{"id":66730,"date":"2026-08-04T06:38:51","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T10:38:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=66730"},"modified":"2026-08-04T06:38:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T10:38:51","slug":"a-swimming-pool-rfi-and-a-lightning-strike-my-swling-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2026\/08\/a-swimming-pool-rfi-and-a-lightning-strike-my-swling-story\/","title":{"rendered":"A swimming pool, RFI and a lightning strike: My SWLing Story"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Troy-Pool-1.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-66729\" src=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Troy-Pool-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Troy-Pool-1.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Troy-Pool-1-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Troy-Pool-1-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Troy-Pool-1-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Troy-Pool-1-624x832.jpeg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a>by Troy Riedel<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>New readers will not recognize my name.<\/p>\n<p>Longtime readers may not recognize my name, but chances are you may remember my story.<\/p>\n<p>I once <a href=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/author\/troy\/\">contributed posts to this Blog<\/a> \u2026 until \u2026 <i>\u2018the swimming pool\u2019<\/i>. During COVID, my wife decided she wanted an in-ground swimming pool. The construction started in May 2020 and was completed in May 2022 (note: my pool contractor is now out of business; he ruined another company\u2019s business as a \u2018partner\u2019, has many lawsuits filed against him, and I know he\u2019s served time in jail under work release \u2013 all subsequent to our project).<\/p>\n<p>No exaggeration.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re interested in reading the entire story of my problem, I\u2019ll refer you to my last two posts here:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2021\/11\/off-the-shortwaves-unhappy-despondent\/\">https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2021\/11\/off-the-shortwaves-unhappy-despondent\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/the-conclusion-to-off-the-shortwaves-unhappy-despondent\/\">https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/the-conclusion-to-off-the-shortwaves-unhappy-despondent\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For those who don\u2019t have time to catch up, here\u2019s an overview:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Troy-Pool-3.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-66727\" src=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Troy-Pool-3.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Troy-Pool-3.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Troy-Pool-3-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Troy-Pool-3-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Troy-Pool-3-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Troy-Pool-3-624x832.jpeg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a>Late in the pool construction after the bonding was installed and the concrete deck was poured, I turned on my collection of portable shortwave radios, and I experienced the worst, most horrendous EMI\/RFI imaginable. Nothing \u2013 and I mean <i>nothing<\/i> \u2013 on the shortwaves was intelligible. 100% uninterrupted static.<\/p>\n<p>The <i>SWLing Post Nation<\/i> was great. I must have had three dozen? \u2026 four dozen? \u2026 people comment and offer advice (both on and off the Blog). And I received very detailed opinions, suggestions, and analyses via my personal email. Unfortunately, nothing mitigated my problem. My actions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I hired an independent electrician at an hourly rate to check the pool &amp; the entire house \u2013 he could not find the problem.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>I called the power company (Dominion). To Dominion\u2019s credit, they dispatched an expert and a ladder truck, but they confirmed the source was not from the main power line nor from their transformers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So approximately 5-years ago, I was forced to abandon the SWLing hobby. Early on, I\u2019d turn on my radios every two months to see if my issue abated. After a while, I checked quarterly. Then semi-annually. In the last year or two, I\u2019ve turned on my radios every winter to check and every time, I still had the horrendous and almost incomprehensible EMI\/RFI issue rendering my SW radios as paperweights.<\/p>\n<p>Fast forward to recent history.<\/p>\n<p>In late June 2026, my house suffered a direct lightning strike. The bolt struck the metal chimney cap. My wife &amp; I were sitting in the room with the fireplace and the entire room glowed! There was no fire, but I had a hole in the siding. One of my six security cameras was blown off the side of the house. Flames literally shot out of one electrical outlet on the opposite side of my house. In total, I suffered over $13,900 in damage (thank you, Allstate Insurance).<\/p>\n<p>The pool suffered two damaged items: an outdoor ground fault outlet and the pool light were both fried (the light and the connected transformer for the light both connect to the ground fault circuit outlet).<\/p>\n<p>One of the SWLing Nation friends that I made five years ago is Ken English. Every so often he\u2019ll send me a text message, and we\u2019ll have a friendly chat. Last Saturday Night, he reached out and we text chatted. During the chat I mentioned the lightning strike. He replied, \u2018Did it [the lightning strike] change your interference problem?\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Hmm, great question. Did it? How could it? But wait, maybe somehow it did!<\/p>\n<p>I turned on my radios and guess what? <b>The interference is gone! <\/b>And I now know the source of this five-year problem that knocked me off the shortwaves. The pool light!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Troy-Pool-2.jpeg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-66728\" src=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Troy-Pool-2.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"1600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Troy-Pool-2.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Troy-Pool-2-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Troy-Pool-2-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Troy-Pool-2-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Troy-Pool-2-624x832.jpeg 624w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a>The pool light is underwater. The power cord to the light runs underground for 80-feet where it connects to the transformer, which is on the \u2018outdoor power panel\u2019 that runs the pool electronics and equipment. I had a professional replace the light and transformer which required snaking 80\u2019 of power cord out and replacing it with a new 80\u2019 power line.