[RFI] RFI Friendly Home Solar And The Australian "FCC"

[Tony]

All:

Here's some encouraging news about a solar panel manufacturer and the 
Australian "FCC".

I recently had a QSO with Dale, VK7DG and noticed that the street level 
photo of his QTH showed a row of solar panels on his on the roof of his 
home. I asked if he noticed any RFI issues from his system and expected 
to hear the usual response about horrendous noise, but he said it was 
noise-free! His inverter is made by SMA Sunny Boy and the panels by an 
unknown German manufacturer.

Dale also mentioned actions taken by the Australian Communications Media 
Authority regarding solar panel RFI. The ACMA is the Aussie version of 
our FCC. He said that his sister had an RFI problem that suddenly popped 
up on the commercial broadcast band. She filed a complaint with the ACMA 
who then tracked down the noise to a neighbors newly installed home 
solar system.

The ACMA ordered the system to be shut down until the problem was 
resolved. It was later replaced with a "more reputable brand"  of 
inverter and panels which solved the problem.

Interesting how they do things in VK land -- we can only wish for that 
kind of response from the FCC.

Tony -K2MO