interfering

[angryamerican]

I am not friends with my neighbors but we are not enemy's either, and would like to keep it that way.

So when setting up a base how can I keep from interfering with there electronics. Is that even a problem today like it was back in the late 70's and early 80's Is a amp out of the question? I am not talking major power here but I don't wanna go major but stock is for the birds. So whats the best advise.

I know every body's first advise is gonna be screw the neighbors but being a survivalist Ive learned not to burn the bridges that I may need latter so that option is out. Thanks for any advise.

I should also mention that I live in the city. One neighbor is about 200 feet away and the other is about 80 feet.

[MrFixIt]

Would something like this work? I think its a TVI Filter good to 1000 watts

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-LOW-PASS-TVI-FILTER-1000-WATTS-CB-HAM-RADIO-PDC1089_W0QQitemZ270323857754QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH _DefaultDomain_0?hash=item270323857754&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A13 18|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50 (http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-LOW-PASS-TVI-FILTER-1000-WATTS-CB-HAM-RADIO-PDC1089_W0QQitemZ270323857754QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH _DefaultDomain_0?hash=item270323857754&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C 240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50)

[Dodgem250]

You know, things are a lot different then they used to be and technology is not all analog anymore. The problem of TVI/RFI/EMI have been resolved greatly by the digital inventions of Cable TV, Ghz Cordless Phones, and cell phones, plus digital TV signals. I would put up whatever you really want and go with it.

I run a fairly simply program here. I have a cobra 148GTL, with a Texas Star DX250 Custom, and 102" fiberglass whip at about 50 feet of coax with 1.2 SWR, and I have no problems with my neighbors whatsoever, even the foot warmer is glowing red.

I actually think I might upgrade to an A-99 or the IMAX 2000, since I have no fear of bleeding into the next guys signals anymore, all I gotta say is, I wish it was a digital world 30 years ago !

Now If could just use those pretty new "touch lamps" in the living room ! I had to unplug them, every time I keyed up in the shop the lamps would go off and on LOL.

[Dodgem250]

I never found a TVI filter that actually worked, and I think I have tried them all. Putting a filter on the transmitter is a waste of one's time and money, but, putting it where it belongs, on the receiver is a great idea, But again, never found one that actually worked.


Would something like this work? I think its a TVI Filter good to 1000 watts

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-LOW-PASS-TVI-FILTER-1000-WATTS-CB-HAM-RADIO-PDC1089_W0QQitemZ270323857754QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH _DefaultDomain_0?hash=item270323857754&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A13 18|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50 (http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-LOW-PASS-TVI-FILTER-1000-WATTS-CB-HAM-RADIO-PDC1089_W0QQitemZ270323857754QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH _DefaultDomain_0?hash=item270323857754&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C 240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50)

[998]

:lol: me and dodgem have the same issue I see yea I cant talk after dark(damn touch lights) i got old people next to me but i got to be cool here Thats why i run most of my stuff mobile but yea ground is a great place to start and for the filters i got 3 of them i wasted my money on them and found they took a lil from me as well so they got put in the shed with the rest of my junk :lol:

[captainMarvelous]

dirty in, dirty out. Harmonics, fundamental overload, spurious tranmissions. All things that can be sorted out before you plug your coax in and avoid a lot of headache.

[Stickman]

