Dispose of your dimmer switches.

[orkney]

Hello

I just thought I would Point out that you should consider removing your dimmer switches if you want to improve your reception. We had to remove ours yesterday morning due to getting a new light fitting that can't be dimmed. Our messages per second are considerably more and our reception of aircraft at the edge of our range has improved. Our scanner and HF receiver is also far better. Looking on google it is a common problem with TVs but I haven't seen this problem mentioned with the Radarbox.

Andrew

[Southwest]

Wow, this is a new one on me!

Is your suggestion that the fitting of the dimmer switch is the problem or the use of it whilst you are on RB?

[air7677]

I have had dimmer switches all over the house for years,different ones in some rooms it does not interfere with any of my radios ham gear or radio scanners, airnav, ais, sbs,
i have tried switching of and on dimmers makes no difference all my gear and the house are earthed
S.F

[orkney]

hello

Is your suggestion that the fitting of the dimmer switch is the problem or the use of it whilst you are on RB?

I Am not sure of the exact details of the problem since the improvement was only noticed after we removed the switch for the incompatibility with the new light and we weren't expecting an improvement to radio reception. The one thing I do know is the light was on most of the time we were not in bed or out but it was seldom dimmed and I still notice the difference.

Reading here http://home.howstuffworks.com/dimmer-switch5.htm it is cheap , buzzing dimmer switches that are the culprits for this interference since higher quality ones use components to suppress the signals.

Andrew

[Jordan]

I dont have a dimmer, but still my HF reception is lousy.

[air7677]

I dont have a dimmer, but still my HF reception is lousy.

Ay them cheap hf sets always do that.
Sorry for going of topic with hf reception

[Jordan]

I wont call the Yaesu 857 a cheap HF set :)

[73TORANA!]

Dimmers and touch lights use an SCR to switch on ,off and dimm and are very dirty electrically aviode them if you can they spew noise along the entire radoi sprectrum. 

[73TORANA!]

Umm thats Radio spectrum Doh

[stewart_uk]

There is another type of product that is causing a lot of concern because of the amount of interference to the radio frequency spectrum that they cause.

These are the PLA (Power Line Adapters) which are really broadband radio transmitters which use the house mains cables to transfer digital data. Unfortunately a side effect is that the house wiring acts like an aerial and the radio frequency energy does not remain in the house wiring, but radiates some considerable distance, maybe as far as 1km.

One of these (Comtrend) is supplied as part of the BT Vision package. Another one made by Belkin operates as high as 350MHz so it can cause interference to a variety of aviation frequencies (ATC, ILS Localiser etc). It is possible due to harmonics and and a process called Intermodulation for their interference to affect even higher frequencies.

They should be banned under the UK EMC regulations, however the EU is letting Ofcom (the regulator) off the hook on this one, as to ban them would get in the way of "Big Business".

If you find that your RB seems deaf, or that your wireless keyboard is acting strange look around for PLA's either in your house or your neighbours.

Cheers
S.

[73TORANA!]

I have'nt heard of those  I don't think we have them in Australia but very Intersting

[stewart_uk]

No it is predominately a European problem at the moment. The UK is really being used as a trial to see what they can get away with. The CAA is so concerned that they have lawyers looking into the legitimacy of what is being (or rather) not being done. Aviation facilities (primarily the ILS localiser) are a prime concern as far as this type of  interference is concerned. The CAA will shut down a service if they feel that it's integrity is in any way compromised. No ILS, no usable runway...


The States is beginning to see the problem, but the real crunch will come when the Sun's activity (Sun spots) which govern how far radio waves travel around the world by bouncing off ionised layers in the upper atmosphere reach their peak. This happens on about a 11 year cycle.  Then the whole world will be suffering the levels of radio spectrum interference (pollution) that is at the moment local.

Cheers
S.

[air7677]

This happens on about a 11 year cycle.
We use to say that but not anymore, but i agree with you when the prorogation/sun cycle goes up so does the interference.
from S.F.