caf@omen.UUCP (Chuck Forsberg WA7KGX) (05/26/89)
Recently the local phone company (US West) replaced two junction/arrestor boxes and three cable drops to my houseboat with a single multi-pair cable and a 5 or 6 pair junction box. This rewiring is the result of a month's complaining about static on one of the lines. The lineman swore he'd replace the junction box with a style that allows for isolating the internal wiring UNTIL he discovered a loose connection in a telco distribution box. With the new junction box, connecting the box's ground to a "ground line" running along the boardwalk induces an annoying hum on one and one of the three lines - the other two are not affected. The lineman that responded to the hum complaint is convinced my computers are causing the problem. Nevermind that the two lines that *do* have computers (modems/fax) on them are NOT affected! The voice line has three regular phones and one feature phone on it. Obviously a fault in my wiring or the feature phone could cause a hum, but an MSEE and 25 years electronics experience doesn't give me any idea how my wiring or equipment would cause a hum that depends on the grounding of the phone company's arrestor block. Faced with a choice between an aggravating hum and leaving the ground off, I told the lineman to get rid of the hum. Obviously there is something wrong with the arresting block or the juction box wiring, but there doesn't seem any way to convince US West of that. Meanwhile what little protection was afforded by the ground wire (which appears to be connected to the power line neutral) is gone. Between US West and me, one of us has been smoking bad dope. Has anyone run into something similar?