WE are killing the amateur radio bands, and here is how to fix it (RFI)

For most of us, RFI is around us all the time. It unavoidable in our technology driving lives. However, it’s often our simple appliances that put out the most RFI. Without woring to trackle it, your experience on the ham amateur radio bands will be frustrating.
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[@philipoulton7730]

"We traced the source of the RFI...It is coming from within the house! Within the house!" -70's horror film quote

[@stuarthall3874]

When I am operating from my apartment, surrounded by 200+ other apartments, the bands are almost always dead. When I drive ten minutes away to a nature preserve, I'm amazed at how the bands have opened!

[@slidewaze]

I can totally relate!

[@fiatunonewsletter6782]

You have made the best comment of all! You can run around your house fixing tiny rfi issues. What about the apartments around you, street electrical wiring and so on. Get out in nature with a field station and really enjoy the best of Amateur radio!

[@slidewaze]

@@fiatunonewsletter6782 POTA!!! (Parks On The Air)

[@fiatunonewsletter6782]

@@slidewaze Yes! And the nice interaction withe other campers, non Hams, interested... opportunity to show off our awesome hobby!

[@sramsdellwdm]

Totally relate. 4th floor apartment

[@glevideo]

Over the past year I have discovered several RFI offending appliances by clicking through the breaker panel. Some of the most significant RFI producers have been a Genie garage door opener (even while idle), Ryobi power tool battery charger, power supply to an HP All In One Officejet printer, controller on a string of LED party lights and of course a wireless IP router. Ferrite rings and clam shells help reduce RFI some but my best solution is to keep the items unplugged while using the radio. I was actually successful in getting HP and Genie to replace the offending products. The filing of an FCC complaint of radio interference carries some weight with manufacturers.

[@johnbauman4005]

I know this is an old post, but thank you! Very helpful! 73, John - KK7JBZ

[@reallybadaim118]

For my next project. Discovering a hidden second use for my LG refrigerator. An emergency CW transmitter.

[@stevethecountrycook1227]

Faraday cage! Or maybe an Indiana Jones bunker for the rugrats! LOL

[@bradenswartz3849]

Jeez, yeah. Might as well be a spark gap transmitter, lol.

[@mikeae4aw269]

Using a lawn chair as an antenna, of course.

[@natep.8452]

@radiosouthnorth911 WTF are you even trying to say? Do you have any idea how difficult this is to read? Who learned you?

[@rudert56]

Really BadAim spark gap, no doubt.

[@Brood_Master]

You need to continue that ground through to the load side cord on that line filter. It's a safety feature meant to ensure someone doesn't die if the metal parts of the dryer become energized because something live on the inside shorts to the chassis...

[@kenwoodford2599]

Love your video. I too live in So Cal and have a high noise floor on 40 meters. & years ago when I moved to current house the noise floor was higher than my last house. I too shut off all my circuit breakers and the noise floor is the same. I concluded the noise is coming from the SCE transformer on the power pole in my neighbors yard. (the pole is right on the property line between the two homes.) If my wife is blow drying her hair and I transmit on 40 meters it pops the breaker on that loop where the blow dryer is plugged into but not on any other band does it do that. So I've got other issues on 4 meters. Lastly I will say my noise floor has gone down a bit when I bought all new appliances during our remodel. Chasing RFI is a life long journey for HAM operators who loive in a high noise area anyway. Thanks for your vids. Ken

[@kwilde1131]

It seems to me the FCC should clamp down on the manufacturers of these devices for producing so much noise.

[@johnwest7993]

I'm afraid the FCC is the government, and the government pretty much works for the manufacturers and businesses. SO there will only be lip service about RFI and it's up to us to solve the problems.

[@JohnDoe-zg6fn]

No. Stop giving this idiotic government more power over ourselves and others. This is not an issue the government should be involved with.

[@SimonBlandford]

There have been EMC regulations since the 1980s but it looks like they haven’t been enforced too well.

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Don’t worry all, both sides of filter are connected to ground. Thanks for the concern! For reference. I am using the Palomar Engineers ICOM 7300 rfi kit and an additional kit of mix 31 torpid cores and snap on ferrites for my noisy devices. All are available at Palomar Engineers.

[@jdodgen6]

Put both grounds on the one ground lug.

[@tzq33tdq]

Hopefully it's grounded for a while, and put in the naughty corner!

[@JF-mq8tp]

Thanks for advice. Simply unplugging my brother's defibrillator when he wasn't looking and the noise was gone. Just kidding.

[@cephasmartin8593]

LOL! Did he complain for very long?

