Australian Ham Radio Discussion Forum ( AHRDF )

G'Day To All,

I have come across a situation that I have never heard of.

We bought a new fridge about 6 months ago.

For a while now, not sure when this started, I guess at the same time we put the fridge put in, but anyway, I always had the noise on 20M and have been trying to trace the source down for a while, but never could find the source.

Last week I had a hunch and pulled the plug on the fridge - 20M instantly goes quiet.

OK, I now how to get rid of RFI from wall warts and the like, but unsure where I need to start with the Fridge.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

VK4CCV

One of the first things I would be doing is complain to the manufacturer (or manufacturers agent if it is an imported unit), it obviously doesn't comply with EMC regulations.

If you don't get any luck there, next stop is the ACMA and lodge a complaint.

In the meantime, ferrite beads on the mains lead as close as you can get them to the fridge (just like you do with anything else) to see if that makes a difference.

If that fails to do anything, send it back to the shop for a replacement (but take a portable rig with you and make them fire up the replacement first to see if it does the same thing).

With regards the first two lines - unless people start making more and more complaints about (genuine) interference problems, the less likely anything is going to change.

G'Day Terry,

Thanks for that, never crossed my mind actually.
Most definitely, I'll get onto them now actually.
I'll goto the manufacture direct and see how they respond.

I know there are quiet a few Ferrite Beads (Clamp-On) out there. What grade do you believe would be the best??

Pete VK4CCV

Hey Pete.

The Jaycar or Altronics clamp-on's have been OK around here.

Touch wood , I haven't had any problems "in house" lately other than a couple of touch lamps which those clamp-on's worked for.

Edit: I forgot Jaycar expanded their range of clamp-on's, get one of each of the 3, you may need to use a combination of them (Looks like Altronics still do the one type).

Cheers Terry.

You're a good man. And it's late night shopping tonight...... Off to Jaycar I go. :-)

Pete