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Re: [RFI] Noisy routers

Subject: Re: [RFI] Noisy routers
From: "Roger (K8RI)" <k8ri@rogerhalstead.com>
Date: Sat, 03 Jan 2009 18:49:34 -0500
List-post: <rfi@contesting.com">mailto:rfi@contesting.com>

Nathaniel Lee wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> Earlier this year, mulling through the archives, there was a bit of talk 
> about noisy routers. There was not a hefty solutions to be found without 
> turning the earth upside down. 
>
> I have a lynksis WRT54g that is quite noisy on HF. I now have it in a large 
> metal 
I have a D-Link DBI524 (Gigabit) that currently is nothing more than a 
PC board hanging on the leads.(It's had a hard life) and it quiet as a 
church mouse 1.8 through 440.
> cookie box with holes for ventilation and assorted plumbing.  I also made two 
> holes for the antennae for the wifi side.
I've disconnected the WiFi antennas and use only CAT5e or CAT6 for two 
reasons.  The two longest runs are 133' which in itself should work with 
WiFi BUT those computers are in my shop which has a bonded, barn metal 
interior. That leaves only one relatively small window (~40"H X 30"W) to 
the South. Then there is the security issue.  A friend to the South uses 
WiFi , but  even using encryption it was getting cracked several times a 
week. No, I don't know what brand.

Actually there is a third reason  and probably the biggest.  Speed!  So 
far, I find the Gigabit network to be slow, let aloneWiFi.  I back up 
large files across the network, with backups often being as much as 100 
to 200 GBs (NOT Gbs).  When cleaning systems it can run into the 
terabytes.  When it takes many hours to redo a 750 Gig, or 1 Terabyte  
HD on a gigabit network, just think of what it'd be like to try it with 
WiFi.  Get a couple of corrupt files which happens all too often and you 
end up moving all the files to the back up, doing a low level format, 
checking the drive for any bad blocks and if it's good, moving, or 
copying everything back.
>  I also have a ferrite bead on the power supply line, and toroids on the 
> incoming and outgoing wires. The toroids are ones bought from radio shack and 
> are rectangular and break in the middle. The ugly signals are now down to s6 
> on 20meters.  I am using the regular blue cat5 cabling for two desktops. What 
> else can one do?
>   
Larger cores with multiple turns of the CAT5e, and possibly shielded CAT5e.
> Until it improves, the HF antenna is a 75m GP about 20' in the air and about 
> 25' away from the router itself.
>   
A real GP 66' tall or a loaded vertical used as a GP? That should be far 
enough away.  I can't hear anything on my network for more than a couple 
inches with a Yaesu FT897D and a small antenna for testing.

Is the coax well grounded at the base of the vertical and where it enters the 
house?  Is the rig/station well grounded? Are you sure the noise is getting in 
through the antenna? Have you disconnected the coax AT the antenna, but left it 
hooked to the rig.  Completely removed the coax?


|Can anyone reccommend a quiet router?

The D-Link DBI524, which is an older Gigabit router in a plastic case 
works well here. (YMMV)  Add to that the Cable modem and switch, none of 
which are shielded and it works well... so far.  Quite possibly I've 
been lucky, I don't know.
3 of the computers have the NIC integrated on the motherboards while the 
other two use PCI NICs.

73 and good luck,

Roger (K8RI)
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