[RFI] mini split for new ham shack

[Donald Chester]

I installed a DIY mini-split made by Mr Cool in my shack a couple of years ago.  

It does put out white-noise RFI that brings up the noise floor about 10 dB when I'm listening with my indoor 160m loop, but I can't hear a trace of it when receiving with any of the outside antennas: dipole 110'  high, 160m quarter-wave vertical tee, or 500' Beverage.  It isn't much of a problem since I rarely use the A/C during the time of year I'm active on 160m, due to spring/summer static.

Mine has a toroidal coil in the a.c.  line going to the  circuit board in the outdoor unit.  Not sure about the indoor air exchanger.  It would be a PITA squared to gain access to the inside of the indoor unit once it's installed. I'll probably call a professional to service if that ever needs repair.

This was supposed to be a DIY installation the manufacturer claimed any homeowner could do, but in reality it was a challenge for me, and I have years of experience and a good collection of tools for doing that sort of work.  I don't think the average homeowner with a limited supply of tools and little construction experience could succeed with the project.  BTW, I love the way it performs (except for the white noise).  Totally quiet; I can just barely hear it.  I need to move that indoor loop outside anyway.

I have seen photos and descriptions of other mini-splits sold by other manufacturers.  They appeared to be identical to mine.  I  suspect one manufacturer in China makes all of them and affixes the various companies' logo before exporting them. 

Don k4kyv

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Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2021 10:02:26 -0800
From: Dennis Monticelli <dennis.monticelli at gmail.com>
To: david at winarsky.com, rfi at contesting.com
Subject: [RFI] mini split for new ham shack


David,

I don't think you will find any single or multi-speed (split capacitor
type) for sale in CA anymore.  The last ones were sold in 2019.  New CA
HVAC efficiency standards that took effect in 2020 have pushed vendors to
electronically commutated motors which are not only more efficient
electrically, more importantly they offer continuously variable speeds
which in turn eek out a small efficiency improvement, especially with
two-stage types.