Cell Phones and Scanner Interference?

[jwheatley]

If I have my cell phone around my scanner, the scanner will start buzzing, will quit, and will do it all over again. So, I was wondering if anyone knows if turning on the attenuator would help elimate some of the buzzing sounds that occur when a powered-on cell phone is near the scanner?

 

[mpdonala]

Noise

By chance is it a Nextel phone or a regular carrier. Only my nextel makes noise on my Pro-96 but not my Uniden 296. Mabey someone has a answer. Thanks Mark

 

[jwheatley]

My phone is a Cingular phone. Its a Motorola v180. Also, my scanner is a Pro-95.

 

[rhutch]

My cell phone does it, Motorola V600. It consists of approx. 5 quick pulses. Someone in one of these threads acutally posted the sound. I find my phone has to be in very close proximity to the scanner.

 

[AndrewC75]

My experience has been that the hum is not coming in through the RF circuit (receiver); it's coming in through the audio (speaker/earphone) circuit (this on both a Pro-95 and BC246T). So no, turning on the attenuator will not help. The only real solution is to move the cellphone further from the scanner. I've seen this with iDen (Nextel) and GSM/GPRS (Cincular/T-Mobile) phones. The iDen sound is "tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk" and the GSM sound is a bumblebee-type hum.

 

[jwheatley]

the GSM sound is a bumblebee-type hum.

That is what I am hearing.

The only real solution is to move the cellphone further from the scanner.

I have tired the moving the phone away and it doesn't help. So I just leave the cell on the kitchen table while I am on the computer.

 

[bassmkenk2508]

My mom used to have an older model SouthernLinc radio for MS Power Co. (now they have small cell phones sized ones) and when she would press the PTT button on it near our small FM radio in the kitchen, the speakers in the radio would start buzzing.
Sounds like the same deal as what all of you are talking about.

It may be the occassional 'talk' between towers and phones to refresh on the signal reception between the two. Just guessing.

 

[kgasso]

As AndrewC75 said, it's almost certainly going direct through the speaker's circuitry. This happens with my portable scanner and a Nokia TDMA phone, as well as through some inexpensive PC speakers/headphones and the same phone. Back when I had a CRT monitor and received a call, it made my monitor tweak out pretty badly. Was kinda neat because the monitor would glitch a good second before the phone's ringer activated.

 

[shores]

this is really common.
talking on a normal phone, especially a cordless when it does that, i can hear it on the phone.

whoever mentioned it synching up the signal is right, i've had 3 diff cell phones on both voip phone at the office, normal phone at home and through our pbx at work and all pick my cell up when it does the beep beep beep when it syncs up to the tower once in awhile.
try it
turn your cell phone off.
now turn it back on.
when it finds the network, it should make the noise.
even people on the other end hear it, probably just the mic on the phone picking it up from the headset but not sure.

 

[bassmkenk2508]

it was great when i had my '93 Blazer. I could hear a buzz in the speakers right before my cell phone rang. even if my radio was turned a little louder than the volume on the cell phone ringer setting, i could still hear the buzz thru the speakers. it is was actually a neat little 'feature' if you want to call it that.

 

[par38lamp]

My Cingular phone does it when nearfield of any speaker.

 

[BaLa]

my phone only does it when receiving or sending data or whatever.


It's kinda cool actually.
Say I'm driving down the road, and I start hearing a buzzing noise coming from my scanner I KNOW my phone is about to ring depending on where I am. There are a few places it always does it. I think when it switches to a different tower it also does it.

 

[K5MAR]

Hadn't thought about it until this thread started, but my older cellphone, a Nokia 5165 digital (not GSM) didn't have this effect on anything. But the Sony/Ericson EDGE card (GSM card modem) in my laptop puts noise in the laptop's speakers, and my newer Nokia 6340i (also GSM) makes the periodic noise in my scanner's speaker as it "checks-in" with the tower. Cingular service, but I doubt that has anything to do with it. Seems to be the GSM.

Mark S.

 

[Al42]

Cingular service, but I doubt that has anything to do with it. Seems to be the GSM.

It's TDMA, and GSM uses TDMA.

 

[Markphotog]

Cellular phones TX even when not in use; they will periodically send short bursts of data for registration and 911 location info.... you may hear it on any consumer audio equipment if it is nearby.....clicking, or buzzing.....