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Re: [RFI] Broadband RFI...

To: rfi@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [RFI] Broadband RFI...
From: Jim Brown <jim@audiosystemsgroup.com>
Reply-to: jim@audiosystemsgroup.com
Date: Tue, 31 May 2016 22:47:49 -0700
List-post: <rfi@contesting.com">mailto:rfi@contesting.com>
On Tue,5/31/2016 4:33 PM, Dave Cole wrote:
I swear you have a paper on just about every subject of interest.  '

RFI/ EMC is a topic I started working on professionally around 2001. I'm still vice-chair of the AES Standards Committee Working Group on EMC, and am a principal author of all of our Standards on EMC. A lot of what I know came from hanging out with some of the other very bright guys in that WG.

I am doing a bit of RF snooping already, using the P3 fed from the K3,
which shows me plus and minus 100 KHz, not much but it has already shown
that it is VERY unstable on startup, and as time passes, it stables
down.  I will have some movies of this over the next few weeks or so,
using a real SA.

Don't shortchange the P3 -- it is a REAL spectrum analzyer, and, if you've calibrated your K3, the P3 will also be calibrated. There are instructions in the K3 manual for doing amplitude calibration if you have a calibrated generator.

There are some settings and adjustments that make the P3 more powerful. First, always use averaging of the amplitude display, and at its maximum setting. This gets rid of all the random stuff and lets us concentrate on signals and electronic noise. Second, always keep the bottom of the display adjusted to the noise floor. This makes signals (and noise) far more visible. Third, set the Scale so that you see the relatively weak noise traces that we're looking for. Fourth, used "Fixed Tune Mode," so that averaging does not reset every time you tune. And for chasing noise, I usually use the widest setting (200 kHz).

Also, on the K3, set S-Meter to Absolute and turn the preamp on. This will maximize the sensitivity of the P3. I think there's also a setting for that in the P3 menu.

73, Jim K9YC


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