[Elecraft] Commander in DxLab locking up

[Jim Brown]

On Sun,9/11/2016 1:46 PM, tomb18 wrote:
> My edgeport mutiserial port usb device will lock up as well as any software when I transmit at over 100w on 160 and 80m. The only thing that will restore things is to do a power down. Its possible that you may have an rfi issue. Check any usb hubs too.

Study k9yc.com/RFI-Ham.pdf  for reliable cures for RFI problems, 
including this one. I have three specific recommendations for you. 1) 
wind at least 12 turns of the USB cable through a Fair-Rite #31 2.4-in 
o.d. ferrite core. Do the same with each serial cable. 2) If that does 
not fix the problem, replace each serial cable with one you have built 
yourself with CAT5 cable and DB9 connectors. See detailed instructions 
for the cable in http://k9yc.com/GroundingAndAudio.pdf -- Slide #184. 3) 
Bond from chassis to chassis of all the gear in your shack with short, 
fat copper. Study that same set of slides.

I experienced exactly this problem when I lived in Chicago, where my 
primary antenna for 80 and 160 was a Tee-vertical that I loaded as a 
long wire, using a big wrought-iron fence as a counterpoise. This put a 
big current peak in the shack, which coupled magnetically into the 
serial cable. As little as 14W caused the serial port to lock up. When I 
replaced the serial cable between the computer and my K2/100 with a 
cable that I built from CAT5, I was able to run my Ten Tec Titan amp at 
legal limit without interference.

73, Jim K9YC