richard,
I forget if you said whether you have a common mode choke in the coax to
your antenna?
That's always a first try at keeping R.F. out of where it doesn't belong.
Also you could try disconnecting the ground from the power supply, and/or
making that individual ground wire a bit longer and taking a few turns of it
through a ferite core near the supply.
Yes it's closer to sorcery than science! <GRIN>
good luck
Tom Fowle WA6IVG
On Fri, Jan 15, 2016 at 11:11:43AM -0500, Steve Forst wrote:
> Dave,
>
> I'm not an electrician or a doctor (although I played one when I was 6),
> but my understanding is that the National Electric Code (NEC) mandates
> that all grounds should be bonded to the electric mains ground.
>
> I'm sure others with more experience will chime in.
>
> 73, if you are on the 20 meter net Sunday, try the processor, it brought
> you up a bit on 40 last Sunday when you were chatting with Junior.
> Steve KW3A
>
>
>
>
>
> On 1/15/2016 10:54 AM, David Weigel wrote:
> > Hi, Richard, Steve and readers:
> > It is always interesting to learn about the various ways to reduce or
> > eliminate RF in the radio room. I was wondering if it would be a better
> > practice or at least worth a try to NOT connect the 2 ground rods together
> > electrically. I was thinking that the 120 VAC ground rod might create a low
> > volume "buzz" or spiky noise, coming back on the separate equipment-ground
> > rod pathway. But I could be wrong. And, as Steve suggested earlier, my
> > preference is to place ferrite clamps on all cables, jumpers, etc. "Line
> > Isolators are recommended by The Radio Works, particularly when there are
> > extraordinary length connections to ground rods, or when there can be no
> > ground rodds whatsoever. although I have never used them. Just stirring the
> > pot, slowly.
> >
> > Dave Weigel KD4JEZ
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: For blind ham radio operators [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> > On Behalf Of Steve Forst
> > Sent: Friday, January 15, 2016 10:16 AM
> > To: [log in to unmask]
> > Subject: Re: How to Stop RFI from Shutting Down My TS-2000's Power Supply?
> >
> > 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
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>
> >
|
