Category Archives: Education

Finding Wanders Quickly — Middletown FD finds hiding boy

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Middletown Fire Dept (MFD) demonstrated the SafetyNet tracker bracelet system on Sunday October 20th at Glen Park in Portsmouth.  Pictures can be viewed online here

Aided by MFD, a citizen volunteer (Rob White KB1ZZU)  used MFD’s  tracker equipment to find a well-hidden 10 year old Cub Scout in about five minutes. MFD fire fighters then let the 10 year old scout track down another 216 MHz radio tracker bracelet well-hidden up a distant tree.

It was pretty clear to all that this tracker technology could save hundreds of labor hours trying to find a wandering person before they fall into the water or die from exposure.

An estimated 24,000 Rhode Islanders fit into the wandering category.   Newport’s city council recently passed a resolution asking city staff to look at this tracking option. The tracker equipment and training is provided at no cost to the city. The tracking bracelet has a nominal monthly charge.

Portsmouth FD is also trained in the use of this equipment.

This demo was arranged by the Newport County Radio Club who hosted local Boy Scouts this last weekend at a Jamboree on the Air training event at Glen Park.

 

Lunchtime turns Glenn Park into a Ham Paradise

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The antennas have been raised, and the rigs have been tested, so NCRC is all ready for the Boy Scout Jamboree which starts Saturday morning and continues through Sunday at Noon.

Listen to W1SYE if you get a chance and help the scouts with a on-air contact.  Complete information on JotA can be found here.

If you click on this link you will see how Willy, W1LY, launched one of the lines used to support the HF antenna (a 135 foot dipole):  W1LY Launching Antenna

Update on Glen Park RFI – National Grid Report

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Kurt, the RFI specialist from National Grid, contacted John King yesterday with a report on the RFI remediation work performed at Glen Park.
  
Hardware on 7 poles was replaced. One of those poles is located at end of the line near Glen Manor House; the rest are closer to the park itself.
 
After the “ivy pole” was cleared and a one of its insulators was replaced, a great deal of noise was still being generated in that vicinity. The source of that noise turned out to be the loose tie wires on the southern adjacent pole (see the club web site for pictures.) This is interesting, because: A.) Both Kurt and John had scanned that pole (the loose tie wire pole) with ultrasonic arc detectors without hearing much arc noise, and B.) that is the pole that we most strongly suspected when we walked the line with AM receivers and rubber duck antennas. Jack, N1JK, visited the site a second time after our initial Saturday RFI hunt session and came away convinced that the interference was coming from either that pole or the building fed from that pole.  
  
Thanks to everyone who came out to help with this effort. The Glen Park site is now completely free from power line noise.

Glen Park “Blissfully Quiet” After National Grid Reworks Lines

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National Grid has performed their RFI remediation work at Portsmouth’s Glen Park. John King visited the site today and has happily reported that the site is blissfully RFI quiet.
The line crew addressed multiple issues along the entire line, which runs from Glen Road, through Glen Park, and down to Elmhurst School. They didn’t miss a trick – note the attention they gave to the tie wires on the pole adjacent to the “ivy pole.” (Yes, loose tie wires can be a source of RFI.) They treated each pole on the line with the same attention to detail. This was a first class job by the National Grid folks.
Sight of the "singing tree", this pole has been completely reworked

Sight of the “singing tree”, this pole has been completely reworked

 

Detail of upper part of noisy power pole at Glen Park

Detail of upper part of noisy power pole at Glen Park

 

Photo of one of the adjacent pols showing loose tie wires

Photo of one of the adjacent pols showing loose tie wires

 

Same pole after National Grid rework

Same pole after National Grid rework

 

National Grid Verifies Glen Park RFI Party Findings

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Kurt, an RFI engineer from National Grid, met John, WA1ABI, at Portsmouth’s Glen Park on Friday, September 27 to investigate the RFI issue we previously identified in our RFI hunt at the site. Kurt was armed with a Radar Engineers Model 242 RFI locator receiver and a Radar Engineers Model 250 ultrasonic pinpoint locator. (See photos) The Model 242 locator receiver is an AM receiver covering 500 KHz through 1.0 GHz. Kurt used the 242 receiver in conjunction with a handheld VHF/UHF log periodic antenna. The Model 250 is an ultrasonic detector mounted in a clear parabolic dish equipped with a gun sight. This expensive professional grade RFI locating equipment is not too different from the amateur-grade equipment we used in our amateur RFI hunt two weeks ago.

Although Kurt is a seasoned RFI specialist and he was using designed-for-purpose professional equipment, his RFI location results were very much like ours. He experienced the same inconclusive results when using the 242 RF receiver and directional antenna. The 250 ultrasonic detector led him to the same pole we identified in our amateur RFI hunt. Once again, the loudest noise signature was heard coming from the pine tree adjacent to the suspect pole! Kurt’s best guess was similar to our amateur hypothesis – the ivy growing up the guy and onto the crossarm is probably involved in the RFI equation. The lesson here is that at least some of the time Amateur radio operators can achieve good RFI location results using simple equipment.

Kurt will schedule a line crew next week to service the entire line that runs through Glen Park. He plans to work alongside the line crew to monitor RFI levels. After they clean up the suspect pole, they will then sweep the entire line again to identify and repair any additional noise sources. Kurt promised to keep John informed of the outcome of their repair work.

National Grid RFI Engineer listening for electrical arcs

National Grid RFI Engineer listening for electrical arcs

RFI Receiver at Work

RFI Receiver at Work