K7YTM Elecraft K3 + Panadapter has been sold

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K7YTM Elecraft K3 + Panadapter has been sold

Gregory Weber
Many thanks for forums such as yours. You helped me sell my dad's equipment. He is a Navy vet and has been a MARS volunteer for decades. His health requires a move back to the midwest to be with my wife and I.
Thanks again.
Greg
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Strange RFI question

W2RMS
Hello everyone!
I'm not sure if this is the correct forum for this sort of a question but i figured i'd give it a shot.
I've been going out of my mind with this strange signal pattern i've been seeing on my new panadapter connected to my new K3.
I first saw it on 20 meters. It seems to be the same signal pattern, spaced evenly, at 61 kHz intervals.
Something tells me that it could very well be outside of my shack. I've got the street power lines 15 feet in front of my house, with a big transformer on top of a pole.
I just took a video of the whole thing and you can also hear the sound of it, especially while i tune it up and down.
Here's a link to the video file in my DropBox: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/111549/rfi/strange_rfi.wmv
Sorry for the format. This screen capture program only does Windows Media Video.

I've gone to a point where i've disconnected everything in the shack. Literally. And i could still hear it.
My Yaesu 857D also hears it, with the same antenna hooked up to it, so that tells me its not my K3 or the panadapter (for that matter).
I also tried hooking up another antenna (i have a home made fan dipole) and i can still hear it. So its not the antenna (right?).

I'm very open to any suggestions as to what to do? How to narrow it down?

Thanks a bunch in advance!

Slava, W2RMS

P.S. I almost wish i didn't have the panadapter, so i wouldn't even know its there... :-(
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Re: Strange RFI question

k6dgw
Slava,

I can't make the link work but regularly spaced  signals are a classic
sign of a Switched Mode Power Supply [SMPS].  I host the local wireless
company's RAP for our neighborhood on my tower, in return we get the
backhaul speed [17 Mbps] for free ... yes, we power it.  Really great
for Andrea's Netflix addiction.  They recently replaced the gear, and it
is now powered by a UPS in our shed with an SMPS with raucous noise
peaks every 26 KHz +/-, they move around a bit.  Since the wireless
company seems to be preoccupied with getting new customers, I'm going to
wind a couple of toroid chokes and see if I can fix this.

Wall warts are in most cases these days SMPS.  So are LED lamp power
supplies.  I'll send you a screen shot of mine if you'd like, their UPS
is connected to a cable to the top of the tower and down to the router
at the bottom ... resembles a 160 Inv-L.

73,

Fred K6DGW
- Northern California Contest Club
- CU in the 2014 Cal QSO Party 4-5 Oct 2014
- www.cqp.org

On 4/8/2014 6:34 PM, Slava Baytalskiy wrote:

> Hello everyone!
> I'm not sure if this is the correct forum for this sort of a question but i figured i'd give it a shot.
> I've been going out of my mind with this strange signal pattern i've been seeing on my new panadapter connected to my new K3.
> I first saw it on 20 meters. It seems to be the same signal pattern, spaced evenly, at 61 kHz intervals.
> Something tells me that it could very well be outside of my shack. I've got the street power lines 15 feet in front of my house, with a big transformer on top of a pole.
> I just took a video of the whole thing and you can also hear the sound of it, especially while i tune it up and down.
> Here's a link to the video file in my DropBox: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/111549/rfi/strange_rfi.wmv
> Sorry for the format. This screen capture program only does Windows Media Video.
>
> I've gone to a point where i've disconnected everything in the shack. Literally. And i could still hear it.
> My Yaesu 857D also hears it, with the same antenna hooked up to it, so that tells me its not my K3 or the panadapter (for that matter).
> I also tried hooking up another antenna (i have a home made fan dipole) and i can still hear it. So its not the antenna (right?).
>
> I'm very open to any suggestions as to what to do? How to narrow it down?
>
> Thanks a bunch in advance!
>
> Slava, W2RMS
>
> P.S. I almost wish i didn't have the panadapter, so i wouldn't even know its there... :-(
> ______________________________________________________________
> Elecraft mailing list
> Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft
> Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm
> Post: mailto:[hidden email]
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> This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net
> Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
> Message delivered to [hidden email]
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>
>
>
> -----
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> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 2014.0.4355 / Virus Database: 3882/7318 - Release Date: 04/08/14
>
>


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Re: Strange RFI question

W2RMS
In reply to this post by W2RMS
Hi everyone!
Sorry about the video not showing up.
Not sure why i didn't think of just uploading it to YouTube.
So, here are two links:
This one i took with my iPhone. The audio is very low though - http://youtu.be/DOZHHxjDhDI

This one is the original that i took with the screen recorder - http://youtu.be/Qhs1G9YS5k0

Please take a peek and see if you could give me some ideas.

As i've said earlier this is very pronounced on 20 meters. The signals in question are repeating every 61 kHz throughout the band. So its not just one signal. And they don't sound like you normal hum or buzz.

