Radio Ham Interference

A mate had this problem in his bedroom recording studio. His solution was to run a wire aerial down the side of the garden next to his neighbour (radio ham). This was connected to a 12v battery and car alternator in his garden shed. A remote switch allowed him to switch this on whenever his neighbour was transmitting and he was recording. Always ended up that the neighbour gave up. Worked every time :blush:

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The HAM radio operator probably wonders if people still use turntables… It is almost 2023.

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That’s hilarious, and could have been incorporated into something comic like "Fawlty Towers’. I could imagine Basil perpetrating the prank, with Manuel getting it in the neck if Sybil found out what was going on.

But back to (what passes for) reality, did the ham neighbour ever twig what was happening?

(I’m giggling uncontrollably to myself as I type this!)

The neighbour never had a clue. :joy:

Attaching ferrite Beads/Cores/Chokes to the speaker cables would be a sensible thing to do. It’s good that you’re working it through with your neighbour.

Radio hams have evolved… but yes helping forge the way with micro wave and ultra low power propagation which the world is starting to take advantage of more and more with satellite broadband etc.
Admittedly there is only a small proportion but those can be licensed amateur (non paid) radio engineers and scientists.
Further SW radio is a fantastic natural sustainable resource with earth’s ionosphere and again understanding is still evolving with amateur scientists… it still helps the military and civilians where other means fail.

It’s funny how negatively some people view technology and people who personally develop as amateurs their scientific proficiency and potentially add to this scientific community as amateurs unless it happens to be some relatively trivial consumer internet ‘tech’ or consumerist related.

And it is worth sharing it was my discipline in RF training gained from becoming a full licensed operator coupled with my engineering background got me looking into the first ‘audio friendly’ data switches and sharing on the web all those years ago…… and now look nearly everybody wants one in their Christmas stocking….

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What I would say, if one has any break through… it shows poor rejection to RF and almost certainly one will have a degree of compromise in the system whether there is a licensed operator or not near by.
I use up to 400 W PEP into a three element beam antenna (which is obviously balanced) with therefore a higher power ERP… and I have no break through into my recording studio or Hi-Fi… but I have accurate and effective grounding and RF rejection … and it helps my audio equipment sound better whether my station is transmitting or not.
I find mobile phones far more intrusive for interference generation.

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Yeah, things have moved on over the years, I rarely hear of Rf interference from radio hams these days. My mates experiences were 35 years ago. Most issues nowadays are down to equipment. Cue the Naim Superline :grinning:

I chatted with a friend yesterday about this … his response was that he was surprised anyone was still listening to analog sources these days! Sadly he did not have a solution although he agreed that it was the ham’s responsibility to find a solution.

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I am sure the operator will offer to help mitigate the issue as part of being a good neighbour even if it is not their issue, as ultimately it can be seen a technical challenge… but be advised some consumer equipment has very poor immunity such as mobile gsm break through occurs etc… and if that occurs it is quite likely there could be break through from other sources, and there may be no remedy the operator can offer.
Indeed modern legal consumer products should meet the radiation compliance immunity…. but we know even if they do there are still fringe issues such as cheap yet compliant network switches, or SMPS causing interference in some circumstances. Indeed if the operator is afflicted by a neighbours cheap SMPS or solar panel inverter it is the neighbours responsibility to remedy such as the emissions are compliant…. and yes in the past I have exercised this route with the help of Ofcom. Specifically if the operator is afflicted by interference on a protected band they have recourse…. hence why RF notch filers were inserted into Powerline adapters on the protected frequencies many years back to avoid issues.

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To my mind, the most likely ‘source’ to be affected is the low level signal from tt to pre. Use clip on ferrites there to start with. Change the orientation and routing of cables, if poss.

Make sure all your ground connections are good.

Try moving the kit, if poss/practical

As a further experiment, you could try properly shielded speaker cables of suitable electrical characteristics for the vintage of your kit.

If all else fails, it’s Faraday cage time!

Not experienced rf interface since the police switched to Tetra, and as SiS says some kit just isn’t designed to current standards of noise immunity.

At least the Ham more than likely will apply some sound science to the issue which is more than can be said of many hobbyists.

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Chatted to my ham friend yesterday who suggested that your ham might want to consider a dedicated earth for his equipment.

Analogue? Well yes, but most of the time I’m streaming with my ND5 XS2

Do you get interference all the time or just with the turn table? Do you get any interference when streaming?

Have you kept a diary noting when it occurs so that it can match the ham’s activity?

Think it’s there all the time - e,g. Can hear it when nothing is playing, time before was when my partner was watching Corrie! Not advisable :face_with_peeking_eye::rofl: - so the TV also played through the system - most of the time we notice it when nothing is being played - like most of us I have amp on most of the time

I had a similar problem when there was a taxi rank a couple of doors down from where i live. Every time they queued the mike on their two way radio you could hear a “thump” coming through my speakers (only when using the turntable though). My dealer told me i could report them, because there was something not fully legal about their radio.

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I appreciate that may have been tongue-in-cheek but since you can get such a think for car keys, can you get one big enough for a SNAXO, I wonder?

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