 20 on a 36 foot boom. The pattern on the 15 is awesome. The
20 has good front to side, but not fantastic front to back, but this is
actually okay for a second antenna on 20. You can point it to JA and
not be too weak on the east coast or visa versa.
This tower also gets loaded on 160 with about 20 radials. First QSO with
it was a VK6. There is also an inverted vee in a 80 foot tree for 160.
In addition to loading tower 1 on 80, there is a 2 element wire beam
pointing east at a height of about 65 feet. This antenna seems to work
better than the vertical for stateside and has an estimated 10 db
front to back ratio, (using the vertical as a reference and comparing
signals to Japan off the back before and after the reflector was added).
The antennas come into the shack and get connected to one of two amplifiers
(both use 2 X 3-500Z). There are two rigs and either or both amps can
be connected to either rig. This means I can do the two radio thing of
running on one band and S&P on another, or put both amps on one rig
and be loud in two directions at once (since the amps are linear, when I
split my drive power, their power is also halved). I make no attempt
to have the antennas phased correctly. I always use them pointing in
different directions.
Feedlines are all 72 Ohm hardline and I use the impedance transformmers
shown a few times in the NCJ (using 72 and 50 Ohm coax pieces).
A number of different receiving antennas are available for use on 160
or 80 meters. These include a 300 foot beverage, receiving loop,
80 meter dipole laying on the ground in a deep canyon and other low
dipoles.
Of course, the TR Logging Program is widely used. The computer is a
486-SX 25 with 8 MB of RAM and a 200M hard drive. Rigs include a
TS-850S and Drake C line.
73 Tree N6TR
tree@cmicro.com
=======================================================
To: apub064@idptv.idbsu.edu (Scott Tuthill)
From: John-Warren@easy.com (John Warren, NT5C)
Subject: Re: Contest QTH Tips?
Scott,
I'm a serious DXer rather than a contester, but when we moved to the Austin
area, I searched for the right QTH just as you are doing. There are two
things which are sort of obvious, but they just can't be over-emphasized,
because you can NEVER fix them if they are less than optimum.
The first is height. Buy the highest land in the area, especially if you
can get on top of a quite sharply convex hill. There was a fascinating
paper at Dayton last year reporting a computer study of the BIG low angle
radiation lobes that occur in that situation (example: W6QHS QTH). I
believe my hill is worth several dB on transmit, and even more important I
can hear DX that other locals can't.
Secondly, make complete freedom from legal antenna restrictions an ABSOLUTE
condition of purchasing any property. Don't compromise. Walk away if
there's any
question. In my case, we have deed restrictions (that's good of course),
but they don't even mention antennas (that's even better!).
There's a third point which I now realize is also very desirable, but one
can't do much about it in this very "hard-rock" country. That's underground
utilities.
Big plus if you can get it. Fighting overhead power line noise gets tedious
after a while, even with a cooperative power company like ours.
GL! 73, John, NT5C.
========================================================
From: jlarson@micron.net (Jim Larson)
Subject: Re: Contest QTH Tips?
>To all of you experienced in assembling Contest QTH's, I am
>looking for your advice. I am currently shopping around for some
>land on which to erect (eventually) a multi-tower Contest
>station.
>
Sounds neat Scott. Make sure you have low takeoff angles in
the directions you are interested in (Europe, JA, etc.).
Also, no big electrical substations in those directions either.
How soon before you'll be purchasing a parcel of land? Just
curious.
Glad to see you with an internet address. Keep in touch!
73, Jim
Jim Larson - KK7A Internet: jlarson@micron.net
Boise, Idaho
=========================================================
Hi Scott,
Good to see you setting up a Contest QTH. Old time theory led people
to believe that setting the station up in the middle of lush farm ground
helps the signal... but I set my station up on the highest point around.
The locals moan about what I hear that they don't. They think its my
stacks.. but its the elevation mostly... along with the electrically
quiet surrounding country.
When looking at ground for a contest site consider 1)elevation above
average terrain for several wavelengths at 160M. 2) How much man-made
electrical noise is there floating around. 3) Any terrain obstructions in
the headings where the runs will be mostly? i.e.. here on the West coast
ensure no higher ground toward JA or shortpath as most all Q's during
runs will come from these 2 areas. 4) How hidden will the Station &
towers be from the road?.... There are techniques of cutting trees to
provide a visual barrier to the Hardware so neighbors aren't a factor.
"Out of Sight-Out of mind mentality"
The actual location of towers depend somewhat on how you envision
your station.. Primarily S/O... M/2....M/M and also may influence you as
to the type of Towers you erect.
