Reducing RF Interference

[CAELESTIS]

I am installing a new SSB with a designated battery. The wire from the battery to the transceiver is 4ga. Other than ferrite chokes, are there any other things I can do to reduce RFI? What about a helical twist on the wires for their 17 ft run?

Suggestions?

[Wotname]

Well you could screen them if you really wanted to - run them inside the braid of say RG8 and ground the braid but unless you have a real serious RFI problem, I won't bother.

Just keep them away from other cable runs (even if only a inch or so).

[Hud3]

Jim Corenman (of Airmail fame) has published a pretty good write-up on taming RFI. He advises paying attention to your grounds. Here's a link...

RF Interference

[Euro Cruiser]

+1 for using Jim Corenman's Pactor Primer and RF Interference guidelines. He is a (if not 'the') guru on this stuff.

Note the rec for the large T-4 choke (line isolator) that is recommended. Inexpensive and effective.

T-4

Jack

[SoonerSailor]

If you are running a dual conductor cable with ground and +12v right next to each other, you won't have trouble with "differential" mode RFI or ground loops. You could get "common mode" RFI on the power cables in that situation, but I doubt it would be a problem. Best thing to do would be to try it and see if more aggressive steps are necessary. If "common mode" RFI turned out to be a problem, you could buy some ferrites of the right size to go over the cables to attenuate it.