IEEE 1897-2024

This recommended practice describes a procedure that electric utility companies and others may use to respond to reports of interference to radio and/or television reception. It describes procedures to determine if a reported noise is harmful interference to a licensed radio service. It describes modern noise-locating techniques and equipment and protocols that use time-domain noise signatures to investigate and identify radio noise in the field.

This recommended practice is intended to help all parties involved in interference reports to understand the best practices used to assess, identify and repair interference problems and have reasonable expectations about the role and responsibilities of each party. It describes ways that utility staff can interact with a complainant to obtain information that will aid the troubleshooting process and it outlines reasonable timelines that will help everyone involved have reasonable expectations about the process and time it can take to respond to, identify, troubleshoot and repair a noise source. The techniques allow a utility to identify which noise sources are actually associated with the reported interference, minimizing troubleshooting and repair costs. The recommended practice also allows a utility to determine when reported interference is being caused by a source other than electric-utility equipment.

New IEEE Standard - Active. Procedures are described in this recommended practice that may be used by electric utility companies and others to address complaints of interference caused by power line gap noise to radio, television, and other types of wireless communications. A discussion is included on how to determine if a noise may be considered as harmful interference under the FCC rules. Modern noise-locating techniques, equipment, and protocols are also described, including the use of time-domain noise signatures (sometimes referred to as signature analysis) to investigate and identify radio noise in the field, allowing unassociated interference to be ignored unless it needs to be repaired for some other reason (e.g., safety concerns). These techniques enable the identification of which noise source or sources are associated with the reported interference, thus minimizing troubleshooting and repair costs. Troubleshooting and repair recommendations are also included for once all the sources have been identified. Ways to determine and find interference when it is being caused by a source other than electric-utility equipment, such as an electronic consumer device, are also described in this recommended practice. The methods and techniques contained herein have been validated by decades of usage with positive results by a wide range of users, including but not limited to utilities, professional interference investigators, radio engineers, and even the home hobbyist.