WE are killing the amateur radio bands, and here is how to fix it (RFI)
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- čas přidán 21. 08. 2024
- For most of us, RFI is around us all the time. It unavoidable in our technology driving lives. However, it’s often our simple appliances that put out the most RFI. Without woring to trackle it, your experience on the ham amateur radio bands will be frustrating.
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"We traced the source of the RFI...It is coming from within the house! Within the house!" -70's horror film quote
When I am operating from my apartment, surrounded by 200+ other apartments, the bands are almost always dead. When I drive ten minutes away to a nature preserve, I'm amazed at how the bands have opened!
I can totally relate!
You have made the best comment of all! You can run around your house fixing tiny rfi issues. What about the apartments around you, street electrical wiring and so on. Get out in nature with a field station and really enjoy the best of Amateur radio!
@@fiatunonewsletter6782 POTA!!! (Parks On The Air)
@@slidewaze Yes! And the nice interaction withe other campers, non Hams, interested... opportunity to show off our awesome hobby!
Totally relate. 4th floor apartment
Over the past year I have discovered several RFI offending appliances by clicking through the breaker panel. Some of the most significant RFI producers have been a Genie garage door opener (even while idle), Ryobi power tool battery charger, power supply to an HP All In One Officejet printer, controller on a string of LED party lights and of course a wireless IP router. Ferrite rings and clam shells help reduce RFI some but my best solution is to keep the items unplugged while using the radio. I was actually successful in getting HP and Genie to replace the offending products. The filing of an FCC complaint of radio interference carries some weight with manufacturers.
I know this is an old post, but thank you! Very helpful!
73,
John - KK7JBZ
What's destroying the ham bands, at least the CW portions - is FT8. Bring on the hate comments and dislikes. lol. This past fall we had a power outtage in my area.. and I'm not in a city.. I'm in a semi- rural area. Farms and such. I fired up my rig using a battery and was SHOCKED. Dead silence. S-0 on every band. Even when I kill the power to our house this doesn't happen. The neighbors cause a LOT of RFI. Also, check out Amidon Associates as well for ferrites, etc. Cool vid. Thanks!
For my next project. Discovering a hidden second use for my LG refrigerator. An emergency CW transmitter.
Faraday cage! Or maybe an Indiana Jones bunker for the rugrats! LOL
Jeez, yeah. Might as well be a spark gap transmitter, lol.
Using a lawn chair as an antenna, of course.
@radiosouthnorth911 WTF are you even trying to say? Do you have any idea how difficult this is to read? Who learned you?
Really BadAim spark gap, no doubt.
An absolutely excellent video. I started ham radio in 1957 K1IBY in Farmingdale Maine. I am now ZL1CLG in Auckland NZ. In those early days, when I tuned around the bands, when nobody was talking, it was absolutely quiet. You could hear the most teensy-weensy signals.
Thanks for advice. Simply unplugging my brother's defibrillator when he wasn't looking and the noise was gone. Just kidding.
LOL! Did he complain for very long?
Hopefully it stopped him whining about you stealing his coax too
You need to continue that ground through to the load side cord on that line filter. It's a safety feature meant to ensure someone doesn't die if the metal parts of the dryer become energized because something live on the inside shorts to the chassis...
I had just awful, splattery nonsense all over most of the HF bands.... I'm talking like +10dB at points. So I shut my entire house down and turned things on one at a time. It turned out to be the LED lightbulb in the fixture over my kitchen sink. Replaced it with a higher quality bulb, and now everything is nice and quiet.
great video. Just keep the dryer UNpluged until you use it. Saves electricity too. Do the same with the washer, toaster, coffee pot, fans, etc. Wrapping some AC cords can cause heat and fire.
Don’t worry all, both sides of filter are connected to ground. Thanks for the concern!
For reference. I am using the Palomar Engineers ICOM 7300 rfi kit and an additional kit of mix 31 torpid cores and snap on ferrites for my noisy devices. All are available at Palomar Engineers.
Put both grounds on the one ground lug.
Hopefully it's grounded for a while, and put in the naughty corner!
Love your video. I too live in So Cal and have a high noise floor on 40 meters. & years ago when I moved to current house the noise floor was higher than my last house. I too shut off all my circuit breakers and the noise floor is the same. I concluded the noise is coming from the SCE transformer on the power pole in my neighbors yard. (the pole is right on the property line between the two homes.)