Placing a station up high has its advantages... but downside
also..The WX plays rough with the towers & antennae.. so have to factor
that in to put up tougher gear than what the WX dishes out. Likewise a
quiet QTH means trenching in your utilities rather that hanging them off
poles... More expensive but better in the long run.
You're going about this in the right way. I existed in town for
several years with minimal radiating devices while plotting my station
and looking all over until I found the place to put up what I had only
dreamed about before. Its a lot of fun to do... hard work too.. but fun
is why I do this!
73 and I remain,
Lew N7AVK lew@teleport.com
===================================================
Here are some tips. You may post to the net if you wish:
1. Beverage antennas. These consume more real estate than anything
else. From the east coast, we would plan on the directions NE/SW,
E/W, and SE/NW.
Plan your tower sites such that you can put up beverages completely
apart from your towers/guys. The latter will ruin your f/b on the
beverages.
2. What are you going to do with the station? If you are going to run
multi-op, then you will want to get antennas/towers physically separate
to minimize cross-band QRM. Single-op can probably get away with
lotsa towers sharing bands.
3. Antennas can share rotors, but there are some particularly bad com-
binations. 10/15 on the same rotor is probably the best, because those
bands are almost always open to the same area.
20/40 is a bit more trouble. On the east coast, in the AM you have
20 open to EU, and 40 meters open LP beaming SW. Very bad combo.
Every time you band switch you have to turn the antenna 180 degrees.
4. Go look at the way W7RM put up his station. Then copy everything.
5. Get a separate electrical feed for you ham shack.
6. Think about grounding, etc. before you build the house. Get a hold
of the Polyphaser book and plan your grounding accordingly.
7. If you're going to bury your cables (very recommended) then bury about
two extra coaxes and several extra runs of control cable to each tower.
You'll be very happy later that you did.
8. Standardize. If you decide you like one kind of rotor best, then go
with it everywhere. Ditto on towers and guy hardware.
That's about all I can think of at the moment. Good luck with the building.
-- Pat
WA8YVR
(Not sure this is right) From: "Patrick M. Barkey" <00pmbarkey@bsuvc.bsu.edu>
============================================================
From: aa6tt@frontier.net (William H. Hein)
Subject: Re: Contest QTH Tips?
Hello Scott. Make sure you buy land in a un-zoned area!
GL,
Bill AA6TT
aa6tt@frontier.net
=========================================================
From: "Jay Townsend" <jayt@comtch.iea.com>
You will probably hear about marshland, and high spots on the east coast!
Hay the biggest thing is simply NOISE. Take a mobile HF station and listen
and check with the utility company for what power lines are in the area now
and proposed.
Nothing worse than power line noise. The only secret to location is noise,
unless you're like Joe and backed up to the hills toward Japan. Big error.
73 and I love it another place to guest op!!
Jay Townsend, Ws7i < jayt@comtch.iea.com >
=============================================================
From: CDAY@OKTUL.ANG.AF.MIL
Hi Scott...
Hope you find a great place. One word of advice. Take a mobile HF radio
and tune the bands at different times of the day on several occasions just
to make sure it is a relatively quiet area.
I like the higher ground but so does lightning... hi
73, Coy N5OK
==========================================================
From: Alan Brubaker <alan@nah.dsd.ES.COM>
Hi Scott...
Congratulations, and I am sure that you will enjoy your radio ranch
when you get it going. I hesitate to say "When you get it completed",
because I am sure that you are aware that our stations are never
"complete". Suffice it to say that all of the hardware that you use
for your towers and antennas should be as heavy duty as possible.
I would recommend Rohn 45 at the minimum for the towers and the
heaviest antennas that you can get. I would recommend Telrex, but
Force 12 or M squared is more available these days. Be sure to use
extra heavy duty rotors and carry extra insurance against wind
damage, just in case. The ARRL insurance program is probably a good
choice here.
My good friend Cam, K6RU, observed many years ago that the majority
of the world's population lies in three areas; Europe, North America
and the Far East of Asia. From the western U.S., that means that the
most important directions to allow access to these population centers
is NorthEast, NorthWest and due East. We think that the ideal QTH
would be on the north slope of a gently sloping hill with the next
obvious choice being the top of the hill. The slope of the hill will
give you a db to a few db of gain in those directions, depending on
which band you are on and what the prevailing propagation conditions
are at the time. The horizon in the desired directions should be as
close to zero as possible.
After topographical considerations, I think that the next thing to
think about is getting as far out of town as you are comfortable with.
As the years go by, the town will grow toward you, and before you
know it, you will be surrounded by complaining neighbors, despite the
fact that you were there first. Make sure that there are no weird laws
or regulations that would prevent you from putting up your towers and
antennas. I have found that typically in rural areas there is usually
no problem, but I have heard some horror stories. One thing that is
helpful is that if there is already a tall structure in the area (such
as a microwave relay tower or something similar), you are usually home
free.
