where can I borrow a sound level meter?
loria...@earthlink.net
I left messages at the physics dept. of Clark College and Washington State
University in Vancouver where I live but I thought I'd ask here if anybody
has any connections they can think of.
It's a simple experiment. I want to measure the decibels of sound coming
from my stereo from various points around my yard outside my mobile home to
define how loud "loud" is legally and to compare it to how loud other
neighbors' noise is and prove that I am not violating the nuisance law.
Maybe even measure the decibels of sound of the park manager's voice and
bust her for violating the nuisance law!
What is happening is that the park owner is harassing those of us with older
mobile homes in the hopes of replacing us with newer mobile homes to raise
the value of the park. They have given me 5 15-day eviction notices for
bogus stereo music when my music was not audible to the neighbor directly
across from me. None of the other neighbors in my periphery were home at the
time (noon, by the way), two homes on either side of me are vacant and the
only other home, right behind me, is occupied by a woman who is deaf. The
park managers have a long history of tyranny against a lot of outraged
tenants here but I have tried to just work hard and stay out of their way. I
have lived here quietly, paying my rent on time, minding my own business,
and I do not want to lose my home, whch I own, because of their corruption.
I need a good lawyer but all I have is my own ingenuity at the moment....
I think defining legally what loud is via a sound level meter and then
offering a comparison of the decibels of familiar sounds to a judge would
help. And it would be funny.
Where can I get a sound level meter or someone to come out and maybe do an
off campus experiment?
hea...@aracnet.com
> In my town the law states no louder than 70db at your property line
> after 10pm Sun-Thurs, midnite on Fri and Sat., that applies till 7am
> iirc and the "day time noise" must not exceed 80db at your property
> line but if the sound exceeds 70db during the day and is deemed to
> be "offensive" (maybe such as loud cursing, screaming, etc) then
> you may get a warning or cited (assuming someone complained).
> So for all practical purposes it is best to use the 70db level just
> to be safe and fully compliant with niose level laws.
Ouch! I'd hate to see how loud a Stereo needs to be turned up to hit 70db
at the property line! When my allergies are kicking in, I'm hard of
hearing, and that's louder than I normally have it. For that matter, if I
remember correctly, according to the US Navy an 80db environment requires
hearing protection!
> >Where can I get a sound level meter or someone to come out and maybe do an
> >off campus experiment?
> I do not know where to borrow one but Radio Shack used to sell them.
Radio Shack was selling them less than 5 years ago. Just about any place
that sells surround sound systems can probably suggest where you can buy
them if they don't sell them themselves. They're pretty cheap, and a
requirement to properly setup a surround sound system.
Zane
loria...@earthlink.net
"badbri" <horu...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:l8gkmv8biueer44r6...@4ax.com...
> On Thu, 18 Sep 2003 14:05:25 -0700, <loria...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> >Where can I borrow a sound level meter? Obviously a college or
University.
> >I left messages at the physics dept. of Clark College and Washington
State
> >University in Vancouver where I live but I thought I'd ask here if
anybody
> >has any connections they can think of.
> >
> >It's a simple experiment. I want to measure the decibels of sound coming
> >from my stereo from various points around my yard outside my mobile home
to
> >define how loud "loud" is legally and to compare it to how loud other
> >neighbors' noise is and prove that I am not violating the nuisance law.
> >Maybe even measure the decibels of sound of the park manager's voice and
> >bust her for violating the nuisance law!
> >
> >What is happening is that the park owner is harassing those of us with
older
> >mobile homes in the hopes of replacing us with newer mobile homes to
raise
> >the value of the park. They have given me 5 15-day eviction notices for
> >bogus stereo music when my music was not audible to the neighbor directly
> >across from me.
>
>
> > None of the other neighbors in my periphery were home at the
> >time (noon, by the way), two homes on either side of me are vacant and
the
> >only other home, right behind me, is occupied by a woman who is deaf.
