Several years ago I used to know a guy that took much delight in seeing how many neighborhood touch lamps he could light up while driving around with a 500 watt linear behind his CB. I also remember him saying that he was able to order at Mickey D's without even using the drive-up microphone. I'm wondering if you might have someone running around with a high power linear. Keep an eye open for vehicles with proper CB antennas. Can't run that much power into a cheapy RadShack antenna... gotta be a Wilson or something like that. Any kind of mobile op like that could just pull up, start problems and just disappear quickly without a trace. It's a thought anyway...
Calling all Detectives.......
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Perhaps someone "in the know" can explain why the post count isn't indexing ......
Perplexedone
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Finally someone with sense....The PD stopped some teens that had CB's with odd anteneas, and they had no idea at the time what they should be looking for.........
bpsmicro
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I'd have an electrician check your house ground. I'm not an expert, but I've heard an improperly grounded electrical system can make you more prone to noise. An electrician can probably ensure your line voltages are correct and stable.
If the neighbors aren't affected at all, I'd tend to suspect something localized to your electrical system as opposed to externally generated RF. The car alarms tend to be the exception that defies that explanation though.
If you still think it's RF, you may want to reach out to the local Ham community. There are almost certainly hams in your area with the knowledge and equipment to determine if you have RF coming in, the approximate frequency range, and possibly even (eventually) where it's coming from. Some of them love a challenge, you just need to find them.
Brad.
VE3BSM
If the neighbors aren't affected at all, I'd tend to suspect something localized to your electrical system as opposed to externally generated RF. The car alarms tend to be the exception that defies that explanation though.
If you still think it's RF, you may want to reach out to the local Ham community. There are almost certainly hams in your area with the knowledge and equipment to determine if you have RF coming in, the approximate frequency range, and possibly even (eventually) where it's coming from. Some of them love a challenge, you just need to find them.
Brad.
VE3BSM
I agree with the above. There should be some good sized clubs in the Chicago area and if you get in touch with the right group, they'll jump all over this. Fox Hunting is one of their specialties and some will consider it a challenge. If you go over to the ARRL site, you'll be able to locate clubs in the area, contact info, and where they meet.
K9WG
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Funny how both of these posters have ZERO post count even thought they posted several times....
MULDER: Could someone have hacked into the system?
WILCZEK: Well, not your average phone freak, that's for sure. But there's plenty of kooks out there. Data travelers, Electro wizards, techno anarchists. Anything's possible.
SCULLY: Could you have done it?
WILCZEK: Of course. I designed the system. That's why you guys are here, isn't it? I'm your logical suspect.
SCULLY: You don't seem too worried.
WILCZEK: It's a puzzle, Miss Scully, and scruffy minds like me like puzzles. We enjoy walking down unpredictable avenues of thought, turning new corners - - but as a general rule, scruffy minds don't commit murder.
K9WG... Great post.. Everything was great until I noticed your post count.....
Token
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Well no this is not “very easily done”, at least not in a controlled manor with malice and forethought and NOT affect your neighbors. And just because something is on the Internet does not mean it is true or that all of the facts are presented. “It must be true, I saw it on the Internet” comes to mind.
You have described something that is affecting 3 car alarms, a garage door opener, 2 children’s radios (one getting odd interference and another being turned on and off and the volume adjusted), your Uverse, and land line (or maybe you meant LAN line, as in Local Area Network) telephones.
Any one of these, by itself, is not all that hard to affect. All of them together and only targeting you takes a lot more effort
The 3 car alarms and the garage door likely work on similar radio frequencies (UHF) and using similar digital control techniques. So getting them is not too hard, just capture and clone your remotes when you use them. Depending on the specifics of your alarms and garage door a person might even be able to do it with one piece of hardware. It would have to be a controlled, intentional, action, not just some high-powered transmitter. If this affect were caused by just a high power transmitter splattering and causing issues it would affect more than just your equipment, your neighbors would also be having issues.
The children’s radios are a bit more of a problem. Lets take the one that turns on and off first. Most of these radios are not remote controlled, a very few are though. However I have never seen a children’s radio, boom box, or small radio, which was RF remote controlled, as the alarms and garage door would be. They are almost universally IR remote controlled, when they are remoted. That means a new, different, technique needs to be used for that. So to turn it on and off, and the volume up, would require an IR remote, not hard to do. But the remote would have to be line-of-site to the radio, or have an optically clear reflective path from the remote to the radio. In other words someone would have to point the remote in the window of the room. A high power transmitter could possibly cause this issue (unlikely), but would also affect your neighbors, probably for blocks around.
Now, the radio that has the odd interference. None of the techniques used to affect the alarms, garage door, or children’s radio on/off would be likely to cause interference on either the FM or AM broadcast bands. Again, a high power transmitter could cause this but would likely be causing issues with other audios in your house, and with your neighbors.
The Uverse can be controlled by either IR or RF remote, and the same issues exist with it as have been described above.
Your land line (or LAN line, either one) telephones being affected by this can really only be one thing, a high power transmitter. And like I said before, there is essentially no stealthy way to target ONLY your house with such a transmission.
What you are describing, affecting all of these very different devices intentionally and in a controlled manor (you say you “know who and why”, implying it is being done intentionally and not an accident), is technically difficult, but certainly not impossible. Doing so with ALL of them (and not having access to your home to wire it up) and not affecting your neighbors would take serious effort, bordering on not possible, and not just a little capital.
