About the Author
Ken was first licensed in 1975 after becoming interested in radio as an SWL since 1966. Since then his interests swing back and forth between amateur radio and SWLing (he reports he's currently on a swing back towards amateur radio).

Ken's current interests are longwave and mediumwave broadcast DXing, HF and VHF contesting, and designing and building antennas. Some of them have worked.

"I became interested in RF noise after coming to the realization that I can usually receive more noise than signals at my current QTH! Shortly after, I decided that a collection of audio recordings of RF noises might be a useful resource. I'm not an expert on RFI. At the moment I'm more of a librarian."

Ken has worked as an energy management specialist for a consulting engineering firm in Toronto, Ontario for the past 18 years.

About the RF Noise Website
I created this website to assist hams and SWLs in identifying annoying noises (QRN) that interfere with reception. It's not always easy to identify where QRN is coming from, and it's even harder to describe it to someone else if you're looking for their help! The RF Noise Website is here to help you identify QRN by comparing it to audio samples of noise from known sources...a kind of "audio fingerprinting".

The samples provided are just a beginning. It's my hope that users will also contribute their own QRN soundbites, either noises that you have positively identified, or those from unknown sources that will be posted in a special area for unidentified (unid) QRN. That way, other users can listen and possibly identify it and solve the mystery for all of us. In this way, everyone can learn to identify - and hopefully eliminate - the noises that ruin our listening!


A Word About The Files
What happens when you click on the links will depend on how your computer is configured. If you have an audio player like WinAmp set up as your default MP3 file player then clicking on a link will likely start WinAmp and play the file with no further action on your part. If you don't have a player configured then your system will likely start downloading the MP3 file and ask you where you'd like to save it.

If you have a player configured and you'd like to download the file instead of playing it online then you should be able to do so by right-clicking on the link, then click on Save Target As, and specify where you'd like to save the file. Feel free to download any of the files that interest you.

You can also click on the View Waveform button to see what the noise might look like if you could view it on an oscilloscope. The waveform views are 0.1 seconds wide, which is sufficient magnification to see what's going on. For example, noises that are based on 60 Hz line voltage will have 6 pulses in a 0.1 second window (60 Hz / 10 = 6), or six repetitions of a recognizable pattern in the case of the Sony TV waveform.