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radio station bleed through on the computer speakers

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https://sigforum.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/320601935/m/4700079734

February 19, 2018, 04:11 PM
bendable
radio station bleed through on the computer speakers
I checked with four other computer users in the general vicinity and three said no problems, one said very minimal.

I called the Computer store to see if they offered anything to alleviate this annoyance , they said its very rare and no they wouldn't begin to know how to remedy the problem.

So I googled for a while and am wondering if the house wiring is acting like an antenna?

Should there be a filter available to plug the computer in ?





Safety, Situational Awareness and proficiency.



Neck Ties, Hats and ammo brass, Never ,ever touch'em w/o asking first
February 19, 2018, 04:39 PM
bmeek
Maybe try wrapping the speaker wires a couple times around a ferrite core to see if that helps. Especially if the speaker wire is unshielded
February 19, 2018, 04:46 PM
rusbro
I had the problem with an old PC + speakers years ago. It would only seem to happen when the radio was in a vehicle passing down my street, and it wasn't AM/FM - it was a police/fire or maybe a 2-way.
February 19, 2018, 04:47 PM
cas
A radio station? Like you're hearing music? Big Grin

I certainly could see it if someone in the neighborhood had a ham radio on and illegal CB, but regular AM/FM broadcast seems crazy to me.


_____________________________________________________
Sliced bread, the greatest thing since the 1911.

February 19, 2018, 05:00 PM
techguy
We occasionally hear a radio coming out of the return air vents in the second floor ceiling. No TVs or radios on that we can find, not sure what it is. The house was built in 2004, we moved in Sept 2016, one of these days I’ll get in the attic to see if I can find anything. There is a satellite dish on top of the house that we don’t use, sometimes I wonder if it has to do with that.
February 19, 2018, 05:05 PM
kkina
Are you using the computer's internal speakers, or externals?



ACCU-STRUT FOR MINI-14
"First, Eyes."
February 19, 2018, 05:24 PM
Some Shot
Is the PC plugged into a grounded outlet?

Is the polarity of the outlet correct? (No volts between the neutral/large spade and the ground?)

The PC P/S may be defective or poorly designed, and not filtered well. Same for the sound card.

Is it a laptop or desktop PC (total metal case)?

With more information you'll get more guesses.
February 19, 2018, 05:52 PM
whanson_wi
I had a cheap stereo that would do that every now and then - it would have a faint radio station playing through the speakers, a neat trick for a stereo that had no radio in it.

I grounded everything, and added rf filters to all the wires - power and speaker. I don't know which action worked, because it was basically a shotgun approach.

In your case, I'd start with rf filters on the wiring.


===
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February 19, 2018, 05:52 PM
rburg
Wow, back in my youth there was a nearby radio station. WSAI am 1360. It was really easy to get on my crystal radios. I had a friend who said that was nothing, come to my house sometime. So I did. He received it on the top strand of barbed wire. If you camped out, you had music if you wanted it. The wire hummed the tune they were playing. Of course the next field over housed the antenna for the station.

I blamed it on a leaky transmitter, or at least that's what my dad and the radio geeks he had for friends all told me. Oh, and a kid in school with us received it on the braces in his mouth. Because at that time it was all we listened to anyway, it was OK with us.


Unhappy ammo seeker
February 19, 2018, 05:54 PM
smschulz
Wearing a tin-foil hat has known to be effective. Smile
February 19, 2018, 06:18 PM
flashguy
Lucille Ball claimed that she was receiving radio signals in her tooth fillings. Some folks have pooh-poohed her statement, but I think it was possible. Old style fillings were mercury amalgams and in contact with saliva could have reacted as semiconductors to detect a strong signal.

flashguy




Texan by choice, not accident of birth
February 19, 2018, 06:20 PM
sigmonkey
People are mad because the voices only talk to me.




"the meaning of life, is to give life meaning" Ani Yehudi אני יהודי Le'olam lo shuv לעולם לא שוב!
February 19, 2018, 07:41 PM
c1steve
Try using twisted pairs for the speaker wires, that should stop it.


-c1steve
February 19, 2018, 09:28 PM
Xer0
Ferrite core cores around speaker wires also helps . They are the round bulges you see on VGA monitor cables at each end. You can get cheap from amazon that snap on over wires.
February 19, 2018, 09:54 PM
Sgt Neutron
Back in the late 1980's, there were a few spots on the B-52 ramp at Mather AFB in Sacramento where the crew chiefs long intercom cord would pick up the KRAK country station when he keyed his mic. So when starting engines you'd hear the CC talk with Hank Williams in the background.
February 19, 2018, 09:57 PM
beltfed21
I had this problem years ago with a stereo. I'd coiled the extra wire behind the speakers. I uncoiled them and the problem went away. I would never have thought that would take care of the issue.


********************************************
"On the other side of fear you will always find freedom"
February 20, 2018, 07:51 AM
radioman
can you tune around on an AM radio and find the corresponding station?

I bet the speaker is the type that has a built in amp (i.e. has a power cord). These are often problematic.

In the end, most people with this problem end up buying another model of speaker.

Ferrite sounds like a good idea, but it's more difficult to get good results than most people realize. In particular for the very low AM radio frequencies, if AM radio is indeed the issue.


----------------------
Let's Go Brandon!
February 20, 2018, 01:20 PM
bendable
the engineer at the local tv station said that they use these

https://www.amazon.com/RF-Chok...3&keywords=rf+filter

and if one does not work ( between the outlet and the power strip)
use a second one between the tower and the power strip





Safety, Situational Awareness and proficiency.



Neck Ties, Hats and ammo brass, Never ,ever touch'em w/o asking first