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I am wondering if anyone has had any type of interference from their computer? KQ2W and I both have the Black Box ANAN 7000 DLE MKII ... and we both bought identical, brand new, HP desktops that exceeded even the top tier recommended specs. But we both seem to have some anomalies that might be computer related? Curious if anyone has had any computer related issues?

Also, I have my second Black Box ANAN 7000 DLE MKII on the way. Do some computers have extra RFI fighting components (for example, a Switching Power Supply guaranteed to not generate RFI?) Does anyone have any specific recommendations?

THANKS & 73,
David
WR4N

What kind of interference are you seeing? How do you know it is the PC and not, for instance, the monitor?

I've had all of the computers in my house custom built by iBUYPOWER (an online gaming computer builder). You get to choose everything that goes into your machine -- motherboard, CPU, GPU, memory, storage, power supply, cooling system, fans, case, everything. None of my machines have ever given me any problem with RFI, which I actually find quite surprising because virtually all of their computer cases have one or more giant windows in the enclosure (I guess gamers like to see the inside of their computer), which I was afraid would let all kinds of RFI escape, but such has in fact never been the case in reality.

Mark

Mark, super source ... thank you!

w-u-2-o wrote:What kind of interference are you seeing? How do you know it is the PC and not, for instance, the monitor?

Scott, I don’t know. However, I’m almost finished with my Retirement Station, and I’m adding my second ANAN 7000 DLE MKII. Being on the second floor and running QRO, without an Earth Ground, causes issues (even though my antennas are balanced; 80m dipole and SteppIR UrbanBeam). The main one is that when I begin to run PS, it’s great for 1-5 minutes and then it flashes 12-20 kHz across the band. The beautiful football shaped amp view looks like a twisted pretzel. (Believe me, I’ve tried everything. I even bought an OM-2501-HF Amp because it has a built in PS Coupler). And then I have my computer freeze up at times, etc.

I keep improving my situation step by step, and on this second ANAN, I suppose a Class B Computer is “Preventative” if nothing else.

I always appreciate your input!

Thanks,
David

Hi David,

I have always built my own gaming computers and when a new build is finished I retire the old gaming computer to my ham station and use it there. I found quickly that some power supplies were horrendous RFI generators that spewed garbage all over the ham bands. At any rate, I have had excellent success with the perfectly RFI quiet EVGA SuperNova platinum or gold series power supplies. They are a few bucks more but worth it for use in a ham station. I used the model below in my last two builds but it has since been replaced by a newer version:

https://www.newegg.com/evga-supernova-8 ... 0ZX53E6817

By the way, I was able to suppress RFI generating power supplies pretty easily by taking the usual computer power supply AC cable and coiling it up 3 or 4 times and locking 4 or 5 large mix31 ferrite blocks over the AC cable. Not cheap and kind of clunky but it worked. I'm glad to be running the quiet EVGA power supplies now!

73, Rob W1AEX

Current EVGA stock: https://www.newegg.com/EVGA-Power-Suppl ... ID-1402-58

WR4N wrote:

w-u-2-o wrote:What kind of interference are you seeing? How do you know it is the PC and not, for instance, the monitor?

Scott, I don’t know. However, I’m almost finished with my Retirement Station, and I’m adding my second ANAN 7000 DLE MKII. Being on the second floor and running QRO, without an Earth Ground, causes issues (even though my antennas are balanced; 80m dipole and SteppIR UrbanBeam). The main one is that when I begin to run PS, it’s great for 1-5 minutes and then it flashes 12-20 kHz across the band. The beautiful football shaped amp view looks like a twisted pretzel. (Believe me, I’ve tried everything. I even bought an OM-2501-HF Amp because it has a built in PS Coupler). And then I have my computer freeze up at times, etc.

OK, so it's not your computer that is causing "interference", which is what your first post described.

Firstly, you are going to need to disable the electronic bias system on your OM amp. I don't know how to do that, but it's one of the tube amps discussed in this topic: viewtopic.php?f=20&t=2398&p=2634

Second, you could buy the best computer in the world and if RF is getting into it it's not going to matter. You need to bond everything in your station to a common point grounding point, including the PC. Then you need to run a ground wire from that grounding point, 6AWG copper stranded should suffice, to a ground rod. There will be a bunch of naysayers that say you can't do this from a second story shack, but I did it very successfully for years.

w-u-2-o wrote:

WR4N wrote:

w-u-2-o wrote:What kind of interference are you seeing? How do you know it is the PC and not, for instance, the monitor?

Scott, I don’t know. However, I’m almost finished with my Retirement Station, and I’m adding my second ANAN 7000 DLE MKII. Being on the second floor and running QRO, without an Earth Ground, causes issues (even though my antennas are balanced; 80m dipole and SteppIR UrbanBeam). The main one is that when I begin to run PS, it’s great for 1-5 minutes and then it flashes 12-20 kHz across the band. The beautiful football shaped amp view looks like a twisted pretzel. (Believe me, I’ve tried everything. I even bought an OM-2501-HF Amp because it has a built in PS Coupler). And then I have my computer freeze up at times, etc.

OK, so it's not your computer that is causing "interference", which is what your first post described.

Firstly, you are going to need to disable the electronic bias system on your OM amp. I don't know how to do that, but it's one of the tube amps discussed in this topic: viewtopic.php?f=20&t=2398&p=2634

Second, you could buy the best computer in the world and if RF is getting into it it's not going to matter. You need to bond everything in your station to a common point grounding point, including the PC. Then you need to run a ground wire from that grounding point, 6AWG copper stranded should suffice, to a ground rod. There will be a bunch of naysayers that say you can't do this from a second story shack, but I did it very successfully for years.

I’m thrilled to hear you say this! I’ve been a ham over 30 years and you’re the first person who said you’d had success with a 2nd floor ground. WOW! And I’m prepared to run 6” wide copper strap from my busbar to ground ... but all I hear is “It won’t work.” I’m starting on the grounding project now.

Huge Thanks!