ham radio gear

My neighbor is telling me that Im turning on their touch lamps in their home when I operate my ham radio gear, I know Its probably posable if I was close to the frequencey that the lights operat on but Im only running on the 10 meter bands, wich is only 28Mhz area.

Over the years, many different properties of the human body have been used to flip touch-sensitive switches:

* Temperature - The human body is generally warmer than the surrounding air. Many elevators therefore use buttons that are sensitive to the warmth of the human finger. These buttons, of course, don't work if you have cold hands. The motion-sensitive lamps you see on people's patios also sense the heat of the human body.

* Resistance - The human body, being made mostly of water, conducts electricity fairly well. By placing two contacts very close together, your finger can close the circuit when you touch it.

* Radio reception - You may have noticed that, when you touch an antenna, the reception gets better on a TV or radio. That's because the human body makes a pretty good antenna. There are even small LCD TVs that have a conductive neck strap so that the user acts as the antenna! Some touch-sensitive switch designs simply look for a change in radio-wave reception that occurs when the switch is touched.</B>

Touch-sensitive lamps almost always use a fourth property of the human body -- its capacitance. The word "capacitance" has as its root the word "capacity" -- capacitance is the capacity an object has to hold electrons. The lamp, when standing by itself on a table, has a certain capacitance. This means that if a circuit tried to charge the lamp with electrons, it would take a certain number to "fill it." When you touch the lamp, your body adds to its capacity. It takes more electrons to fill you and the lamp, and the circuit detects that difference. It is even possible to buy little plug-in boxes that can turn any lamp into a touch-sensitive lamp. They work on the same principle.

2009-04-05 16:38:54 by 2W615

I have a Icom 718, a MFJ Versa tuner, and a Astron 35A power supply. I will try not to use the tuner when I am set up for real. I got the power ...

My dad is a HAM radio operator. He's always on his damn radio. Unfortunately for me, it interferes with every electronic device in my room. It turns off my external sound card and comes through my speakers and makes a horrible humming/buzzing noise. My keyboard also flashes on and off and is unresponsive sometimes. And I also get tons of lines through my TV. I can't play guitar anymore because my dad just got a new radio and he's pretty much on it 24/7 so everytime I turn on the amp I get horrible buzzing and he also just randomly sits downstairs and keys up his mic and unkeys it so it pops like crazy and it sounds like it's gonna blow my speakers up. I've asked him if there's anything that can be done but he always blows me off or doesn't care. He says if the Chinese would quit making such crappy products then the interference wouldn't come through. Is there anything I can buy or use to stop the noise?

You said --
''if the Chinese would quit making such crappy products then the interference wouldn't come through''

Basically , He is right. - sorry.

Your guitar amp , PC speakers and TV are not correctly shielded against RFI (radio frequency interference)
This is bad design from companies in an attempt to increase their profit.

Because you are so close to the transmitter there is little that you can do.

There are RFI suppression techniques that can be investigated but I suspect in your case that its not likely to be terribly successful unless you get the full support and assistance from your dad.

My suggestion is to offer this to your dad as a friendly challenge that you can work on together as a bonding session.

As a ham he is , or at least should be interested in limiting interference , and if you present it in the right way to him as a project that you can work on together , not only will it help you , but it may strengthen your family ties as well.

If you are more interested in his ham radio hobby , he might be a bit more interested in your guitar playing.

2008-05-02 19:27:26 by kurtwascool

Price: $450.99 $370.00

Mobile Amateur Radio Transmits 144-148Mhz 430-450Mhz, Receives 108-520Mhz, 700-999Mhz.
Output power of 50W VHF 45W UHF, with lower 20/10/5W power settings.
Includes Backlit Direct Entry Keypad mic, double fused power cord mounting bracket. Requires 12-14Vdc @ 12A.
1000 memory channels with AlphaNumeric Display, ctcss/dcs (PL/DPL).
Built-in speaker. 1200/9600 bps Packet Jack.

Would anyone here find useful an HAM RADIO electronics section?
As a radio ham for many years, I'm saddened that the hobby has waned to the point that few youngsters are picking up the skills required to build, test and repair their electronic devices, including making (building) transmitting and receiving gear.

I am happy to give any assistance (should it be asked for), including charts of inductance to resonant frequency, and all manner of things.

Kind regards
Dr Antony
Pray tell, PG, Why not??

I am all for helping young ones (and the not so young) with their ham radio electronics projects and problems.

I tutor a few people from time to time and work with the local ham radio league to promote ham radio to young people.

Currently I am working on a special event station (to be held next summer) project aimed at generating public awareness and to help introduce new ones to the hobby with a hands on introduction at the special event station.

It is likely to be a big event which will be covered in the media by the biggest news papers and TV stations in the country.

But here.....
Hmm , while well intended the problem with a public question and answer forum is that anyone can ask and anyone can give answers.

This SHOULD work well , but it doesn't.

Personally , I don't want to help CB'ers set up their illegal linear amplifiers , and also , I wouldn't want to see wrong or deliberately misleading answers given to real questions.

With so many time wasters , armchair expert opinion givers , and 10 year olds playing games on here its not really the venue for serious question and answers., although Yahoo would probably disagree on that point.

Personally , I don't take advice from anyone that would rather remain anonymous online just as I wouldn't do in real life.

It allows the dodgy idiots a stand for them to exercise their free speech when really they should be quiet.

My name is Greg and I am OH2FFY

2008-12-11 20:03:24 by g6ypk

Price: $49.95

Solar with led flashlight
Wind up emergency radio
Good AM Reception