Hello:
For the past few days I'm getting new interference on my home radios. The loud hum is evident on all my radios in the house. It seems centered around 55 and 65 KHZ on the AM dials. On my modern radios, it fades out as tune away from these frequencies.
On my old tube sets, it fades as I tune away from these frequencies, but doesn't completely fade away. It maintains a hum in the background, all across the dial, that can overpower distant radio stations. The noise goes away under a strong local station.
On my tube set that uses a long wire antenna, I've had to disconnect my usual long wire. The signal and noise with it connected are overwhelming. I'm using the radio now with a much shorter piece of wire, 3 or 4 feet long.
This new "noise" is also audible all across the dial on my LW band of my tube radio.
Shortwave bands are not effected.
I can hear the loud 'interference' on my small pocket radio while I'm in the house on 55 and 65 KHZ. If I walk to the backyard the noise goes completely away.
I have not installed or plugged in anything new.

Any ideas or advice on what this could be?

Thank-you for reply.

Try walking around the house, with the transistor set, and maybe even go outside. a neighbour may have added something new at their house.

It's about equal throughout the house. Outside, it decreases as I get farther from the house. It is stronger near the power meter on the side of the house.
This is new noise, just started a few days ago. I guess it has to do with the AC current in the house.
Is there a filter for this?

Thank-you.

Okay, did you get a new meter installed by your utililty? Did they replace any thing on a pole, a transformer maybe.

Nothing new that I know of.

Take a good look at the meter; power companies have been replacing meters with new, "smart" ones, often with no noticeable interruption to the household.

Another way to narrow it down is to simply turn off the main, and see if the interference stops, using a battery radio.

BTW, you said "55 and 65 MHZ on the AM dials." Not Megahertz on AM; Kilohertz...

You could also shut down circuit breakers one at a time to somewhat isolate problem, or unplug gadgets one at a time.

Have you plugged in any new gadget lately? Almost everything that plugs in nowdays has a switching-mode power supply-- cell-phone chargers, LED lamps, CCFL lamps, microwave ovens, cable boxes, cable modems, wireless routers, TV's computer monitors, laptop power supplies, PC's, coffee makers, coffee-grinders, night-lights, weed-whacker chargers, cordless drill chargers, fluorescent lights, yard lights, VCR's, Tivos, "My First Jeep" chargers, Jacussi-pumps, aquarium pumps, Jacussi-heaters, aquarium-heaters, touch-base lamps, light-dimmers, and probably many more.

Get a small handheld AM radio, tune it to around 550 Kc and walk around the house. You'll be amazed at the many sources of whines and screeches you'll find. The ones that you can only hear from 1 or two feet away you can probably ignore. Some you can just unplug. Others have to be tossed out. But the ones that give a strong and steady buzz you should do something about-- either replace them with quieter models or ... ?

Thank-you all for the replies.

For a temporary test: take an AC plug, the kind with screw terminals. Put insulation such as shrink tubing or insulation pulled off of line cord over the wire leads of an .01 mfd 630volt capacitor. Connect to the plug and be careful, try the plug in the outlet where you have the interfered radios. This will sometimes help. Should not leave it this way if it works: this was just a test. If it helps, you'd want to install X or Y type safety capacitors inside the radio. The JustRadios website has info on how to do this, wiring differs depending on whether radio is AC/DC or transformer-operated.

Thank-you.

How many neighbors do you have getting their power from the same pole-pig transformer? I have just one and he is about 400' away. One day I noticed some severe buzzing at the low end of the AM band and even stronger on the whole LW band. Even with my main breaker turned off, I still heard the buzz (although at a reduced level). As I walked toward his house with my transistor radio, the buzz got stronger and stronger. Fortunately, whatever he has that causes the buzz is only used occasionally.

Dave

Check where the ground rod for your electrical power is and put the hose on it at a trickle to soak the ground. Probably not the answer but can't hurt.

Sounds like what I have.
Could you hear it on SW bands? My SW bands are fine.

Thanks, I might give it a try.

An odd ball thing that might make interference the door bell transformer

I do have occasional buzzing interference on the SW bands but it is not from the same source. My loud buzz from neighbors only occupies the LW frequencies and BC frequencies up to about 700 kc. My SW interference is from a power company "tie wire" which is used to anchor their primary feed to an insulator on a pole located about 3 miles away. It will only register about an S-3 on most receivers I have but it is still annoying. Only happens during the day when the sun is out. I had one nearer my house that gave an S-9 when it happened. I called the power company on that one and showed them where the arc was occuring which could be seen with binoculars. Tie wires are supposed to be a non-insulated wire that wraps around the primary wire and fastens it to the insulator. But whoever installed them on my street used insulated wire which breaks down when exposed to the sun's UV light. They know all about the problem but don't have the resources to replace every one. So they only respond to interference complaints and are more than happy to correct the problem on individual poles.

Dave

Thanks Dave, that's me.

Thanks for the tip, but I don't have an electric door bell. I have an old mechanical door bell that looks like a knocker. It has a metal box on the inside of the door that contains the bells....ding-dong.