If my wife is blow drying her hair and I transmit on 40 meters it pops the breaker on that loop where the blow dryer is plugged into but not on any other band does it do that. So I've got other issues on 4 meters.
Lastly I will say my noise floor has gone down a bit when I bought all new appliances during our remodel.
Chasing RFI is a life long journey for HAM operators who loive in a high noise area anyway.
Thanks for your vids.
Ken
A very good video! There is a good book published by the ARRL on RFI which is very helpful, we deal with all kinds of RFI in telecom circuits in the DSL/VDSL bands. The water sprinkler timers, fish tank heaters, halogen bulbs, TV monitors, switching power supplies, swimming pool pumps, treadmills and the new entrants are solar panels DC-AC converters and electric car charging AC-DC inverters. On the latter there is no IEEE standards on broadband noise limits on Power quality into homes. Most of the noise originates in the home, however it can also originate outside the home and travel via the commercial AC power grid both conducted and RF emitted interference. One way to block is to use noise suppression Belkin ISOBAR or any other which filters out AC broadband noise. The next one is to use Quad shielded cables and in some cases the noise needs to be mitigated right at the source.
You might have done this but make sure you connect that ground through your project box. Split it, run one to the filter, and one pass through to your dryer.
So many sources of RFI - I had bursts of really strong signals around 433Mhz, I had a number of weather station clocks, each with a temp sender, boy those wiped out my radio from the garden. took batteries out (if I want to know how cold it is outside I open the door). Also a sender for electricity power monitoring, and get this - the sender units on my car tyre pressure sensors!
I also had one of those 'home plug' network over power sockets devices, just brutal RFI from that. I'm down to unavoidable WiFi, Computers, NAS device, TV's, washing machine and dryer and LED lightbulbs that I put all around the house thinking how to save money... - its a nightmare.
That is not even taking into account the crappy Chinese wall-warts that I and the neighbours have .
Still much work to be done.
Great information - thanks.
It seems to me the FCC should clamp down on the manufacturers of these devices for producing so much noise.
I'm afraid the FCC is the government, and the government pretty much works for the manufacturers and businesses. SO there will only be lip service about RFI and it's up to us to solve the problems.
No. Stop giving this idiotic government more power over ourselves and others. This is not an issue the government should be involved with.
There have been EMC regulations since the 1980s but it looks like they haven’t been enforced too well.
Here in the UK, we have to put up with an extraordinary level of noise on the HF bands, compared to what it was like over 30 years ago. This high noise level which is usually around S7 to S9 and if you're very unlucky S9+ in urban areas, comes from many sources. The main noise problem is ADLS2 and VDSL broadband internet noise, which radiates from nearby telephone lines. We can also experience radiated mains wiring noise, from cheaply made switch mode power supplies, whereby the noise suppression filter components have not been fitted. The obvious reason these components have not been fitted in the first place, is obviously to keep manufacturing costs down. Then we may have other sources of interference to contend with as well, from smart meters, LED lighting, security camera systems etc. Is it any wonder then, that some Hams have given up the hobby completely, or gone totally digital instead. I myself have spent a lot of time over the years devising a low noise receiving antenna system, so that I can continue to enjoy the hobby. But it's an uphill struggle for sure, as I don't have much noise which is locally radiated in my house, it's unfortunately coming from other houses nearby.
Another awesome video.
Love you tracking it down to the TV, and unplug it. Turn around and the look on the kids' faces were like "what the hell dad?"
Great video. Solved my RFI. My culprit was an outdoor dimmer transformer that dimmed a string of outdoor patio lights. Thank you😎👍
Nice work!
Josh, one corollary to your axiom: New stuff gets plugged in all the time and you may not even realize it. A couple of years ago, I ended up with an S9 noise out of nowhere. I used the power off circuit breaker by circuit breaker on approach and discovered it was a cheap eBay backup power brick for an HP computer my wife bought. Ergo, this is not a one battle war! 73 de Robert K3RRR
Hosh, perfect timing for this video. Thank you!! I'm studying for my General License and planning my HF Radio Rig. I had completely forgotten about RFI generated from my home devices. I've been studying which Transceiver, power supply, feed line, antenna....etc. Reducing RFI is a step I would have completely missed. 73 KI5HII
Almost any gear will work if you're in a quiet enough location. Noise is the limiting factor.