[@kittenboi6873]

Hopefully it stopped him whining about you stealing his coax too

[@SilentGloves]

I had just awful, splattery nonsense all over most of the HF bands.... I'm talking like +10dB at points. So I shut my entire house down and turned things on one at a time. It turned out to be the LED lightbulb in the fixture over my kitchen sink. Replaced it with a higher quality bulb, and now everything is nice and quiet.

[@scotthill6807]

Hosh, perfect timing for this video. Thank you!! I'm studying for my General License and planning my HF Radio Rig. I had completely forgotten about RFI generated from my home devices. I've been studying which Transceiver, power supply, feed line, antenna....etc. Reducing RFI is a step I would have completely missed. 73 KI5HII

[@johnwest7993]

Almost any gear will work if you're in a quiet enough location. Noise is the limiting factor.

[@gregorysmith3097]

Another awesome video. Love you tracking it down to the TV, and unplug it. Turn around and the look on the kids' faces were like "what the hell dad?"

[@speter32701]

You might have done this but make sure you connect that ground through your project box. Split it, run one to the filter, and one pass through to your dryer.

[@WJ6FRadio]

One of the most important videos you have ever produced!!! Palomar makes great product including radio specific kits. Had the opportunity to listen to them at SOARA. Keep up the superior work!

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Thank you very much for the kind words!

[@8vRocco]

* throws fridge out * "Next episode, we are gonna install an ice box to prevent RFI" I'm kidding. I did learn a lot from this video as I'm getting ready to set up some HF antennas now that I have upgraded my ticket.

[@maneroification]

My neighbor bought a new fridge and it destroyed 20m for me. Not so easy to fix it, and we even tried filters :(

[@randycastillo1404]

@@maneroification just move to the desert >:)

[@SkinlalaVision]

LOL

[@ae1tpa92gwtom2]

Ha Josh excellent topic !! I just went thru this process last week in my home... in my case biggest offenders were lights the wall mounted units with led but traditional style bulbs ok, but the smaller low voltage embedded cieling lights all had major hash, bathroom lights the worst ! But was very happy to see the cause so now working out how to combat, cheers 73s

[@mikep95133]

I had an emi/rfi device that took me over a week to nail down. 300 feet away from my house the power pole was transmitting noise into my trucks am radio as I drove under the power lines. The source was an aftermarket laptop power adapter. It spewed noise down the power lines for hundreds of feet !!!! My tiny cheap portable am radio tracked it down !!!

[@raygolf1]

Great video. Solved my RFI. My culprit was an outdoor dimmer transformer that dimmed a string of outdoor patio lights. Thank you😎👍

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Nice work!

[@n8nkqrp595]

What's destroying the ham bands, at least the CW portions - is FT8. Bring on the hate comments and dislikes. lol. This past fall we had a power outtage in my area.. and I'm not in a city.. I'm in a semi- rural area. Farms and such. I fired up my rig using a battery and was SHOCKED. Dead silence. S-0 on every band. Even when I kill the power to our house this doesn't happen. The neighbors cause a LOT of RFI. Also, check out Amidon Associates as well for ferrites, etc. Cool vid. Thanks!

[@AmishSpecialForces]

Totally NOT clickbait, great video! Thanks for taking the time to explain this!!!

[@rwl-pj4kh]

Awsome, could not get anything at my place, except the washing machine lol. We will now be having scheduled power outages haha. 73s VE6RFL

[@rodneywhitfield5754]

I just revisited this video, Good Stuff Maynard. I started messing (yup if you do electronics) early on and had some good fortune to work on some interesting stuff. You won’t really know what you’ll find when start looking, aircraft wiring gnewed by rats, signal lights, automatic doors at retail locations, ect.

[@tekkoooo]

There are lifts in our block. They generate enormous amount of RFI when moving.

[@tekkoooo]

​@Stephen Anthony No, elevators. Sorry, english is not my native language.

[@submarineradioman5535]

Excellent work! Shut down my refrigerator and freezer - noise floor dropped radically.

[@wvearil]

Not smart removing the ground on the dryer.

[@christopherrasmussen8718]

I just sunk 300$ on toridiols coils from them today for my new rig and antenna. I wish I saw this. I knew about this having helped a few hams find RFI before. That and the time we put snap on coils on the neighbors portable phone power and phone line. I am going to have to do this when I get the new rig up this week. I'll use your coupon then. 73s I am glad I found your channel.

[@N0SSC]

8:00 you could also add more toroids in lieu of loops of wire.

[@PacTel54321]

Great job! I had the same fridge issue; an off-line 12V switcher running at 3.6 MHz! I hacked in a cleaner transformer based linear supply.

[@kbjerke]

I absolutely love it when we have a power outage here... Clean listening!! 73 de Karl VE3GUN

[@ebaystars]

that's the time to run your rig on batteries and calibrate your noise floor as a reference band by band with a video or screen grab

[@bill-2018]

The power went off here about 2 weeks back. Wonderfully quiet.

