[RFI] Solar array RFI info to use to educate community group

[Jim Brown]

On 6/5/2021 6:34 AM, ve3yv at pathcom.com wrote:
>   I've never EVER heard of the RFI problem, which makes me think this
> is not a big problem.   Europe does indeed have more restrictive laws than
> we do to prevent pollution of all kinds.

Solar power systems make extensive use of pulsed DC to regulate the 
charging of batteries; DC-AC inverters are used to convert battery power 
to 120V and/or 240V AC, both to power the home and back-feed mains 
power. It is VERY common, in the US, at least, for these systems to 
produce strong RF noise. There are products that are known to be RF 
quiet, but in installed systems, they are the exception rather than the 
rule, in North America, at least.

The noise signature of these systems is best viewed as RF spectrum, 
composed of the harmonics of the rectangular waves. This tutorial 
applications note shows how to identify noise as being electronically 
generated or impulse noise from power utilities distribution systems.

http://k9yc.com/KillingReceiveNoise.pdf

NK7Z has collected the noise signatures of various noise sources on his 
website.

73, Jim K9YC