Wireless card making crackling/static noise during activity

Hi guys, I've recently run into a strange problem on my Sony Vaio VGN-SZ430N (running Windows XP). It has been making a consistent crackling/static noise and I think I've FINALLY narrowed it down: my wireless card.

Of course, since the problem was sound related, I first assumed it was my sound card, but it continued to make the noise consistently even with the sound muted. Next, I thought it was my hard drive because it seemed to be happening when I was actually doing something on the laptop (if I let it just idle, it doesn't make any sounds), but I ruled this out because there were no noises when I was watching (large) video files or playing games. Finally, I was running Spybot S&D and I noticed that when I was updating the definitions, the noise was 100% consistent with the download bar - when the bar would move (i.e. it was downloading), it would make the sound, and when the bar would stop, there was no sound.

I confirmed this when I went to speedtest.net and the noise picked up in intensity as it was testing my bandwidth. Likewise, on streaming sites like youtube.com, the noise would pick up when it was loading the video.

So I'm pretty sure it's my wireless card.. but I have no absolutely no idea what I can do to fix it.. anyone?

 

I do not have a bulilt in card and pay the maintenance on my express card so when It got hot enough to cook an egg on and lost the signal every few minutes I just had Verizon trade it out.