[@leyland9999]

Great video! It also tells us something about the failing FCC (and their overseas equivalents) policies regarding this problem. They tell companies their products should accept interferences and avoid transmitting rf interferences by devices but it is to no avail. Makes no sense if no one keeps to these regulations. Thing is, I have already done this at my home but over here in Holland we live in overcrowded towns. And I know some switching power supplies can spoil things in a terrible way, sometimes these things have a range of several hundred meters or even more. So I gave up, I also gave up the hobby at home. So now I have invested in mobile equipment. Greetings, Willem from Holland.

[@Gabagabe1]

I'd be happy if the RFI was in my house, would just be matter of finding device and disconnecting it. So much is out of one's control around the neighborhood.. If you are an an urban environment, you don't even know half your "neighbors" and all the RFI around you.

[@dreambyte7926]

Thanks for the video! - By the way, another thing that may causes trouble on the bands are hams themselves sometimes. Apparently, too much RF power in combination with harmonics causes noise on the bands. That's nothing new, though. People were aware of this since 1924 or so (saw an article of that time once). ;) Anyway, the RFI problem is real for sure. Using magnetic antennas and multi shielded coax cables (not RG58/213) might be helpful somtimes, I guess. Getting rid/fixing of the noise sources might be most successful idea, though.

[@harrkev]

Not having a ground on your dryer sounds DANGEROUS. I would tie the grounds together. Just wondering: is there any point in telling the FCC about bad devices?

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

I’ll indeed get the dryer grounded. That also seemed incorrect to me. But for the test it worked.

[@koldark]

@@HamRadioCrashCourse I wonder if you don't just tie both grounds to the one post like in most house wiring.

[@arthursmith5252]

@@HamRadioCrashCourse Your dryer plugs in with a regular 3 prong cord? Every dryer I have ever had was 220 vac.

[@johnnemeth6913]

@@arthursmith5252 Apartment size dryers plug into regular receptacles.

[@johnnemeth6913]

@@HamRadioCrashCourse Not having your dryer grounded is beyond incorrect and going into extreme stupidity territory. Also guaranteed to be a major violation of your local electrical code.

[@davidcrowder2586]

I was thinking about getting into ham radio after a 60 year hiatus from electronics. I set up an SDR dongle and began listening to the ham bands. I was appalled at the banality of the conversations. “Hey OM how am I coming through? I’m using a new antenna I built with a coat hanger and a Victor mouse trap. 73s” Maybe it’s time to create a branch of amateur radio defined by an alternative communications system that could survive a massive denial of service attack or EMP. As of right now all ham gear would be fried along with every other computer. Maybe a legitimate ham goal would be to create a retro system using tubes (gasp) and CW. Yes, plate voltages require extreme caution when handling compared to solid state but we were building 900v power supplies back in HS.

[@davidcrowder2586]

J P We had an old radar unit with CRT. Used it for a SF project to drive an ultrasonic transducer to make a half assed ultrasonic measuring device. Took longer to make it appear to work more than when it actually worked. Never used a bicycle helmet either. My partner, future IBM, hooked some big capacitors to an old mercury vapor rectifier and charged an electric fence wire with it. Totally ruined their relationship with the neighbor.

[@NShaneMartin]

IT'S COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE!!1

[@EdGrasmann]

come on baby, come on baby Wait, wait that can't be right. It's the end of the world as we know it

[@TealJosh]

There must be some kind of way out of here, said the joker to the ham. There's too much interference now, I can't get no relief. No reason to get excited, the ham, he kindly spoke. There are many here among us, who feel the bands are but a joke. But you and I, we've been through that, and this is not our fate. So let us stop talking falsely now, the noise floor's getting high. All along the radio mast, operator kept the QSOs. While all the contacts they came and they went, CW devotees too. Outside in the cold distance, a wildcat did growl. Two arrangers were approaching, and the wind began to howl.

[@Elfnetdesigns]

IT"S IN ZE ATTIC!! no really at my old house the furnace / air handler was creating noise because of its control board

[@finnmacky7106]

😂

[@2fathomsdeeper]

IT'S WITHIN THE ROOM!!! *ailen pops out of ceiling*

[@jamesblake20]

Great Content as always! Your Dryer issue reminded me of the front load washer (LG Brand) we had. It made a lot of hash on 40m and 15M when it was not turning, or transitioning between CW and CCW. while spinning it was fine. No amount of ferrite wrapping on the power cord helped. I had to take it apart and EMI shield the circuit board and get right on to the motor casing and shield the motor controller. (My wife was eying me speculatively during this process...) Palomar makes great stuff, and I recommend their 7300 EMI kit. Thanks Again for all you do!

