RFI Between Radio, Amp & Wireless Mouse

[Captain Kilowatt]

Yankee, thanks for letting us have some fun WITH you, Hats off to you for keeping an open mind.

Now that we have seen it I think that we are about to have some more fun with this.

 

[Yankee]

Might want to try it yourself first. Maybe bend it into a hat shape you can wear.

 

[W5LZ]

Yankee,
"It's not absorbing or grounding them, it's just blocking them."
The first part of that sentence describes how something 'blocks' something. That 'blocking' is done by absorbing, or the received energy is redirected to ground. That redirecting can also mean just making the stuff more diffuse, sort of breaking it up into a state where it doesn't 'do' what it was doing before.
There are lots of ways to describe what appears to be happening. One of those ways is that you just 'got lucky'. I think it would be interesting to see how moving that screen in various ways affects the computer. If/when you get bored you might give that a try. Having had that sort of problem before with radios and computers, I'm glad it's you instead of me! (And no, I'm not wishing you any bad luck.)
- 'Doc

 

[Yankee]

Or reflecting them? I never claimed to be anything but a CB user. I don't open them up, I don't want to know how to fix them. I can work out where the coax goes and I understand some of the theory, but this is more than appears to work, it does work. And from following up on ideas I got from reading a lot, not luck. My mouse or keyboard no longer make any static, the radio and amp no longer locks up the PC. That qualifies as my definition of working.

:bdh:

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

I don't think anyone is contesting that it does work, only the method in which you may think it is performing. When some says "blocked", to me that means stopped dead in it's tracks due to being impenetrable. If the signal is actually reflected or diverted instead the end result is the same but the actual method of operation is different. That's all I meant. Call it symantics if you will. Mesh screens are used all the time as reflectors in such antennas as fiberglass satellite dishes (the screen is imbedded in the fiberglass) and VHF/UHF helix, corner reflector, and paraflector type antennas.

 

[Yankee]

I need to stop thinking so hard about this. I have too much time to daydream in my retirement and I sit here and free associate. I can just picture those little waves getting stuck at the first curve in the sine wave and wiggling to get through. I might have to run the razor over them to cut off the stubble or pound over the ends so they don't get lose.

BTW, my skip just started here.

 

[Robb]

I am going to say it more than likely is reflecting the RF rather than acting as a shield. Only a grounded metal screen can act as a shield as the RF has to have some place to go. It could be acting as a passive reflector however. Sometimes even just rearranging things on the operating desk can do the same thing. I had a DSP amp/speaker that would not work in one location but would in another. That screen in the window of a microwave IS grounded BTW and yes you were correct about the hole size being too small related to wavelength.

My thoughts - exactly.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

M thoughts - exactly.

Does that mean you are starting to think like me or am I starting to think like you?

 

[ExitThirteen]

I firmly believe that screen is the grid. It's slowing the flow of electrons from the cathode to the plate, in this case, from the radio to the computer. Consider it mission accomplished Yankee, you have the correct voltage on the grid, and your tube is functioning 100%.


I am ExitThirteen, and I approve this tube project.



~Cheers~

 

[Yankee]

I'm still trying to find the schematic so I can see where to connect the ground. Whats confusing is that it works without one, so maybe I should mount a small antenna on it instead of the ground. You know in the schematics, those ground icons do kind of look like a tiny 3 element beam in profile.

 

[Mudfoot]

I'm very familiar with microwave shielding. The Air Force used to require all microwave ovens to be leaked tested each year.

I used to accompany Bioenvironmental Engineer Techs when they performed the surveys. This was back in the 80's, not sure if the branches are so anal about it nowadays.

I know Wright Patterson AFB had a crap load of ovens.

 

[Robb]

Does that mean you are starting to think like me or am I starting to think like you?

Scary; huh . . .
:blink: