How I stopped RF getting into my ham radio shack
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- Опубліковано 8 сер 2023
- Over the last couple of years since increasing the output power from my ham radio at home i've had to up my game with fighting against the effects of RF getting into the house especially the radio room.
I did manage to get things under control about 12 months ago and then I didn't get around to using the HF radio much at home. During this time I messed about with power supplies and a few things.
Then recently when live streaming some HF I suddenly started to get issue with the PSU cutting out when operating at 100 watts or even less. This quick vide will show how I fixed that issue.
I'm a licensed amateur radio operator from the United Kingdom. My UA-cam channel features videos focusing on operating portable radio from various locations plus how to videos, tutorials, insights and conversations in the hobby.
Good advice Carl. I've been around too many years, to know I use shielded cable on just about everything around the house, even the wife's hair drier, and I have at least 20 ferrite chokes on either end of all rf lines, I also have a 50mm 3m long earth rod through the floor of the shack into the earth, and I always monitor my rf field meter in the shack when iam active. Rf is like mice in a barn, their get everywhere.
Being a good neighbour does not mean restricting what you want to do on your own property.
Good luck with everything Carl, maybe get my guitar out and we can jam over the net hi.
73.
XIEGU XPA125B IC-705 control cable ❗👍🏾
Carl, very interesting video, I found it very useful, as I also experienced rf in my home shack some time ago, and I used the same methods you did in your solution, and to date "knock on wood" the shack is rf free. Thank you for sharing your experiences, great job, look forward to your nest video.
Congrats, you figured it out! I notice something similar if I forget to put an RF choke on the antenna feedline before it reaches the nearest manual antenna switch. Switches and tuners must be similar, they let in common mode RF! 😁
Desk Top ! 👌🏾🤛🏾
Yep I saw un shielded and knew right away
That's is great info,
May I ask how you handle your earth grounding for the equipment?
My RF is also a nightmare, Nextdoor has solar and that could be the problem.
You might consider using a battery to power the SGC tuner, at the unit, to avoid the 12v wire. The tuner only uses 300 mA when it's tuning.
I’ve just noticed a problem with my SWR jumping all over the place. Recent video I saw, the guy had similar problem; fixed with a common mode choke. I’ll have to try the same. Someone on FB however, said it’s a known issue with the 991; poor grounding in the tuner side of the radio. Time and troubleshooting will tell !
Yes it’s a process of elimination
I am having a bit of trouble with RF from my PV Array or probably a mix of that and the inverter.Basically until the sun goes down the beam is almost useless.The only remedy i see for this is dig another big hole further away from the roof and move it as i wasn’t getting any issue when i was setting it up in the garden.
Other than lighting up my BT keyboard when i TX all is well in my shack.
Through my headphones, this video is mono (right channel only)?
Oh bugger, it must have rendered the audio from my desk mic that way, it was ok during editing 😞
I dan only see you as Sherlock with your trusty sidekick D0G trying to solve this. A good way of thinking tho Carl 'what has changed over the past year'... well done sir.
Thank you, Betsie the sleuth knew what did it!
if you put snap or ferrite on the end of the coaxial antennacable right below the plug on the antennacable where the cable goes into the antenna, that might fix the rfi problem. the resistance of the ferrites towards HF decreases the lower the QRG is, that means for lower QRGs there is more ferrites required. 80m for example needs about 12 snapp on ferrites for 10m like about 5 ferrites would be enough, the more ferrites the better. ground the antenna or at least connect the metal case of the radio by a short and thick copperwire to a blank spot on the radiator on the wall, that usualy helps too.
In this type of set up I would put a choke balun near the end of the coax and just before the tuner. You could also put the choke right at the base of the antenna. On reflection I think the second option would be better. Ferrites on both ends of the dc line may also help as would an RF choke on the DC line to the rig. Is your station grounded using a outside ground rod?
Well done Carl. Glad you got it sorted. When are you planning the next livestream?
Would also be good to get you involved in the "Mega-stream" when we do the next one. Currently thinking maybe September.
I'll send you an email nearer the time. Is your email on QRZ still good?
Perhaps consider using coax (another run) to supply the 12v to your remote tuner.
Now that’s a great idea, I’ve got some spare RG213 running the length
Hi Carl.
Problems such as the one you had can be very frustrating, especially if you know you had a good working system in the past. But it is all part of the “fun” of amateur radio. You came, you figured, and you Conquered the problem.
Any resonant length of wire/ cable is going to act like an antenna on that resonant band. My guess is that you had the problem on different HF bands. And YES, a non shielded cable so close to a coax will pickup RF and cause problems if it is not choked off. Are both the coax and the ATU power supply cable buried ?
Are they rated for direct burial if so? Water can and will get into coax over time, and will degrade the system while all the while, everything checks out fine. That’s why I always recommend the best coax you can afford.
Was it Passive Coupling between your coax and the ATU? I’d say it definitely was. Now how was the RF being coupled? Between the coax and the ATU power line, or through the ATU itself? The only way to tell is remove the chokes you installed, disconnect power at the ATU itself and se if the problem comes back. If so, the coupling is between the two cables, if not, the RF is most likely getting in past the ATU itself...
Now after that long “Bag O Wind explanation, glad to hear you got everything working in proper order.
I beleave you had common mode running in your shack. The 12v running outside needed to be isolated and having a separate power supply does that. I am thinking your common mode choke needs tuning to get you a minimum of -40db to keep the common mode down lower. Also you might want lighting protection on your 12v line if you have thunderstorm’s that would help.
Hey carl you look far to dry and warm for this to be one of your videos🤣🤣i solved my nasties by using 12turns of my ultraflex7 on a 4"pipe for the vertical and a couple of bigggg snap on ferrites and a 1:1 inline choke for the efhw n fingers crossed its been fine.73 mate n look forward to seeing you out in the rain again soon 😂
Ha yes I should have sat in the back garden ⛈️
Is it just me or is the audio very quiet in this video? Great interesting video though Carl de M0CJM
It’s the audio, it didn’t render properly as I used my desk mic but didn’t do enough post processing, apologies
Hi mate . I had RF problems in my mobile when my IC7000 HF would turn off or do weird things to the FT400 sitting switched on, but idling next to it. Solved by ferrites on the coax run, the separation cables and the power leads. Useful things those ferrites. PS vid sound is definitely in mono - but 5/9 nevertheless!
Yes cheers, I’m going to review my editing process for home videos as the desk mic is better sound but I need to render the video differently
@@M0SZT 👍
Carl, what cable are you using between Sun and XPA125B?
I think I got it from here sunsdr.eu/product/ptt-cable-sunsdr2-pro-qrp-xpa125b/
My mentor says life is too short for qrp.
You can always make your own mind up though 🤷♂️