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Lenny,
I have had an ANC-4 for quite some time -- since it was a product of JPS Communications, now it's from Timewave. It does an excellent job removing local interference. I had X-10 light dimmer/controllers, the noise from which it could remove completely from my received signals. Using the built-in whip reference antenna and an outside antenna, inside noise can be nulled to near inaudibility or better.
As was mentioned in another post, an antenna phaser can also be used to remove noise, just as the ANC-4 can be used as a phaser. The operation is the same, phasing out an undesirable, or enhancing a desired signal by combining two antenna outputs. The ANC-4 has an external antenna input which, when coupled with an antenna of similar performance to your main antenna, would provide the usual benefits of a phaser. Two outside antennas, however, would not let you remove inside noise, the reference antenna for this should be inside where the noise is.
I also have the RadioPlus+ Quantum Phaser that was mentioned. I agree it is an excellent product from a knowledgeable guy who follows the radio hobbies. It should be noted, though, that the Quantum Phaser is a MW only device, it could not be used effectively on LW or SW bands. On the other hand, if you use the ANC-4 as an antenna phaser, it is more difficult to achieve good peaks and nulls compared to the Quantum Phaser. On the other, other hand, the ANC-4 has the built in whip which makes it easy to use for noise canceling. Obviously a small indoor antenna could be connected as one input to the Quantum Phaser to let it function as a noise canceler, but somehow that seems wasteful of the phaser's capabilities. And as I say, that would be for MW only. The ANC-4 covers all three bands with a range switch for the lower frequencies versus the higher ones.
One thing you can't do is use a noise canceler like the ANC-4 along with an antenna phaser like the Quantum Phaser -- or at least not easily. Since they are both doing the same thing, any adjustment of one changes the set-up of the other. They can be used together, but it adds considerably to the effort of peaking/nulling a signal, and removing noise doesn't benefit from having both. In fact, after a fair amount of experimentation, I see no benefit from using both together, but maybe others have had a different experience.
Since I got the Quantum Phaser and a good pair of outside antennas with which to use it, the ANC-4 has become more a back-up phaser, for when one of the antennas is connected to another receiver. I have since stopped using the X-10 controllers, the interference was extreme and my listening focus was on signals that often required nulling a local to hear. I could not null locals and noise at the same time. The ANC-4 whip serves as the reference for phasing on one antenna, while the other antenna is in use elsewhere. The Quantum Phaser isn't used when the second outside antenna is unavailable. Obviously, I need just one more antenna to make my life complete.
This may be a little confusing, if I can help further, let me know.
W. Curt Deegan
Boca Raton, (Southeast) Florida
[Ten-Tec RX320-DCE, LF Engineering H-800, GAP DSP]
[JRC NRD-535D; LF Engineering H-800, M-601 & L-111;
Quantum Phaser; ANC-4 noise canceler; MFJ-784B DSP]
[Palstar R30CC; GAP DSP; Quantum QX Loop]
-------Original Message-------
Date: 07/31/05 10:00:48
[snip]
Next question: given a noisy house, are there noise reducers that
are any help? For example, Universal has an ANC-4:
Thanks for any help
Lenny Silver
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