[TowerTalk] rf interference
Ken Barber
kbarber@monmouth.com
Thu, 02 Nov 2000 13:18:47 -0500
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Gary,
<br> Yes, but unfortunately it was years ago..... before wireless
phones. I was exclusively on UHF and VHF and had no problems but
a friend of mine had several neighbors that complained about his HF operation,
so we put together a "bullet proof" TV set with filters inside.
<p>At house #1, the "bullet proof" TV worked flawlessly so we told the
owner that his TV repair man could filter his set and it would go away.
Later I found out that they didn't want to spend the money for the fix
but the compaints stopped.
<p>At house #2, the "bullet proof" TV worked much better than the owners'
set but it still had some interference. With binoculars we noticed
that only one side of the twin lead was connected to the antenna.
We told the homeowner that if he had his repairman run new twin lead it
would fix the problem and if it didn't, my friend would pay the repair
bill. The repairman fix worked.
<p>At the third house, the owner would not let us in. No problem
because the complaints stopped.
<p>Fast forward to last year when I moved into a new town and set up my
own HF station. Everyone here has cable TV so there was no problem
with TV. I did get into my own telephone so I ran a ground
bus all around the shack and grounded every piece of equipment I had to
that bus. The bus ran outside to two 8 foot ground rods seperated
by 10 feet and that eliminated my phone problem. I checked with my
neighbor and he had a problem with one of his phones. I went to Radio
Shack, got a pack of ferrite cubes and wrapped as much telephone jumper
cable as I could aound the two cubes. I went to my neighbors house
and put it between his phone and the jack and it solved the problem.
<p>I must admit, I got lucky. If I had problems with wireless phones,
I would probably buy-and-return, buy-and-return different units until I
found one that worked without interference, then I would demonstrate this
to my neighbor. I have found out from friends that if you take several
radio shack cubes and wrap them aound computer speakers etc. it eliminates
that interference problem also.
<p>If I were Byron, I would insure that all my home equipment (stereo,
phones, TV's etc) were squeeky clean..... this is an absolute must.
Then I would go to the town, in person, and invite a town representative
to my house to demonstrate that everything is clean. I would also
provide the town with a copy of the FCC Interference Handbook which in
short says: Cost-cutting manufacturing techniques, such as insufficient
shielding or inadequate filtering etc....etc.... is the problem.
This is not the fault of the transmitter..... etc. etc...
<p>I would also try to visit each homeowner with a pleasant, very friendly,
non-confrontational attitude and try to discuss the problem and also give
them a copy of the handbook. Tell them you would gladly work with
their repairman to fix their problems.
<p>Lastly, take notes. If the homeowner does not want your help or
does not allow you into his house, this works in your favor with the FCC,
because you are going more than half way to fix the problem. The
worst senerio is to let this fester until it gets to town meetings.
<p>Interference is a difficult problem and I am the first to admit that
I have been more lucky than technically advantaged. I am not an expert
on interference solving. I do know that when you meet with someone
over a cup of coffee and explain how your set is clean at your house and
that you can demonstrate that it is clean and that the FCC Handbook tells
you and your repairman how to fix things, most of the air is out of their
sails and they get pretty decent about it.
<p>73,
<br>Ken W2DTC
<br>------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
<br>
<br>
<br>
<p>Gary \"Joe\" Mayfield wrote:
<blockquote TYPE=CITE>Ken,
<p> I am curious, have you actually tried this?
My experience has been
<br>that this is one of those "It looks good on paper ideas". In
several of the
<br>towns I have lived in we have tried with the utmost tact to use this
<br>approach. The response is almost always "there wasn't a problem
before that
<br>@#$% ham radio operator so it's his fault and he has to be shut down!".
The
<br>most cooperative response we ever got was after demonstrating that
most
<br>phones were not interfered with by the ham signal "well then the @#$%
ham
<br>radio operator will have to buy me all new (interference proof)
<br>electronics".
<p> I have a number of interesting stories related this,
probably the best
<br>is Hal Johnson (w5rx SK) used to get rocks thrown through his windows
when
<br>he operated. The police basically told us it served him right
for
<br>interfering with his neighbor's televisions.
<p> If you have success with an interference committee,
please let the rest
<br>of us know how you did it!
<p>73,
<br>Gary
<br>----- Original Message -----
<br>From: Ken Barber
<br>To: Byron Peebles ; Tower-Talk
<br>Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2000 11:36 PM
<br>Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Front Page News: My Radio Antenna
<p>Byron,
<br> I looked up your call in the WM7D data base and it said you
lived in West
<br>Chester, Pa. It also showed 196 other hams in West Chester.
Could you not
<br>form a good will interference committee to visit the homes with the
alleged
<br>problems and check out the real from the imaginary and make recommendations
<br>to the home owners for a technical solution followed by a report to
the
<br>zoning board of the findings?
<br>73,
<br>Ken W2DTC
<br>------------------------------------------
<br>Byron Peebles wrote:
<br>><a href="http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=1026101&BRD=1671&PAG=461&dept_id=">http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=1026101&BRD=1671&PAG=461&dept_id=</a>
<br>17782&rfi=6
<br>The above URL is a link to a newspaper article that appeared today
in the
<br>Chester County, PA
<br>"Daily Local News". The subject is a stormy antenna battle where
my
<br>neighbors are trying to
<br>have the antenna permit revoked. An interesting adder is that
the website
<br>includes a section
<br>for comments. Please check it out, and if you do leave comments,
please
<br>try to make them
<br>factual and unemotional. Thanks!
<br>73 de Byron nz3o@arrl.net
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