Ferrite rings good or bad?

Hi everyone,While browsing the interweb and crossing off clips,connectors and other odds and sods of the shopping list I stumbled on Ferrite Rings.
Could anyone tell me are these as good as they sound because for the life of me I couldn’t remember if I’d used them back in the day.(Blame the age and the late nights..lol)
When you read won’t cause distortion on a transmitted signal and good high Frequency noise suppression etc etc.Sounded to good to be true.
If that’s the case gentlemen where would be the most benefit and fitted to what cable/s.
Hopefully i don’t sound like too much of a newbie,but if you don’t ask your never know.
Cheers lads..

Thred the coax through them a few times to stop rf.
I have some on a power cable in my car to stop noise generated by the alternator and stuff.

Hi Tom,

Ferrite rings, electromagnetics, noise and suppression.......boy will some people harp on about them

You're right, back in the day you were hardly likely to come across such items or maybe even a use for them. 
Bit of a different story nowadays though!


Modern technology has us surrounded with microprocessor systems and switch mode power supplies in a previously unimaginable way. The damn things are everywhere! In our homes, our vehicles we even carry portable processing devices around constantly with us.....our mobile phones.

All of this technology both spews electromagnetic energy out and is sensitive to electromagnetic energy coming in.
This can often cause us pretty nasty headaches nowadays.....

We've all probably heard that rapid "bzz-click, bzz-click, bzz-click, bzzzzrrrr" on an audio system just before our mobile phones sing announcing we have a message, notification or the damn thing starts to ring. That is EMI, electromagnetic interference.
(You'll hear EMC, electromagnetic compatibility and a plethora of abbreviations that techie types love to use also.)

That's just one example but usually devices are constantly spewing such noise, all.....the....flipping....time!

For example I did have an old laptop that when powered up obliterated all my radios receptions, yes ALL of them. 
But also in the same way if I transmitted on any of the radios that laptop would 'freeze' and often require a re-boot!?!

My solution? The radio was more important so OUT went that laptop.
If only it was that easy for everything though.

Nowadays I'm a 'Ham' as well as CBer and as such I have multiple devices connected up from computers to LCD VDU's and even powered speaker systems to my multitude of radios capable of HF, VHF & UHF. It's all good fun but it did come with headaches of EMC or rather lack of electromagnetic compatibility. That forced me to read up, buy, scrounge or otherwise obtain suppression ferrites and then figure out the best places to put them all. They're now everywhere in my radio room but everything now works as it should.

Luckily, I don't cause EMI problems with my neighbours, (that would be a nightmare sorting out their 'problems'!), and probably a lot of the interference I face everyday is caused by their devices plugged in everywhere.

Some often scream out about why the manufacturer's don't do anything about it....they often do, within limits. 
If you want a faster processing device and they have to put a higher frequency clocking circuit in them, we can only blame ourselves. As for fitting 'ferrites' themselves, they do, again within reason. If a 10p ferrite in their manufactured device gets them within EMC legalities that is usually how far they go. Sure, a 50p ferrite might do a better job beyond legalities but they plan on manufacturing around 150 million units on that particular model and that extra 40p starts to really add up!!

We could all help there, by not buying the cheapest tech and insisting on better produced products.


You could simply fit a CB or other transceiver to the car, drive away from civilisation and all that noise then enjoy some cleaner radio feeling safer that you won't interfere with anyone else either.......except your car has multiple microprocessor units fitted to it and you've still got S6 of noise. Just then, "bzz-click, bzzzzrrrr", across your radio and your mobile phone starts ringing



My apologies for a long winded posting, it's intended to help if only on why we face these problems.

There's a ton of information on the old t'internet about ferrites/EMI/EMC etc. Many here may well give advice on what worked best for them, but it may not provide the best solution to your particular issues so you may have to experiment a bit.

Some of us are old enough to remember how 'clean' radio was back in the day before the advent of all this noise inducing technology.


All the best,
Victor

Alan Pilot wrote:

Thred the coax through them a few times to stop rf.
I have some on a power cable in my car to stop noise generated by the alternator and stuff.

Thanks Alan,Their now added to the shopping list.


