RFI issues are generally a common mode issue on the feedline of the antenna.
Next your ground should be a star ground not a pipe or strap running around the
shack. It doesn't matter if its 6 inches wide if the ground is a high
impedance it is not a ground. Actually strap looks pretty but it isn't really
all that good at acting as a ground. You'd probably be better off with a piece
of #12 or #10. Braid is not a good thing to use for a gound. Use solid wire.
You did not mention if you are on the second floor. Second floor stations are
hard to make RF free. If you are running some kind of unbalanced antenna like
a Carolina Windom then you are asking for this kind of condition. Also if your
antenna is very close to your station like 10 ft over your head you are asking
for this kind of situation. Is it possible you somehow broke the shield on one
of the coax jumpers when you were moving things around? Something like that is
for sure going to
cause you RF prolems
The first place I would put some big honkin chokes is on the antenna feedline
BEFORE it goes into the house Also you may try ground the coax before it
enters the house. What I would do is put a threaded barrell connector
connected to a ground rod outside from where the coax enters the shack. I
would also run out a few radials in various directions connected to the ground
rod as well. On the side of the barrell that goes into the shack I would put
the chokes
There is nothing random about this in fact it is systematic. It could also be
RF getting in from the AC line that is being induced by the antenna so running
some kind of choke on the A/C lines may help also.
There is nothing about the 3K or the 5K that is unusually susceptable to RF.
I've run mine on several different computers with several different antennas
and many many watts without RF problems. I've run my 3K with a laptop to a
45ft vertical wire using 2 radials and a tuner no problem One test you could
run is to put a dummy load at the back of the 3K and then keep moving the dummy
load out away from the 3K until the system fails. If the system fails with the
dummy load connected to the 3K then consider trying a computer that is not
connected to all the rigamarole in the shack, like a lap top and go from there.
Just do a systematic analysis of where the RF is coming from and once you
figure that out you can go about curing it.
73 W9OY
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