Jennie W, Fil C,

Summary: RF splitter signal shields are connected to rack electrically - but we probably don't care.

I went out to the SUS-R2 rack to check if the SPI RF splitter (little blue box on left of pic) was grounding to the rack. This was following up on Josh's alog here (LHO alog #90790).

I checked and all three shields of the signals connected to the spitter are electrically connected to the rack (verified with a voltmeter). The body of the splitter is electrically isolated (which makers sense as it is coated with a insulating materrial).

I undid the zip ties holding it to the rack and made sure there was an air gap between the spitter and the rack and these sheilds are still connected electrically to the rack. After consulting with FIl he thinks that the connector coming out of the double mixer (D2400315) with the 80 MHz signal (shown here) is not the correct type to isolate the shield from the box, and therefore the rack.

If we wanted to fix this we would have to change the type of RF connector we are using for the 80 MHz signal coming out of the double mixer. After consulting with Jeff we have decided that for now this doesn't matter to us so we are leaving it like this.

I zip tied the RF splitter back to the rack. For reference I have included a photo of the double mixer and the RF amplifier which also connects to this splitter.