Ok, I misunderstood. The way I had read the other post, I had thought
that you were running several wires from the shack to the outside rod,
one for each piece of gear. That wouldn't be a good idea. Sounds
like you have a good handle on the ground side of things.
73, Steve KW3A
On 1/15/2016 9:55 AM, Richard B. McDonald wrote:
> Hi Steve!
>
> Yes, indeed, this whole RFI thing looks to be not just a bitch (pardon the
> French) but also a bit more art and trial and error rather than science!
> Following is a bit more of an explanation of my present ground wire setup.
>
> Inside the shack is a ground bus (I think that is what it is called, a.k.a.,
> a "common point") that has about five terminals. Attached to each of these
> terminals is a length of 14 gauge insolated stranded copper wire that
> attaches to equipment either by its ground post (wing nut) or in the case of
> my PC and TS-2000's power supply by attaching the ground wire to a chassis
> screw (because they have no dedicated grounding post). The length of each
> of these ground wires varies from ~3' to ~7' depending on the distance of
> the respective equipment to the bus. From the bus there is a single ~6" ~10
> gauge insolated wire that goes through the wall into my garage and attaches
> to an 8' copper ground rod which is sunk into the ground with only ~6" of it
> sticking up. About 6" away from this ground rod is a second ground rod
> attached to which is AC grounding for all AC power into the shack. Then,
> both of these ground rods are connected together by heavy copper wire. This
> electrical work was done by a professional electrician.
>
> So, I do not think it is really possible to shorten the lengths of these
> separate ground wires, and then attach all of them to a single wire running
> to the bus. These wires are already about as short as they can be. I do
> understand and agree that, in most situations, the distance from the bus and
> the ends of separate ground wires is longer; in which case a single wire
> *should* bridge that distance.
>
> HTH & 73,
> Richard KK6MRH
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> On Behalf Of Steve Forst
> Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2016 6:41 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: How to Stop RFI from Shutting Down My TS-2000's Power Supply?
>
> Richard,
>
> Grounding questions are one of those things in the hobby that will
> get you a multitude of contradictory suggestions.
>
> If you try them all, you will probably find one that works for you.
>
> I think all would agree that running multiple ground wires from each
> piece of gear in the shack to a ground rod is a bad idea. Usual
> practice is to run short pieces of grounding wire from each piece of gear to
> a common grounding point in the shack, with wires being as
> short as possible. Then a single heavy conductor to the ground rod.
>
> Another problem is the length of the wire (or wires in your case) from the
> equipment to the ground rod. If the wrong length, it (they) will radiate
> like an antenna.
>
> What is the length from the shack to the ground rod?
>
>
> Good luck, 73, Steve KW3A
>
> On 1/14/2016 9:08 PM, Richard B. McDonald wrote:
>> Hey Steve!
>>
>> You said it! This high power stuff is gnarly! I will try ferrite if
>> it persists. The antenna is about 40' from the shack.
>>
>> following is information about my grounding system. About 10' from
>> the shack, I have two copper 8' ground rods sunk into the ground. All
>> 120V AC into the shack is grounded to one of them. Connected to the
>> other ground rod is a terminal; attached to which are about five
>> separate 14 gauge copper wires each of which goes to equipment in the
>> shack (rig, tuner, PC, amp, etc.). then, both ground rods are
>> connected with a 10 gauge wire. For the power supply which is
>> shutting down, I just attached yet another ground wire, and I also
>> wrapped its AC power cord in tin foil. I have not yet tested to see
>> if it still shuts down with these new two grounding/shielding
> improvements.
>>
>>
>> 73,
>> Richard KK6MRH
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: For blind ham radio operators
>> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>> On Behalf Of Steve Forst
>> Sent: Thursday, January 14, 2016 7:27 AM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: How to Stop RFI from Shutting Down My TS-2000's Power Supply?
>>
>> Richard,
>>
>> Welcome to the world of high power. How do you have the radio
>> grounded? How close is the antenna to the operating position?
>>
>> I would invest in some ferrites. E-bay is a good source. I would
>> clamp the AC line to the power supply, and the 12 vdc line coming out.
>> Also clamp everything connected to the radio/amp (coax, power,
>> control cables, etc.). The other school of thought is to only clamp
>> things until you find the one that is the problem.
>>
>> If your antenna is 5 feet from your operating position, things may be
>> more problematic. As Ron suggests, antenna/feedline/balun may be the
>> culprit. Sometimes this stuff is hard to solve, glad you have help on
>> site.
>>
>>
>> 73, good luck, Steve KW3A
>>
>> On 1/14/2016 9:48 AM, Richard B. McDonald wrote:
>>> Hi!
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> In the process of setting up my Ameritron ALS-1306 amp with my
>>> Kenwood
>>> TS-2000 and an MFJ 998 tuner, sometimes RFI shuts down the TS-2000's
>>> power supply. My Elmer is convinced it is RFI because 1) it seems
>>> only to
>> happen
>>> on 20M (so far, anyway) and 2) it only happens when we crank-up the
>>> 1306 beyond ~200W. The 1306 is on a totally different, dedicated power
> line:
>>> 240V. The TS-2000's power supply is on the household's 120V. The
>>> power supply for the TS-2000 is an Astrin SS-30
>>> <https://www.hamcity.com/store/pc/SS-30-p363.htm> . So, what can I
>>> do to stop this?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> 73,
>>>
>>> Richard KK6MRH
>>>
>>
>
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