You might also check with Bill, AA6TT and Mike, N7ML. They have recently
built big stations with big antennas, and they might have some good
suggestions.
Good luck.
Alan, K6XO
alan@es.com
============================================================
From: "H. Ward Silver" <hwardsil@seattleu.edu>
Hilltop!
>From what I remember about the area around Boise, trying to stay away from
rocky areas is difficult. Rocks make it very hard, indeed, to dig tower
bases and are also very poor conductors.
If you can't get a hilltop, try to be on the Eastern side of a slope. ID
is close enough to the west coast that you don't need a monstrous shot to
the West to work stuff, but you need all the advantage you can get to EU,
SA, Caribbean, Africa.
Can you find a parcel with >100' trees? They're a lot easier to get the
160-meter and 80-meter wire arrays in than putting up towers. Also cheaper.
If you can swing a spot near a lake, so much the better, although lakes
and streams tend to be in low spots, for some reason ;-)
Try to find a parcel that you can put a house in the middle of and run
>1000' Beverages out to the edges.
Watch out for local BC and US Gummint stations running high power. Stay
away from HT lines. Try not to be the highest conductor in the county
unless you really like lightning!
Random musings...good luck!
73, Ward N0AX
=======================================================
From: Rick Niswander <AONISWAN@ECUVM.CIS.ECU.EDU>
Scott:
I finally purchased a 5 acre parcel out in the country when I moved
to NC. It is really nice. My nearest neighbor is 200-300 yards away.
No TVI/RFI. A couple of points (I am assuming in all this that you're
going to find something in the Boise area and are not looking for a
hilltop in Oregon or New Hampshire).
1 -- keep away from freeways or heavily used roads (esp. those used
by trucks).
2 -- the parcel should not be too oddly shaped. Square or slightly
rectangular is good. If rectangular, allignment with JA (for you) is
probably better (depending on how many towers you will eventually put up
and what that means for high band antennas (i.e., broadside to JA or
endfire, or whatever)).
3 -- trees are nice to hang dipole ends on (or whatever), but too
many trees are a real pain in the rear when you are putting up towers
or antennas.
4 -- electric fence noise can be a problem in the country. Get to
know the neighbors/ranchers in the area so you can get them to turn them
off once in a while if needed (during the CQWW for example!!).
Thats about it. Once you have a piece of dirt, alot of issues you
worry about with smaller lots go away.
Rick, K7GM
aoniswan@ecuvm.cis.ecu.edu
=====================================================
From: "Fred Hopengarten" <k1vr@k1vr.jjm.com>
1. Ya gotta find the 1956 (?) article by W3AFM on finding a contest
QTH.
2. DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT, buy a mountain top. The ideal site is
(no kidding):
a. high, but it is more important that nothing else is is higher within
a few miles (think in terms of degrees of elevation from the proposed
site, NOT in feet). Read N6BV's book "All the Right Angles" to get
a feel for important angles. If you must have something higher, put it
to your South or SW, as all the QSO's from ID are EU or JA, and the fun
ones are LP E or ESE.
b. good farm land (rich soil is a better ground). Can you find a river
bed site up on a high plateau?
c. not too windy. How about a forest that has grown up in a river bed
on a high plateau. Too much wind and your copy of W6QHS' book will be
dog eared.
d. good zoning. DO NOT RELY on your reading of the zoning by-law, or
the zoning enforcement officer's memory of it. PAY and IDAHO lawyer to
read the zoning by-law from the town you want to move to, and ask for his
thoughts. Ask for his opinion, and you'll get a letter which will cost a
lot more and tell you the same thing. BUY the zoning by-law and bring it
to the lawyer. It will cost $4-25 for each town you consider.
e. consult the local big guns. They've thought about it too. K7NHV
comes to mind.
f. a cable TV system. Will reduce complaints of TVI.
g. Relatively close to TV stations. Avoids problems of TVI which crop
up from weak TV signals.
h. a good driveway. It's no fun to own a dream home and sleep in town
because the snow prevents you from getting up the hill.
i. a good address. The right QTH often, but not always, has a good address.
For example: K1MM lives on Sunset Drive. You can see a beautiful Sunset
from his house -- while standing on the ground. He gets out well to the
West. Other good names: High Rock Road (K1MEM once lived on a HIgh ROck Ro).
Ridge Road, High Plains Avenue, Eastview Lane.
j. Good neighbors. It is almost impossible to find good neighbors if you
choose to live in one of the wealthiest ZIP codes in the state. It is always
better to be richer than the opposing zoning litigant.
k. good schools. This is because "The Amateur is balanced." You want
your kids to do well and come East to get a good education don't ya? You
do have another life, don't ya?
