Using a receiver next to a high-power Ham station...

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ON5HB
Posts: 140
Joined: Sat Dec 29, 2018 1:07 pm

Using a receiver next to a high-power Ham station...

Post by ON5HB » Mon Jan 07, 2019 5:18 pm

Hi there,

I want to tell you how to protect your receiver from blowing to pieces.
I used to use 5 to 6 RTL-SDR dongles on a 160M Inverted-L antenna, this antenna is located at an angle of 180 degrees to my G5RV transmission antenna and the minimal distance is about 2 meters.
When I'm transmitting I use max 1KWpeak but never disconnect anything, not even the RSP1A and it doesn't blow to bits.

What I did is using an NoElec-125MHz-upconverter, yeah the dongles needed this, but the RSP1A doesn't.
So I keep useing in pass-mode, as the ESD protection is still in place and working.

Beware my reception antenna is about 180 degrees turned compared to the G5RV, but still a bunch of power gets into it, I wouldn't try to touch the plug when transmitting when being disconnected :lol:

But it's my experience that receivers do keep working even next to high power transmitters when taking precautions.

This does not mean it works for you, nor that you can t-split your tx-antenna and feed the receivers, this is a no-no any case.

What I do say is this, they do not break if you add an NoElec Upconverter with or without pass-mode, but they are protected to reasonable high levels of input.
For me it works and it may still kill the receiver(s), if you are not sure, then don't do it, mine lasted many years and still work fine. :D

Be warned, this can kill your receiver(s)....it will also void warranty if it does. You are on your own when doing so 8-)
Last edited by ON5HB on Thu Jan 01, 1970 12:00 am, edited 0 times in total.
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