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Thank you!

[@brucestarr4438]

You can get RFI from a breaker itself. I had to replace the 20A-220V breaker that goes to my dryer circuit. I turned off the breaker and the noise went away, but unplugging the dryer and turning the breaker back on. The noise returned. There must have been some arcing inside the breaker. Once the breaker was replaced, the noise from that circuit went away.

[@garychap8384]

Powerline data transmission is a band-killer. How they snuck it past the FCC is beyond me... … oh... wait... could it be vast sums of cash?

[@spvillano]

@Dustin Poche why do something so traceable? First off, one should be having dinner with a judge when the fatal accident with the individual's experimental security robots occurs... ;)

[@AmateurRadio]

Cut the neutral feed soming off the secondary of the pole pig. The problem will fix itself when the refrigerator kicks on.

[@ebaystars]

@Michael's Production's yep you cant hear anything but shit....I know the feeling I live in thailand the home of the Chinese LEDs they dont even understand mains electricity let alone RFI

[@BryanTorok]

@@AmateurRadio This is not even funny. Floating your neutral from the pole can seriously damage anything you have plugged in from excessive voltage. It can also lead to letting the smoke out, as in cause a fire. Don't do it.

[@AmateurRadio]

@@BryanTorok well that was the joke haha. and yes, it was just a joke! sorry! dont do this people!

[@Etexas100]

you did a great job and a better thing for all people that have this problem !!! TY

[@cynthiaernst6230]

Thanks, another great video. I was going to ask you to show how you did your ac ground, now I will just ask you to move that video to the top of your to do list :) There are a few of us new hams that got great gear over the holidays trying to figure out how to set up our shacks safely. Thanks again!

[@_AE_EA_]

The power went out in my neighborhood the other day and I was amazed how much more I was able to pick up

[@Dianekosovich5014]

It’s very important to make sure your appliances are all grounded good. It tends to put a shield around the equipment. Then also very important is to make sure your house is grounded by a lightning rod. All homes have to have one to give you another protection. The power company doesn’t give you a good ground. Then also if you have copper water lines in the house, make sure they are also grounded. Usually in a home if something needs to be grounded, they run a grounding wire to the waterline like maybe upstairs to save running one all of the way to a panel.

[@vfsd234]

How does a lighting rod ground a house?

[@Huisinspanje]

Thanks for the heads up. I know about EMC and thus RFI. But this video brought back the importance for my shack again. About the dryer thing... good idea to proper ground the thing. Further, don't put the filter in the center of the lead. When placing filtered and unfiltered lines together, you will short the filter again by capacitive coupling. Thanks a lot for the video! Will help a lot of people! 73, PA8E, Wim

[@James_Bowie]

Removing the ground from a dryer is NOT a good move.

[@WarpFactor999]

Ungrounded 220VAC is a REALLY bad idea. That RFI filter was not made for a 220VAC high current device.

[@KuntoHarjadjiBaiquni]

I agree with you. He should connect the ground together, only the Live and Neutral should go thru the filter. That's it

[@n5ifi]

The grounds should be on the common or same lug.

[@BEdmonson85]

Yeah I came down here to say the same. Lifting that ground is not only dangerous, but a code violation. There's only one lug for the ground wires because they are all meant to be bonded together on the same post.

[@BryanTorok]

@@WarpFactor999 That is 120 VAC. Look at the connectors. This must be a gas dryer with electronic controls (microprocessor and switching supply) as opposed to old style switches and relays. The main current draw is the motor to drive the drum and that filter looks like it will handle that. It might be better to put the filter closer to the control circuitry.

[@Ph871-w8v]

Really useful to see, thank you 👍 curious to know have you used the MFJ-915 RF Line Isolator and your thoughts on that would be gratefully received 😁👍

[@F1shifty50]

That extra ground wire can go on the same lug.

[@bill-2018]

A couple of weeks back the electricity supply went off. It was wonderful! The noise cleared up on h.f. There's nothing in my house creating noise, well, maybe my computer but I don't have it on when I'm on the air anyway so I don't know. It's as I suspected from my one or both of my neighbours houses. I had already asked them twice if they had anything switched on permanently and they both said they didn't. I now think it's something on standby because it's always there both night and day. The only thing in my house is my boiler affecting mw and lw.

[@PepperandCaseysRV]

Another ace bit of info. KZbin is lucky to have folks like you.

[@liontomh]

Very informative!

[@dxace1]

Very useful thanks...so I never thought of adding the toroidals to the actual noise-producing appliances...

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

You have to if they are bad enough. Your basically using the toroid to null the line which is being used as an antenna.

