Hi, all.
Well, while this latest RFI thread is going on, I'm sitting here waiting for
the XYL to come home from her last day of elementary school teaching, when
we'll be taking off on our RV trip first to Georgia for a family wedding,
and then to Arizona to visit our son.
Anyway, a very interesting, and somewhat scary, RFI thing happened to me
yesterday while I was testing my HF set-up in the RV for our trip.
As background, I have an Icom 718 for HF, and it is connected to a Predator
screw-driver antenna on the back lefthand corner of the RV. The radio and
antenna are, I believe, thoroughly grounded to a common point on the frame
of the RV, since I had this work done by a professional RV tech who is also
a ham. In the front of the RV, I have a TMV7A for mobile VHF/UHF use. That
rig is connected to a Diamond dual-band mobile antenna that is securely
clamped to the top of the ladder on the other side of the back of the RV.
Anyway, yesterday, I was doing a test on the CW portion of the 20 meter
band, when something incredibly strange happened. My TMV7A mobile rig was
totally off, and not being used. ... When I did the HF test, some extra RF
must have been floating around, because it turned on the TMV7A, and caused
the TMV7A to make all kinds of beeps and boops. In a major state of panic
or at least heightened concern, I checked out the TMV7A, and it was totally
locked up. ... My memories were still there, but I couldn't do much if
anything with the radio. I couldn't even do a re-set using the re-set
sequence with the control head which is mounted below the dash board. ...
It was funny too, because the speach output would give me the memory number
I was on, but wouldn't even read the frequency.
Fortunately, I had some instructions from this list which told me how to do
a full re-set of the TMV7A using the recessed re-set button on the front of
the actual radio unit. I did that, re-programmed the radio, and was back in
business.
Then, I went into troubleshooting mode, and found what I think was the
source of the problem. I disconnected the power supply for the TMV7A from a
power strip that I was using, and plugged it more directly into an outlet in
the RV via a short extension cord. I tried getting on 20 meters again,
where I was before, and had no RFI problem at all.
So, I think my problem was in the cheap power strip I was using.
Which brings up a question: Anyone know of a good high-quality power strip
I might by that has better isolation in it, so this problem won't recur?
I'm willing to pay some good money for it, since I don't want stray RF
messing with either the TMV7A or any of the other electronics in the RV.
I will have periodic e-mail access while we are on our trip, although my
responses may be somewhat delayed since we will be on the road quite a bit.
Fortunately, though, the camp grounds we will be staying at have internet
access.
73 from Tom Behler: KB8TYJ, soon to be RV mobile
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