AM radio is completely hosed in my house, static across the dial

Verified on two radios. It's been that way for two days now. Every channel is 95% static (it sounds like 60hz hum to me) and about 5% signal.

Anyone have any idea what might be going on here? I haven't added any new RF sources that might cause it.

:)

I do live in a condo though, so my neighbors might have.

electronic installations could cause it. I would snoop around if I were you to find out if neighbors have installed new equipment especially generators.

After lunch I'm going to make the rounds of my house unplugging everything and testing.

If we're getting 60 cycle hum from space, better point the VLA in that direction pronto. :)

How is reception in the car when parked in your drive?

Any idea how a house ground can just fail in one day?

At least this man. :shrug: I just know this gremlin has caused me grief with audio separates before.

I wonder if the main ground to your home could've have been severed, causing this problem? Just thinking about what single cause could affect all radios...

I'll definitely check on the ground, if I only knew where it is. Unfortunately my panel is encased in a finished wall, so no clues there.

1) Vacuum tubes blown.
2) Need new 45 volt battery.
3) Solar flare activity.
4) All stations have gone off the air (any ELF activity in your area?)
5) Bad ground - check for opens.
6) Bad antenna - check for shorts.
7) Interference sources such as fluorescent light fixtures, arc welders, etc.
8) Someone intentionally jamming entire AM band.

Why listen to AM in this day and age? :shrug:

And a very important Rockies game is on in 20 minutes.

is on the FM side of the dial. :)

Damn, that means he won't be allowed into Republican "diversity" conferences ... wrong color ...

Does anyone know what direction a directional AM loop antenna points? I have one plugged into my reciever and can pinpoint the source direction, but I'm not sure which direction is relevant. Does the signal point toward the loop or perpendicuar to it?

Try your car's AM radio - do you get the same result?

Unplug all your electrical stuff one at a time till you find the culprit.

Could be a problem with your radio itself.

Surely someone streams your baseball game and you can give the Walton Family back their radio.

I've already unplugged everything except the fridge. Car radio is fine 20 feet outside my house, but I think most modern car radios filter RFI by default because alternators are so noisy.

I'm searching for a portable AM radio, I'm sure I have something in storage that I've forgotten about.

I'm also starting to think the RFI might be coming from one of the various medical marijuana grow houses in my neighborhood. Apparently the newer (cheap) electronic ballasts are sometimes extremely noisy. The loop antenna points directly to one house that I already assumed was a grow house. It's legal to grow here so it's not a police issue, I just need to be sure first before I approach them.

Still experimenting. :)

Sometimes day games are only on the radio, so I was just a little worried.

Arcing across a cracked insulator can cause that, or a problem in a pole-mounted transformer.

There are really hundreds of things it could be. Apparently it's even a difficult problem for radio pros.