[RFI] RFI from variable speed drive 1.1 miles away (very interesting case).

[nlsa at nlsa.com]

Don –

Silly me, I didn’t read all the way to the end of your post; didn’t see the video link.  Sorry.

W9IP

 

 

From: Don Kirk <wd8dsb at gmail.com> 
Sent: Thursday, November 17, 2022 8:35 AM
To: nlsa at nlsa.com
Cc: RFI <rfi at contesting.com>
Subject: Re: [RFI] RFI from variable speed drive 1.1 miles away (very interesting case).

 

Hi Mike (W9IP),

 

Are you able to see my youtube video as everything shown in my video is in the frequency domain.  The top display is the RF spectrum display with a waterfall of it right below, and then near the bottom of the screen is the Audio spectrum display along with its waterfall below it.  Probably the best display for you to look at would be the one starting at around 1:14 in the video as it's displaying 1710 to 1900 KHz directly whereas the display before it in the video is looking at the IF output of my HF rig so the frequency probably makes no sense to you.  I also made some recordings using my HDSDR software so I can go back and look at the captured signal as if it were real time so I can zoom in or out for you if needed over a 2 MHz wide slice of the spectrum I recorded.

 

Let me know what you need and I would be glad to provide it as long as I have it available.

 

73,

Don (wd8dsb)

 

On Thu, Nov 17, 2022 at 7:50 AM <nlsa at nlsa.com <mailto:nlsa at nlsa.com> > wrote:

Dear Don -
Could you post an image of what the interference looked like in the
frequency domain?
73,
W9IP

-----Original Message-----
From: RFI <rfi-bounces+nlsa=nlsa.com at contesting.com <mailto:nlsa.com at contesting.com> > On Behalf Of Don Kirk
Sent: Tuesday, November 15, 2022 8:57 PM
To: RFI <rfi at contesting.com <mailto:rfi at contesting.com> >
Subject: [RFI] RFI from variable speed drive 1.1 miles away (very
interesting case).

Today I tracked down new RFI at my QTH on 160 meters.  I was able to hear
the RFI from my driveway using my portable flag with the DX Engineering
preamp and it indicated the RFI was arriving from the SW (similar to what my
stationary pennants indicated).  Using the portable flag I was able to
quickly track the RFI down to a variable speed drive located at a Living
Historical Museum located 1.1 miles from my house and it was pretty amazing
how strong the signal was at my QTH considering the distance.

This case was very interesting because the variable speed drive is for a fan
that blows air into the bottom chamber of a 105 foot tall tethered Helium
balloon that takes passengers to a height of 377 feet.  The air is blown
into the bottom chamber of the Helium balloon to maintain a constant
pressure in the balloon regardless of the outside temperature.

I had never encountered this RFI before and it turns out their old variable
speed drive system was recently replaced with a new variable speed drive
system.  We replaced the new system with their old one and this stopped the
RFI.  They will now follow up with the manufacturer of their system to
investigate a solution, and I will help support their troubleshooting as
needed and until then they will use their old system.  It does appear a 3
phase powerline filter has been installed on the input of the variable speed
drive on both their old and new systems.

For those interested here is a link to a youtube video I just uploaded that
documents this case.  https://youtu.be/Qnz4E9r5vj0

Note: the more I use my portable flag which is unidirectional the more I
appreciate how much time it saves me compared with my bidirectional tuned
loops as I instantly know the direction the RFI is arriving.  It often saves
me hours if not days locating the source of RFI.

Just FYI and 73,
Don (wd8dsb)
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