Many people are responding here with things you do not like because they realize that what you are describing is unlikely in the extreme. It is hard to believe without some proof. Got video of these things happening? Got recorded examples of the interference? Got model numbers of equipment affected to determine control techniques required? Gathering such data would go a long way towards coming up with a possible answer. With the data you have given so far a specific answer is impossible, regardless of how “expert” a person might, or might not be.
T!
First i would replace the garage door opener, with a newer rolling code, which has high security. Alot of the older ones had very few codes and this, while maybe a joke would also allow someone into your house. if not possible wind the wire on opener into a size of a paper clip to reduce range or remove altogether. You may have to be next to door to open but door won;t be open when you come home. Are you close to any radio stations? it may explain some problems but not all. Are the car alarms factory or cheap aftermarket and if so what kind- We can look into the type of rf control they use. The childrens toys can be replaced with something else or pu tBlack tape over the IR remote area for a week and see if that stops the random behavior.
Agree with Token, not easy done as everything working on different frequencies, huge range. Not sure about your Home Security aparatus but only device covering all this would be Full Range GSM Cell Blocker/Jammer. Full range will cover anything from 50 MHz to 6500 MHz. However, coverage is limited unless someone using professional device. Other theory is : Alliens landed in the neighbourhood!!!!! this would be my pick!
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Perplexedone
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I appreciate the late few posts.......Gives me some hope that there may be some type of answer. But to answer your questions:
1. Garage Door is within a year new. It has been checked and is not the issue. Every else still occurs when it is disconnected.
2. Car alarms are not aftermarket, 2 are on the same frequency, one is not. (FCC verified)
3. LAN line phone is part of uverse. ATT can see the interference. they gave me some run around about it being turned on and off and they can't verify what type of signal it is. It's the luck of the draw when I call them
4. FCC has verified that there is nothing electrical wrong at my home. Not sure this guy knew what he was during.
5. I have video........
6. The radio going on and off does have a remote...I don't know what kind, but this is the only one affected in this manner, the others are only interference with odd sounding tones.
I am not 100 percent sure that this is being maliciously done. I have always been open to other suggestions, and if anything were happening to at least one of my neighbors, I would say NO. Of course I don't believe everything on the internet....Otherwise, the wiseguys on this thread would have me calling Dr. Peter Vekman. What I meant was, We have talked to many professionals, and everyone has a different theory, and what I really want is to locate the signal. There are ample hours during the day to follow it......
1. Garage Door is within a year new. It has been checked and is not the issue. Every else still occurs when it is disconnected.
2. Car alarms are not aftermarket, 2 are on the same frequency, one is not. (FCC verified)
3. LAN line phone is part of uverse. ATT can see the interference. they gave me some run around about it being turned on and off and they can't verify what type of signal it is. It's the luck of the draw when I call them
4. FCC has verified that there is nothing electrical wrong at my home. Not sure this guy knew what he was during.
5. I have video........
6. The radio going on and off does have a remote...I don't know what kind, but this is the only one affected in this manner, the others are only interference with odd sounding tones.
I am not 100 percent sure that this is being maliciously done. I have always been open to other suggestions, and if anything were happening to at least one of my neighbors, I would say NO. Of course I don't believe everything on the internet....Otherwise, the wiseguys on this thread would have me calling Dr. Peter Vekman. What I meant was, We have talked to many professionals, and everyone has a different theory, and what I really want is to locate the signal. There are ample hours during the day to follow it......
Perplexedone
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Thanks for this info....I will contact someone
fineshot1
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Have you or someone else tried a frequency counter type of device which is typically used to detect
and record rf frequencies? See example link below
Optoelectronics, Inc.
Its rather an expensive little tool but if there is a malicious signal being used
to cause all of this then the freq counter might be able to detect and display
the offending frequency.
TampaTyron
Beep Boop, Beep Boop
I went through a round of this type of stuff with a hospital customer of mine................ended up using (renting from TRS Rentelco) an Anritsu spectrum analyzer with the interference diagnosis option. This option allows the unit to automatically record spectrum sweeps of any signal (or complex combination of signals) once they exceed a set thresh hold. My issue was rooftop transmitters knocking out elevators. I found a specific combination of transmitters AND elevator car location in the shaft that was causing the issue. I confirmed with an recording oscilloscope, connected to the control wires and watched the induced noise spikes on the control lines. I watched the wires and saw normal pulses from the car to the control computer and back at most of the floors, most of the time. At one specific floor level (and only when a specific group of transmitters were transmitting), then whammo......elevator poops the bed. My recommendation is to troubleshoot each issue individually. Basically, confirm what it is NOT, then that narrows what it is. My 2 cents, TT.
"Look...I am serious and turned to this site hoping I would find some answer."
Oh cool your jets, you'll find an answer if you ask in the right place.
The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS)
Oh cool your jets, you'll find an answer if you ask in the right place.
The Atlantic Paranormal Society (TAPS)
RadioFlyer2012
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May take care of it pro bono depending where at in chicago. Just send address.
myspacebarisbroken
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It is possible to cause undesired operation of devices with enough RF energy, I can cause an FM radio to change channels and bands just by pushing the PTT on a 5-watt handheld held next to the radio. Maybe the same principal is affecting you?
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