Ham radio Interference

"Graham." wrote in message
...


"Woody" wrote in message
...
[snip]
BTW, the problem might even be down to nearby metalwork with corroded
joints acting as a rectifier, distorting the resulting amateur band
transmission current flow that would otherwise be totally harmless and
produce harmonics extending into the UHF band, directly interfering with
the TV signal.

I've long thought this to be an urban myth. I'm in my 40th year in the
mobile radio business and 31st as a field tech for a large part of which
I covered the whole of the north of England and north Wales and I have
never come across this problem.
Careful, old boy! Occasionally I come across things that my 44 years in the
trade would have told me were impossible!


Now a woman near Scarborough that could hear the local council depot
(which did not have a Tx on site) on her radio, cassette recorder,
microwave, toaster...........
Ah yes, sometimes we enter the realms of clinical psychiatry. A recent job
for the council involved a lady whose complaint was that the neighbours were
spying on her via a camera mounted in the 'o' of Panasonic. As a temporary
repair I put some black tape over the 'o'. I say 'temporary' because I know
that these obsessive delusions simply find another home when the present one
is removed. It normally only takes a week or so. Then there was the lady
who was troubled by a 'sprite' that lived in the TV distribution system
cabinet on the landing. I screwed the lid tightly shut, but I could see in
her eyes that the sprite wouldn't be defeated. Nothing to do with work, but
I have a friend who has been convinced that every Post Office van is spying
on her (there are so many of them . . ), that the person who parks a white
van outside the chip shop every dinner time, goes in, buys chips, comes out,
drives away, is spying on her, that the weather monitor on the windowsill of
the flat across the road is spying on her, that the council (agents various)
is spying on her, and that her ex-boyfriend is . . . spying on her? No, of
course not! Why should he? What he's doing is slowly poisoning her because
he has contacts in all the local food shops, and they put poison in her food
to his instructions.

None of this is funny for the people concerned, although we can tell the
tale in an amusing way. Mental health is the orphan child of the NHS;
starved of funds and chronically under-resourced. Why? Because it isn't
glamorous, and because real cures are hard to come by. When did you last
hear of a million dollar research project into any aspect of mental illness?
But the suffering caused by mental problems equals or even exceeds that
caused by physical illnesses. It is little exaggeration to say that the
whole existence of severe schizophrenics is a torment, from onset to death.
Sorry, I seem to have accidentally got onto one of my high horses.
Apologies.

Bill

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Graham." saying
something like:

When I was active on the amateur bands, anyone complaining
about TVI got an invite to my shack where I would demonstrate
a perfect picture on all available TV channels (just three in the early
days!) on my set in the same room as my equipment.
Then we took it from there.

waves bottle

"'Ello darlin', would you like to come up and look at my equipment?"

In article , Woody
scribeth thus
[snip]
BTW, the problem might even be down to nearby metalwork with corroded
joints acting as a rectifier, distorting the resulting amateur band
transmission current flow that would otherwise be totally harmless and
produce harmonics extending into the UHF band, directly interfering
with
the TV signal.


Another form of semi conductor

More found on radio comms sites...



I've long thought this to be an urban myth. I'm in my 40th year in the
mobile radio business and 31st as a field tech for a large part of which
I covered the whole of the north of England and north Wales and I have
never come across this problem.


It does happen .. especially on crowded shared sites with no bandpass
filtering or circulators etc..

Mind you the number of PMR shared sites is now in decline so perhaps not
as noticeable as it once was and sometimes it goes unnoticed and people
just put it down to interference..

Now a woman near Scarborough that could hear the local council depot
(which did not have a Tx on site) on her radio, cassette recorder,
microwave, toaster...........



Perhaps she was in need of some "attention"......
--
Tony Sayer

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Norman Wells"
saying something like:

Why should it be any more queer than talking to complete strangers from all
over the world on newsgroups? I'd have thought they were two sides of the
same coin.

Except that reception of newsgroup messages is much more reliable.

And you don't get bloody contesters sparking up on top of you.

On Sun, 01 Mar 2009 13:51:00 +0000, Grimly Curmudgeon
wrote:

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Norman Wells"
saying something like:

Why should it be any more queer than talking to complete strangers from all
over the world on newsgroups? I'd have thought they were two sides of the
same coin.

Except that reception of newsgroup messages is much more reliable.

And you don't get bloody contesters sparking up on top of you.

You're 5&9 5&9. Your number is 545. Bye. QRZ?

On Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:18:44 +0000, Dave H
wrote:

I have a Ham Radio enthusiast living some 200 yards away with a big set
of aerianalia. When he turns this in my direction and talks to his
contact, my picture on Sky jumps all over the place to the extent it is
unwatchable. Just like having the vertical hold set wrong. The sound on
my amplifier also cuts out when he is talking. Sky box is connected to a
video recorder by scart and then to the TV, in the next room, by RF
output (they don't make scart leads long enough).

(Turned on the electric keyboard the other day and there he was in
glorious SSB blasting out from the speakers)

I am also getting some mild noise-type interference on other occasions
but cannot be sure it is the same source.