Liked this one Josh. I’ve been doing the same in my house. However, my worst offenders are the new LED street lights and I got them just thru the antenna...
I had an emi/rfi device that took me over a week to nail down. 300 feet away from my house the power pole was transmitting noise into my trucks am radio as I drove under the power lines. The source was an aftermarket laptop power adapter. It spewed noise down the power lines for hundreds of feet !!!! My tiny cheap portable am radio tracked it down !!!
Had the same exact problem with my Samsung refrigerator but worse. I was unable to operate on 20m. Spent thousands on my shack and hardly ever used it due to rfi. Now I'm 100% portable
Ha Josh excellent topic !!
I just went thru this process last week in my home... in my case biggest offenders were lights the wall mounted units with led but traditional style bulbs ok, but the smaller low voltage embedded cieling lights all had major hash, bathroom lights the worst !
But was very happy to see the cause so now working out how to combat, cheers 73s
I like the part at the end when you talk about proper a/c ground. I think that would make an excellent video about propper a/c grounds AND proper RF grounds, differences between them, And how they should be propperly implemented.
Thanks, I appreciate the comment.
@@brothertyler would you prefer "counterpoise"?
Totally NOT clickbait, great video! Thanks for taking the time to explain this!!!
DUDE! So happy I found your video. I have the same radio and have been unable to make ANY contacts with it. Well after following your advice I know whats going on. Ordered torrids. Cant wait !!!!!!! Thank you !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Excellent procedure that is simple and quite effective. But the main problem is that small appliance manufacturers could care less about interference when the masses tune only FM, not knowing that better information is available from long distant AM stations. No such interference was present in the 40's when listeners and the FCC enforced quiet bands. NT3X.
... and when none (virtually) of the noisemakers plaguing us now even existed.
Excellent way you explain this! great job!
Excellent work! Shut down my refrigerator and freezer - noise floor dropped radically.
I just revisited this video, Good Stuff Maynard. I started messing (yup if you do electronics) early on and had some good fortune to work on some interesting stuff. You won’t really know what you’ll find when start looking, aircraft wiring gnewed by rats, signal lights, automatic doors at retail locations, ect.
* throws fridge out *
"Next episode, we are gonna install an ice box to prevent RFI"
I'm kidding. I did learn a lot from this video as I'm getting ready to set up some HF antennas now that I have upgraded my ticket.
My neighbor bought a new fridge and it destroyed 20m for me. Not so easy to fix it, and we even tried filters :(
@@maneroification just move to the desert >:)
LOL
Sounds like a great argument to build a dedicated Ham Shack in the back yard!
One of the most important videos you have ever produced!!! Palomar makes great product including radio specific kits. Had the opportunity to listen to them at SOARA. Keep up the superior work!
Thank you very much for the kind words!
One idea I did not see is the use of a common mode choke on the antenna input. Like the Palomar Maxi-Choker. It really works here.
Great advice Josh! Thanks for sharing them with us on what to look out for and how to combat them.
Awsome, could not get anything at my place, except the washing machine lol. We will now be having scheduled power outages haha. 73s VE6RFL
Great job! I had the same fridge issue; an off-line 12V switcher running at 3.6 MHz! I hacked in a cleaner transformer based linear supply.
I'm building power centers at the HT location, wiring closet, and operating position consisting of a large battery, a Genasun MPPT solar controller, and a single quiet power supply that charges the battery. ALL DC loads are placed on either the 12VDC bus, or on other buses using Linear step-down regulators. For the AC devices (internal power supplies), I check for bad filtering, unbonded green wire to chassis, et al...
Not smart removing the ground on the dryer.
There are lifts in our block. They generate enormous amount of RFI when moving.
@Stephen Anthony No, elevators. Sorry, english is not my native language.
I just sunk 300$ on toridiols coils from them today for my new rig and antenna. I wish I saw this. I knew about this having helped a few hams find RFI before. That and the time we put snap on coils on the neighbors portable phone power and phone line. I am going to have to do this when I get the new rig up this week. I'll use your coupon then. 73s I am glad I found your channel.