[@mikewalsh511]

I use an MFJ 1025 Noise Canceling Signal Enhancer box to null out my noise. It is the best tool for dealing with noise I have ever used. Much better than any dsp box or wrapping all my cords with toroids. All you need is an antenna that receives the same noise as what you are getting on your rig. Plug that into the box, turn some knobs and the noise is gone. Without degrading the signals underneath. It's a little expensive at over $200 but well worth it these days.

[@timb4655]

Great job. Very well presented. Planning to tackle my s9+ noise floor (40m) sometime soon before I build myself a permanent HF antenna at my QTH. 73 de 2E0IEH 👍

[@brianrose2487]

I have power lines overhead plus rf. In the house it's hard to manage but need to get serious and go threw my breakers! Great video and gives me some inspiration, thanks!

[@kchaney56]

The cost of this hobby just keeps going up and up and up.

[@sandasturner9529]

Just like insurance and taxes

[@PY4004SWL]

Every ham radio operator should take the time to write a letter addressed to the companies in order to question them. It's important to demonstrate dissatisfaction with the products that cause ugly interference in vital HF bands.

[@BryanTorok]

I realize I commented on (and therefore watched) this video two years ago. My thought is why do we keep accepting this? Why do we take it lying down? We need to complain to the appliance manufacturer and/or the power company. And, not just once but repeatedly until they fix the problem. If you are not getting satisfaction, write to the FCC, again repeatedly until you get some response and some action. Most folks try once or twice and give up. For those who don't think this works, the FCC fined and forced Home Depot to eat millions of dollars worth of noisy Chinese LED light fixtures. The FCC went after computer manufacturers for selling home computers with noisy supplies. They have gone after power companies and cable companies. The FCC is not fast, but they are the 900 pound gorilla when it comes to RFI. Another option is to get together with some other hams, find an attorney, and file a class action law suit. This is tougher because you need about 25 people with the same problem from the same defendant to make it practical.

[@bill-2018]

Nobody listens to us. The RSGB this month said over 18 months amateurs reported noise to them and they got in touch with Ofcom but the complaints were rejected without further investigation. The RSGB have no power. The Minister for Digital and Broadband sends a standard letter from a secretary who knows nothing saying to get in touch with my broadband provider. BT will charge me money to take down their offending line. It's at the point I no longer operate except on 60m which seems clear. I've not renewed my subscription to the RSGB because I don't want to just read about radio. Every year for the last three I've wondered about renewing it. G4GHB

[@BryanTorok]

@@bill-2018 It is a shame that you face such conditions. I'm sure that if you interfered with your neighbor's radio or television, they would come out promptly and investigate you. In the USA, our Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may be a huge bureaucracy, but if one complains enough they will eventually take action.

[@stargazer7644]

OK Don Quixote. Let us know how that goes for you.

[@BryanTorok]

@@stargazer7644 It does work. I know it works. I gave a couple examples of major companies forced to comply. Another example that comes to mind is a ham friend complained to the FCC that a local TV stations signal was not in compliance. The station's chief engineer was majorly pissed when the FCC showed up to inspect and then ordered the transmitter repaired.

[@stargazer7644]

@@BryanTorok A local TV station has to comply with stringent emission requirements as a licensed transmitter. This is apples and oranges. The power supply in your TV set is not a licensed transmitter - it's a very low powered un-intentonal radiator. And all of the emissions demonstrated in this video are conducted through the power lines, not radiated through the air.

[@karlfrederick5731]

Best part was at 9:32. Had not seen the line filter before. Need to keep that in mind for RFI hunting. Must be grounded thought. Will look more closely at the dryer & washer circuit next time I go hunting. I wonder does someone make a trap / torrid that can be placed before the panel... on the main feed coming in? Would be nice to eliminate any RFI coming in from the Power Company's meter, etc.?

[@seanwieland9763]

How about your microwave oven? That’s another intermittent use device that probably spews a ton of RFI when operating.

[@Elfnetdesigns]

no, that is typicallt RF shielded and in the 2.4GHz range, if you get noise from that on HF you need a new microwave oven..

[@lt4324]

Microwave ovens NEVER cause RFI in the HF spectrum, I have yet to see one cause RFI on HF.

[@Elfnetdesigns]

@@lt4324 well if the seal is breached or the switching power supply for the timer maybe but no they dont

[@stargazer7644]

@@Elfnetdesigns The faraday cage that is a microwave oven only attenuates the thousand watt microwave signal being generated inside, it doesn't eliminate it. Some signal is ALWAYS radiated, whether the seal is bad or not. The noise floor on 2.4 GHz goes way up at dinner time when all the houses around start using their microwave ovens.

