Potential Wi-Fi Interference with RTL-SDR Dongle: Solutions?

[wagros]

Friends,

Based on the photo below, where the router is circled in red and the RTL-SDR dongle is circled in yellow, positioned between two M.2 SSD heat sinks, I would like to know if the Wi-Fi could interfere with the dongle. My antenna is 20 meters above this location.

If you think the dongle might be subject to interference, would wrapping it, along with the filter, in aluminum foil help reduce the problem?

 

[Enforcer52]

Sitting right underneath a monitor, I would suspect the monitor, doubt the wifi is the cause I have 7 of them running not 4 feet from the router with no problem. But could also be a wall wart, or any other power supply or electrical device close by.

Ferrite coils are usually used, I don't know about aluminum foil.

 

[LimaZulu]

In such condition, as an addition to the above, the ferrites around coax cable, I will for sure add a grounded case and put sdir inside it, isolated from its walls. Basically, create a Faraday cage, because you are for sure a victim to direct interference injection straight to the "brain" of the sdr, bypassing all available filters if such are present

 

[wtp]

how much heat does the sdr put out ?
it might make it too hot.

 

[wagros]

how much heat does the sdr put out ?
it might make it too hot.

I never measured the temperature, but it was quite hot to the touch, which made me a bit uncomfortable. So I bought these heat sinks at a pretty good price and 'wrapped' the SDR with two of them, using a thermal pad and a nylon zip tie.

 

[wtp]

looks good but i would not wrap it then.
the in laws had their router, 2.4G house phone base, wireless printer, and laptop all within 3 feet of each other.
they could not use the house phone.
i moved the base away and wired the printer and laptop and turned off wifi and bluetooth on them.
all is well now. router is still running.
distance might be the answer. even a few feet might help.

 

[wagros]

looks good but i would not wrap it then.
the in laws had their router, 2.4G house phone base, wireless printer, and laptop all within 3 feet of each other.
they could not use the house phone.
i moved the base away and wired the printer and laptop and turned off wifi and bluetooth on them.
all is well now. router is still running.
distance might be the answer. even a few feet might help.

For me, it’s working this way. It doesn’t get as hot as it did before.
I bought a longer USB extension and will try to place it a bit further away.
Thank you for your suggestion!

 

[Ubbe]

It's not a WiFi RF signal that are an issue, it's electronics in general. Everything that has a CPU can create interference, sat box, media box, computer screens, printers, routers. If you experience interference then try and unplug a device from power and for a computer screen you can change the refresh rate and resoltion to see if the interference changes.

I have had great success using extra shielded CAT 6 and CAT 7 network cables and using USB cables that has a ferrite lump to reduce RFI coming out of devices. Any cables that attach to devices works as antennas and could need to be improved by using better cables or putting ferrite decouplings around them.

/Ubbe

 

[wtp]

and i actually say "distance is what keeps the wife and myself together".

 

[wagros]

It's not a WiFi RF signal that are an issue, it's electronics in general. Everything that has a CPU can create interference, sat box, media box, computer screens, printers, routers. If you experience interference then try and unplug a device from power and for a computer screen you can change the refresh rate and resoltion to see if the interference changes.

I have had great success using extra shielded CAT 6 and CAT 7 network cables and using USB cables that has a ferrite lump to reduce RFI coming out of devices. Any cables that attach to devices works as antennas and could need to be improved by using better cables or putting ferrite decouplings around them.

/Ubbe

The funniest part is that the clown here (me) has some ferrite lump stored away and didn’t use them. Haha.
I’ll do that too, along with moving the SDR away from the monitors and speakers

 

[LimaZulu]

These days radios and computers are almost inevitably tied toghether for various reasons. And as already benn said - "it's electronics in general". Moving away from one device will certainly get you closer to the other. But one thing is for sure - grounding, grounding, grounding! Start properly grounding your devices and you will be amazed how much it helps. I am always surprised to see good looking shacks with a lot of great gear but all grounding screws are still tightened from the factory and untouched by the user
A piece of wire and grounding clamp are not going to break any bank but they serve a lot more than just eliminating big percentage of the noise

 

[MELERIX]

generally is EMI from HDMI so the fix is avoid to put SDR near Monitor/Screen or near HDMI cables.