Dear friends,
Ken eliminated his RFI by improving his electrical system's connection to
ground. I have heard similar accounts before and don't doubt them. A
short, low-inductance path to ground is better than a long, inductive,
conductor connecting (or trying to connect) the AC circuit's "ground" to
the Earth.
Returning to my original question that started this thread... "I'll bet
that my noise floor could be improved by a better RF connection to Earth,
but how can I do it? "
W9IP
-----Original Message-----
From: RFI <rfi-bounces+nlsa=nlsa.com@contesting.com> On Behalf Of Ken Gordon
Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2025 9:48 PM
To: rfi@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [RFI] RF noise and ground
The recent thread on this issue reminded me of an incident I ran into in our
own home.
Several years ago, I decided to replace the too-small electrical panel in
our home with a 200 amp capable panel.
Before we bought this home, it had been "modified and upgraded" by two
ex-students of the professor who owned our home before we bought it.
After installing the new panel (I am a qualified electrician),in the
concrete basement I investigated the "ground" system the previous pair had
installed.
I had been having considerable trouble from RFI to our household
applicances, most often when I was operating on 40 meters.
When I investigated the "ground" system, I discovered a piece of #8 solid
copper wire, leading from the buss bar of the old panel, exacly 33 feet
long, terminating at a very carefully installed clamp to the cold-water feed
from the city system....which was plastic pipe.
I replaced that with a much shorter bit of #8 solid copper wire, terminating
at two 8' long copper-plated steel ground rods about 5 feet from the new
panel. I would love to have been able to install those ground-rods closer to
the panel, but was unable to do so due to the surrounding concrete. I DID
make it as short as I could.
RFI disappeared.
Ken W7EKB
--
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
www.avast.com
_______________________________________________
RFI mailing list
RFI@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rfi
_______________________________________________
RFI mailing list
RFI@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rfi
|