Tracking Down Stray RF

[Roy Morris-6]

I disconnected the earth ground to the KAT100 and connected a 23.4 foot length of wire to the KAT100 ground lug last night.  The tuner displayed only the leftmost LED at 100 watts on 30 meters.  At that time I noticed a very slight erratic LED behavior on 60 meters.  I thought for the mostpart I had solved my erratic LED problem.  Today I found the LEDs were again erratic on 30 meters with this 30 meter counterpoise.
An interesting observation....with no ground or counterpoise the KAT100 at 100 watts on all bands shows no signs of stray RF except on 30 meters and tunes to 1:1 on all bands (even 30 meters).  The Bird meter verifies that 100 watts forward and maybe one watt reflected is going between the K2/100 and the KAT100 which terminates into my Carolina Windom 80. Because the Carolina Windom is an off-center fed antenna, this imbalance may be the cause.
I removed the counterpoise and reconnected the earth ground.  I feel like Don Quixote chasing windmills.  Thanks to all who made suggestions.  Roy Morris  W4WFB
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[Stuart Rohre]

Roy, I hate to mention the obvious, but I have never had RF in the shack
with balanced antennas and good feedlines, ie no problem with jumpers, etc.

Usually RF in the shack has a cause.  Some cable is nearing quarter wave;
the mike connector is loose and not grounding.  The power leads to rig are
not twisted or shielded (or both).  The power leads being too small a
conductor have inductance and load up on the problem band.

Over some 49 years of hamming, unbalanced antennas usually have a problem
with stray RF at some point.  Returning balance by ground plane,
counterpoise wire, quarter wave off ground post, etc. usually cures that.
You may need quarterwave for both 30m and 60m.  Don't overlook shack too
close to unbalanced antenna, ie on upper floor near antenna overhead.

GL,
Stuart
K5KVH


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