Thank you for the crash course on RFI! As a HF operator living and operating in the suburbs, I deal with noise on a daily basis. In my neighborhood, 20 meters has a noise floor of an S3 to S5. I recently discovered that solar panels produce lots of RFI. I'm not saying I'm against the use of solar panels, but I am upset about the noise they produce on all HF bands. I will consider putting toroids on similar devices such as TV's, chargers, etc...
IT'S COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE!!1
come on baby, come on baby Wait, wait that can't be right. It's the end of the world as we know it
There must be some kind of way out of here,
said the joker to the ham.
There's too much interference now,
I can't get no relief.
No reason to get excited,
the ham, he kindly spoke.
There are many here among us,
who feel the bands are but a joke.
But you and I, we've been through that,
and this is not our fate.
So let us stop talking falsely now,
the noise floor's getting high.
All along the radio mast,
operator kept the QSOs.
While all the contacts they came and they went,
CW devotees too.
Outside in the cold distance,
a wildcat did growl.
Two arrangers were approaching,
and the wind began to howl.
IT"S IN ZE ATTIC!!
no really at my old house the furnace / air handler was creating noise because of its control board
😂
IT'S WITHIN THE ROOM!!! *ailen pops out of ceiling*
8:00 you could also add more toroids in lieu of loops of wire.
There is only so much you can do in your own home, the issue I found is the neighbors equipment that you can not do much with. What needs to be done is strong enforcement of electrical and radio emissions standards to start with! this issue started to become problem in the 2000's with change over from linear power supplies to switch mode units.
Wow! THIS IS AN EXCELLENT VIDEO!!! Whoever thought a fridge would cause so much RFI. I am bookmarking this video.
Thanks for watching.
What mix ferrites do you recommend?@@HamRadioCrashCourse
I'd be happy if the RFI was in my house, would just be matter of finding device and disconnecting it.
So much is out of one's control around the neighborhood.. If you are an an urban environment, you don't even know half your "neighbors" and all the RFI around you.
I absolutely love it when we have a power outage here... Clean listening!!
73 de Karl VE3GUN
that's the time to run your rig on batteries and calibrate your noise floor as a reference band by band with a video or screen grab
The power went off here about 2 weeks back. Wonderfully quiet.
Wow....just got my tech and general license and saw this stuff in my studies, but oh my .....real life has a way of driving it home...thanks so much for this video. Just starting up my first ham shack and ran head first into this this problem and I have been thinking it was other things. at least now it makes sense and I have some tools to go after it and fix it as you have shown.....great stuff.
Amazing video! The amount of noise in a home is unbelievable! I enjoyed your hunting expedition.
Very informative!
Powerline data transmission is a band-killer. How they snuck it past the FCC is beyond me...
… oh... wait... could it be vast sums of cash?
@Dustin Poche why do something so traceable? First off, one should be having dinner with a judge when the fatal accident with the individual's experimental security robots occurs... ;)
Cut the neutral feed soming off the secondary of the pole pig. The problem will fix itself when the refrigerator kicks on.
@Michael's Production's yep you cant hear anything but shit....I know the feeling I live in thailand the home of the Chinese LEDs they dont even understand mains electricity let alone RFI
@@AmateurRadio This is not even funny. Floating your neutral from the pole can seriously damage anything you have plugged in from excessive voltage. It can also lead to letting the smoke out, as in cause a fire. Don't do it.
@@BryanTorok well that was the joke haha. and yes, it was just a joke! sorry! dont do this people!
I'm going to try what you suggested. I just bought a Tecsun 990 last week for SW and couldn’t get a much… Just this morning the Transformer popped on the pole and was in the dark… I jumped up and got my new radio and was amazed by how much it could pick up without the background RF everything in the house had been creating. It was the best two hours of listening since living here.👍🏼 Enjoy your vid’s greatly.
Great video! It also tells us something about the failing FCC (and their overseas equivalents) policies regarding this problem. They tell companies their products should accept interferences and avoid transmitting rf interferences by devices but it is to no avail. Makes no sense if no one keeps to these regulations. Thing is, I have already done this at my home but over here in Holland we live in overcrowded towns. And I know some switching power supplies can spoil things in a terrible way, sometimes these things have a range of several hundred meters or even more. So I gave up, I also gave up the hobby at home. So now I have invested in mobile equipment. Greetings, Willem from Holland.
Not having a ground on your dryer sounds DANGEROUS. I would tie the grounds together.
Just wondering: is there any point in telling the FCC about bad devices?
