My firewalled ham radio account. I have other fediverse accounts, but they're not linked for reasons:
- I like talking only about ham radio and related subjects here.
- The FCC publishes who we all are.
I also wonder how much value could be gained by messing with the design of cheap lazy coax coil choke, essentially an air-core inductor... Obviously a proper ferrite is better, but at that point a "real" choke is around that price range and superior. Perhaps wrapping it instead around random iron-containing objects, like a tin can full of nuts and bolts would increase the inductive reactance?
But that's an idea I have the tools to actually measure myself...
I've seen a lot of common wisdom that one of the ways to deal with RFI, particularly the common mode variety, is to ground the coax shield (via lightning arrestor).
But does this actually help with RFI? I mean, beyond theory, has anybody measured this in a real-world situation? Because my coax is already grounded via the PSU, and that's likely the case for the vast majority of grid-tied stations...
(I'm aware there are other reasons to properly ground.)
I'm having a couple antenna ideas, now that the metal roof install is done.
I could make a "Loop on Ground" but mount it around the eaves or gutter? But how would I work out the right turns ratio for the binocular ferrite if I deviate from the original design?
I'm seeing suggestions of switching to a 9:1, warnings not to go over one full wavelength, but also a YouTuber showing good results for a Loop a foot off the ground around an entire suburban property, probably a full 160 ft...
I'm about to have a standing seam metal roof installed on the house. I'm going to eventually put one or more short towers and/or tripods up there, since the metal roof should provide a bit of QRM reduction from nearby and act as a ground, reflector, or counterpoise, depending on how I wire it.
Any good resources on the best ways to attach a base to this sort of roof?
Note: do not explain how in a reply. That is 100% not what I am asking for.
Straight-up blocking anybody who posts about current events of a political nature regarding the US federal elections without using the 'uspol' cw.
This is for my sanity, so I can choose my level of exposure and keep the outrage contained before it eats all of the time I have for other hobbies, like radio.
There's plenty of guides and tools for measuring the effectiveness of chokes that fight common mode current, but is there a useful way to measure the common mode current itself? Can I put something inline to read a spectrum of the portion of #QRM coming from the whole antenna system that is from common mode current?
This data would be useful to me when trying to iron out which noise sources are from my QTH and which are neighbors...