Power line buzz is quieter, but still bothers residents

Seattle Post-Intelligencer ^ | 01/01/04 | Jennifer Langsten

[Holly_P]

In October, we first told you about the noisy power lines that left residents from Monroe to Woodinville feeling as if they're living inside an electronic beehive.

The buzzing started after the Bonneville Power Administration doubled the voltage on a 13-mile stretch of transmission line to handle future growth in Seattle and its suburbs.

Last month, BPA workers in dangling handcarts used steel brushes and moss-killing agents to scrub away gunk and debris that had built up on a small test section of line.

Initial readings showed the cleaning dampened the noise by roughly 15 percent.

Cattle rancher Les Gilbert, whose house is about 400 feet from the noisy power line, said he still has to wear earplugs when he's doing chores near the lines.

At times, the humming is still loud enough that backyard barbecues are out of the question, he said.

"It's quieter -- sometimes you almost think you're on a farm again," he said. "But other times you don't even want to be out there."

The BPA will meet with residents again Jan. 27 to discuss results of the cleaning experiment and future steps to quiet the hum.

Residents would like the federal agency that supplies much of the Northwest's power to reduce the voltage or replace the aging wires with quieter technology.

[woofer]

Corona Discharge.

And not the beer, all you buttheads.

[JackOfVA]

If it's corona, they should see a relationship between humidity and acoustical noise.

And it really would stand out if they listen with an ultrasonic receiver. Perhaps they should check for dogs running in circles with their paws over their ears.

Jack

[woofer]

If it's corona, they should see a relationship between humidity and acoustical noise.

Meet me at a 345kV Substation sometime on a cold, dry day and you'll hear plenty under the cables.

Humidity makes it snap.

[JackOfVA]

VEPCO has a pair of 345KV lines and one 500KV line running at the back of our property, about 800 feet from the house. Fortunately, they are acoustically pretty quiet.

But, I've spend many hours with the VEPCO transmission line people on electrical noise interfering with my ham radio reception. That finally got fixed. Now I need to get after NOVEC for local distribution noise.

Jack

[AnAmericanMother]

Those power lines can really be a problem!

Our neighborhood has lots of electrical noise interference from the multiple high voltage transmission lines that converge and cross the Chattahoochee not far from here. When we were looking for a house, my husband actually went out with his fox hunt antenna and checked out various parts of the area to make sure he would be able to do his DX without any trouble. (He also runs the repeater for the local radio club.)

[JackOfVA]

In my case, it finally was fixed when VEPCO had some change in management in its electromagnetic interference department.

After more than 10 years of looking but not finding the problem, one of the techs started from scratch, and went back to look at possible sources they had previously rejected. The problem turned out to be arcing in a wavetrap (used to couple power line control signals onto the 500KV line) at a substation 6 or 7 miles from here. They replaced the wavetrap and the noise vanished.

73 to you and your husband.


Jack

[ArmstedFragg]

Perhaps they should check for dogs running in circles with their paws over their ears.

Uh.... wouldn't that be more like "dogs hopping in circles"? :-) Should be pretty obvious.