Re: Spectracom 8170 question..

Hal,

The antennas are about 200 feet away form the machine room and atop an adjacent utility building. A check with a portable radio gave no comfort; RFI levels are atrocious.

I have a Netclock/1 WWVB receiver at home working okay, but I also have three 2200-VA UPSes, one less than four feet from the antenna. I conclude that some UPSes radiate on 60 kHz and some don't.

Over the years RFI on 60 kHz has increased even without the UPS problem. Several years ago I traced it to conductive interference on the power line. Two engineers form the local power company came to the same conclusion. Put a 60-kHz radio near a power line and it goes crazy; move it 100 feet away and comforting silence. I could clearly see it on an oscilliscope connecte to the synchronous detector in the WWVB radio; it had a nasty modulation that made me think it a high power power inverter for a welding machine. We do have a Chrysler plant in town.

I called the FCC monitoring station at Laurel, MD, and asked them to take a look. They and the FCC Maine station concluded the radiation came from somewhere in Quebec, so I would have to pursue the issue with the State Deparment. My pals in Boston have no such WWVB problem. So much for the FCC monitors; I suspect they will be closed down to protect the BPL agenda.

As an aside, I've been at the FCC monitoring station in Washington, DC. An old R-390, Teletype model 12 and a plotting board with string and tacks. The FCC was on the way out of town last I heard. Did the last engineer to leave the place douse the lights? Only lawyers are allowed to stay.

Dave

Hal Murray wrote:
Schematics are at http://www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/database/8170/. You can find the DIPswitch, eyeball the component ID and go find it on the board. Send it T to wake it up. The * means it's not synchronized. I hope you got the antenna/preamp; it doesn't work without it. Also be aware the heavier UPSes produce so much RFI that we have had to stand down both of our 8170s. 


How far apart are (were) the UPSs and the 8170s?

Do the 8170s still work if you locate them somewhere nice or does the
crap from the UPSs get back out on the power line and polute the
whole area?  (In which case the problem could be from UPSs in
other buildings/organizations...)

Do home size UPSs have the same problem?  Perhaps killing the
"atomic" clocks in the rest of the house?  (The ones that set
themselves from WWVB.)

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: How do I ground a chassis with only a 2-conductor power cable?
    ... The purpose is to transmit about 80 feet, give or take, so I don't ... I do realize that if I go over a certain radiated power limit (which I ... circuit draws from the supply, which I don't recall ever seeing going ... the radio to show it's powered up)... ...
    (sci.electronics.design)
  • Re: Portable Aircraft HF Radio Build (Going to Be Long) Multiple Posts....
    ... HF Radio ICOM 706MKIIG 100 Watt $949.00 On Sale Ham Radio Outlet ... Power, Ground And Control head will be External Mount Quick Connect. ... Remove Lid Re Clock 180 Degrees Add Auto Tune Cap & Resister To the Inside Of Tuner At The Terminal Connector. ...
    (rec.aviation.piloting)
  • Re: what size wire to use for 30amp 12v circuit ?
    ... variable power supply to my Icom 735 with a Bird 4381 power analyst in line ... SolidState Amps than just about any other Marine MF/HF Radio, ... stretching a little here) And the built-in wire antenna tuner was a charmer, ... installations, but is that any reason to go as cheap as possible with DC ...
    (rec.boats.electronics)
  • Re: Dead Yaesu ft-890 Help!
    ... ask around about the local ham radio club... ... The FT-890 uses an external power supply. ... If your meter has an amp scale put the meter to the amps range (2 ...
    (rec.radio.amateur.equipment)
  • KAIJ - "The Power Hour" on 5755 kHz @ 06:50 UTC
    ... What is Shortwave Radio Station KAIJ? ... KAIJ Shortwave Radio Program Links / URLs ... The Power Hour with Joyce Riley and Dave VonKleist ... RG6 Coax Cable Feed-in-Line about 25 Feet Long ...
    (rec.radio.shortwave)
Loading