I read recently that a BPL trial is starting in my state. The trial is not near my QTH, but it made me think I should document my current noise environment before BPL moves into my community. What is a practical way to get the documentation? I have a few ideas that require programming a computer. I will present them hear in the hope that someone will develop the software.
My first thought was to scan through all the HF bands with a camcorder set to look at my transceiver. This way the audio and frequency would be documented. By periodically tuning to WWV, the exact time and date would also be documented. The biggest problem with this is the time required to manually scan the radio. If the process could be automated, data could be collected during all hours of the day, and my time at the radio can be spent making QSO's. Since my transceiver (Elecrftat K2) is computer controllable, the computer could be used to slowly scan through the bands. The video would still be used for the documentation. This level of automation would be easy to implement. Since I already have audio routed from the transceiver to the computer sound card, why not let the computer record the data? This would be very helpful to me since I do not have a camcorder of my own. Documenting audio is easy. The only problem is selecting a compression algorithm that gets the audio to a manageable size without losing needed information. Documenting the frequency is a bigger problem. A file format that records both the audio and frequency is needed. It would also be nice if the program followed a strict schedule for the scans. I can envision posts to newsgroups like "I captured a digital pulse at 0335 on 3.146 MHz. Did anyone else catch this?" A program that can both tune the radio and record the data would make unattended data collection easy. With an easy way to take the data many hams from across the country would likely make the measurements. I do not think I have the programming skills to get a program like this implemented in a timely manner. Perhaps someone else can take up the project. It also maybe possible put together a system to do this with existing software. I would like to hear ideas on how to do this. Jeff Burns AD9T _______________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Post to: Elecraft@mailman.qth.net You must be a subscriber to post to the list. Subscriber Info (Addr. Change, sub, unsub etc.): http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/subscribers.htm Elecraft web page: http://www.elecraft.com