Well first and foremost lets start with the radio, I have found though alot of testing that a radio set at 100 percent modulation is perfect for a base setup just as Captain says Dirty in dirty out, try not to aim for any of the export type radio's for a base they tend to radio throw out a spurious signal, the RCI's tend to be better in this area. But tube type radio's tend to be the best as far harmonics, the issue most have with these type rigs is the watts. But we are dealing with a base station so a well tune radio will be fine, try and stay away from the swing mods and such when dealing with base stuff. Ok now lets talk about base antennas, I have found that higher is better as far as bleeding on neighbors, also type of antenna that is used. Now I'm not gonna go into detail on all the different type of antennas that you could run but give a quick run down of my experience. 1/4 waves seem to be the best as far as making the neighbors happy, I have ran 3 different type 1/4 waves and have had similar reports with them( no bleed or very little bleed) 1/2 wave tend to get worst with the bleed over but will out preform a 1/4. 5/8 wave have been notorious for bleeding for yrs. Now I have never owned a 64 wave so I cannot quote anything on them. But the all out best antenna to help with bleed over has been a bean antenna, and this is only do to the fact that you can turn the ant. away from neighbors, that you maybe having issues with. Also if you want happy neighbors stay away from the A-99's and such, they really like to smack the neighbors around. I've been in talks with a friend on these different types of ant. and I believe it has alot to do with the angle of radiation that each antenna transmit.But this is for a later decision. So we have the 2 primary ingredients to start are base setup. Ok now lets talk coax, being that most base setups are going to use anywhere between 50 to 200 foot and this all depends on the location of the ant. from shack and the height. I'm not going into a long discussion on coax types so what i will say is buy a decent coax and not some off the wall brand that most truck stops carry. I will say this I don't believe in tuning coax for swr readings, but I will say that velocity factors mater more on base setups than mobiles only do to the fact of the long runs being used ( such as DB loss and coax radiation) which is being discussed right now in another topic. Now I would install an RF Choke at the bottom of the ant. and this is just cheap insurance to keep common mode current from making the coax it's own ant. Which could be a reason also that you could bleed on neighbors. Ok now we have a basic setup. Next

[Stickman]

Ok now lets talk ground, this is very important to a base survival, grounds do alot of different things for you, but I'm only going into basics here. 1 they tend to ground out any spurious emission that your setup may produce. 2 they help with the transmitter from throwing off harmonics and sending this to ground. ( this is a hot topic with alot of people, an only because most people that argue this point have butchered up radio's) So in laymans terms it makes you loader and cleaner over the air, also a more pleasantly sounding receiver also adds a true ground to the ant. it self.I cannot stress this enough ground ground ground. Everything grounded to an earth ground, and I mean a true earth ground, not water pipes or outlet plugs a real god rod in the earth. 1 for the ant. and 1 for the base and other equipment. Now we could get into a whole story on how to ground but this is the basics. Next a high quality low pass filter, now not to step on any toes here. But when i say high quality, thats what I mean. not some filter you get at the local truck stop or Rat shack, a real filter that cuts off frequencies above 30 Mhz and there's a story for these that could be a later debait. But in general filters will help in both transmit and receive by cutting any signals above 30 Mhz, so what I'm saying is this will keep you with in the fundamental frequencies that you are transmitting on. Now with the digital age this shouldn't be a concern, but here's the issue with that statement. Electronic equipment being produced today does not take into a count for rf transmission, so basically cheaper devices being sold to the general public, so basically alot of these new devices tend to receive alot of front in over load. Cordless phones are notorious for this, alot are just plain garbage. Ok lets move on with the basic's of this topic. The amp: the muscles of the whole operation, a decent class AB amp is what I would look for only if you want happy neighbors anything less and you could be asking for trouble. Class C tends to really tear up the town. Just remember this you have a antenna that is high in the sky so you are in a different class then a mobile. You don't need as much power to talk the same distances as a mobile would , Now alot of people think I'm crazy but this is my setup that I pretty much run now and my phone isn't ringing, but if I run my hot 29 along with a mobile amp the phone rings off the hook. Theres alot more to this and we could go on forever (bandpass filters,low pass filter, how to ground equipment, types of antennas, different types of coax, and the amp or amps) I hope this helps you out.

[angryamerican]

Wow thanks every body for the great response. There is a lot to digest here. I will probably be using a cheap mobile on a power supply in the beginning I am betting that muddies the water. Ahh the curse of being broke.

[Maniac373]

Use a high quality TVI filter after your radio, Run the best quality coax you can, get your antenna as high in the air as possible

and... here is a good thing to try..

http://www.hamuniverse.com/balun.html

If only I would have known about this 10 years ago..:mad2:

Maniac

[Squirrel SOMD]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=380069866838

[Dodgem250]

Yeah AA, so, after all this, it boils down to this again...

"I would put up whatever you really want and go with it."

[Maniac373]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=380069866838


I run that coax in my mobile..

Times Microwave LMR 400 solid core conductor.

hard to work with--- but real good performance.

Maniac

[Righteous CBER]

The best defense is a good offense and start by mounting your antenna at it's highest possible level to earth as you can, at least 1 wavelength or 36' to 40' above ground level.

