Bryon PAUL Veal n0ah wrote: > The ICE 196 is a very cool design.....but if you are sending out > voltage on your coax to control an antenna switch, relay, > etc.......it may adversely effect the controlled device’s ability > to operate properly- The company I purchased this from did not > inform me about this, but I think it is a good to know- I now use > radio Dan’s front end protector and the KD9SV solid state front > end protector for my rigs-
I've been using an ICE 196 to safeguard my receiver for several years and want to share something else I discovered about this device. I suggest using a bandpass filter ahead of the ICE 196 may be appropriate for some. I was having a "mystery" noise problem. The noise had no special characteristics. It appeared to be a large increase in normal "band noise". I was only hearing it in specific directions, mostly SW and W. I couldn't find the source of the noise. Eventually I realized I was only hearing it on nights with exceptionally good low band propagation. One night I discovered, quite by accident, that removing the ICE 196 made the noise disappear. I later discovered placing a 160 meter band pass filter ahead of the ICE 196 also made the noise disappear, but placing the band pass filter after the 196 did not. My only "guess" is that a combination of very strong MW and SW BC signals were enough to cause the diodes in the ICE 196 to conduct, generating noise. I would note that I have no local broadcast stations, so any strong signals I get are propagated via the ionosphere! I did find some very strong MW BC signals on nights when the noise was present, and some *unbelievably* strong SW BC up around 5-6 MHz (I can't find my notes on exact frequencies). I have been running with the 160m BPF and ICE 196 for several years without problems. When using the Beverages on higher bands I must bypass the filter, and in so doing I still have severe noise issues on nights with excellent propagation. I need to add filters for the other bands! BTW I do send out voltage on my receive coax to control remote devices, but the ICE 196 is installed between my receiver and voltage insertion point (control box for remote devices). 73 -- Paul, N1BUG Aurora Sentry: http://www.aurorasentry.com Piscataquis ARC: http://www.k1pq.org N1BUG: http://www.n1bug.com _______________________________________________ UR RST IS ... ... ..9 QSB QSB - hw? BK