[@uncleben03]

Funny you should have this video out right now. I just dealt with this a few days ago using the circuit breaker method. I have access to a full array of RADAR Engineers RFI locating gear through work, so I used the TVI/RFI locating wand to locate a laptop power supply in my garage and also my TYT DMR portable charger! Went from an S7 down to an S2/3. My big problems were above 20MHz

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Wow, I want that RFI tracking gear!

[@uncleben03]

@@HamRadioCrashCourse I think the Radar Engineers products are pretty affordable. I'm a Telecom tech at a utility company so part of my job is tracking down customer complaints of powerline interference. Favorite part of my job! My favorite cases to handle are when I determine it's not powerline interference but always offer to the customer to help them track it down anyway even though it's not our responsibility. It's interesting how many times it's something inside the customer's house.

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Man you could start a small business helping ham tracking down rfi inside and outside the house.

[@bluesdude758]

Oh crap, Ferrites!! No wonder my ferrets didn't work! 😁 Great video!

[@kevinrogers816]

God I wish it was that simple. Our area has S8 and above noise from a composite of sources that are so plentiful and multiplicative that very little can be done. Shutting off all power to the home and the neighbors homes makes no difference. Hunting and finding power line noise contributors (typically pole insulator wrappings and lightning arrestors and to a lesser extent transformers) helps a tiny tiny tiny tiny bit. Currently using a Wellbrook ALA1530 magnetic loop. That helps a tiny tiny bit at lowering both signals and noise, with a slight slight improvement in S/N ratio.

[@larrybomber83]

Great Job! Thanks for the help. I will be sure and get the noise down in my shack since I have seen this video.

[@paulpearce1161]

I am a keen SWL living in s w UK .I have had to give up my hobby due to solar panels on the roof of the building. The interference is absolutely horendous. Thankfully I have been able to find some Web sdr stations on the internet. I'm enjoying them but it's not the same as using your own rig . Thanks for your channel . Very interesting.

[@mrtechie6810]

What exactly is generating the noise?

[@bill-2018]

@@mrtechie6810 I suspect it's an inverter.

[@rickhunt3183]

Before anyone gets the idea they know the purpose of grounding and bonding. I recommend going to Mike Holt's Grounding -safety fundamentals video. That video explains it all. Grounding does not protect someone from electrical shock. Some devices use a ground and some do not, adding a ground that's not required will not eliminate the possibility of electrical shock. Don't argue with me, bring it up with Mike . He is one of the leading experts in the country on electrical safety and power distribution systems. There is so much bad advice and misunderstanding on grounding even in the comment section here it would take an hour long seminar to address it.

[@antonisxenos1053]

What an excellent video! Many thanks dude!

[@rawlinharringtonke8tiq837]

I've been dealing with a drug house down the road for 2yrs now knocking out HF. I've been dealing with Laura Smith and John Kuzma at FCC and ARRL and nobody cares. The real problem is FCC and ARRL doing nothing for the amateur radio community. It blows my mind that people actually give money to ARRL

[@KX4UL]

Very good information Josh. Excellent video quality too!

[@fm71450]

Thank you, Josh!

[@xowi]

Excellent video, thanks for sharing.

[@fiddlersgreenproductions6437]

Were you getting all that noise from your dryer with it just plugged in but not actually running? My shack is currently in the basement right below the laundry room. If we are doing laundry I don't even bother turning the radio on. Does your dryer really run on 110 rather than 220? Great job, this is a very logical and quite simple to find the RFI...now to get the wife and kids out of the house for a few hours.

[@glasslinger]

Ah, found the circuit with the noise! MY HAM SHACK! :)

[@migsvensurfing6310]

Sad...but with your great skills you will find a solution :) Looking forward to your next video. Love them. So much have I learned.

[@skybot9998]

It always amazes me how ameaturs cant interfere with others( rightly so) but everything else can interfere with us.

[@budchestnut9303]

You might wish to comment on the challenges with living in an apartment or townhome complex as SH suggests. Even in my rural neighborhood, (everyone has 5 acres) I have neighbors with every conceivable type of RFI generators. One neighbor collects old cars and his garage sports several neon and other antique signs that are notorious and his tig welder has a switching supply that is gnarly. I also have neighbors with RF leaking from their homes from cable TV etc. In one instance the cable leak is so bad I can aim a YAGI that way and watch their cable! We also have rural electric service and hey have some very bad transformer and interconnect RFI that they claim they do not have the tools, equipment or time to pursue! Agreed the RFI from modern devices can be horrendous. I sort fo love older less "efficient" appliances because they are not the culprits. AB4P . - . 73

[@richb.4374]

Cheap Chinese electronics and HOA's will be the death of amateur radio.

