What is the worst source of RFI you have ever encountered?

[KF5FUR]

My XYL: Turn that dorkbox off. It's bad enough that I have to be seen in a truck with a nerdstick on the roof, Why should I have to listen to what kind ramen noodles the rest of the nerds are eating down in their mom's basements.

That's when you tell'em to shape up or ship out, sounds like personal image issues to me Nursecosmo. My wife for the most part is still subservient, she knows not to mess with me and my hobbies or I'll tell her to get lost, we wouldn't be enemies in the end or any thing (just for clarification), hell I even try to get her interested to no avail. But I'm just a stubborned fella who will not change my interests and hobbies for anyone, even if it means divorce. Marriage is about sacrifice, but not giving up ones hobbies that brings happiness and stress relief, sacrifices of letting your spouse dabble in things that brings what I previously stated.

Anyway my worst encounter with RFI, hmm... my infant (at the time) daughter crying her head off when her mother was taking to long (on purpose) to make a bottle, while trying to talk to my club buddies on 2 meters. I can't think of anything really RFI.

 

[fortyfiver]

worst RFI here

For a constant annoyance it's this damned CRT monitor on the computer I'm using right now! Only bothers my H/Ts on both 2M or 70cm, even if I hook up to the base antenna. The base set and even my mobile are fine with it. If I forget to shut it off, even if I am outside the house or in another room, it takes me out VERY far into the squelch.

I'm not a cheap bastard like my OL accuses. I did get her a new laptop and took one CRT away. But I just haven't gotten around to an LCD for this one yet.

I'll buy $200 worth of ham gadgets or "supplies" in a heartbeat, but I just never get around to poopin' out 2 bills for a monitor.

Had a contract utility pipeline company working for our city a couple months back. They used some sort of driver to pound pipe under some intersections and it seemed like the one at the end of our road took longer than all the rest combined! Again - 2M was wiped out. BUT - when they ran some sort of welder/plastic welder, it took out 6M as well!

I'll get around later to murdering the guy up the road who moonlights auto restoration nights in his garage, in complete violation of codes, using a cheap mig/tig set. He grinds and hammers a lot, too, so not a single neighbor will claim to have seen anything.

.270 for a stop light? Yeah - should work. A close friend and ham himself took out a nagging streetlight with a .257 Roberts a few years ago!

 

[Eastside]

A transformer on a telephone pole in my neighborhood yrs back.....I woke up one night having to pee....I got out of bed and went out the bedroom door and a bright flash followed by a big boom made my heart trip.....the transformer blew up.....next time I turned on the radio...the noise was gone and I was no longer an alligator station....I had great receive.

 

[fisjr]

my new he washer,9 pounds of veeeer,veeer!

 

[ab4d]

RFI coming from power lines. The infrastructure on the east coast is old and poorly maintained. In the past four places I have lived, all of them had various levels on non-stop RFI from S-6 to 10+. I had to move 90 miles away from the city to escape all the noise. Luckily, I don't get too much of it here, except someone has recently purchased, what I suspect is Plasma TV.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

my new he washer,9 pounds of veeeer,veeer!

You too hey? My washer causes RFI below about 20 MHz or so but thankfully it only does it when it is running. You can hear the RFI change when it pauses and reverses direction. The dryer on the other hand causes RFI below about 15 MHz and does it all the time the power is on. Sunday morning 80m AM net means I flip the breaker to the dryer off. :headbang

I am hoping that with the new antenna rebuild it will go away as the antennas will be further away from the house and much higher.

 

[Mudfoot]

Those front loading washers are nasty emitters. My neighbor has one. She has 6 kids and does alot of laundry. It tore me up until I put a big old donut on the pigtail.

I'm glad were all friendly around here and was able to nip that sucker.

 

[Qrpisbest]

Kitchenaid microwave with a lighted lcd screen. Lots of RFI above 20m just being plugged in.

