K3 Birdies

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K3 Birdies

n6fb
Thanks to all who answered me re birdies on every CW band in my K3.  It turns out that, as many of you advised, certain modems radiate like crazy and cause lots of birdies.  Now that I am at my summer home in NC, the birdies have flown away; the modem up here radiates nothing that I can hear on any band.  Just thought I would post this in case any one else runs into this problem.

Bill  N6FB
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Re: K3 Birdies

Mike K2MK
Hi Bill,

That's great news. Please post the manufacturer and model number of the good modem. I'd dump my Linksys WRT54GL in a heartbeat if I knew of one that was less problematic.

73,
Mike K2MK


n6fb wrote
Thanks to all who answered me re birdies on every CW band in my K3.  It turns out that, as many of you advised, certain modems radiate like crazy and cause lots of birdies.  Now that I am at my summer home in NC, the birdies have flown away; the modem up here radiates nothing that I can hear on any band.  Just thought I would post this in case any one else runs into this problem.

Bill  N6FB
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Re: K3 Birdies

ab2tc
Hi,

Modem? You guys mean router? Ethernet cables are often a very bad source of birdies, but in my case the primary culprit was not the router itself, but the computers that were attached to the network via Ethernet. I am increasingly getting rid of Ethernet cables and replacing with wireless (WiFi). My new shack computer has wireless only and the connection to the serial server serving my remote KAT500 is also wireless. My router is the one Verizon provided for FIOS and I am finding it not too bad.

AB2TC - Knut

Mike K2MK wrote
Hi Bill,

That's great news. Please post the manufacturer and model number of the good modem. I'd dump my Linksys WRT54GL in a heartbeat if I knew of one that was less problematic.

73,
Mike K2MK

<snip>
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Re: K3 Birdies

Mike K2MK
Hi Knut,

Yes, router of course. Momentary brain freeze. The Linksys WRT54GL is a combo wired/wireless router and I reduced its effect on the K3 by moving it to another room and adding a WIFI card to my desktop PC so I wouldn't have to run a CAT5 cable to it. But even with it in the next room it's RF output is noticeable on 20 through 6 meters. So I'm on the lookout for recommendations from K3 users on a clean router.

73,
Mike K2MK

ab2tc wrote
Hi,

Modem? You guys mean router? Ethernet cables are often a very bad source of birdies, but in my case the primary culprit was not the router itself, but the computers that were attached to the network via Ethernet. I am increasingly getting rid of Ethernet cables and replacing with wireless (WiFi). My new shack computer has wireless only and the connection to the serial server serving my remote KAT500 is also wireless. My router is the one Verizon provided for FIOS and I am finding it not too bad.

AB2TC - Knut

Mike K2MK wrote
Hi Bill,

That's great news. Please post the manufacturer and model number of the good modem. I'd dump my Linksys WRT54GL in a heartbeat if I knew of one that was less problematic.

73,
Mike K2MK

<snip>
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Re: K3 Birdies

Edward R Cole
In reply to this post by n6fb
I had an issue on 2m with birdies from my "then new" NetGear N300 w/
wireless router to my FT-847.  Moving to the combination of the K3
and DownEast Microwave 144/28 transverter helped and running shielded
cat6 wiring the most help (clamp-on ferrites did nothing for
cat5e).  I did note that "most" birdies were gone when the router was
powered off (computer still on).  There are birdies on both 6m and
10m as well.  Many go away with disconnecting the antenna so probably
originating from neighbors.

Some years back we had a 2.4 GHz wireless camera monitor at the dog
kennel but it got so none of the wifi channels were RFI free (just
lots of parallel black bands on the TV display).  I use to run
2401-MHz for ham satellites, but none are existing today so not
running anything on 2.4.  Our cordless phones are 5-GHz.

We have upgraded to 3-GHz DSL so it might be time to opt for a faster
router.  Any suggestions of models with low RFI potential?  My (2)
desktops are generation 2008 XP32 with no wifi.  I guess to try that
option would require adding wifi adapters to an USB port?  I did buy
an aluminum chassis with thought to shield the router (but never go
around to doing it).

I suppose we should upgrade to a N750 router to take advantage of
streaming video (N300 do not quite get there).

73, Ed - KL7UW
http://www.kl7uw.com
[hidden email]
"Kits made by KL7UW"

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Re: K3 Birdies

Terry Schieler-2
In reply to this post by Mike K2MK
I had the same problem with my Lynksys.  Replaced it with a Netgear and birdies are gone. Don't have the specific model number in front of me.  YMMV.

Terry, W0FM

-----Original Message-----
From: Mike K2MK [mailto:[hidden email]]
Sent: Monday, June 03, 2013 6:04 AM
To: [hidden email]
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Birdies

Hi Bill,

That's great news. Please post the manufacturer and model number of the good modem. I'd dump my Linksys WRT54GL in a heartbeat if I knew of one that was less problematic.

73,
Mike K2MK



n6fb wrote
> Thanks to all who answered me re birdies on every CW band in my K3.  
> It turns out that, as many of you advised, certain modems radiate like
> crazy and cause lots of birdies.  Now that I am at my summer home in
> NC, the birdies have flown away; the modem up here radiates nothing
> that I can hear on any band.  Just thought I would post this in case
> any one else runs into this problem.
>
> Bill  N6FB





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Re: K3 Birdies

Jim Brown-10
On 6/3/2013 11:13 AM, Terry Schieler wrote:
> Replaced it with a Netgear and birdies are gone. Don't have the specific model number in front of me.

Could you please look it up and post it for us?  Mfrs who build stuff
that's free of RF trash should be rewarded with our business, but many
major mfrs make "good, better, best" products.

As to cleaning RF trash  with ferrite chokes -- to be effective, they
must be "tuned" (by choosing the "right" mix and winding multiple turns)
to be effective. Chokes can reduce ONLY the part of the trash radiated
by the cable, but will have no effect on what is radiated directly by
the equipment due to poor shielding and poor circuit layout.  If the
cables are electrically long (longer than about 0.05 wavelength), chokes
are needed at both ends, because the equipment on both ends can be a
source of the trash. And don't forget the power supply cables, both on
the low voltage side and on the 120V side.

"I tried some beads but they didn't work" usually means that the person
doesn't understand how ferrite chokes work. Study
http://k9yc.com/RFI-Ham.pdf

73, Jim K9YC
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Re: K3 Birdies

Dave B
In reply to this post by n6fb
On 4 Jun 2013 at 12:00, [hidden email] wrote:

> Message: 6
> From: "Terry Schieler" <[hidden email]>
> To: "'Mike K2MK'" <[hidden email]>, <[hidden email]>
> Subject: Re: [Elecraft] K3 Birdies
>
> I had the same problem with my Lynksys.  Replaced it with a Netgear
> and birdies are gone. Don't have the specific model number in front of
> me.  YMMV.
>
> Terry, W0FM

Probably not the router/AP itself, more likely the cheap and dirty SMPS
wall wart that powered it...

73.

Dave G0WBX.

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