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Re: [RFI] USB RFI

To: "'N4ZR'" <n4zr@comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [RFI] USB RFI
From: "Mike Smith VE9AA" <ve9aa@nbnet.nb.ca>
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 2020 16:27:46 -0400
List-post: <mailto:rfi@contesting.com>
I’m not 100% certain….I just don’t recall now Pete. It’s been a few years since 
I’ve installed it.

 

I’d assume the shell (rectangular metal end that slips into the laptops USB 
port) ties to the shield on the cable?

 

I couldn’t find any other good place to tie into the ground on the laptop, 
being 99% plastic (at least on the outside)

 

Someone told me (and I don’t recall who) that even if I had found some kind of 
ground on the laptop, that the USB shield may not be at the same potential, so 
that’s the first place (usb port) I tried a wire and shockingly, it worked.

 

YMMV and if you blow up your laptop/computer, it’s not my fault ! hi

 

CU in RAC Winter I hope.  GL with your RFI

 

Mike VE9AA

 

Mike, Coreen & Corey

Keswick Ridge, NB

 

From: N4ZR [mailto:n4zr@comcast.net] 
Sent: December 18, 2020 4:21 PM
To: Mike Smith VE9AA
Subject: Re: [RFI] USB RFI

 

Fascinating, Mike - did the #26 pigtail actually make contact with the shield 
on the USB cable (assuming it was shielded?  My PC's chassis is bonded to my 
ground bus.

73, Pete N4ZR
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On 12/18/2020 12:54 PM, Mike Smith VE9AA wrote:

I can only speak to what worked here.  I used to constantly lose connection
to N1MM and also to my Winkeyer (and later, my YCCC SO2R+ box).all on
separate USB cables.
 
 
 
Occasionally, even at QRP levels.
 
 
 
I was plagued with it. My shack looked like a stockpile of Ferrite had
gobbled up all my cables.
 
 
 
In the end, the one thing that proved most valuable was actually super
simple.  I took a teeny tiny wire...perhaps a #26, stripped a couple inches
of insulation off the end of it and wrapped it around the shell/shield of
one of the USB cables entering my (plasticky) 10yr old laptop.  I attached
that wee pigtail of wire to my station ground with a larger wire.
 
 
 
Voila! 99.9% of my RFI instantly went bye bye.
 
 
 
Good luck.
 
 
 
Mike VE9AA
 
 
 
Mike, Coreen & Corey
 
Keswick Ridge, NB
 
 
 
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