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wa8yxm · 01-12-2008, 12:29 PM

There are two types of lights commonly used in RV's Incandescent and florescent

If the RFI occurs only with the Florescent lamps then I'd suspect the solid state "Ballast" in the lamp as opposed to the converter If it is worse with the Incandescent then I'd suspect the converter.

Several years ago QST had an article on TVI ... The took a cheap portable TV and during one of the W1AW scheduled transmissions turned it on and looked for the station which had the worst picture. IT WAS A MESS, no usable picture at all 100% noise (Remember you are close enough to W1AW's antenna farm to throw snowballs and hit them)

Then they took the same TV, put it in a Farday cage they had built with bandpass filters on the antenna and power leads (low on power, high on ant) and the picture was 100% there, no problems at all.

In this case I'd suggest that you not put your receivers in such a cage but rather the converter, Use a brute force filter on the 120 volt side (Any good filter should do) right where it enters the "Cage" and use a stack of bypass capacitors on the output where it goes through the cage,, .1 .01 .001. .0001 Micro Farad Perhaps 2 or 3 stacks all in all

I'd not suggest chokes at this point unless they are the ferrite bead type (no coils, just beads) Make sure the cage has lots of vent holes (use screen not sheet metal) so the converter can breath and get rid of excess heat... A "HOT" converter is not going to thank you.

Option 2: A better converter. alas, I don't know of one.

I have a Progressive Dynamics 9180 with wizard in my rig, Just for fun I turned it off, waited till the batteries had run down a bit and turned it back on. My TS-2000 could not tell the difference, (If I let 'em run down far enough it can but that's low-batt performance v/s full-batt performance) In my rig the converter is at the back and the batteries are at the front, over 30 feet away, over 40 electrical feet, I was on 80 meters and the radio is in the middle as is the fuse panel (I had to add about 1 foot to the power leads Kenwood supplied, Very nice location, I also don't miss my net turn should I feel the need to ... UR.... Go somewhere... Since that's where I"m sitting while awaiting my turn anyway

)

Yet another poster here reports he gets a lot of interference from his PD-9180 w/wizard

Same exact converter... I have no clue as to what Damon did right

01-12-2008, 12:29 PM	#4
wa8yxm Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Mobile, on the road Posts: 1,139	There are two types of lights commonly used in RV's Incandescent and florescent If the RFI occurs only with the Florescent lamps then I'd suspect the solid state "Ballast" in the lamp as opposed to the converter If it is worse with the Incandescent then I'd suspect the converter. Several years ago QST had an article on TVI ... The took a cheap portable TV and during one of the W1AW scheduled transmissions turned it on and looked for the station which had the worst picture. IT WAS A MESS, no usable picture at all 100% noise (Remember you are close enough to W1AW's antenna farm to throw snowballs and hit them) Then they took the same TV, put it in a Farday cage they had built with bandpass filters on the antenna and power leads (low on power, high on ant) and the picture was 100% there, no problems at all. In this case I'd suggest that you not put your receivers in such a cage but rather the converter, Use a brute force filter on the 120 volt side (Any good filter should do) right where it enters the "Cage" and use a stack of bypass capacitors on the output where it goes through the cage,, .1 .01 .001. .0001 Micro Farad Perhaps 2 or 3 stacks all in all I'd not suggest chokes at this point unless they are the ferrite bead type (no coils, just beads) Make sure the cage has lots of vent holes (use screen not sheet metal) so the converter can breath and get rid of excess heat... A "HOT" converter is not going to thank you. Option 2: A better converter. alas, I don't know of one. I have a Progressive Dynamics 9180 with wizard in my rig, Just for fun I turned it off, waited till the batteries had run down a bit and turned it back on. My TS-2000 could not tell the difference, (If I let 'em run down far enough it can but that's low-batt performance v/s full-batt performance) In my rig the converter is at the back and the batteries are at the front, over 30 feet away, over 40 electrical feet, I was on 80 meters and the radio is in the middle as is the fuse panel (I had to add about 1 foot to the power leads Kenwood supplied, Very nice location, I also don't miss my net turn should I feel the need to ... UR.... Go somewhere... Since that's where I"m sitting while awaiting my turn anyway ) Yet another poster here reports he gets a lot of interference from his PD-9180 w/wizard Same exact converter... I have no clue as to what Damon did right