Posts: 32
Threads: 9
Joined: 03/2017
I have my System Blue online. Station 1745.
What is an acceptable noise floor value?
The antenna is about 2m above the floor near the west wall of a room in my house. Basically it's laying on a chest of drawers. Is that going to cause reception issues? This, of course, is temporary.
Michael Lloyd
NE5U
Weimar, TX USA
Stations:
1745
Posts: 4
Threads: 0
Joined: 03/2017
Welcome aboard. I just came online last Saturday.
I'm running a noise floor of 15-25mVpp using 10 x 10 gains on my 1m H-field loops.
Posts: 13
Threads: 3
Joined: 07/2014
I should also mention that my loops are sitting up high above the garage. 12-15' I'm guessing.
You're area may not be as 'quiet' as mine however.
An acceptable noise floor takes a lot of things into account. What values are you seeing now and what are your gains?
Posts: 32
Threads: 9
Joined: 03/2017
(2017-04-01, 20:34)cbhiii01 Wrote: Welcome aboard. I just came online last Saturday.
I'm running a noise floor of 15-25mVpp using 10 x 10 gains on my 1m H-field loops.
My noise floor is 23 - 25 mV p/p with two ferrite antennas at 90° from each other, horizontal. I have disabled the H field amplifiers for now (no antenna). Other than that I haven't made any changes to the default setup.
Current Status
Michael Lloyd
NE5U
Weimar, TX USA
Stations:
1745
Posts: 32
Threads: 9
Joined: 03/2017
(2017-04-01, 20:55)cbhiii Wrote: I should also mention that my loops are sitting up high above the garage. 12-15' I'm guessing.
You're area may not be as 'quiet' as mine however.
An acceptable noise floor takes a lot of things into account. What values are you seeing now and what are your gains?
We must have made a post about the same time. See the screenshot above your latest post
Michael Lloyd
NE5U
Weimar, TX USA
Stations:
1745
Posts: 13
Threads: 3
Joined: 07/2014
2017-04-01, 21:09
(This post was last modified: 2017-04-01, 21:28 by cbhiii.)
I see in your image that you are using the 2A channel which is where the E-field is normally found using the smaller amplifier with the F-type connector end and 2 screw terminals. I would have expected you to be using the larger H-field amplifier with the 6 screw terminals and RJ45 connector for the ferrite rods connection.
Was this your intention? If so, then I'm not familiar with this setup.
I (and most others) have their loops connected to the larger amplifier in pins 1 & 2 and 4 & 5 for each loop. Those will show up in the controller on channels 1A (red) and 1B (green), once re-enabled.
Posts: 380
Threads: 16
Joined: 08/2015
I am currently running with a noise floor of about 40-60 mVpp.
I am using some home made ferrite 9.5 x 210mm antennas and for the E field a copper wire about 350mm long.
My station seems to work very good despite a lot of local noise in the neighborhood.
Kevin McCormick KB0UOI
Macomb, IL USA
Stations:
1539
Posts: 32
Threads: 9
Joined: 03/2017
(2017-04-01, 21:09)cbhiii Wrote: I see in your image that you are using the 2A channel which is where the E-field is normally found using the smaller amplifier with the F-type connector end and 2 screw terminals. I would have expected you to be using the larger H-field amplifier with the 6 screw terminals and RJ45 connector for the ferrite rods connection.
Was this your intention? If so, then I'm not familiar with this setup.
I (and most others) have their loops connected to the larger amplifier in pins 1 & 2 and 4 & 5 for each loop. Those will show up in the controller on channels 1A (red) and 1B (green), once re-enabled.
I have no idea what I'm doing lol and it's showing.
I'm going to switch to the H-field amplifier. I've got significant weather in central TX, about 300 miles away, and no strikes recorded. Not even one.
Michael Lloyd
NE5U
Weimar, TX USA
Stations:
1745
Posts: 32
Threads: 9
Joined: 03/2017
That's a lot better but in auto it went to interference mode at first. It seems to be settled down now.
There letters L, A, and P show up next to the two Channel numbers. That seems to correlate to strikes in the screen
Michael Lloyd
NE5U
Weimar, TX USA
Stations:
1745
Posts: 13
Threads: 3
Joined: 07/2014
Yeah looks good now.
I run my unit in Manual mode because the Auto is not very consistent when the remote server tries to control the unit. I think most people use Manual.
With that and having your gains set at 10 x 10 for amp 1, and your threshold voltage at 120mVpp, that should be a good starting point and keep you out of interference mode. If not then you can back off the gain on the amps.