LCARA HAM Radio: Reducing RFI in the HAM Shack!!!!

[@1crazynordlander]

Great video! I am surprised you don't have more subscribers and views on your channel. This winter I was able to run off 12 volt battery power during a snow storm and see the difference from running off house power. It was pretty amazing. I have since bought a linear power supply, upgraded my feed lines to LMR-400 and that alone has improved the noise floor in my shack. I made sure that my feed lines go through lightening protection and are grounded to the main house electrical ground but I still have to add more ground rods to my radio system to be sure that I am well grounded. If you check in the National Electrical Code you do need to bond the house ground to the shack ground to eliminate voltage potential between grounding sources. It's code and common sense.

[@LCARAHAMRadio]

@1craxynordlander Thanks for the feedback! We are growing as a channel and started back in May of last year. I plan to do another video on grounding my shack and ensuring there isn't a grounding difference between the house and the radio. Keep the comments coming!

[@fotisbito108]

My dear friend, i have seen hundreds of ham interrst videos. Thanks for your clear speaking, detailed information, and most importand ... Steady camera... How i enjoyed. Your videos goes abroad also and slow clear speaking is a bonus for us.... Best 73 sv1ain

[@LCARAHAMRadio]

You are most welcome

[@johnledger7763]

Thanks Brian great video was also very helpful to me. 73s

[@errlan]

So close to being a great video. I wanted to see the noise floor after you installed the ferrites with the furnace running.

[@huxleyhudson2261]

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[@melvinthaddeus2943]

@Huxley Hudson Instablaster ;)

[@huxleyhudson2261]

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[@huxleyhudson2261]

@Melvin Thaddeus it worked and I actually got access to my account again. I'm so happy:D Thanks so much you really help me out!

[@melvinthaddeus2943]

@Huxley Hudson happy to help =)

[@kenwooley9414]

Good video and good points. I'm chasing down noise sources as well. Found several with more to go. You mentioned likely doing a second video on this topic. Did it ever get done? Thanks WA1BFS

[@c515mps]

Interesting video. I have not been able to use my sidebands,due to noise ,that would disappear if power to mains sockets is turned off.Tried disabling every appliance in the house,when running radio on battery power but no good. Seems to be coming from the wall where the mains switching board is .Not sure if moving to a different part of the house would work,so I will try a suppression kit as you suggested. Ray,England.

[@W9KHP]

CQ CQ KY4BDP - Brian try checking your thermostat as the culprit of your noise. Those brown wires running up the PVC conduit should run to it. Those are 24v most times but I have seen some that are 12v. If you have a digital thermostat that may be the RFI. Just a thought of something you can do with the furnace.

[@LCARAHAMRadio]

Thanks for the tip!

[@davem7847]

Brian, it looks like you have the power supply covered at both ends, do wall wart cabling need to be filtered at both ends? And if you only put one core/split ferrite on a wall wart, is it better on the wall wart cube end or where it goes into the device?

[@theripper121]

I have just got into GMRS and after taking test will prob get into ham as well but I've got a pretty restricted setup. I rent and limited to space and room I can put equipment into. I rent and so can't mount external antennas so at the moment just have a long slim jim mounted at window. It makes a big difference vs using say a nagoya 771g on my ht. I have noticed now though I have a DAC/Headphone amp that doesn't play nice and completely kills any signals I was getting when it's on. Hopefully choking this device when I get my ferrites will eliminate that issue for it's a device I use every day and simply can't just easily unplug it when using ht.

[@mjktrash]

While you touched on it once, it wasn't clear to me if the furnace ALWAYS generates RFI when it has power, or only when the fan itself is running? Modern furnaces have a lot of electronics, so it's plausible that they always make RFI...?

[@daniell8387]

Snap-on ferrite beads on the furnace's power supply wouldn't help?

[@rulon152]

What size toroid was that for the ic7300 power cables?

[@stevenlawhon3695]

What mix are you using 31-43?

[@hash46176]

Im thinking of getting an icom ic 7300

[@whamni]

your thermostat !

[@oe5pop320]

Hello , My English is not so good. Wich Ferrite to you use? Plz, Name it. Thx

[@LCARAHAMRadio]

OE5POP - Palomar Engineers ICOM 7300 RFI kit. palomar-engineers.com/ferrite-application-experts-2/HF-Base-Deluxe-Transceiver-RFI-and-Noise-Reduction-Kit-14-Filters-p102095566

[@Roadglide59]

For HF use 31 mix. Good for 1khz to 60mhz

[@thomasnewbery7449]

I'll wager that, taking the appropriate safety measures, if you accessed that top front panel you'd find the AC wires leading from that junction box into the compartment and enough space to install a toroid... worst case, you'd have enough room for a few clamp-on ferrites. So don't let the furnace intimidate you.... after all, you ARE a "ham" and are familiar with circuitry.... Newt, KA7MWQ

[@benollo6547]

Very informative. Great how-to demonstration. Any devices to do waterfall for folks with older radios?

[@LCARAHAMRadio]

@Ben Ollo Sure, you could use one of the SDR panadapters like the rsp1a inline with your radio to see the same noise.

[@W9KHP]

I completely agree with that reply. Even a cheap SDR connected to your PC and antenna system. Many options out there. I do have the RSP1a but also have 6 or 7 other SDRs in the shack too. I likes me gadgets. What can I say. :)

[@twohandsandaradio]

The computer monitor is my biggest culprit. I don't see how people have a shack full of monitors. I just turn it off and all is good.

[@LCARAHAMRadio]

@Radio Active - I have to turn off the monitor next to my HF rig when in use as well.

[@RuSomeKindaIdiot]

Video starts great but ends off topic. What was the effect of the install of the toroids to fix the furnace issue? Stay focused so as not to waist viewers time!