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Re: [RFI] tips for finding the source of broadband mixing products

To: rfi@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [RFI] tips for finding the source of broadband mixing products
From: Jim Brown <jim@audiosystemsgroup.com>
Reply-to: jim@audiosystemsgroup.com
Date: Sun, 29 Sep 2019 20:28:44 -0700
List-post: <mailto:rfi@contesting.com>
On 9/29/2019 7:48 PM, JW via RFI wrote:
How are you determining all this - you do realize, in close proximity to
a transmitting rig, much (albeit low-level) RF comes straight out the
power leads

If that happens, there are errors in design and/or construction.

and can 'modulate'/be modulated by the power supply
energy that also escapes, including simple rectifier supplies using only
diodes?

Ingress/egress is a linear function, and depends strongly on details of both design and construction. Nearly all modern equipment fails to terminate cable shields and power green wires properly. They SHOULD go the the shielding enclosure (chassis), but they nearly always go first to the circuit board, THEN eventually find the chassis after wandering around return circuitry for a while. This equipment flaw, first discovered by a ham working in pro audio, is called "The Pin One Problem," because the designated shield contact of the connector commonly used for balanced audio circuits is Pin 1.

The method in which equipment is built usually makes it impractical to correct these design errors, so the best fix is a serious common mode choke on the cable(s) involved. And because the ingress/egress is via the green wire or the cable shield, conventional line filters are useless UNLESS they are internal, and with their shielding enclosure bonding the green wire to the equipment shielding enclosure! They treat only the differential voltage and current between phase and neutral, phase and ground, and neutral and ground.

The only effect of signal strength is on the strength of the mixing products.

We demonstrated this at Heathkit several different ways, including using
a spectrum analyzer to 'sniff' the stray RF coming back out via the radio's
power cable WHICH in turn was modulated and showed 120 Hz sidebands ...

So you added an AC line filter with its shielded enclosure bonded to the chassis, right? THAT would work.

73, Jim K9YC

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