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Author Topic: Do it TO yourself RFI !  (Read 2482 times)

Offline WA4FHY

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Do it TO yourself RFI !
« on: October 14, 2017, 1937 UTC »
Late last year, I was in Home Depot (it’s not a proper weekend without at least one trip to Home Depot and / or Lowe’s) and bought a Halloween light that was on sale at half price ($10); it projects the likeness of witches flying around on, on the side of your house. It is a #1001 261 470 “Whirl-A-Motion” projector; they had similar ones that projected ghosts or jack-o-lanterns. Yesterday evening I thought Friday the 13th would be a good day to set it up for the first time, in the front yard. That was easy enough to do and it was interesting to watch. I came inside and noticed that there was terrible noise from at least 75 meters until it finally disappeared into the S7 noise floor ~8 mHz (see attached screenshot).  I thought of what might cause it; I was pretty sure it was something nearby and I unplugged the projector and the noise went away! I’m not going to fool with trying a toroid on the power cord; I guess that projector will go into the pile of "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
SDR-IQ / IC-R70 / IC-735 / FT-817ND / FT-991A, RSPduo,5 band vertical
Near Music City, TN

Offline Josh

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Re: Do it TO yourself RFI !
« Reply #1 on: October 15, 2017, 1551 UTC »
Lol key it and start a pirate cw station, however broadbanded it is!
We do not encourage any radio operations contrary to regulations.

Offline skeezix

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Re: Do it TO yourself RFI !
« Reply #2 on: October 17, 2017, 2235 UTC »
Did you happen to see what the range is of this low power jammer?

Minneapolis, MN

Offline ChrisSmolinski

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Re: Do it TO yourself RFI !
« Reply #3 on: October 17, 2017, 2243 UTC »
Did you send yourself a QSL?
Chris Smolinski
Westminster, MD
eQSLs appreciated! csmolinski@blackcatsystems.com
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Offline WA4FHY

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Re: Do it TO yourself RFI !
« Reply #4 on: November 12, 2017, 2230 UTC »
Cute, Chris! No, I didn't QSL myself. Howsomever, I have seen the same
device, in the same packaging but with different configurations in other
stores around here. Most of them are now colored balls and other
Christmas (no, not my cat, Christmas) themes.
SDR-IQ / IC-R70 / IC-735 / FT-817ND / FT-991A, RSPduo,5 band vertical
Near Music City, TN

Offline BoomboxDX

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Re: Do it TO yourself RFI !
« Reply #5 on: November 15, 2017, 0350 UTC »
Sounds like it was a cool device for Halloween, at least.

I wonder how far the RFI reached. Blocks? A mile or so?

My neighbor's psycho washing machine at least reached two blocks or more -- that was into my short indoor antenna. I'm certain that if someone another two or three blocks away had a longer antenna they probably heard the alien noises over half the HF spectrum also.
An AM radio Boombox DXer.
+ GE SRIII, PR-D5 & TRF on MW.
The usual Realistic culprits on SW (and a Panasonic).

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Re: Do it TO yourself RFI !
« Reply #6 on: November 15, 2017, 1700 UTC »
I gave up hunting down local noise sources years ago because there are just so many, it became overwhelming. That being said, if I suspect a noise source is internal to my home, then I will try and hunt it down but if it's coming from neighbors homes  ??? ....

I've been using these for many years now and they work great.

http://www.timewave.com/support/ANC-4/anc4.html

http://www.mfjenterprises.com/Product.php?productid=MFJ-1026

The only thing you have to deal with is re-tuning when you change rcv frequencies.
They also can be useful for nulling out unwanted stations depending on the connected "noise antenna"

Offline ChrisSmolinski

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Re: Do it TO yourself RFI !
« Reply #7 on: November 20, 2017, 1306 UTC »
Oddly enough I received a spam email today about Christmas lights, claiming no RFI:

Quote
Please could you see following our latest Copper wire Led starry bulb and 3D colorful Led Filament bulb, No UV or IR radiation, No Flicker and electronic noise,which is widely using  for Christma day ,  cafe bar , party , wedding , show store , various decoration and so on.  If there is any possibility in your market, please let us know freely, then we will send you the pricing and tech data in details.
Chris Smolinski
Westminster, MD
eQSLs appreciated! csmolinski@blackcatsystems.com
netSDR / AFE822x / AirSpy HF+ / KiwiSDR / 900 ft Horz skyloop / 500 ft NE beverage / 250 ft V Beam / 58 ft T2FD / 120 ft T2FD / 400 ft south beverage / 43m, 20m, 10m  dipoles / Crossed Parallel Loop / Discone in a tree

Offline redhat

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Re: Do it TO yourself RFI !
« Reply #8 on: November 22, 2017, 1337 UTC »
I bought a string of LED multicolored lights several years back and tested them.  I could hear no noise emission, they do flicker like crazy though.

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