re power signal surges in home dplatt ntg com dave platt writes what kind of power must he be putting out to cause the effects the affected equipment is about feet from the road might be a couple of hundred watts from the sound of it kicking sound out of the tv and stereo speakers by direct rf rectification requires a mighty strong carrier i ve heard of linears so powerful that triggering them while the car was idling would stall the engine by pulling down the battery voltage it would take a lot more than that it sounds like the radio equipment is actually not shut completely off but just goes to a standby situation i suspect that the stories are just that stories the voltage can only be sucked down so far instantaneously when you try to jumpstart someones car when your vehicle is at idle does your car stall no the other car just does not crank well now the engine might stall because the idle was too low to start with when the extra current is drawn the idle speed will drop as the alternator loads down the engine to compensate for the increased amperage requirement is resolution of this problem a matter for the power company the fcc or both ultimately it s likely to be your problem to resolve i m afraid the fcc is so understaffed that they don t pay much attention to citizen complains about rfi or so i ve heard they ll just send you a pamphlet describing how you can apply corrective measures talking to the power company might help they might be able to install filtering devices at your service panel or recommend a type which you could have installed by a licensed electrician a transmitter is not going to be affecting house power if surges are occurring there it is due to another cause not a transmitter unfortunately there s a fair chance that enough signal is being picked up by your house wiring that a simple service panel filter won t suffice you may need to install heavy duty rfi filters at the power connections of your affected equipment it is probably not that much of a problem often toroid coils on the power leads will solve that part of the interference problem it will not solve internal equipment deficiencies if the problem occurs regularly you may need to stake out the street in question and watch for trucks or cars with big antennae driving by at the time interference occurs if you can identify the vehicle which is transmitting you may be able to contact its owner and complain it is probably not the transmitter that is at fault if the person is an amateur then he she will probably be willing to help if you explain that the person is causing interference bill