I wish you good fortune and good zoning.
--
Fred Hopengarten K1VR
k1vr@k1vr.jjm.com
=======================================================
From: KWIDELITZ@delphi.com
Hi Scott,
Even though you are looking outside of town, very carefully check the local
zoning ordinances. Sometimes the county ordinances are more restrictive than
city ordinances. So if the land is in an unincorporated area, make sure you
check with the county. Also make sure there are no CC&Rs (Conditions,
Covenants and Restrictions.) There probably won't be any if you are out of
town, but considering the investment you will be making, you want to be
sure. Also look to see if there are any easements for power, water, etc that
might limit your options with the property.
73. Ken, AB6FO, KWIDELITZ@DELPHI.COM
======================================================
From: force12@ibm.net
Scott,
Last year, I did the search for and finally purchased a parcel of
land to do just what you want to do... Only mistake I made was
to be more informed about the weather during the winter. My "dream"
parcel is a 3 acre lot on top of a 1400 hill with drop-off for
310 degrees. Works great as a QTH, but the WX has been a problem.
Wind -- I regularly get gusts in excess of 80 mph when fronts pass
through !
Ice -- I have had severe ice conditions three times this winter so far.
Snow -- Not really a big problem, but it does make things difficult.
Lighning -- Having the tallest structure for about a 75 mile radius
(my tower) does not make me feel comfortable.
I am not sure how to ameliorate those issues, but you should be aware
of them prior to buying that dream land parcel.
Good hunting, and get a good place !
73
Natan W6XR/2
===============================================================
From: Bruce Strong <hs0zbo@sura1.sut.ac.th>
My main suggestion is to look for land with a not well used prefix
attached! ;-)
Bruce
hs0zbo@sura1.sut.hs.ac
===================================================
From: N5RZ@aol.com
Hello Scott:
I don't recognize the call, but look forward to meeting you on the air.
One of the most important items you need to consider is man made noise. I
have probably one of the best geographic & topographic qth's in my locale
(Midland, TX). I am on 2 1/2 acres with a nice house and a huge 30'X60'
out-building which serves as a huge 2 car garage, hamshack and large
workshop, all partitioned, and the price was very right. One item I did not
check before purchasing this place was power line interference. Upon
erection of the first antenna I noticed some power line noise. Now I've been
throug this before, and called the power company, The particular noise was
fixed, but I had more. "But that's not our pole" was the reply. Jeez I
have two power companies in the area.
Over the past 3 years, I have built a competetive station - 4 towers & qrv
from 160M - 1296 MHz. During that time I have seen the power line noise
increase - I'm hearing S9 noise toward JA from poles almost a mile away. 80M
& 160M are almost useless. And I'm out in the country!!! Poles everywhere
are contributing the interference. The big problem is that neither power
company has the expertise or cares to invest the time to fix the problem. I
can easily find the poles but they cannot fix them. I had the Chief
Operating Officer of one come out - he was appalled, and had his crews come
out and ""fix"" 188 poles in the area - and I saw them doing it. When they
were finished, the foreman came out to visit; the first 4 poles we went to
were just buzzing away even though they had just tightened them a week
before!!
To say the least, I am very frustrated. I have contacted the FCC & the state
Public Utility Commision. There is essentially very little they will do, so
I am on my own. I'm a very squeaky wheel but not getting much grease.
What I would suggest is that you very carefully comb the area around the
desired qth (I'd say at least a two mile RADIUS) with an 2M SSB receiver and
small 3 or 4 el 2M yagi you can carry - go on foot. Look for noise at every
pole. While out, look for electric fences and other possible noise sources.
If there are other residences in the area, I'd suggest going out at night to s
ee if any "Night Watchman" lights generate noise; get as close to other
residences to see if any noise is eninating from them due to bad thermostats,
"touch" lamp switches, etc. Also, if you have the luxury of time, check for
noise in different weather climates - hot, cold, rainy, dry, humid, fog, wind
or any combination of these.
One good investment is a book by WA6FQG on RFI - it's available from the ARRL
bookstore and most ham-stores. It is excellent & educates the reader of a
number of possible of noise generators to look out for.
Sorry to ramble, but I cannot stress the importance of not having noise or
the potential for noise!!! Any noise is too much!!! If you can't hear 'em
you can't work 'em!!
Hope this helps.
73, Ralph N5RZ N5RZ@aol.com
==============================================
Thanks to everyone for their thoughts. Now, time for me
to call the realtor.
Scott Tuthill/AA7TF stuthill@micron.net
4403 Keldoon, Boise, ID 83702