Home Theater RFI Kit

RFI Solution Kits

Palomar Engineers provides a variety of Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) and Electro-Magnetic Interference (EMI) solutions from 100 KHz to 1000 MHz.

We have many RFI solution kits targeting common RFI problems encountered by consumers, broadcast professionals, radio operators, industrial plant managers, marine/ship operators, solar power contractors, etc. For custom individual RFI problems we offer individual ferrite RFI suppression components in bead, snap on and ring topology to fit various wire/cable configurations for AC/DC power cables, coaxial feed line, and device interconnect cables.

Different ferrite mixes suppress different frequency ranges. To select a mix for your interfering frequency see: Choosing a Ferrite Mix

To learn about using ferrites for RFI/EMI suppression check out : RFI Tutorial Center

Get a Copy of Ham Radio RFI Cheet Sheet for all your communication RFI issues!

If you need additional help call 760-747-3343 or email Sales@Palomar-Engineers.com describing your problem.

TECH NOTE: We also stock RFI kits to protect effected devices such as garage door openers, computers (laptops, desktops), dsl/cable routers, ethernet hubs and many more devices. If you run a high powered RF amplifier in your ham station also consider a linear amp RFI kit which will cut down RFI transmitted by your station. Remember there is always a “transmitter” and a “receiver” of RFI and the quest is to find and choke the “path” the RFI has selected – you need to add ferrites to both the transmitting side and the receiving side to eliminate RFI problems. The RFI-HTS kit only helps suppress RFI on the receiving side.

Typical RFI Problem/Solution:

Hello,
I am Larry, a ham operator and I am having interference issues with
my Direct TV system.
My station is a FT450D through an Ameritron ALS-600. From the amp
through a coax switch  to choose between an OCF dipole or an Hustler
5BTV vertical. Any power over 100 watts and my DTV goes off the air
and must completly reboot/format. Coax is RG-8. The DTV dish is
pointed away from the dipole and separated by about 25'. DTV was
totally useless! They suggested I not talk on the radio while she is
watching TV!  Please help me with a reasonable, cost effective
soultion. (The wife gets really pissed when I shutdown the tv!)

Thank you,

Larry 

 

Hi Larry,

Your RFI problem is quite common and is usually a sign of either a radiating coax feed line or reception of your radiated signal (source) by the Direct TV (the victim) through either the AC power lines acting as “antennas” for your ham signal or the coax braid of the satellite antenna acting as an antenna for your signal.

The solutions are straight forward:

1. To make sure your feed line is not radiating you need a feed line choke at each antenna feed point (also makes your antenna work better since it is not using the coax as part of the antenna).  You can use our simple Kit 110 with 5 snap on chokes on each antenna for this purpose.  Part # Kit 110 at $27.50 each – one for each antenna.  These chokes will keep your feed line from radiating and coupling into your ac power lines.  INFO HERE

2. The radiation from your antennas themselves may also be getting into the ac power lines and coax braid of the Direct TV antenna so you need to protect the victim receiver.  Depending upon the sophistication of your direct TV setup (e.g. home theater, dvd, tape player, sub woofer speakers, etc), the path of the RFI may be coming thru the AC power lines of any connected device to the video including the video monitor itself!  To help solve this problem we have a home theater RFI kit for up to 5 devices (you need a minimum of two – one for the Direct TV receiver(AC and coax input) and another for the video monitor AC power lines and HDMI or video input cable.  Our kit part # is RFI-HTS.  INFO HERE

These items should help reduce the RFI and let you operate on the air while your wife watches TV.

Bob Brehm, AK6R

Chief Engineer