[RFI] USB RFI

[Mike Smith VE9AA]

I’m not 100% certain….I just don’t recall now Pete. It’s been a few years since I’ve installed it.

 

I’d assume the shell (rectangular metal end that slips into the laptops USB port) ties to the shield on the cable?

 

I couldn’t find any other good place to tie into the ground on the laptop, being 99% plastic (at least on the outside)

 

Someone told me (and I don’t recall who) that even if I had found some kind of ground on the laptop, that the USB shield may not be at the same potential, so that’s the first place (usb port) I tried a wire and shockingly, it worked.

 

YMMV and if you blow up your laptop/computer, it’s not my fault ! hi

 

CU in RAC Winter I hope.  GL with your RFI

 

Mike VE9AA

 

Mike, Coreen & Corey

Keswick Ridge, NB

 

From: N4ZR [mailto:n4zr at comcast.net] 
Sent: December 18, 2020 4:21 PM
To: Mike Smith VE9AA
Subject: Re: [RFI] USB RFI

 

Fascinating, Mike - did the #26 pigtail actually make contact with the shield on the USB cable (assuming it was shielded?  My PC's chassis is bonded to my ground bus.

73, Pete N4ZR
Check out the Reverse Beacon Network
at  <http://reversebeacon.net> <http://reversebeacon.net>, now 
spotting RTTY activity worldwide. 
For spots, please use your favorite 
"retail" DX cluster.

On 12/18/2020 12:54 PM, Mike Smith VE9AA wrote:

I can only speak to what worked here.  I used to constantly lose connection
to N1MM and also to my Winkeyer (and later, my YCCC SO2R+ box).all on
separate USB cables.
 
 
 
Occasionally, even at QRP levels.
 
 
 
I was plagued with it. My shack looked like a stockpile of Ferrite had
gobbled up all my cables.
 
 
 
In the end, the one thing that proved most valuable was actually super
simple.  I took a teeny tiny wire...perhaps a #26, stripped a couple inches
of insulation off the end of it and wrapped it around the shell/shield of
one of the USB cables entering my (plasticky) 10yr old laptop.  I attached
that wee pigtail of wire to my station ground with a larger wire.
 
 
 
Voila! 99.9% of my RFI instantly went bye bye.
 
 
 
Good luck.
 
 
 
Mike VE9AA
 
 
 
Mike, Coreen & Corey
 
Keswick Ridge, NB
 
 
 
_______________________________________________
RFI mailing list
RFI at contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rfi