The
> of the judge) "which tenant complained of my supposedly loud music ?"
>
> >park managers have a long history of tyranny against a lot of outraged
> >tenants here but I have tried to just work hard and stay out of their
way. I
> >have lived here quietly, paying my rent on time, minding my own business,
> >and I do not want to lose my home, whch I own, because of their
corruption.
> >I need a good lawyer but all I have is my own ingenuity at the moment....
> >
> >I think defining legally what loud is via a sound level meter and then
> >offering a comparison of the decibels of familiar sounds to a judge would
> >help. And it would be funny.
>
> the landlord ever give you a verbal warning about the music anytime
> before the eviction notice.
>
> You should also have at least two witnesses while you gather your
> sound level data, just to be sure that your data is properly obtained
> and accurately recorded. They would not neccesarily have to appear
> in court with you but should sign statements about their part in the
> data gathering and also their observations. A judge will probably
> not take your word alone as proof that your sound level is lawful.
> It may be tough to prove that the days you supposedly violated
> any noise laws, your stereo volume was less than legal maximum,
> even doing the sound level test cannot accurately show how loud
> you were on the specific days the landlord is complaining about.
> Another problem is that landlords count heavy on eviction, I have
> witnessed cases where the tenant was fully complying with their
> rental contract and yet the judge still ordered an eviction because
> the landlord "just wanted them out". To your landlord it may be
> more of an interpretation of "offensively loud" and not illegally loud.
>
> In my town the law states no louder than 70db at your property line
> after 10pm Sun-Thurs, midnite on Fri and Sat., that applies till 7am
> iirc and the "day time noise" must not exceed 80db at your property
> line but if the sound exceeds 70db during the day and is deemed to
> be "offensive" (maybe such as loud cursing, screaming, etc) then
> you may get a warning or cited (assuming someone complained).
> So for all practical purposes it is best to use the 70db level just
> to be safe and fully compliant with niose level laws.
> >
an
> >off campus experiment?
> >
>
>
Thank you so much for taking me seriously and for all the useful
information. None of the complaints are legitimate. Only the first one was
at night. Three were completely bogus as no music was on at all. One was
the tv on with the door closed at 8:30 pm and the manager sneaked up on my
porch to curse at my minor son and his friends (but the police didn't care
about the manager's trespassing or harassment at all, I, of course, would
have been arrested if I did that to them!) and (woe, is me) the final notice
involved my teenager son playing for some godawful reason a booming bass
song for a few minutes at noon as the managers strolled by on their daily
surveillance of my home and of course by the time they slapped the 15-day
eviction notice on my door for that music violation the 3 minute song was
over but there went my whole case. It's not our music, it's the corrupt
management that is the problem. And it is not just us that is being
harassed. I just am not sure how else to fight this. The state Office of
Manufactured Housing is ignoring us. The free lawyer people's voice mail
box is full whenever I call. I'm a tired, stressed out, single mother
working and going to college and I don't want to lose the mobile home I
worked so hard for when I did nothing wrong. My stereo doesn't even go that
loud. The black couple that lived here less than a week before being
evicted for their bogus music violation, their "stereo" was a clock radio!
And they got approved to live here, moved in, then were told that they had
an eviction on their record. It was a lie. They said they plan to sue and
I gave them the number for the Human Rights Commission. I feel like I'm in
a bad dream. But there are so many angry, hurt, scared tenants here besides
me. This has been building up for years. I'm a fighter, I'll find a way.
Thank you.
loria...@earthlink.net
<hea...@aracnet.com> wrote in message
news:bkdsc...@enews4.newsguy.com...
> badbri <horu...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > In my town the law states no louder than 70db at your property line
> > after 10pm Sun-Thurs, midnite on Fri and Sat., that applies till 7am
> > iirc and the "day time noise" must not exceed 80db at your property
> > line but if the sound exceeds 70db during the day and is deemed to
> > be "offensive" (maybe such as loud cursing, screaming, etc) then
> > you may get a warning or cited (assuming someone complained).