I’ll indeed get the dryer grounded. That also seemed incorrect to me. But for the test it worked.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse I wonder if you don't just tie both grounds to the one post like in most house wiring.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse Your dryer plugs in with a regular 3 prong cord? Every dryer I have ever had was 220 vac.
@@arthursmith5252 Apartment size dryers plug into regular receptacles.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse Not having your dryer grounded is beyond incorrect and going into extreme stupidity territory. Also guaranteed to be a major violation of your local electrical code.
That extra ground wire can go on the same lug.
After watching this video. I am now convinced, I think it is time to run my Icom 718 on nothing but battery. I live in a mobile home, which is bad enough for various reasons.
Excellent video!!!!!
Never forget Modem and Cable TV as well. This is something I've dealt with for a long time. When I was finally able tp go from DSL to cable internet it helped but for some reason upping my speed to 1 GB kinda made a mess of it. I have several portables and an Icom R75 in the bedroom and yes, I hear stuff a lot. Moving the LF L-900 From the roof to its own mast away from the Condo helped a lot as well. I think the big thing is we don't think about it as often as we should. Great Video.
Excellent video, Josh! A 120VAC dryer? Really?? Huh....I've never seen one! I am fairly certain, however, that you want to tie both sides of that ground to the device ground lug, rather than 'lift' the ground on a device with both a motor and a heater. Unless the manufacturer of the filter specifically directs you to lift that ground (or in the case of a double insulated tool for example), I've never known that to be a good idea. Thanks, and 73 W1NLJ
It’s natural gas.
@@HamRadioCrashCourse ...DUH!! LMAO Now I feel perfectly stupid....since I used to own a gas dryer! Can I retract that part of the comment?? 🙄
Removing the ground from a dryer is NOT a good move.
Ungrounded 220VAC is a REALLY bad idea. That RFI filter was not made for a 220VAC high current device.
I agree with you. He should connect the ground together, only the Live and Neutral should go thru the filter. That's it
The grounds should be on the common or same lug.
Yeah I came down here to say the same. Lifting that ground is not only dangerous, but a code violation. There's only one lug for the ground wires because they are all meant to be bonded together on the same post.
@@WarpFactor999 That is 120 VAC. Look at the connectors. This must be a gas dryer with electronic controls (microprocessor and switching supply) as opposed to old style switches and relays. The main current draw is the motor to drive the drum and that filter looks like it will handle that. It might be better to put the filter closer to the control circuitry.
It’s very important to make sure your appliances are all grounded good. It tends to put a shield around the equipment. Then also very important is to make sure your house is grounded by a lightning rod. All homes have to have one to give you another protection. The power company doesn’t give you a good ground. Then also if you have copper water lines in the house, make sure they are also grounded. Usually in a home if something needs to be grounded, they run a grounding wire to the waterline like maybe upstairs to save running one all of the way to a panel.
How does a lighting rod ground a house?
You can get RFI from a breaker itself. I had to replace the 20A-220V breaker that goes to my dryer circuit. I turned off the breaker and the noise went away, but unplugging the dryer and turning the breaker back on. The noise returned. There must have been some arcing inside the breaker. Once the breaker was replaced, the noise from that circuit went away.
If I move my uv5r antenna just the right way I can hear my lamp lol
Awesome video Josh, Wondering where I can get a filter for a neighbor's Marijuana grow?
K6UDA Bob Palomor’s website has that, in fact it’s listed as grow light filters. Since the People’s Republic of Illinois has just gone legal at the store front level but not for growing I wonder how around me will be trying it. I’m federally licensed- fuel tanker driver- so it’s nothing but a massive inconvenience for me.
Thanks for the video!
- By the way, another thing that may causes trouble on the bands are hams themselves sometimes.
Apparently, too much RF power in combination with harmonics causes noise on the bands.
That's nothing new, though. People were aware of this since 1924 or so (saw an article of that time once). ;)
Anyway, the RFI problem is real for sure. Using magnetic antennas and multi shielded coax cables (not RG58/213)
might be helpful somtimes, I guess. Getting rid/fixing of the noise sources might be most successful idea, though.
