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RSP2 Pro Bonding

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2018 3:50 am
by Mike2459
Yesterday I started reading "A Ham's Guide to RFI, Ferrites, Baluns, and Audio Interfacing" (http://audiosystemsgroup.com/RFI-Ham.pdf). In it Jim Brown discusses the 'Pin 1' problem, a worthwhile read IMO.
Soo, I decided to take a look inside my RSP2 Pro. Screwdriver in one hand, a Fluke in the other, I began attacking the RSP2 Pro. After some needle point probing, It turns out the upper half of the steel case had no electrical continuity with the bottom half. Although there were 4 steel screws joining the two halves together, the beautiful powder coating turned out to be a very good insulator. A couple minutes work with a Moto-Tool electrically reunited the two halves - they are much happier together now. Electrical noise that was present before is still visible in the spectrum. But, its magnitude is not as great as before. Which reminds me of Neil Armstrong's statement when he set foot on the moon about small steps.
As to the Pin 1 problem, that's for another day.

Re: RSP2 Pro Bonding

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2018 5:24 pm
by Roger
Mike,

Thanks for posting this. Very interesting and I will have to check my RSP's.

What were the frequencies where you saw the moist noise and reduction?

Re: RSP2 Pro Bonding

Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2018 6:51 pm
by Mike2459
On the VHF Sat band (137-138 MHz), got about 3 to 4 dbm lowering of the noise floor. Did not notice any difference on low HF, (around 80M). Unfortunately, I don't have any historical data to make a comparison. The RSP2 is located about 3.5 ft from the PC.

Re: RSP2 Pro Bonding

Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2018 8:11 am
by glovisol
MIKE, SIMPLY EXCELLENT, THANKS!! Great wealth of information and of inspiration.....