Noise supression for HF radio???

Hi Tony
I know friends of ours had the same trouble wtih their Waeco and they took it in and had a plate put in it near the compressor and it stopped the noise in their HF. Maybe if you rang a fridge fix it man they can do it for you. Our friends had theirs done at battery world and it cost them $20.
Hope this helps

Footloose will be one of the best people on here to answer that question.
I'm sure he will be along shortly.

You could also ask it here http://groups.yahoo.com/group/codan_outback_radio/

Cheers

Hi Tony,

I had that problem with my boat fridge which also has a danfoss compressor and its associated electronics.
I investigated this nuisance for a long time and tried everything until I came up with a cure.

1. the noise did NOT get transferred via cables, it was picked up by the radio's antenna.

2. putting suppressors in the fridge's and the radio's 12v line made little difference- for the above reason.

3. my boat does have a separate fridge battery, makes no difference to the noise.

What DID make a big difference is clamping an earth wire to a refrigerant pipe ( scrape it clean first) at the compressor end and connecting it directly to the battery negative terminal - use a thick (~ 4 sq mm) separate wire for this.

I then went further for a bells and whistles fix and enclosed the fridge electronics, which were in a plastic box, into a metal diecast box which also was earthed.
This latter idea is not advisable unless you are VERY familiar with electronics as it involved cutting wires and lengthen them slightly - certainly something which would void the warranty.

good luck, it can be a tricky one.

Klaus

Whilst you are trying to sort out the interference issues I would suggest that you re-wire the HF to the MAIN battery.

HF radio is one of your primary sources of comms and should (in my opinion) be wired to your main battery as it has the least likelyhood of running flat.

Your second battery runs your fridge (and amost certainly some other goodies that you have or will have) and from experience this battery will/may get flattened more often thatn the main and the very time you might need comms you may have issues.

That's why I recommend wiring HF to main battery

Hi
Another option you have is to install a N.E.S. (Noise Eliminating Speaker). I got mine at Electric Bug in Adelaide for around $280. It is a British built unit that has an adjustable level of noise cancellation. I had engine noise coming through and it eliminated it completely, it also boosted faint voice signals from being unreadable to booming through. Even if you don't have a noise problem I would fit one of these as it boosts readable voice immensly. As a previous post said, out bush this your primary method of communication and your life or that of your family may depend on it.
Just my opnion.
Cheers Brad

Yep - feral noise from electronic devices is a plague on the modern HF systems - they are so sensistive, that they pick up on all sorts of noise and IF the local noise is stronger than the incoming signal, the latter fades off. The electronics on my Jackaroo really play havoc with the HF - we often stop to have comms wtih people - its then that we jump out and switch the fridge off too !! I been advised by eggspurts to spend litle time and energy trying to cure it - can end up as a huge waste of time.