> > So for all practical purposes it is best to use the 70db level just
> > to be safe and fully compliant with niose level laws.
>
> Ouch! I'd hate to see how loud a Stereo needs to be turned up to hit 70db
> at the property line! When my allergies are kicking in, I'm hard of
> hearing, and that's louder than I normally have it. For that matter, if I
> remember correctly, according to the US Navy an 80db environment requires
> hearing protection!
Nah, I just took physics. According to my book normal conversation (at
about 1 meter) is 65 decibels. Inside a car in city traffic is about 80
decibels. A car without a muffler is 100 decibels. A live rock concert is
120 decibels and the threshold of pain is 130 decibels.
>
> > >Where can I get a sound level meter or someone to come out and maybe do
an
> > >off campus experiment?
>
> > I do not know where to borrow one but Radio Shack used to sell them.
>
> Radio Shack was selling them less than 5 years ago. Just about any place
> that sells surround sound systems can probably suggest where you can buy
> them if they don't sell them themselves. They're pretty cheap, and a
> requirement to properly setup a surround sound system.
Now I want to go buy one. This could be fun anyway. Teach my son some
interesting physics lessons. Such as if you increase the intensity by a
merel factor of 10 it doubles the loudness. Which is why a 200-watt audio
system maxed out is only about double the loudness of a 20-watt system maxed
out.
Tom
I also answered your email, but you did not reply.
none
posted in white.trash.clark.county
<loria...@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:IOWdncarZYu...@comcast.com...
loria...@earthlink.net
> On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 04:04:41 -0700, <loria...@earthlink.net> wrote:
>
> >
> snipped
> the evicted couple to be witnesses for you, it would help their
> situation too if they do decide to sue. Have you tried to find
> who owns the park ? Maybe the owner does not know about
> the methods used by management (if they are not the owners).
> It really sounds like civil rights stuff if your being honest about
> everything, very tough to prove in an eviction civil court.
Things are looking up! The Washington State Office of Manufactured Housing
(1-800-964-0852) Ombudsman's supervisor called me and spent two hours
talking to me and going over my case in detail and at length as it is
complicated and she wants me to represent the park tenants in a resident's
association that she wants us to form and it is her job, assigned by the
legislature and in the statutes, to provide us technical assistance to do
that so that we can unite to empower and educate ourselves as mobile home
owners renting space in a park, improve the livability here and even take
advantage of state program to buy the park from the owner and hire our own
managers. First I have to get my own situation taken care of but I feel a
lot better after talking with her at length and also talking with a free
landlord/tenant lawyer from Northwest Justice Projects at 1-888-201-1014.
She referred me to the Fair Housing Center1-888-766-8800 and the Human
Rights Commission 1-800-233-3247 and of course, the ACLU at 1-206-624-2180,
of which, I am, in fact, a card-carrying member! LOL.
I have been busy. And I am so sick. My son went back to school and brought
home the plague. We are all achy and feverish. But my mood is high and I
hope others might benefit from the referrals I just gave, we have some
Washington readers with civil legal troubles.
Also, to answer your question, yes I have contacted the owner and she knows
about the park managers behavior. She is about to be deluged with
complaints. I kind of feel sorry for her. She inherited this place last
year after her parents died in a plane crash (that's what we were told
anyway) so for all we know she may not even want the hassle of owning this
place. Especially since the tenants are so angry that almost half have
their homes up for sale, and in this poor economy that is a red flag that
something is amiss. Also, it is rumored that there are some code violations
regarding the utilities here that are going to be expensive for her to deal
with so she may very well welcome our idea of tenant community purchase of
the property using government programs to do it. As for proving my case in
civil eviction court, I am hoping it won't come to that. So far the
eviction notices I have received from them are just the routine harassment I
get from them every year only more of them. Rather than type a note to me
to tell me they think my lawn is an inch too tall or the pile of wood behind
the trees left over from the remodeling we just did that we intend to
dispose of on free clean up day that they just notified us of, they instead
post a 15-day eviction notice on my door and mail a copy to me regarding
this. I kid you not. Or, they could have called me and left a message
about it like normal people.
