I don't know about the power strip but I know in the cottage I rent on
vacation, I popped a few breakers last year and a GFI breaker mainly due to
a bad outlet when I tried to transmit on my 706 on 40 meters, I guess the
current draw sis something, I plugged it in elsewhere and it worked fine but
then I later was vacuuming when we were leaving thee and it finished that
outlet off, so it might be the power strip, or the outlet. The power supply
should handle it, but if you have a transformer one around, or can borrow
one, it's something to try. That's a strange one. Can you plug it in other
places in there and see what that does?
----- Original Message -----
From: "T Behler" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, July 28, 2006 1:19 PM
Subject: continuing RFI problems in travel trailer
> Hi, all.
>
> I hate to bug everyone again about this, but I continue to have a nagging
> RFI problem in the 18-foot Fleetwood Pioneer travel trailer that my XYL
> and
> I recently purchased.
>
> To review, when operating HF, I tend to cut off the air conditioner
> whenever
> keying up on CW. I don't trip the GFI circuit breaker--I just cut the
> unit
> off, and it eventually re-sets itself and resumes normal operation within
> a
> few minutes. The problem occurs mainly on 20 meters, although it does
> occur
> on certain frequencies in other bands as well. I have found the problem
> to
> occur even when reducing my power from 100 watts, say to 50 watts.
>
> My HF rig is an Icom 718, and my antenna is a Predator screw-driver-type
> antenna mounted on the back of the trailer. I use a device called the
> Turbo-tuner, to be sure that the antenna is indeed resonant on my
> operating
> frequency.
>
> The antenna itself is grounded to the bumper of the trailer, and I have
> installed two other grounds. One is a ground from the 718 to the frame of
> the trailer, and the other ground is an earth ground that runs from the
> rig
> to a grounding stake outside of the trailer.
>
> I am getting more and more stumped with this problem, although I have two
> additional thoughts. Let me run them by you here; I just don't want to
> spend more money unnecessarily on this problem:
>
> 1. I run the 718 with an MFJ Mighty Lite switching power supply. I think
> it's the 4125--it has 25 amps surge, and 22 amps continuous. Could this
> type of supply be causing the problem via some sort of stray current flow?
> Should I try an old transformer-type supply, such as an Astron RS20, to
> see
> if the problem disappears?
>
> 2. I have the rig's power supply plugged into a relatively inexpensive
> power strip, since I sometimes plug my laptop into it as well. Is there a
> higher-quality power strip that I might want to look at? Some have
> suggested a power strip with something called a power isolator in it, but
> I'm not quite sure what it is.
>
> Please give me your feedback on both of these possible suggested
> solutions.
> Or, if you have any other suggestions, please send them to me.
>
> Some have suggested trying to put a capacitor across the leads of the
> trailer's thermostat unit, but I really am hesitant to do that, at the
> risk
> of somehow voiding the warranty on the temperature control system.
>
> Thanks for anything you can suggest.
>
> 73 from Tom Behler: KB8TYJ, Big Rapids, MI
>
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