Before anyone gets the idea they know the purpose of grounding and bonding. I recommend going to Mike Holt's Grounding -safety fundamentals video. That video explains it all. Grounding does not protect someone from electrical shock. Some devices use a ground and some do not, adding a ground that's not required will not eliminate the possibility of electrical shock. Don't argue with me, bring it up with Mike . He is one of the leading experts in the country on electrical safety and power distribution systems. There is so much bad advice and misunderstanding on grounding even in the comment section here it would take an hour long seminar to address it.
Dude. Hook both the line and load grounds to that ground screw. The ground must continue to the dryer.
This. THIS IS A SAFETY ISSUE; DO IT NOW!!
And please edit the video to indicate you have fixed your dryer's safety ground. Don't give others information that could kill them; their widow could bankrupt you.
Thanks for the heads up. I know about EMC and thus RFI. But this video brought back the importance for my shack again. About the dryer thing... good idea to proper ground the thing. Further, don't put the filter in the center of the lead. When placing filtered and unfiltered lines together, you will short the filter again by capacitive coupling.
Thanks a lot for the video! Will help a lot of people! 73, PA8E, Wim
@@Huisinspanje Good Advice. Isn't it also true that you want the filter as close as possible to the noisy equipment so that you have less wire acting as a radiator?
@@chrisstorm7704 Yes. I would put the filter at the noise source. 👍😊
The one thumbs down is from a guy who makes dryers and refrigerators
.... .. .... .. .... ..
What does “hi hi hi” mean?
Aurtisan Miner “hi hi” is the Morse Code equivalent of “LOL” for CW Ops.
I think it came about because .... .. is faster to key than .... .-
(But .... . is even faster, still, and people don’t use that ;)
Aurtisan Miner
And it is very awkward to use it anywhere else than in Morse. I’ve even seen people write HIHI on forum posts. Don’t do that. It’s ridiculous. It’s about as bad as saying “laugh out loud” or “Ell Oh Ell!!” In conversation.
Why did *I* use it, you ask?
Because I elevate awkwardness to ART, my friend. 😂
I was thinking about getting into ham radio after a 60 year hiatus from electronics. I set up an SDR dongle and began listening to the ham bands. I was appalled at the banality of the conversations. “Hey OM how am I coming through? I’m using a new antenna I built with a coat hanger and a Victor mouse trap. 73s”
Maybe it’s time to create a branch of amateur radio defined by an alternative communications system that could survive a massive denial of service attack or EMP.
As of right now all ham gear would be fried along with every other computer. Maybe a legitimate ham goal would be to create a retro system using tubes (gasp) and CW.
Yes, plate voltages require extreme caution when handling compared to solid state but we were building 900v power supplies back in HS.
J P We had an old radar unit with CRT. Used it for a SF project to drive an ultrasonic transducer to make a half assed ultrasonic measuring device. Took longer to make it appear to work more than when it actually worked. Never used a bicycle helmet either.
My partner, future IBM, hooked some big capacitors to an old mercury vapor rectifier and charged an electric fence wire with it. Totally ruined their relationship with the neighbor.
I use an MFJ 1025 Noise Canceling Signal Enhancer box to null out my noise. It is the best tool for dealing with noise I have ever used. Much better than any dsp box or wrapping all my cords with toroids. All you need is an antenna that receives the same noise as what you are getting on your rig. Plug that into the box, turn some knobs and the noise is gone. Without degrading the signals underneath. It's a little expensive at over $200 but well worth it these days.
I realize I commented on (and therefore watched) this video two years ago. My thought is why do we keep accepting this? Why do we take it lying down? We need to complain to the appliance manufacturer and/or the power company. And, not just once but repeatedly until they fix the problem. If you are not getting satisfaction, write to the FCC, again repeatedly until you get some response and some action. Most folks try once or twice and give up.
For those who don't think this works, the FCC fined and forced Home Depot to eat millions of dollars worth of noisy Chinese LED light fixtures. The FCC went after computer manufacturers for selling home computers with noisy supplies. They have gone after power companies and cable companies. The FCC is not fast, but they are the 900 pound gorilla when it comes to RFI.
Another option is to get together with some other hams, find an attorney, and file a class action law suit. This is tougher because you need about 25 people with the same problem from the same defendant to make it practical.
Nobody listens to us. The RSGB this month said over 18 months amateurs reported noise to them and they got in touch with Ofcom but the complaints were rejected without further investigation. The RSGB have no power. The Minister for Digital and Broadband sends a standard letter from a secretary who knows nothing saying to get in touch with my broadband provider. BT will charge me money to take down their offending line.