I find that your antenna setup goes along way to preventing tvi situations, first and foremost make sure that you have an antenna with groundplane radials designed for the frequency that you intend on operating in.

Even at this you still may hace common mode currents trying to radiate below the gp radials and a good would ugly balun usually will remedy that.

Here is info on that balun: ugly balun (http://www.hamuniverse.com/balun.html)

I have used the high pass filters that radio shack sells with excellent results at %100 success at output levels of 800 watts pep or less but if you start joining peoples phone conversations then it a whole new ball game, this is you signal riding through the phone lines and or electrical lines into the neighbors abode.

You'll find it much more difficult to remedy this, but I think in most cases by keeping the modulation levels at a respectable level will not cause this sort of interference.

[duckkiller127]

Remember that common mode currents are most prevalent in 5/8L antennas just part of the deal...so stick a choke on there regardless

also ALOT of bleeding comes from bad shielding on coax, unless you are running brand name (Belden, Times, etc) there is a pretty good possibility that you have leakthrough on your shield somewhere

also i NEVER recommend anything less than RG213 or MAYBE RG8 (NOT 8X)
8x has issues all it's own that i won't get into

[Stickman]

Also a few things to think about are band pass filters alittle different than low pass filters but they work very good. With all this info on here if done as said You will have a real nice station, and trust me when i say this more people tend to come back to a nice sounding station rather than some1 who is blurring the air waves. And to add 127 big 8 or 213 is a must and as said before a good quality brand not that china stuff thats been going around. Just remember this by cheap and it won't last as long as good quality coax.

[Stickman]

Also Righteous is correct with the offense, do it right the first time, the less the neighbors know the better. If you implement this type of practice you will have an outstanding setup.

[nn216]

my 2 cents,make friends with your neighbors that complain,try to respect prime time use of high power amps,use only enough power to make your contact,never go into thier homes to add filters, or any thing to stop the problem. Let them know that you are trying to resolve the problem.It doesn't take 1000 watts to talk across the street ...Make your install as clean as possible The 2 worst things are excessive power and over modulation. Fortunately you control both so have fun.Save the high power key downs for the mobile

[Stickman]

Amen my fellow brother in crime.

[Maniac373]

my 2 cents,make friends with your neighbors that complain,try to respect prime time use of high power amps,use only enough power to make your contact,never go into thier homes to add filters, or any thing to stop the problem. Let them know that you are trying to resolve the problem.It doesn't take 1000 watts to talk across the street ...Make your install as clean as possible The 2 worst things are excessive power and over modulation. Fortunately you control both so have fun.Save the high power key downs for the mobile

I have gone into both of my former neighbor's homes and installed RFI filters on the phone jacks, ferrite chokes on the TV speakers... etc.. Basically tried everything. I thought they were happy-- It wasn't coming through at all... Then just out of the blue a couple of weeks later, one of my neighbors called the mayors office, and complained that I was a public nuisance, and demanded prompt action.. They had an officer come to my house, and I denied running anything illegal. They left, I hid all the amps and illegal radios at a friends house. I had a bone stock Uniden Washington base that was for sale at the shop-- I brought that home, and hooked it up. The officer came back the next day, and I thought he had a warrant-- be cause he was real pushy, and trying to get in my house. I asked if he had a warrant, and he said no. He ended up writing me a citation/summons to appear in court, for "disturbing the peace"... As most of you know local Law enforcement has jurisdiction over illegal radio operation now. I has been this way for close to 10 years now..

Long story short, I was fined at court-- and was ordered to pay $500 plus court costs. I was pissed!! -- Some say I got off real easy.. Needless to say, I sold off all my base gear, and the neighbor won.. I brought the radio to court, I recited part 95 rules-- all that stuff. I think the judge had his mind made up before I ever walked in.

I honestly think I screwed up BIG TIME trying to be cool to my neighbors. (with the whole installing the filters thing)-- That backfired on me. I just strictly run mobile now.. You are a lot harder to track when you are moving.

Maniac

[Stickman]

Dam that blows, but as NN216 stated respect ti neighbor.

[Camel221]

That does bite the big one, maniac. I must say, tho, that I enjoy living in the boonies with the closest house about 1/4 mile away thru the woods. I mean hell, my ice cream delivery dam near got lost on the way back to my house lol.