ESC - Feedback

Dan Trainor

Not sure if or when Flex ESC will work well or not, but in general using other radios and/or external units, the key is to design a good noise capture antenna. One that targets the offending noise source. The actual configuration of this noise capture antenna takes time and effort. A lot of design work and experimentation. People that don't do the ant design work, tend to complain that the phasing and noise canceling doesn't work well. But, it does work well in most cases if the noise capture antennas is planned and implemented well. Designing a noise capture antenna is like the opposite of designing a good RX antenna for max S//N. Dan de WA1QZX

sfraasch

My experience using ESC on a Flex 6600 is the same as that of Mr. Krueger's above: when I increase gain (.02) from 0, the S meter increases to S9 + 30 dB as if the noise rx is over-loaded. I added a 13 dB attenuator in line with the noise ant (Rx B); same result. It does not seem that Flex has the additive process working correctly. I've used an ANC-4 and that was quite effective, but the Flex ESC is not.

The noise is from a bad lightning arrestor on a 19 kV line about a 1/2 mile away. I have a repair order with the utility. I was hoping that I could null the noise using the ESC feature. I am using a 43' (60m) vertical as the noise antenna, the 75m antenna is a pair of inverted vees at 100'. I have tried the ESC feature on several bands with different antennas, same result.

73, Steve, K0SF