It's at the point I no longer operate except on 60m which seems clear.
I've not renewed my subscription to the RSGB because I don't want to just read about radio. Every year for the last three I've wondered about renewing it.
G4GHB
@@bill-2018 It is a shame that you face such conditions. I'm sure that if you interfered with your neighbor's radio or television, they would come out promptly and investigate you. In the USA, our Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may be a huge bureaucracy, but if one complains enough they will eventually take action.
OK Don Quixote. Let us know how that goes for you.
@@stargazer7644 It does work. I know it works. I gave a couple examples of major companies forced to comply. Another example that comes to mind is a ham friend complained to the FCC that a local TV stations signal was not in compliance. The station's chief engineer was majorly pissed when the FCC showed up to inspect and then ordered the transmitter repaired.
@@BryanTorok A local TV station has to comply with stringent emission requirements as a licensed transmitter. This is apples and oranges. The power supply in your TV set is not a licensed transmitter - it's a very low powered un-intentonal radiator. And all of the emissions demonstrated in this video are conducted through the power lines, not radiated through the air.
The cost of this hobby just keeps going up and up and up.
Just like insurance and taxes
Great Content as always! Your Dryer issue reminded me of the front load washer (LG Brand) we had. It made a lot of hash on 40m and 15M when it was not turning, or transitioning between CW and CCW. while spinning it was fine. No amount of ferrite wrapping on the power cord helped. I had to take it apart and EMI shield the circuit board and get right on to the motor casing and shield the motor controller. (My wife was eying me speculatively during this process...) Palomar makes great stuff, and I recommend their 7300 EMI kit. Thanks Again for all you do!
Thank you!
If you mentioned how you were powering your 7300 during the rf hunt I missed it. I would recommend being electrically isolated with a battery and eliminate all radio connections including ground to the home electrical system while hunting. RF is either being sent down power or ground, or it's being radiated. Isolating the radio electrically will tell which direction to take in resolving the issue.
Any battery capable of running it on rx is fine.
How about your microwave oven? That’s another intermittent use device that probably spews a ton of RFI when operating.
no, that is typicallt RF shielded and in the 2.4GHz range, if you get noise from that on HF you need a new microwave oven..
Microwave ovens NEVER cause RFI in the HF spectrum, I have yet to see one cause RFI on HF.
@@lt4324 well if the seal is breached or the switching power supply for the timer maybe but no they dont
@@Elfnetdesigns The faraday cage that is a microwave oven only attenuates the thousand watt microwave signal being generated inside, it doesn't eliminate it. Some signal is ALWAYS radiated, whether the seal is bad or not. The noise floor on 2.4 GHz goes way up at dinner time when all the houses around start using their microwave ovens.
‘Wall warts” are often at fault...
Thanks for the heads up. I know about EMC and thus RFI. But this video brought back the importance for my shack again. About the dryer thing... good idea to proper ground the thing. Further, don't put the filter in the center of the lead. When placing filtered and unfiltered lines together, you will short the filter again by capacitive coupling.
Thanks a lot for the video! Will help a lot of people! 73, PA8E, Wim
The power went out in my neighborhood the other day and I was amazed how much more I was able to pick up
I had a baofeng charger that made so much noise on HF band
Gnaus76
If Baofeng sold *rocks*, I’m pretty sure they’d emit RFI 😂
Not hating, though; I like my potatofengs.
I moved one of my chargers next to my hf rig and realized it was making tons of noise!
Stock baofeng charger is worst offender at my QTH only charge when not using radio. I unplug it when using HF
My led lights in the basement ad 2db on 10 meters.......so I operate in the dark.
Dark is good! I've done some of my best work in the dark! :) ! LOL
Buy some candles...
@@stevethecountrycook1227 boi...
you did a great job and a better thing for all people that have this problem !!! TY
Thanks for making this video. I have a constant S9 noise at my house across most bands. I'll start looking at getting rid of the RFI.
Next episode.....my neighbor and his baofeng battery charger
Yes! :) They are terrible!
One of my Yaesu wall warts was throwing out S3 hash as well.
Throw it all in the bin. radio too..
Speaking of Baofengs, how about that really strong 2nd and 3rd harmonics that are so strong on almost all Baofeng HT's. I hope my UV82C is clean! That model did not get tested by the ARRL Crew.
