EFHW 8010, hung as a inverted L ?..

[k8niv]

I have the endfed hanging as a inverted L, my transformer is about 24-30" off the ground and it is grounded there also, the wire goes vertical about 30-33ft and have the wire antenna is on a pulley, and goes the rest of the way across the back yard horizontal...the tail insulator is about 10-12ft from touching the tree limbs where the rope is also on a pulley before it crosses the tree limb.....it is been feed with about 50ft of RG 213 coax, which at the present comes in the shack window to the back of my radio, which is a Kenwood TS-590SG radio, I just run a 100 watts, no amplifier...
I have ran these antennas setup like this in the past but never in this location....

Question I have is, I don't see any indications of any RFI in the shack, or bothering anything in the house, can it still be some stray RFI bothering the neighbors stuff ?...

 

[Skypilot007]

Is the antenna closer to your neighbors house than it is to your house? If that's the case, there could be a chance that you are not having any RFI problems and your neighbors could be. Have your neighbors complained?

 

[k8niv]

No, the transformer is closer to our house, and the wire for the antenna runs away from both homes......no issues in our house, haven't heard anything from the neighbors..

 

[Skypilot007]

I think you should be fine. I run the same rig and have a similar antenna except mine is strung out as a flat top dipole. I haven't had any problems with it. I do have common mode chokes near the feed point and at the bulkhead where it enters my house.

 

[W4AXW]

A 1:1 RF choke/Balun on the shack side of your transformer wouldn't go amiss.

7 3

 

[prcguy]

Even though the OP doesn't have any RFI in the house that doesn't mean the neighbor will not. They could have a cheap landline phone that lights up in the presence of RF, an RFI sensitive stereo system with long speaker wiring, etc. A good 1:1 choke balun on the radio side of the antenna transformer will help keep RF off the HF radio, mic cord, stuff like that but probably won't help the neighbor any. But its still a good idea and I always use one with MyAntennas being my first choice in choke baluns.

 

[merlin]

From my tuner, 2nd story, my EF Hertz goes up 28 foot then horizontal across the roof. Radio is Kenwood TS-440S and do a bit of CW.
Nothing in the shack seems bothered except low part of 40 meters, it screws with my USB mouse and keyboard.
With neighbors below the wire, surely there is some interference, but no complaints as yet.

 

[k8niv]

Probably won't help the neighbor any. But its still a good idea and I always use one with MyAntennas being my first choice in choke baluns..

Prcguy, what could I do to prevent bothing the neighbors stuff, any suggestions ?

I enjoy my radio, and have good neighbors too like to keep it this way you no, never seen them..

 

[prcguy]

Probably won't help the neighbor any. But its still a good idea and I always use one with MyAntennas being my first choice in choke baluns..

Prcguy, what could I do to prevent bothing the neighbors stuff, any suggestions ?

I enjoy my radio, and have good neighbors too like to keep it this way you no, never seen them..

Do you currently get into any neighbors stuff? Many years ago when everyone was using TV antennas and low band TV channels 2-5 were on air there was a potential TVI problem. Sometimes a low pass filter would help that but the problem was mostly due to front end overload on the TV. But there are very few VHF lo band channels left in the US and TVI problems are rare.

That leaves RFI to home stereo systems, satellite receivers to a small extent, portable radios, computers and DSL over copper, telephones, alarm and irrigation systems, wired intercoms and lots of other stuff. RFI into most of these items is from high levels of RF and increasing distance to the devices or lowering your transmit power is the best way to reduce problems. Worst case visiting the neighbor with a box full of ferrite and wrapping power cords or other cables in and out of the affected device can fix many problems.

With 100 watts I would be surprised if you cause any problems if your antenna is at any distance to your neighbors house. I can run 1200w at my house with my 80m OCFD running the full length of the house and 20ft overhead with no problems. At some power level above 100w my neighbor can sometimes hear interference on a table radio in a room closest to my antenna but they don't complain about it. I remember 20yrs ago they mentioned hearing noise on their landline phone and I gave them a handful of plug in phoneline filters and never heard about it again. But I live in suburban hell and houses are very close together, sounds like you might have a large yard and more space.

So to sum up, in my opinion there is little you can do to your station to reduce interference to your neighbors equipment except for increasing distance of your antenna to their stuff or reducing transmit power. If they are getting interference you can find out what is getting interfered with and there is usually an easy fix by adding ferrite or other things to the device.