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m not an electrician. I can\u2019t explain the dynamics behind it. But a direct lightning strike that caused over $13,900 of damage has me back on the shortwaves!<\/p>\n<p>Thank you, lightning. And thank you, Ken, because without your Saturday Night text, I would not have discovered that my 5-year problem was mitigated until \u2013 probably \u2013 some cold, cloudy December night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Troy Riedel New readers will not recognize my name. Longtime readers may not recognize my name, but chances are you may remember my story. I once contributed posts to this Blog \u2026 until \u2026 \u2018the swimming pool\u2019. During COVID, my wife decided she wanted an in-ground swimming pool. The construction started in May 2020 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3194,3,196,43],"tags":[4089,453,4082,4581],"class_list":["post-66730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-posts","category-news","category-qrm","category-shortwave-radio","tag-qrm","tag-rfi","tag-shortwave-radio","tag-troy-riedel"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-hmi","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":50908,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2021\/11\/off-the-shortwaves-unhappy-despondent\/","url_meta":{"origin":66730,"position":0},"title":"Off the Shortwaves: Unhappy &#038; Despondent","author":"Troy Riedel","date":"November 17, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Guest Post by Troy Riedel Every radio enthusiast or ham\u00a0operator\u00a0knows this definition - something we all dread.\u00a0\u00a0Electromagnetic interference \u2013\u00a0also known as\u00a0radio-frequency interference\u00a0when in the radio frequency spectrum -\u00a0is a disturbance generated by an external source that affects an electrical circuit by electromagnetic induction, electrostatic coupling, or conduction (Source: Wikipedia). I\u2019ve\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/65680061147__0D5E8500-6ACD-4398-BC60-66CC1A4ECED3-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":29615,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/12\/c-cranes-latest-deal-free-shipping-on-the-cc-pocket-radio\/","url_meta":{"origin":66730,"position":1},"title":"C. Crane&#8217;s latest deal: Free Shipping on the CC Pocket Radio","author":"Troy Riedel","date":"December 12, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Though not a shortwave radio (the SWLing Post loves ALL radios!), C. Crane's latest special involves free Priority Mail shipping to U.S. customers for their CC Pocket Radio.\u00a0 Just use the Promo Code: CCPKTSHIP.\u00a0 This special ends at midnight PST on 17 December.\u00a0 The CC Pocket Radio comes standard with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;AM&quot;","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/CCPocket-300x273.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22254,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/review-of-the-doxytronics-8020ca-magnetic-loop-antenna\/","url_meta":{"origin":66730,"position":2},"title":"Review of the DoxyTronics 8020CA magnetic loop antenna","author":"Thomas","date":"November 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riedel, who shares the following guest post: Review: DoxyTronics Portable HF Magnetic Loop 8020CA -by Troy Riedel Before I purchased the DoxyTronics 8020CA antenna, I emailed the owner\/manufacturer and asked if he felt this antenna would be a good choice with the radios\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antennas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antennas","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/antennas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"8020ca-assembled-1","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/8020CA-Assembled-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/8020CA-Assembled-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/8020CA-Assembled-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":51636,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2022\/01\/the-conclusion-to-off-the-shortwaves-unhappy-despondent\/","url_meta":{"origin":66730,"position":3},"title":"The conclusion to &#8220;Off the Shortwaves: Unhappy &#038; Despondent&#8221;","author":"Troy Riedel","date":"January 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"From SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riedel: I\u2019d like to thank the SWLing Post Nation for their input re: my EMI\/RFI issue (see: this previous post). It\u2019s been a long 4-months and I\u2019d like to share the results and outcome of my situation. I will pick up where the last post\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_7156.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_7156.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_7156.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_7156.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_7156.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":29568,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/12\/update-xhdata-d-808-shortwave-radio-goes-live\/","url_meta":{"origin":66730,"position":4},"title":"Update: XHDATA D-808 shortwave radio goes live","author":"Troy Riedel","date":"December 9, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Overnight I received the following email: This is Sylvia from global radio store in Aliexpress platform, I want to inform you that XHDATA D-808 radio will start to selling at American time 2017\/12\/09 13:00. The sale price is $69.98[...] I'm sure we'd all like to hear from anyone who takes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;New Products&quot;","block_context":{"text":"New Products","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/new-products\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/XHdata-D808.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":37397,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2019\/05\/people-are-no-longer-dependent-on-radio-really\/","url_meta":{"origin":66730,"position":5},"title":"People Are No Longer Dependent On Radio (really?!)","author":"Troy Riedel","date":"May 13, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Credit: St. Louis Public Radio via RadioINK.com As the regular readers know, this site is not purely and entirely shortwave radio-centric \u2026 we enjoy all radio. I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve mentioned this web site before, but I recently ran across this article on RadioINK: People are no longer dependent on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Articles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/articles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/The-Gateway.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66730"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66731,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66730\/revisions\/66731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}