"Robert Williams" wrote in message
om...
When my neighbors turn their TVs on, I have to turn off my shortwave
radio because I get a terrible buzzing interference over most of the
shortwave band. I can't hear a thing. I also get a similar problem
when my wife turns on a florescent light in the kitchen. Is there
anyway to reduce or eliminate this kind of interference?

Rob KC7BUM
Portland, Oregon


1) The Florescent Light

Nearly all of the newer florescent lights use an electronic ballast in place
of the older, heavier, more expenxive inductance type ballast. Some of them
are inadaquately filtered (even cheaper!) and make a lot of electronic hash.
You can take your chances with a different light/ballast, try filtereing the
existing light or install an incandesant light. An outdoor antenna and
shielded lead in should help with this one.

2) The Neighbor's TV

Are you getting buzzy interference about every 16kHz? That's probably the
TV, and I can't think of any easy fix. I don't know what sort of RFI a
plasma display TV might produce but it could be even worse. If it's a
continous buzz across the bands, it might be a lamp dimmer that's used at
the same time as the TV. Some are better than others. If it is a lamp
dimmer, you might offer to replace the gadget with another. I don't know
which the quietest ones are, but this topic has come up here before. A
google search will dig it out, if the answer doesn't come up this time.

You could also try one of those Radio Shack split ferrite chokes on your
radio's power cord. It might help a bit, but they are most effective on the
source of interference.

Frank Dresser