[Elecraft] K3 & Plasma Question

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Jim, I'm surprised that your Sony didn't create QRN. The QRN is produced by
the plasma in each pixel and radiated directly out of the display screen.
It's not unusual to detect plasma panel QRN hundreds of feet from the TV
set.

Sony must have used some sort of transparent RF shield embedded or applied
to the front glass. That's a new one on me.  

Long ago I refused to consider a plasma TV for just that reason. Personally,
I cannot see the difference in images between LCD panels with an active
matrix LED backlight and the LCD/LED versions maintain image quality much
longer and use less power. The new active matrix LED backlighting system
(changes the brightness of the backlight LED's as needed to support the
image content in each part of the picture) provides a huge contrast ratio
over an LCD alone. 

73, Ron AC7AC

-----Original Message-----
From: elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net
[mailto:elecraft-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Jim Bennett
Sent: Monday, September 10, 2012 10:57 AM
To: Elecraft Reflector Reflector
Subject: [Elecraft] K3 & Plasma Question

This is only slightly off-topic, but since I do operate a K3, it still fits
- kinda!

We have two plasma TV's in our home. One is a ten year old Sony 42 inch
unit. The other one is a two year old Samsung 63 inch TV. They are about 50
feet from the shack, and only eight feet away from each other - two
different rooms. The Sony has never, ever caused any sort of QRN on any of
the ham bands. Because of that, we purchased the Samsung unit right after
moving into this QTH. I did not have an HF antenna installed for several
months after moving in - when I finally did get one put up, I saw some ugly
QRN on most of the HF bands. However, at the time I was not aware of the
"plasma effect" that I am now. When I heard the QRN, I "assumed" it to be
from the PG&E high power lines that are pretty close to the house. By the
time I put two & two together and figured out that the ugly noise was from
this Samsung TV, it was already out of warranty. Ughhh..

We are now in the market for another TV, and have been looking at a very
nice Panasonic 65" Plasma set, model TC-P65VT50. I've already told the Best
Buy sales manager that IF we do buy it and IF it causes QRN to the HF bands,
it is coming right back. He said that is no problem. But, if I can query
this group to see if anyone else has one of these TV's, I may be able to
avert a lot of work ahead of time. Our second choice would be an LED set,
but after seeing plasma and LED side by side, playing the exact same
content, I want to stay with plasma - BUT ONLY IF IT DOESN"T SCREW UP THE
K3!!!

So, is there anyone in this group who has a Panasonic TC-P65VT50 TV who can
say yes or no to the QRN issue?

Thanks, Jim / W6JHB