RFI
[Top] [All Lists]

[RFI] Thumper & not the rabbit

To: rfi@contesting.com
Subject: [RFI] Thumper & not the rabbit
From: "Gary Smith" <Gary@ka1j.com>
Reply-to: Gary@ka1j.com
Date: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 12:28:51 -0400
List-post: <rfi@contesting.com">mailto:rfi@contesting.com>
Have another curiosity to figure out: 

A couple years ago I'd rebuilt my fathers 30 year old HyGain 
tribander & replaced the traps at the same time. It resonates well at 
the CW portion of the band. However, when I transmitted CW with it 
the oil furnace thumped like a freshman kettle drummer on his first 
day at band practice. This was bad enough it happened running 
barefoot, using an amp was not a possibility. I began trying to 
resolve the issue but thanks to excess whining from others in the the 
house I stopped trying & disconnected the antenna.

To describe the thumping, it doesn't seem to be clicking or coming 
from a relay, it sounds like someone is hitting the sheet metal 
enclosure, hard & from deep inside with an open hand. When standing 
beside the furnace it definitely sounds like it is coming from below 
& from within the furnace itself and not the ductwork. It is loud 
enough that people upstairs hear it from downstairs and think I am 
pounding on something in the basement. The thumping seems to be the 
same character and using more power does not make the thumps louder.

I decided to give it another try this year and thought the balun 
might have been previously damaged. I was going to use 12 6" coils of 
coax but was advised against that as being effective so I bought a 
DXE-BAL050-H10-A and installed it. There was a marked improvement 
using this balun and now there is no thumping when operating 
barefoot. Using the amp though on occasion, not consistently, there 
still is thumping. For instance; I just now transmitted 1500W on 10, 
15 & 20 with no thumping whatsoever. Last night when I was 
transmitting, there was the occasional thump. 

Intermittent anything is hard enough to diagnose but something needs 
addressed. Any thoughts on what I might look at first before I start 
digging in? 

73,

Gary
KA1J
  

---
This email is free from viruses and malware because avast! Antivirus protection 
is active.
http://www.avast.com

_______________________________________________
RFI mailing list
RFI@contesting.com
http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/rfi

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>