[@Spookieham]

Not the video I expected - I thought it would be another "digimodes are bad!"😄 Very useful real world video - thanks.

[@fecklarjenkins2549]

The fridge is listening and reporting to the government

[@Elfnetdesigns]

In 2020 America fridge chills you out..

[@alexalonso2093]

That's actually not too far fetched.. your phones tablets etc even baby monitors sick ppl😒

[@stargazer7644]

After searching far and wide for my source of HF noise, I tracked it down to the battery charger in a UPS sitting under the radio table.

[@ClayAutery]

I have thusfar eliminated about 50 of the 75+ switch-mode power supplies from my house. The PROBLEM is that sooooo many products with SMPS FAIL to engineer proper filtering on the power supplies to filter out the hash/noise. LOTS of issues.... but the WORST are cheap SMPSs...

[@glaucouswingedgull]

I thought dryers were generally all 220 V. I see yours must be 110 V. Wonder if your solution would be applicable? Generally my dryer is almost always off.

[@camamoutback]

led lights are culprits .. I have many flush mount leds and they kill about any terrestrial broadcast broadcasts.. nice video

[@TignerAdventures]

Man this is a great help. Who knew. Thanks man.

[@k2icc]

Poor of me with a lot and all kind of electronics in my radio shack room. Nice video. A big project I got ahead.

[@TruthVSLies]

Great information. Thank you.

[@dmb3428]

my monitor causes rfi on 20m, also a light in the kitchen and dryer which is at the other end of the house....I have ferrite chokes and torroid on power cables going into the 7300 and computer cables also line isolator on the feed line( which made the biggest difference). My samlex power supply had a bit of noise but opened it up to fix a ground which helped

[@emesix]

Just want to point out that the line filter should be mounted inside the metal frame of your appliance. The earth connection of the terminal of the filter is then directly connected to you appliance. In your current setup you should connect the outbound earth wire to the housing of the filter. Also the "long" wire from you appliance to your filter will still be transmitting RFi noise.

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

This is a great point and was that ended up realizing was the right way to do it. I just need a day to drag the dryer out and disconnect the power line and mount the filter. When I continue this topic, I will indeed point that out. Cheers!

[@slincolne]

It would be tempting to dismantle the dyer and see what is going on. Mine is (happily) a very simple device, where the only smarts are in a motorised timer that runs until the dryer switches off. When it's off it draws no power and makes no noise.

[@stargazer7644]

Most people don't have dryers from the 1970s today.

[@johnrandall879]

working for Sony for many years I would like to add to your comments that the biggest FRI is nowadays all the Switch mode power supplies that are in everything. Gone are the days of Transformer power supplies that never had much RFI. Did you check Ham Radio power supplies for RFI... On another note, I have not checked mine yet what about inverters for solar power. I am totally on solar and I am just setting up my Ham Radio setup . john R

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Yep! Inverters can be noisy!

[@RustyShackleford42069]

You sold me when you shut off the TV and your kid said "Heeeyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy". Radio Equipment - hundreds of dollars Hand Held Signal Hunter - tens of dollars Bugging Your Kids - Priceless

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Haha!!

[@denis_w1wv131]

You could bootstrap your drier filter with added 31 mix beads or torroid on the load side lead. Now I have to mitigate RFI from my fridge. Every wall wart is eliminated in my shack and replaced with a linear ps or battery.

[@gatorvern9522]

Thanks for the good information!

[@ericdreizen1463]

That nasty hum I often get when I tune my linear? Coming outa the walls? Hmmm.... If I let it go, probably won't hurt anything anyway. Still, would rather not have it. I have a 7300 too. Just got it, & I love it! I do have the RF chokes from Palomar & I have the generic kit for linear amps. I guess I'll stick 'em on! Gr8 video. Thank u!!! - AJ6C

[@mellio72]

Please go back and reconnect your Equipment Grounding Conductor. If a Hot wire from within your dryer were to come in contact with the metal case of your dryer the breaker wouldn't blow and it would be sitting there Hot waiting on someone to touch it and be shocked or worse. Do a search on Equipment Grounding Conductor to see how important it is.

[@HamRadioCrashCourse]

Will do!

