This really is Time Nuts related. Keep reading. I recently bought some surplus Motorola UHF mobiles. They came with the previous frequencies blanked and only channel one programmed with 460.000 MHz.
I put all of them on the bench to do a quick test to see if they transmitted and received. Upon power on, every one was receiving a strong carrier on the programmed frequency of 460 MHz. Firing up the service monitor with a small whip antenna, I found a -70 dBm carrier, right on 460 MHz. Taking a handheld scanner around the house and outside, it seemed that the problem was in my house, but I couldn't localize it with the scanner. I started turning off circuit breakers until the carrier went away. Then I went around, unplugging things individually. You won't believe what the culprit was. I have had some 10 MHz, Micro Crystal OCXO's (DIP 14) aging for quite a while, intending to use them in a few projects eventually. Yep, it was the OCXO's. I am surprised that the OXCO's would be putting out a carrier at 460 MHz, and such a strong one. This has been going on for quite a while. If I hadn't had these Motorola radios that just happened to be programmed for 460 MHz, who knows if or when I would have noticed this. Joe Gray W5JG _______________________________________________ time-nuts mailing list -- [email protected] To unsubscribe, go to https://www.febo.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/time-nuts and follow the instructions there.