As far as proving that they are racist, that should be a cake walk. All the
brown people get harassed out of here or lied about during the application
process or the manager blatantly, in front of five witnesses, say things
like, "If you don't have your fucking ass out of here in 3 days I'm gonna
have your Mexican ass hauled outta here by the police" to my friend who they
think is Mexican but he's just really tan. He also has committed no crime
nor broken any rules to deserve their wrath and it is a very good thing that
I was asleep when that incident happened as I would have wound up losing my
temper probably. Like I said, this is a very big deal. I am a nice person,
this is actually a nice mobile home community. It is clean and quiet. But
the slow simmer is boiling over and I am blowing the lid before it explodes
all over the lovely lawn.
loria...@earthlink.net
"Tom" <t...@nosleep.net> wrote in message news:3f6b446e$1...@nntp0.pdx.net...
> don't they have one you can sign out from school overnight sometime?
I never did hear back from either school and I haven't hooked up with either
of the two private parties that have offered me use of their sound level
meters yet. I hope to today or tomorrow. I have been really busy on the
phone with lawyers and government agencies and taking calls from other
tenants documenting grievances they have with the park managers. So far I
haven't met anyone who DOESN'T have an angry horror story to tell.
But my geek side is still dying to know about the sound and distance
calculations. I went outside last night and stood around the perimeter of
my yard with the tv on at normal level to see if I could hear it and of
course I could not. It is so nice to be able to look up at the night sky,
unlike when I lived downtown Portland and could not see the stars for the
city glare.
> I also answered your email, but you did not reply.
I did reply, Friday at 3 am. It's in my sent folder to your dsl email addy.
But I replied using my lor...@spiritone.com email address. I don't mean to
be so complicated, I just am. ;-)
loria...@earthlink.net
retort.
Lorian
"badbri" <horu...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:7b7nmvkhccc8a37lm...@4ax.com...
> On Fri, 19 Sep 2003 20:12:24 GMT, "none" <no...@spam.com> wrote:
>
> >I am confused as to how this relates to computing in PDX. This should be
> >posted in white.trash.clark.county
>
> Maybe because db meters are electronic devices even
> though not directly computer related. Or maybe she
> figured there were some intelligent readers in this group.
> You MUST be speaking from experience and subscribe
> to a very unique news service unless it's standard down
> there in the Eugene area to have groups with White.
> as a prefix.
Kevin
> It's a simple experiment. I want to measure the decibels of sound coming
> from my stereo from various points around my yard outside my mobile home to
> define how loud "loud" is legally
Other things you should do are to
- get a copy of the sound ordinances for your locality
- determine the decibels of sound at your inside listening
location when the outside location (typically the property
line) is at the maximum allowable volume. This will let you
figure out when you're too loud (which typically depends on the
time of day) without needing to go back outside and measure.
A friend of mine did both of the above. Then when the Hillsboro
police dropped by one night, he got to quote the regulation
number and text to them, and explain that he was within the legal
limits for the time, which was about 9PM on a Saturday. He tells
me that he got to watch the officer's veins bulge in his neck with
frustration before he left without having any grounds to pursue
the matter further.
G'luck....
--
Unless otherwise noted, the statements herein reflect my personal
opinions and not those of any organization with which I may be affiliated.
Scott
advice. The Oregon State Bar Association offers a referal service to
attornies that will charge $35 or less for an initial consultantion. If
you meet their "modest means" test, they will charge $60/hr or less
thereafter. For $35, you could certainly find out what your rights and
options are. See the OSBA web page at
http://www.osbar.org/public/ris/ris.html#referral
