[TowerTalk] Crank-up tower and RFI in the shack

[ko7ss at yahoo.com]

Just wanted to share my "discovery", maybe it will help someone else.....


I have a 40/80 OCF dipole hanging at the top of my US Tower crankup, with a 2 el 
SteppIR yagi above it. I had RF issues in the shack with high power on 40/80
from day one, I guess that is common with OCF's. The usual RFI issues, keying
locking up, monitor blinking, the DirecTV coming on in the living room (!)

After spending $200 on snap-on ferrites and toroids on every wire/cable IN THE
SHACK the problem was mostly better, still some problems with 1KW+ RTTY on 80M.
I don't have 160M, I imagined that would be a real problem.

All winter I leave the crankup motor plugged in, because I put the tower up and
then down every time I use it, with the remote attachment.

OOPS, that was the problem! Unplugged it and problem solved. I guess it makes
sense that an OCF hanging from an 18" steel standoff off of a steel crankup
with a motor plugged into the house mains would let some RF in !!

73, BILL KO7SS