 73’s

Hi Victor,Thank you for your answer/explanation on the subject of Ferrite ring core Suppression.I’m so glad I did ask now and can fully understand why I wasn’t sure if I’d used them in the past (Probably not).I’ve read your post 3 times now,Spot on fella and who needs the internet with the wealth of knowledge and experience on this Forum.
I’ll be getting some clip on ferrite rings to give them a try and see what the outcome is.
Thanks again Victor.

73’s

No worries Tom.

It wasn't a definitive answer with recommendations of such-and-such a product, but situations like this can be so varied that such answers bear little fruit. It's always good to understand a little of what we're trying to achieve first.

Good option with the clip-ons, you can instantly see if you get an improvement or not and move them appropriately. 

Most products nowadays come with the bulge of a ferrite on leads next to the connection point, but believe it or not, some have the moulding but no ferrite in them!!! So never assume they're OK.


Good luck with it all. 

Don't get too wrapped up in ferrites and noise reduction though as you will never completely identify or obliterate all noise sources.

Also, my apologies for having to read through my waffle.......three times


All the best,
Victor

I ended up having to use them on my PC monitors on both the mains cables and the display port cables to reduce the hash the monitors were causing and my Icom 7300 was picking up. I've got ferrites on everything now.

You need the right ones though as the different mixes give different amounts of choking at different frequencies. For HF it's either Mix31 or Mix 43 - if you're wanting it just for 11m choose the Mix 43.

Thanks Northern Crusader,
It will mainly be for 11m but I’ll definitely think about putting them on the pc too.

Everyone’s help is greatly appreciated.

73’s

I do remember in the old days buying some sort of radio suppressors,for a few neighbors who I was interfering with, "not interfering with them, but their tv reception"
Maybe it was some sort of ferrite ring, I cant remember they were not expensive.
It is strange that I cannot remember things from last week, yet when I see some posts about past experiences, it kick starts my memory back 25 years, to the rigs I had and the things I used.

Frank,

When you can remember stuff from decades ago but not last week, it can only mean one thing.....

.... you're getting old!  


Hee! Don't worry, happens to the best of us.

Victor I am almost seventy, my brain still thinks I am thirty, I think I look my age.
My wife says I will never grow up, I refuse to be a old age pensioner,keep your bloody bus pass I am still driving my car like I stole it.
I survived cancer 15 years ago, I wasn't even given a fifty fifty on that one, 
Three heart attacks later and I am still here, it is going to take a missile to kill me, I live from month to month, I never read books with a lot of content,"in case I never get to the end"
I get out to the park with my dog everyday, have a few beers every night,what more can I want.

No worries Frank, you've clocked more miles than me mate.

I like the chipper attitude, a lesson we could all well learn.


All the best to you,
Victor

Thanks Victor, 
You needed a sense of humour to survive living in Liverpool in the old days,
Being on the dole or benefits was frowned upon,and I had the good fortune to always be in work.
Being old has its advantages, I never get stopped by the police as looking suspicious, I do not need a barber,"or hair stylist" and I can go to bed for a hour in the afternoon.

You take mate .

Hi ‍� 
If ferries don’t do the job and the interference continues, 
What’s the best next try??

I have never really had to use them. But I have a couple put by just in case. It is a luck of the draw I think. Only interference I suffered / suffered. Was a baby monitor, and would you believe, an aquarium heater. Not so much the heater, as the thermostat. It was the most expensive heater I could find! 
The only other problem I have, is a plasma TV owe have in the house. Good grief, that thing is dirty. Cant wait till it explodes!

53 Prefect wrote:

I have never really had to use them. But I have a couple put by just in case. It is a luck of the draw I think. Only interference I suffered / suffered. Was a baby monitor, and would you believe, an aquarium heater. Not so much the heater, as the thermostat. It was the most expensive heater I could find! 
The only other problem I have, is a plasma TV owe have in the house. Good grief, that thing is dirty. Cant wait till it explodes!

The unfortunate part of modern electronics is the interference they put out isn't a nice convenient buzzing or anything like that and it's often quite wide banded. Often you'll notice nothing more than the S meter being higher a bit on certain few channels where you're only hearing white noise. It's only when you use a SDR receiver and can see a waterfall covering a few hundred kHz that you then can see that it's actually interference caused by a device.

plasma TV. From 10 meters to 160. No gaps!