Direct TV Box Reboots

[iiiquaziii]

So, I'm rocking an old Drake TR7 ham transceiver on 11m CB for now till I get my license. It works great....except every time I transmit, I am rebooting my Direct TV box.... It does this on 10M too. It totally F's up the box to the point where it reboots and needs to reformat itself, and it reboots again to reinstall software every time I key off the mic. The Directv box is a model H25-100.

Any ideas? I tried wrapping 3 sides of the box with aluminum foil and grounding the foil, but I need to keep the front uncovered for the remote to work..... No change after I tried this.

I have tried a ferrite choke thing on the power wire, and coax and a/v cables too. No change.

I also have the radio and power supply chassis grounded to my main water pipe with a factory lug on the back of them.

Any ideas?

 

[wavrider]

Send the receiver back to direct tv and get dish

 

[M0GVZ]

Send the receiver back to direct tv and get dish

Why? I use terrestrial and have no issues even running 100W into a beam pointed at the TV aerial.

iiiquaziii what you are suffering from is common mode RFI. Its usually caused by a poor antenna installation or a crappy antenna design which relies on the coax to make up the "missing half" of the antenna. Can you describe what your antenna is and how you installed your CB antenna?

By the way, its not a good idea to transmit on 10m until you've got your license. The FCC are quite good at enforcement if they get a complaint from a ham.

 

[dave457]

Ugly balun
Ground antenna
Bencher lpf

 

[unit_399]

nevermind

 

[Dipole]

I think if you install some ferrite chokes on the DTV 75ohm coax and below the UB on your antennas 50 ohm it will most likely solve the problem.

 

[mb91w126]

I have similar symptoms.
My PC loses contact with the wired mouse. Unplug mouse and plug it back in to get the PC to see it again.

 

[fourstringburn]

Are you installing the ferrite chokes properly and do you have the proper ferrites?

You can't just use the snap on ferrites and simply snap them on cables and wires. You have to open up the ferrite and use a large enough size ferrite to wrap several loops of the cable size around them, then snap the ferrite shut.

You also have to use the proper ferrite mix since there are many different ones that are for different purposes.

Mix 31 ferrites beads usually work well for for all HF frequencies and have solved my RFI issues in my mobile HF setup. These can be found at DX engineering . I recommend the DX engineering combo pack since it contains different size ferrites that you can use to make multiple wraps of coax cable and other sizes.

http://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dxe-csb-combo


Individual size pack link :

http://www.dxengineering.com/search/product-line/dx-engineering-rfi-suppression-snap-on-ferrite-beads?autoview=SKU&keyword=mix 31&sortby=BestKeywordMatch&sortorder=Ascending

 

[iiiquaziii]

Well, to answer some questions. I'm using an Antron A99 antenna, mounted to my chimney, like this.

Its grounded to that huge crapper vent pipe with a couple pieces of romex I pulled out of a electrical wire and twisted together. The a99 is mounted on the top of that pole you see.

I haven't been transmitting on 10m much, just a few quick tests to see if it would reboot the box...it does. I'm taking my test on the 25th, I'm excited.

I have used ferrite chokes, but I didn't know there were different kinds. The ones I'm using I got off of old telephone systems as I install PBXs for a living. I could try putting some more wraps thru them.....some different ones.

 

[fourstringburn]

Well, to answer some questions. I'm using an Antron A99 antenna, mounted to my chimney, like this.

Its grounded to that huge crapper vent pipe with a couple pieces of romex I pulled out of a electrical wire and twisted together. The a99 is mounted on the top of that pole you see.

I haven't been transmitting on 10m much, just a few quick tests to see if it would reboot the box...it does. I'm taking my test on the 25th, I'm excited.

I have used ferrite chokes, but I didn't know there were different kinds. The ones I'm using I got off of old telephone systems as I install PBXs for a living. I could try putting some more wraps thru them.....

[/QUOTE]


Your ground wires make for a D.C. ground, not a RF ground. This is good for lightning and static discharge protection only and even that is hopeful it may work. Also your vent pipe should be metal, however most vent pipes I'm aware of are ABS plastic. All vertical antennas should use ground radials or other type of effective counterpoise for best performance since a vertical antenna is only one half of a dipole and your missing that other half which is RF ground. This could probably help with your RF issue as well.

Antron sells a ground radial kit consisting of 3- 102 inch radials for around $60.00.

 

[fourstringburn]

One other thing to try that usually works for RFI issues is wrap 10 turns of coax around a 1lb coffee can or similar diameter PVC pipe and secure it with zip ties or tape, and couple that at the antenna feed point. This will create a balun and keep the antenna feed-line coax from radiating since you have no ground radials.

Your problem to me seems like you have feed-line radiation causing your RFI issues.

I use a inverted V off center fed dipole antenna and it is mounted almost directly over my DirecTV dish and I have no RF issues. In the past I have used a Imax 2000 vertical and never had issues as well.

 

[iiiquaziii]

My house was built in the 50's. ALL my pipes are iron, everywhere. I have tried the ground radial kit, it seems to do nothing at all.

I can try the coffee can trick though....Ill also try some of those chokes you mentioned. When you say antenna feed point, you mean at the radio, or at the antenna, on the roof?

I have 3 direct tv boxes, and only the one in the same room as the radio reboots. I may try switching it with another box and see if the problem stays in the same room, or follows the box.

 

[DainBramage]

...I have 3 direct tv boxes, and only the one in the same room as the radio reboots. I may try switching it with another box and see if the problem stays in the same room, or follows the box.

there ya go,... I run 1500 watts in the same room and have no problems with my Direct STB.

it sounds like RF is getting into the STB.

"When you say antenna feed point, you mean at the radio, or at the antenna, on the roof?"
..... the antenna feed point is at the antenna end on the roof.

these coils of coax is not a balun (BALanced to UNbalanced),..... it is just an RF "choke" .

 

[fourstringburn]

My house was built in the 50's. ALL my pipes are iron, everywhere. I have tried the ground radial kit, it seems to do nothing at all.

I can try the coffee can trick though....Ill also try some of those chokes you mentioned. When you say antenna feed point, you mean at the radio, or at the antenna, on the roof?

I have 3 direct tv boxes, and only the one in the same room as the radio reboots. I may try switching it with another box and see if the problem stays in the same room, or follows the box.

The feed-point of the antenna is at the base of the antenna itself.

Definitely swap other sat boxes in other rooms to see if the problem exists. It maybe a bad box.

When it comes to RFI problems, it's always best to try to rule out as many devices by swapping or disconnecting, etc. There is never a definitive answer to cure all problems. Understanding some of the causes and what known cures are available will help solve it.

 

[fourstringburn]

By the way, Good luck getting your Ham ticket!