Also a Battery Tender "waterproof 800" 12v battery maintainer puts out wideband hash. The regular ones dont have that issue.

 

[ElectronTubesRule]

Right outside my drive way paralyses to my house are 80KV power lines and step down transformer's for the rest of the area.They are insanely noisy but power company claims they are within limits so tough. It is a signal killer more then a noise issue. All cell phones in my home go from 5+ bar's down to nothing as soon as you cross my drive way and it is all brands of cell phone even unlocked quad band phones etc.... Bach when I used to talk on SSB Citizens Band I could only talk north of those line anyone south of me just did not get my signal.

When the power goes out magically all my cell phones instantly have 5 bars or better.

They advertise internet over power lines in my area but to date no one in my area has it. My Plasma does not cause any problems on 10 ,11,12m because my shortwave radio picks those up just fine and all commercial broadcast and satellite radio.

I know this much I can tell you if a General Motor's, Ford or Harley Davidson is coming down the road by the sound of the noise. LOL Any 10m or 11m rig can detect the noise.

That is going to suck if once I do have my ticket punched I have to wait for the TV to be off to talk to anyone!!!

 

[KG0MN]

The two worst interference generators I have ever heard are as follows. 1. An electric fence that has a weed, plant or tree branch on the wire which causes it to arc like made and it can wipe the band with noise. 2. Is an aquarium water heater, especially if it is for tropical fish and not guppies. Since the fish are very sensitive to water temperature the unit is constantly cycling on and off and if it is a cheap model or one that is about to short out it can be a band stopped. I had on of these play havoc from 1-1/2 blocks away but we were able to walk right to the wall of the house where it sat with a old AM radio as the source finder.

 

[fnkycoldmedina]

32 inch jvc tv i had .paid like 500.00 bucks for that tv because it had the best picture out of all the tv`s in the best buy store at the time .
you would think a 500 dollar jvc would have good filtering ?not so .
when that darn tv was on i had a solid s7 in the receive all the time .
dealt with it for years .finally sold the tv and was rfi free after that .
we now got a 36 inch toshiba and no problems with this "tube set".


i bought one of those 100 amp switching power supplies from circut city when they folded .solid s9 from that darn thing .sold it and made a few bucks but would have loved to have a 100 amp supply that worked and didnt throw rfi.

live n learn.

 

[NJ2X]

Zone of noise

I drive through a "zone of noise" on my commute to work for a mile or so. All AM radio is completely blocked out and FM is sometimes affected. I believe it comes from powerlines. There is a water plant and some manufacturing nearby too so they are possible candidates.

 

[sea_goin_dude]

Well most computers,monitors etc. Worst I had was several doorbell xformers. Most of you have probably heard one of them. Usually start buzzzz an hour or so after sunup and stop an hour or so before sunset. Really bad trash. These things can blow you out from a mile away with full scale noise.
My other and od problem was a timer on a GE washing machine. If the knob was pushed in it would stop but after the cycle is complete the knob normally stays out, and the noise is/was terrible. see QST for more. Search "washing machine rfi".
I hate the squirrely light bulbs too due to the noise they radiate.
I used to service tv's years ago and we had a real bad problem on the low V channels. Problem was an electric fence that totally surrounded the house. This was one of the hot chargers with the chopper on it. Only thing the guy could do was turn the fence off while watching the tube.
Not RFI to me but when operating 6 meters, the lamp filaments in my radio room would ring with a high pitch sound.

PS you dont need a 270 eliminator as a 22 subvel/sound short will do the job and not alarm anyone.

 

[FatHam]

Mine's RFI of a different kind, caused by my IC706MkII and G5RV-jr turning my LCD TV and the fan on my central heat/ac on and off. Makes me a real hit with the family. Zero complaints from the neighbors, so at least it's limited to my own stuff.

I'll post up all of the particulars and seek advice in a new thread, rather than jacking this one.

 

[hookedon6]

the K3## in PA and the N1## in FL on 14.313op: