Anyone put Ferrite Cores in their fooger to eliminate RF?

The Moog Forum Moogerfooger Forum
1

Hi all,
I have a question in to moog tech support on this topic as well but thought I would post out here also.

I have a MF101 Lo Pass filter that is a radio basically when its on (in addition to functioning as an incredible sounding filter…now if I can just get rid of the college radio broadcasting through my amp when its on).

I would like to try using ferrite cores around some of the internal wires. I have already shielded the wooden side panels with copper tape, ensured there was good electrical connection between the copper and the metal body, and got very little positive impact.

Is there anyone out there implemented ferrite cores for RF control inside their foogers?

Background and stuff I have already tried:
I live in an RF heavy area and when the MF101 is out of the signal chain, no problems. When the MF101 is off, no problems. When the MF101 is on, incredible sounding Low Pass, plus absurd amounts of radio. I am practicing good cable management (ie no parallel signal and power cable runs, 90degree angles if necessary overlap etc), good power supply configuration (ie no 1-spot chaining or anything for the moog), and star grounding all connected equipment to a single outlet, etc. I have gone through all common solutions with no luck:

  • tested alternate cables
  • tested without controller pedal
  • tested in different location: yeah, this causes it to diminish, but only because I am further away from the nearby RF sources at my apartment.
  • Tested wrapping the incoming and outgoing audio signal wires around ferrite cores. no improvement.

The following is my pedal board configuration and it works with no RF (even when its ALL on - assuming the moog is off or out of the signal chain) Guitar > Budda Wah > OCD > WMD Geiger Counter > Fuzz Factory > TC Sustain+EQ > TC Nova System > Modfactor > Line 6 DD4 > Amp. When its in the signal chain, the MF101 goes between the Modfactor and DD4. Believe it or not, but I can simultaneously have the Nova’s gain on, the WMD gained up, AND the Fuzz Factory on, with quite a bit of noise but no RF regardless of any settings. Turn it all off, and turn on only the MF101 and bingo, your now listening to the radio. Hence my strong desire to get some ferrite in there, squelch the RF, and carry on my radical and subversive experiments with space invaders guitar sounds.

Thanks!

2

Faraday Cage?

Do you think the RFI is coming through the air or the powerlines?

3

Of course, a Faraday Cage…why didn’t I think of that - the scene in Enemy Of The State comes to mind where Gene Hackman takes Wil Smith to his “Hideout”. :smiley: Or maybe a local hospital is throwing out their MRI and I can have the 30’ x 20’ x 12’ copper box they had it in… :laughing:

I have to believe its an airwave RF source (three cell phone size broadcast towers are visible from my 13th floor condo window, directly across the street (well, interstate) from Georgia Tech…and Turner Broadcasting. So surely there are some high power transmitters nearby.

While not an Electrical Engineer, I suspect it isn’t a powerline source because the pedal’s power is coming through a furman conditioner. Supposedly EMI/RFI filtered, but its one of their $100 rackmounts that is essentially a glorified power strip, and not the $750 power regulator. Not sure how much better, if at all the EMI/RFI filtering is on the regulators though.

4

Moog’s legendary customer service saw my post, made contact, and we will be trying some ideas.

Stay tuned!

5

Any luck?

6

Has anyone had luck fixing this problem? My MF-101 is screaming a radio station and is basically unusable this way. It seems to persist no matter where I go or what I try. It’s either bad or really bad. I hope shielding will work but I wanted to queue the forum to see if anyone has had positive experiences.

7

Does anyone else experience rf noise in their 101? I guess im just wondering if its normal.