[@indymac7]

Excellent information

[@felixmeyer7757]

Local QRM Frequently one hears strong QRM on the bands, which is not received from the air but is created locally by any device in the local vicinity. Then, we first have to find the device that produces this interference, and then we have to remove the cause of this interference. Here follows the story how I solved this kind of problem: During my recent antenna tests I had a lot of problems with strong local QRM. After installation of the antenna in Santiago I had a QRM level of S9 throughout the HF band. Only stations with signals over S9 could be heared. So I had to localize the source of this interference. I got help through my transistor radio which has 7 SW bands. With the extended whip antenna I walked around the houses on our street, listening on a clear frequency close to the HAM band. So I saw, that close to or house the noise level was highest, and walking away the noise disappeared. Then I cut the current of our house - and the noise remained. Now I went carefully around our house and noted, that next to the neighbours house the noise was strongest. I pushed the bell of the neighbour and asked if I may cut the current of its house to find out, if the source of the noise is from there. And really, after "power off" we had silence on the radio. Then I asked permission to check inside the house, and by entering the living room it was easy to detect, that the cause of the noise was a DVD player (Brand Daewoo). This equipment was purchased little time before. Next day the neighbour went to the warehouse where he buyed it. They told him that the guarantee just expired. So I offered him to denoise this apparatus. The cause of the noise was a switched power supply which had no adequate filtering. Interesting was, that the power ON switch of the equipment was behind the switched power supply, therefore the noise was generated as long as the connector was plugged to power ... Remedy of the noise was a filter circuit which was installed inside the DVD player, just at the power line input. Required material for the filter: 2 ferrite rings FT114-43 (or FT140-43) material 43 is much better than material 77 2 capacitors of 10000 pF (0.01 uF), 1400 V DC, ceramic disk (low inductance) isolated litz wire Ring 1: 2 isolated litz wires wound individually on the ring. First wire: 8 turns beginning from the top front of the ring through the hole on the right half side of the ring. Then with the second wire: 8 turns beginning from the top front of the ring through the hole on the left half side of the ring. Seen from the front: both wires are beginning from the top and are ending behind on the lower side. All 4 ends have to be prepared to be soldered by stripping off the isolation at the ends. Ring 2: 2 isolated litz wires are wound in parallel on the ring. 8 to 10 turns distributed over the full ring. Also these 4 ends have to be prepared for soldering Now solder the output of ring 1 to the input of ring 2. Now, the power line inside the unit has to be cut just behind the enter point into the unit and both ends have to be prepared for soldering. The arriving power line is to be soldered to the input of ring 1. Then solder the output of ring 2 to the power line which continues inside the unit. As next, locate a ground connection close to the enter point of the power line. Eventually, the metallic housing has to be scratched to allow soldering of a thick ground wire directly to the metallic housing (using a strong soldering tool). Now, solder the first capacitor between ground connection to the first soldering point between ring 1 and ring 2. Then, solder the second capacitor between ground connection to the second soldering point between ring 1 and ring 2. As next, all soldering points have to be isolated carefully with PVC tape, and fix the two rings from moving around. Close the housing. - Finished. Power on and test: Before installation of the filter, strong noise was heared from medium wave to all SW bands. After filter installation no noise was detectable. Test on HF band with radio equipment: The previous noise of S9 disappeared, the band was clear with a ground level noise of S1. --- At the second test location, 1000 km south of Santiago, the same problem: The full HAM band with noise of S9 and more. Again searching the source: 3 equipments were found which were causing interference in the same house where the antenna was installed: 1. = Computer with switched PS in miditower. 2. = Fax Unit Panasonic KX-F580 3. = AIRSPAN, Subscriber Terminal Indoor (= wireless phone and Internet connection) In all cases, the noise came from inadequately filtered switched power supplies. Depending on the type of switched power supply, the created noise differs. Some produce a broadband "white noise", others a broad, unstable noise which is heared abt. every 40 to 80 KHz on the bands. At all 3 units the same filter circuit was used to denoise. With the only difference, that in the third unit no space was available to install the ferrite rings. There I had to wind air coils, which could be placed between the switched power supply and the circuit board. After installing all filters the ground level noise on a free frequency dropped also to S1. Note: You have to be aware, that if the unit where you installed the filters, may cause another problem: If it fails later on, they may try to make you responsible for any other defect. Therefore you should be aware of that. In some cases it is recommendable to install the necessary filters externally, even so the effect of the filter would be best, if the filter is inside the unit.

[@brianveitenheimer4492]

My Samsung washer is horrible! My LED pot lights in my newly renoed kitchen are nearly as bad. The struggle is real.

[@jessstuart7495]

Modern appliances are switching (pun intended!) to variable frequency induction motor drives. While they are power efficient, and provide greater control, they require a DC source generated from a switching power supply.

[@mikethees6434]

Thanks Josh never thought about fridge and dryer

[@timg5tm941]

Great video .. thanks 👍

[@fixman88]

I got my Sangean MMR-88 radio delivered today and in the instructions is a little sheet that says to keep any power supplies for the radio at least 12 inches away from it to avoid interference in the AM band, and the it’s due to DoE regulations requiring switching power supplies for energy efficiency reasons..... typical bureaucracies.

[@realcomsolucoes7403]

Thanks for your nice tips