Have been round to see him, nice chap, but he doesn't think he is doing
anything wrong and is not obliged to solve my problem. He has mentioned
some bit of equipment I could put in the 'line',even had a root around
his garage to see if he had one.

Does anyone know the legal position on this type of interference?

If I can't resolve it with him, to what body do I complain? Radio
Society of Great Britain? Ofcom?

Any advice would be welcome on the above or how I can minimise the
interference with a gadget.


David

Cross posted to uk.radio.amateur.

"Mota" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:18:44 +0000, Dave H
wrote:

I have a Ham Radio enthusiast living some 200 yards away with a big set
of aerianalia. When he turns this in my direction and talks to his
contact, my picture on Sky jumps all over the place to the extent it is
unwatchable. Just like having the vertical hold set wrong. The sound on
my amplifier also cuts out when he is talking. Sky box is connected to a
video recorder by scart and then to the TV, in the next room, by RF
output (they don't make scart leads long enough).

(Turned on the electric keyboard the other day and there he was in
glorious SSB blasting out from the speakers)

I am also getting some mild noise-type interference on other occasions
but cannot be sure it is the same source.

Have been round to see him, nice chap, but he doesn't think he is doing
anything wrong and is not obliged to solve my problem. He has mentioned
some bit of equipment I could put in the 'line',even had a root around
his garage to see if he had one.

Does anyone know the legal position on this type of interference?

If I can't resolve it with him, to what body do I complain? Radio
Society of Great Britain? Ofcom?

Any advice would be welcome on the above or how I can minimise the
interference with a gadget.


David

Cross posted to uk.radio.amateur.

I am afraid he is almost certainly correct, it is your equipment that is at
fault. You could complain to Ofcom BUT it will cost you quite a lot if the
problem is found to be with your equipment. Have a look on the Ofcom website
for info.

Regards
Jeff

"tony sayer" wrote in message
...
In article , Woody
scribeth thus
[snip]
BTW, the problem might even be down to nearby metalwork with corroded
joints acting as a rectifier, distorting the resulting amateur band
transmission current flow that would otherwise be totally harmless and
produce harmonics extending into the UHF band, directly interfering
with
the TV signal.


Another form of semi conductor

More found on radio comms sites...



I've long thought this to be an urban myth. I'm in my 40th year in the
mobile radio business and 31st as a field tech for a large part of which
I covered the whole of the north of England and north Wales and I have
never come across this problem.


It does happen .. especially on crowded shared sites with no bandpass
filtering or circulators etc..

Mind you the number of PMR shared sites is now in decline so perhaps not
as noticeable as it once was and sometimes it goes unnoticed and people
just put it down to interference..

Now a woman near Scarborough that could hear the local council depot
(which did not have a Tx on site) on her radio, cassette recorder,
microwave, toaster...........



Perhaps she was in need of some "attention"......

I can't think of any PMR system that would be resolved as intelligible
speech by simple demodulation.

If it's not a broadcasting station, that only leaves amateurs, pirates or
low flying aircraft.

--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

Cross posted to uk.radio.amateur.

Thanks a bundle.
Frankly I would rather have more Air-Max Shoes spam!
--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

Jeff wrote:
"Mota" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:18:44 +0000, Dave H
wrote:

I have a Ham Radio enthusiast living some 200 yards away with a big set
of aerianalia. When he turns this in my direction and talks to his
contact, my picture on Sky jumps all over the place to the extent it is
unwatchable. Just like having the vertical hold set wrong. The sound on
my amplifier also cuts out when he is talking. Sky box is connected to a
video recorder by scart and then to the TV, in the next room, by RF
output (they don't make scart leads long enough).

(Turned on the electric keyboard the other day and there he was in
glorious SSB blasting out from the speakers)

I am also getting some mild noise-type interference on other occasions
but cannot be sure it is the same source.

Have been round to see him, nice chap, but he doesn't think he is doing
anything wrong and is not obliged to solve my problem. He has mentioned
some bit of equipment I could put in the 'line',even had a root around
his garage to see if he had one.

Does anyone know the legal position on this type of interference?

If I can't resolve it with him, to what body do I complain? Radio
Society of Great Britain? Ofcom?

Any advice would be welcome on the above or how I can minimise the
interference with a gadget.


David
Cross posted to uk.radio.amateur.

I am afraid he is almost certainly correct, it is your equipment that is at
fault. You could complain to Ofcom BUT it will cost you quite a lot if the
problem is found to be with your equipment. Have a look on the Ofcom website
for info.

Regards
Jeff




The truth is harsh but Jeff is right. Its almost certain that your
equipment is at fault. OFCOM can help with the TV by fitting high pass
filters but you may be on your own with the electric keyboard as it
should designed not to pick up radio signals.

Have you tried chatting to the radio amateur involved in a non
confrontational way. Going in with all guns blazing is liable to result
in being told its your problem mate(or harsher words to the same effect).

Len GM0ONX