Ideal laptop???

Francesco Doenz

Is there such a thing like an ideal laptop brand when considering RFI?
Or otherwise stated, does Flexradio recommend a brand of laptops for it's Flexradios and SmartSDR?
Many thanks in advance for your inputs!

FISHULA X

KL4QG

Did u ground your computer tower to same ground as Flex radio

FISHULA X

yes.

Francesco Doenz

WX7Y

Michael N3LI

Toughbooks are very good, as Bret noted.

The biggest offender on a laptop is the wired mouse. I've seen the pointer slam to the right, and take a couple minutes to recover.

Francesco - that's odd that you would get that mess when putting the ferrites on - I suspect as Bret notes, a grounding issue.

First thing I would do is operate the laptop off of battery power should be clean.

Second thing is there might be some actual non-noise voltage present if you are getting that mess on the panadapter when you attach a ground.

I think it might be time to do a whole station ground exercise in your home. What country are you located in?

Steven WA8Y

I have 2 Dells (lap and Desk) and a Toshiba laptop, no RFI .

David-N5PSM

I have a ASUS Tower and an HP 17" laptop.  No RFI Issues.

Michael N3LI

What is the model? I've had both that have simply shut down. Was running full legal limit.

Francesco Doenz

Thanks for all your inputs! My QTH is in Switzerland, and I have to correct, I get that mess when I connect to ground with the the heating pipe of my room...for the moment I do not have yet ferrites, they are on order! And yes, I get clearly less RFI when my laptop (Acer Predator) is on battery! Playing around with the power supply of the laptop I noticed that the RFI changes quite a lot  when varying the position of the dc supply, if I hold it vertically or horizontally, parallel or at ninety degrees to the laptop, and so on, really interesting! I will let you know as soon as I get the ferrites!
In another post I mentionned my Flexcontrol usb cable which was also responsible for a lot of RFI spikes, I got rid of them by coiling the usb cable!

Francesco Doenz

Acer Predator

David Decoons, wo2x

I have two Dell XPS 15 laptops (work and personal). I have used both locally with a Flex 6500 and 6600 with no issues. They are pricey but beautiful display and blazingly fast. Overkill for Flex clients. I ran both radios and both laptops in a 2A configuration at this year’s Field Day. Ran perfect the whole time. One was used for SmartSDR and N1MM+ while the other was used for SmartSDR, WSJT-X, and N1MM+. Dave wo2x

Michael N3LI

Okay Francesco. THere is a real good chance that your heating pipe isn't actually connected to ground. At leasy over here in the States, metallic pipes used to be all connected, but in recent years have occasional PVC pipes in the lines, which breaks the ground. So it could be acting more like an antenna than a ground.

Also, check to see if your power supply might be a switcher. Some of those are great, and some throw out a lot of RF hash.

KL4QG

What be gain using lap top with 6400M I have not needed a computer.. I do hear about SmartSDR — SmartSDR make the radio transmit and receive better ??? or just easier to control Radio with computer or fancier to just look at?? Joe

David Decoons, wo2x

Joe A laptop or PC computer running Windows would allow you to install SmartSDR CAT and DAX. Then you can run different digital mode software. WSJT-X is very popular now, especially with poor band conditions. Dave wo2x

KL4QG

Ok WSJT-X like sending a text message over Air I guess

David Decoons, wo2x

Similar https://physics.princeton.edu/pulsar/K1JT/wsjtx.html Read that page. It describes the software and what WSJT-X can do. Dave wo2x

KL4QG

Thanks I read it little it’s not for me I’ll stay with SSB

David-N5PSM

Wrap the power supply in adhesive backed metal tape and add a ferrite to the power cord?........just thinking out loud.....