@@jimcoulter5877 ARRL is not interested much in non ham radios either for the most part.. Is the 82C locked on certain business band frequencies like those pool frequencies (yellow dot, brown dot, red dot, etc..) or is it locked out of the ham bands? I never had one come through here is why I ask
My wife is the rfi. Every time I get on the air she starts. Do they make a ring for her ?🤪
Careful. You can get in real trouble choking out that noise source.
Get another wife, 180 deg out of phase. They will cancel each other out. ...And your bank account.
I used to have this problem.. I had to get rid of her.. Everytime I started some me time hobby time it was always "honey do this, do that" and I got nothing in return not even sex.. She had to go..
Thanks, another great video. I was going to ask you to show how you did your ac ground, now I will just ask you to move that video to the top of your to do list :)
There are a few of us new hams that got great gear over the holidays trying to figure out how to set up our shacks safely. Thanks again!
EMI - a VERY recognizable issue that you bring up here, so thanks for that.. Problem is, for me, the noise is ALL coming from neighbors and above-ground power lines (10kV lines). When I turn off the main breakers (meaning the whole house is powerless), the noise floor on my Flex Radio does not change ONE iota. On 160m, my noise is S9+. On 80m, it is S9. On 40m, it is S7. On 20 m, it is S3. Sometimes we lose power in the whole neighborhood. When that happens, I immediately run to the shack to listen how that impacts the noise floor on the several HF bands, on a battery powered rig. 160m: S4. 80m: S2. 40M: S1. 20m and above: No noticeable noise (-125 dBm in a 100 kHz span). The reality; this EMI thing is an unsolvable problem and will eventually kill the ham radio hobby below 30 MHz. And it will only get worse, as people install solar panels with battery backup (and their associated noisy power inverters) and just about EVERY wall wart being a switcher nowadays. And incandescent light bulbs being replaced by LED, another source of cheap power switchers. So I appreciate the effort you put in this video, but unless you live on a farm away from all the cheap electronics, the shortwave radio hobby is DEAD.
(By the way; did you know Tesla cars don't have the AM broadcast band available on their radios? Because the solid-state power switchers in those electric cars are SO incredible noisy you would not be able to receive a SINGLE station on AM!)
It always amazes me how ameaturs cant interfere with others( rightly so) but everything else can interfere with us.
Cheap Chinese electronics and HOA's will be the death of amateur radio.
Switchmode power supplies in new TVs and monitors and computer put out a hell of a rf signal with 100s of harmonics which enter fear with am radio reception! We didn't have this problem when everything had a power transformer!
Great video. Very informative. Expect to watch this several times. THANKS!9
The fridge is listening and reporting to the government
In 2020 America fridge chills you out..
That's actually not too far fetched.. your phones tablets etc even baby monitors sick ppl😒
Every ham radio operator should take the time to write a letter addressed to the companies in order to question them. It's important to demonstrate dissatisfaction with the products that cause ugly interference in vital HF bands.
A great intro to the problem of RFI for Radio Hams. Am especially interested in your up and coming video on good AC grounds as I have a problem where RFI is actually present on my mains earth ( circa 18 MHz and 50 MHz). The RFI is thought to be coming from a neighbour's appliances. I can even pick up the RFI off my bath taps (pipework pick up or direct connection of RFI ???)
A couple of weeks back the electricity supply went off. It was wonderful! The noise cleared up on h.f.
There's nothing in my house creating noise, well, maybe my computer but I don't have it on when I'm on the air anyway so I don't know.
It's as I suspected from my one or both of my neighbours houses. I had already asked them twice if they had anything switched on permanently and they both said they didn't. I now think it's something on standby because it's always there both night and day.
The only thing in my house is my boiler affecting mw and lw.
Another ace bit of info.
CZcams is lucky to have folks like you.
My noise maker was a Printer Power Supply! Light Bulbs, washing machines, quite often it is as high as S5. Even a neighbors Fence charger Clicking.
Really useful to see, thank you 👍 curious to know have you used the
MFJ-915 RF Line Isolator and your thoughts on that would be gratefully received 😁👍
Great job. Very well presented. Planning to tackle my s9+ noise floor (40m) sometime soon before I build myself a permanent HF antenna at my QTH. 73 de 2E0IEH 👍