Subject:	Re: TVI
Date:		Tue, 20 Jan 1998 06:50:11 EST
From:		kc6wfs@juno.com (David Booth)
To:		the.hiltner.family@sympatico.ca
CC:		kc6wfs@juno.com, booth@pactitle.com
References:	1


Hello,

Well I run 500w on 6M SSB and FM and have all sorts of problems. I also
now run 400w on 2M as well.

When I first got into 6M SSB about 1 year ago, about 3 weeks later when I
was putting up a yagi on the tower a neighbor came over( I live in a very
populated area.) and said "are you the one getting into my TV?" I asked
him to keep a log of the interference and we would compare notes the next
week. I also kept a log.  Sure enough 95% of the problem was my 6M
rigs.... I am also into AM! hehe...

So I went over to the neighbors house, and we all have cable tv out here
due to the distance of broadcast sites and mountains, but there are
several ways to see WHY you are getting into the tv. Start with removing
the antenna wires from the back of the tv and see if you are still
getting in. If you are it's more than likely comming in through the
tuner. Not sure how to go about shielding a tuner on a tv. If they are
not getting any interference with the antenna wires off of the tv try
buying a low pass filter from your local ham radio seller.

Also grounding is very important! Try to keep the ground from your radios
to the grounding rod very short. If it has to be long use a ground strap
instead of a wire!
Do not use the ground wire off of the 110ac line. That will put rf into
the ac line and could travel for blocks into everyones tv's and stereos..
ect..

Be sure to put terriods on all of your equipment (on the ac line) to the
back of your radios and amps, and power supplies! I did this just in case
rf was still getting into the ac line.. Which it was!

There is nothing you can do for baby monitors and cordless phones on 46-
49mhz.
They are crap right out of the factory where they are built.

When I started getting complaints I told my neighbors to get the 900mhz
phones and 
most went out and bought them. The ones that did not still complain and
want ME to buy the phones but I say I am not responsible for that. They
always say "well you are the one causing the interference" and I always
come back with "did you not read the interference exclusion on the
warrenty card when you bought your $25.00 (USA) cordless phone". On some
phones there is a disclaimer that they are NOT responsible for inference
due to ham radio!
That shut up all my neighbors on the cordless phone subject!

Now hard line phones was a harder subject. I have had the phone company
out for problems with my 6M and 2M getting into these phones. About 60%
were from bad ground contacts on the junction box either going to the
phones from there outside wall or from the MAIN box (2 houses away) where
all the local phones are tied in.

The other 40% were due to bad filtering on the phone it's self.
Here again it's to tell your neighbors that "it's not my problem, return
the phone to the manufacture.".. They don't want to hear that!... But
unless you want to spend a lot of money on your neighbors... And my
philosophy on that is once you start buying things for them it will NEVER
stop!

Here is how I found out if they had a junk phone.. I went out and bought
one that is clear has a clear case and you can see all the guts and it
has neat little lights that flicker when the phone rings. I figured it
had to be filtered better than most because it was all exposed and I have
never seen so many parts in a phone!

This did the trick with the neighbors. Not a lick of noise when I took it
over and plugged it in at there house! They were surprised to say the
least. One neighbor had never complained until 3 weeks ago when her
husband went and bought her a new phone with a answering machine ($300.00
USA) and all she could hear was me when I keyed down. It would also hang
up the phone if I ran 2M SSB at 400w.
They were not happy campers! They wanted me to buy them a new $300.00
phone and when I said I am not responsible they called the local police
later that day when I got on the radio clamming that if there was a
emergency they would not be able to call on the phone for help.

When the police came out they agreed with me that it's way out of there
jurisdiction.
Her husband went out and returned the phone.

Cable tv was another problem. The complaints at first were so severe and
so many I knew it could not be just a proximity problem. I had people
come from 3 to 4 blocks away.... I know you do not have cable but I share
this with you....
 I have had cracked windows on my car. eggs, one neighbor threatened to
KILL me right in front of my kids and wife( she is a ham also) was
threatened with divorce from my wife after that... I called the cable
company and threatened to call the FCC and complain if they did not come
out. I set up a date with the cable company and made up a flyer stating
that if ANYONE had any interference on there cable co come over or send a
note no me (had my address and phone number on it) to PLEASE come over
and complain to the the cable man when he comes out....

Only 3 people responded, and one of those was for a cordless phone problem.
With the 2 others it was there tv's. One neighbor that complained would
not let the cable guy inside his house but was yealing at the cable guy
to fix the problem... Go figure...

Ever since I put the flyers out I still get calls at weird hours when I
know it was not my interfering.. And sometimes I get calls when I am on
the radio.. One neighbor who has a cordless phone (49mhz) has no other
phone in the house... Can you beleave it! I told them what if there was a
earthquake or a power outage you would not be able to use the phone! He
responded with " I one use the phone to call for pizza"...
Some people just don't get it.....

So long and short there are some that you will never be able to please...

Bill Pasternak (WA6ITF) is a good friend of mine and he told me of a
story from back many years ago....

The band was open and he was working dx on 6M AM and gave out his phone
number out over the air to a friend that he had  lost contact with until
the opening when they worked each other one day. A few minutes later he
got a a phone call from someone 3 states away clamming he was interfering
with the tv. When Bill asked how he got the phone number they said from
the audio on the tv... They were getting interference from over 400 miles
away!!!!!

Wild huh!

Well I'm glad I was able to respond to you and hope this helps.....
If you have any questions just ask..

P.S.
A good low pass filter did wonders.. But be sure it is grounded well.
Also I hooked up a "drip" system for all my grounding rods...


73..
Dave Booth KC6WFS DM04