[TowerTalk] Screened walls and floors

[jimlux]

On 12/5/16 8:55 AM, Grant Saviers wrote:
> We built a Faraday cage big enough for an engineer and equipment and
> learned that a special screen material is needed.  Regular copper
> screening has lots of crossovers that aren't really connected or worse
> are oxidized contacts and can make the noise worse.  A tech was assigned
> to solder the wires in strips every 4 inches x,y,z, which took a couple
> of days and made for a very unhappy tech.  The results were ugly but RF ok.

You want "welded screen" as opposed to "woven screen" - standard steel 
hardware cloth would probably work.

"real" screen rooms are made with aluminum or galvanized steel sheet 
(which is probably cheaper than screen, and a whole lot easier to make 
sure it connects to everything).





>
> I don't see a benefit for a station.  IMO, it's a better use of time to
> concentrate on a good building perimeter ground, the entry plate, good
> chokes, and insuring no RFI sources from equipment inside the building.


Indeed...

And you will find it very inconvenient that cellphones and VHF/UHF HTs 
don't work (or work poorly) in your shack, too.  The old shack at JPL 
was a building with metal lined walls, and if the door closed, you can't 
raise the JPL repeater with a HT.