[Elecraft] Dish/Direct TV RFI?

[Bob McGraw K4TAX]

For multiple reasons we dumped satellite TV.  Cable service was gone 10 
years ago.

While the DSS receiver and its associated power supply didn't give me 
any issues, I found the plastic box in which the receiver was contained 
offered little to no shielding from my HF transmitters.  Specifically 
the remote control receiver, being an RF remote, must have a front end 
as broad as a barn door.  Even when the remote control method was 
switched to IR, the remote receiver was still active in the box.  My 
solution was to wrap the entire receiver, except a small front corner 
where the IR receiver was located, in aluminum foil.  No amount of 
ferrites on the input, power and output would resolve the issue.  It 
looked a bit crude but it worked.    My wife would certainly let me know 
when the thing changed channels or turned on and off by itself during 
her Pay Per View movies.

The straw which made the final decision to dump satellite TV was weather 
related signal loss, along with their customer service. Either thunder 
storms in the summer or snow and ice in the winter where I've had to 
sweep snow and break ice off of the dish to restore the signal.

Fortunately we are in an area, although basically rural, where our phone 
company provides not only phone, but internet, and HD TV, by underground 
fiber to the house.   They run dedicated CAT 5E cable to each of the 
TV's {3}  and another to my wireless router from the fiber termination 
on the side of the house.   They also provide battery back-up for the 
fiber termination.    The bottom line, their system is totally immune to 
RF on any HF band and any power level, and we no longer have to worry 
about WX related outages.  And  with the expanded package it is costing 
less than the Direct TV service.   I think it is a win win situation.  I 
wish everyone had a system such as this.

73

Bob, K4TAX