Thanks in advance!
Slava, W2RMS

On Apr 8, 2014, at 9:34 PM, Slava Baytalskiy <[hidden email]> wrote:

> Hello everyone!
> I'm not sure if this is the correct forum for this sort of a question but i figured i'd give it a shot.
> I've been going out of my mind with this strange signal pattern i've been seeing on my new panadapter connected to my new K3.
> I first saw it on 20 meters. It seems to be the same signal pattern, spaced evenly, at 61 kHz intervals.
> Something tells me that it could very well be outside of my shack. I've got the street power lines 15 feet in front of my house, with a big transformer on top of a pole.
> I just took a video of the whole thing and you can also hear the sound of it, especially while i tune it up and down.
> Here's a link to the video file in my DropBox: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/111549/rfi/strange_rfi.wmv
> Sorry for the format. This screen capture program only does Windows Media Video.
>
> I've gone to a point where i've disconnected everything in the shack. Literally. And i could still hear it.
> My Yaesu 857D also hears it, with the same antenna hooked up to it, so that tells me its not my K3 or the panadapter (for that matter).
> I also tried hooking up another antenna (i have a home made fan dipole) and i can still hear it. So its not the antenna (right?).
>
> I'm very open to any suggestions as to what to do? How to narrow it down?
>
> Thanks a bunch in advance!
>
> Slava, W2RMS
>
> P.S. I almost wish i didn't have the panadapter, so i wouldn't even know its there... :-(

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Re: Strange RFI question

KE6BB
Slava,

I agree with Fred that this is noise from one of the many noise generating devices in our houses today.  Square waves are generated by most every piece of electronics equipment in the house, and most consumer products make no attempt at containing them.  We really haven't defended our spectrum from the local noise sources very well.  

The spectrum is actually pretty quiet in your location compared to mine.  After about 10 years away from ham radio in the 80's, I came back and was surprised how noisy the spectrum had become.  The addition of panadapters visually confirms what we hear.  For relief, I occasionally carry one of my homebrew DC receivers away from cell phones, computers, etc.  just to listen to the beauty of RF signals on a clear cold night.  It is like the difference between fine wine, and Ripple!

Mark
KE6BB

From: Slava Baytalskiy<[hidden email]>
Sent: ‎Wed, ‎Apr‎ ‎9‎, ‎2014 at ‎08‎:‎16‎ ‎AM
To: Elecraft List <[hidden email]>
Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Strange RFI question

Hi everyone!Sorry about the video not showing up.Not sure why i didn't think of just uploading it to YouTube.So, here are two links:This one i took with my iPhone. The audio is very low though - http://youtu.be/DOZHHxjDhDIThis one is the original that i took with the screen recorder - http://youtu.be/Qhs1G9YS5k0Please take a peek and see if you could give me some ideas.As i've said earlier this is very pronounced on 20 meters. The signals in question are repeating every 61 kHz throughout the band. So its not just one signal. And they don't sound like you normal hum or buzz.Thanks in advance!Slava, W2RMSOn Apr 8, 2014, at 9:34 PM, Slava Baytalskiy <[hidden email]> wrote:> Hello everyone!> I'm not sure if this is the correct forum for this sort of a question but i figured i'd give it a shot.> I've been going out of my mind with this strange signal pattern i've been seeing on my new panadapter connected to my new K3.> I first saw it on 20 meters. It
 seems to be the same signal pattern, spaced evenly, at 61 kHz intervals.> Something tells me that it could very well be outside of my shack. I've got the street power lines 15 feet in front of my house, with a big transformer on top of a pole.> I just took a video of the whole thing and you can also hear the sound of it, especially while i tune it up and down.> Here's a link to the video file in my DropBox: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/111549/rfi/strange_rfi.wmv> Sorry for the format. This screen capture program only does Windows Media Video.> > I've gone to a point where i've disconnected everything in the shack. Literally. And i could still hear it.> My Yaesu 857D also hears it, with the same antenna hooked up to it, so that tells me its not my K3 or the panadapter (for that matter).> I also tried hooking up another antenna (i have a home made fan dipole) and i can still hear it. So its not the antenna (right?).> > I'm very open to any
 suggestions as to what to do? How to narrow it down?> > Thanks a bunch in advance!> > Slava, W2RMS> > P.S. I almost wish i didn't have the panadapter, so i wouldn't even know its there... :-(______________________________________________________________Elecraft mailing listHome: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraftHelp: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htmPost: mailto:[hidden email] list hosted by: http://www.qsl.netPlease help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.htmlMessage delivered to [hidden email]
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Re: Strange RFI question

ab2tc
In reply to this post by W2RMS
Hi,

Noise spaced 61kHz apart to me means it's from an Ethernet LAN. Look at these files:

http://ab2tc.com/ethernoise.png
http://ab2tc.com/ethernoise.mp3

There is one at the center and one just above the frequency of the cross-hair cursor about 61kHz higher. The mp3 file is a recording from the K3 in USB mode tuned to the center frequency. They are not all from my own LAN but mostly from my neighbors. I used to have much worse interference from my LAN but a combination of ferrites and largely switching to wireless, my house is now almost clean of this type of noise.

Yes, the panadapter is an eye opener for sure.

AB2TC - Knut

W2RMS wrote
Hello everyone!
I'm not sure if this is the correct forum for this sort of a question but i figured i'd give it a shot.
I've been going out of my mind with this strange signal pattern i've been seeing on my new panadapter connected to my new K3.
I first saw it on 20 meters. It seems to be the same signal pattern, spaced evenly, at 61 kHz intervals.
Something tells me that it could very well be outside of my shack. I've got the street power lines 15 feet in front of my house, with a big transformer on top of a pole.
I just took a video of the whole thing and you can also hear the sound of it, especially while i tune it up and down.
Here's a link to the video file in my DropBox: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/111549/rfi/strange_rfi.wmv
Sorry for the format. This screen capture program only does Windows Media Video.

I've gone to a point where i've disconnected everything in the shack. Literally. And i could still hear it.
My Yaesu 857D also hears it, with the same antenna hooked up to it, so that tells me its not my K3 or the panadapter (for that matter).
I also tried hooking up another antenna (i have a home made fan dipole) and i can still hear it. So its not the antenna (right?).

I'm very open to any suggestions as to what to do? How to narrow it down?

Thanks a bunch in advance!

Slava, W2RMS

P.S. I almost wish i didn't have the panadapter, so i wouldn't even know its there... :-(
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<snip>