[RFI] DirecTV TVI Issue

Dan Levin djl at andlev.com
Tue Sep 21 18:05:14 EDT 2004


My neighbor (I only have one, within about 500 yards),
reports that he can "hear me" while watching his DirecTV
satellite TV.  I have not yet experienced this myself,
since my station is 150 miles from here and I don't spend
much time there - but I believe that he has a real issue.

I'm looking for hints about where/how to go about
debugging/fixing this problem.  Here are the two things
that I know:

0) He lives in an olde, rural, cottage.  It is very
likely that his electrical service, wiring, etc. are
archaic.  His house is about 500 yards from my tower.

1) The A/C power to his house runs overhead, about 20'
up, and about 20' away from my tower.  He reports the
most issues when I transmit on my low yagi, which is
at about 38', and when I run 1500 watts.  He reports
no issues when I run 100 watts.  I don't know if the
power line runs overhead all the way to his house, but
it is likely that it does (rather than being overhead
near my tower, and then underground at his house.

2) His DirecTV dish is on the ground, about 30' away
from my tower, and roughly in the main lobe of the
yagi in question.

Things I am thinking about:

1) Seems to me that the most likely source of trouble
is that I am getting into his overhead A/C power line.
Does anyone know if this is likely?  If so, is an
A/C line filter for him to plug his TV and DirecTV receiver
into a likely fix?  I have a Corcom 20VR (20 amp high
noise environment EMI/RFI filter) that I
could give him to use.

2) Is it likely that my signal is actually getting into
the RG-6 feed from his dish to his receiver?  It is a long
run... If so, is the problem more likely on the shield?
In either case, will a commercial "RFI" filter for RG-6
(e.g. from Radio Shack) help?

Any other hints or suggestions?  Thanks a million!
                  ***dan, K6IF

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