Greetings,
 
We too have been experiencing this horizontal banding noise in our images
collected using our BioRad MRC-600. This problem has plagued us now for
about a year and a half. We did all of the standard tests, hooked up a line
filter, sent the laser back for a tuneup, called the BioRad field service
out for a visit, etc. none of which helped at all. Basically we have
learned to live with it (I know this isn't right!!!) and have noticed that
it is more dominantly present in transmitted light images. Kalman averaging
seems to reduce the intensity but experimental requirments often do not
allow us to use this. I have written a Macintosh Drag-n-Drop application
that uses a fourier domain semi adaptive notch filter to remove the banding
frequency, this works well but seems like the backwards way of doing
things...
 
I've temporarily installed a brand new imaging system in the room adjacent
to our confocal room and found the same noise present in our acquired
images with that system, so I took a stroll around the building and found
that on the floor directly above us was a large amount of big electronic
equipment. (i.e. freezers, incubators, centrifuges, etc.) It is my theory
that this large massing of power consumers directly above us is the source
of our problem. Luckily, we have aranged for a different room far removed
from any major electronic equipment above or below and will know at the end
of this month when we move the system whether or not this is our problem.
In addition, we have just replaced the scan card, bought a new Dell
computer and will be calling BioRad out for a field service visit in a
month. If none of the above solves our problem then I will be forced to
lean on BioRad support to help remedy the situation.
 
I'll let you know what happens when we get the system moved...
 
Later,
Paul Anderson, EE, BME
Thomas Jefferson University