Who adds chokes on inside power leads for radios without them?

[Big Kahuna]

Was watching a Lester video tonight and he pointed out the McKinley didn't have any chokes on the inside power input which I hadn't noticed before. I know the Lincoln and Richard have them so surprised they didn't bother with them on the McKinley (or the Uniden 980). Even the cheap Stryker 94 has something inside.

He installs JW Miller 5230-RCs -

Just made me wonder if anyone else here ever bothers to add them when they notice a radio doesn't have them?

 

[Eldorado828]

Funny, I watched that video a few days ago and thought the same thing.

 

[M0GVZ]

What difference do you think they'll make given how small and pathetic they usually are? They're literally there to keep the EMC compliance people happy, they're literally of no use for stopping power wire borne interference. Much better to get a large snap on 31 or ideally 43 mix ferrite and wind several turns of the power wire through it. That will actually do something.

Back to the video, another radio ruined. No RF shielding at all between the amp he installed and the mainboard of the rig and no RF shielding on that amp kit he installed either.

 

[Handy Andy]

It's a cost to performance hit, many radios used to have a power choke, nowadays they seem to have a lot of them without the same device...

You asked a great question which focuses right back on China and their sheer desire to cheapen the radios yet markup for the highest prices the market will bear...

From just a few years ago too - this montage is from radios of only several years past...

Arrows point of Power supply chokes for power feeds.
McKinley has none - so the effort of chokes may be lost on the sheer ignorance
of the consumer. Most wouldn't notice it missing,
but the rest of those that own one in a mobile setup do complain about noise.​

 

[Slowmover]

Big ferrite choke on power leads (from factory wiring goes to fuse box; equal wraps of POS & NEG radio power harness; 3-7X) in this Kenworth is enough to go from thinking, “average radio”, to, “great radio!”

Maybe this is the source of dispute about whether ferrites on power leads “cure” RFI: a high-quality HAM mobile transceiver (equipped) and an average mobile CB (not equipped).

Only one of those units might show a difference when the power leads are treated.

.

 

[Eldorado828]

Before I've put bigger wire around a slightly bigger choke with more wraps replacing the factory stuff to help with noise. It was noticeable especially when in the mobile environment of these newer trucks. The 2021 cascadia vs the 2011 kw I came out of using the same radio was a huge jump when talking about noise. Some of the slowmover upgrades are a must when it comes to power cables.

From now on I'll refer to them as slowmover upgrades