Picking up radio signals

[iiipopes]

Originally Posted by Reemo_bassist

iipopes, you made an RF choke.

Indeed! And yes, it actually worked. (I wonder if having worked in a radio station for a year when I was in high school in the late '70's had anything to do with that....)

[Reemo_bassist]

Originally Posted by electracoyote

Holy cow, you mean this actually works?

Yes! Coiling a cable creates inductance. Inductance acts as a low pass filter when in series with a circuit. The signals will not pass. First order filter!

[Bloodhammer]

I used to have a Crate combo amp that was on the Mexican radio.

[electracoyote]

Originally Posted by iiipopes

Indeed! And yes, it actually worked. (I wonder if having worked in a radio station for a year when I was in high school in the late '70's had anything to do with that....)

Originally Posted by Reemo_bassist

Yes! Coiling a cable creates inductance. Inductance acts as a low pass filter when in series with a circuit. The signals will not pass. First order filter!

Must give this a shot. It only happens, and very randomly at that, on my small practice amps I have in my teaching studio. Always an annoying distraction, especially with the little ones.

[Reemo_bassist]

Try coiling it through a ferrite, right at the jack which goes into the amp input. Ferrites will drastically increase the inductance of the coil versus air, making a more effective filter.

[Stilettoprefer]

Just suggested the coiled cable fix to a guitarist I jammed with today! It only happens when one of his distortion pedals is in the chain.

[basscooker]

cool fix to know. i've had this before. never knew for sure what it was. i just figure cheap ss amps that always seem to find their way into use.

[Phalex]

Originally Posted by Gabu

Shielding or grounding possibly.

This

[So Low Bass]

I present an annual solo recital in a large church in downtown Buffalo. I have had this issue of radio broadcasts thru my GBX solid state amp for years. I’ve tried shorter extension chords to no avail. This year I found that the amp is fine until I plug in a cable and bingo: Car commercials at the Cathedral. I used a 10 ft. chord direct into my ’69 P (passive). There is no wireless mic system turned on in the building. There ARE several radio station within blocks.

[Reemo_bassist]

Choke the input! coil the cable on itself or add a ferrite. also, check how good the grounding is - the shield really ought to be grounded.

[duff beer]

Our former keyboard player used to pick up police radio through his amp....one time at rehearsal we were between songs and heard a cop on the radio. The keyboard player says, "Hey, that's my brother!!"