ecps92
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Quite aware of that.
My comment was DoD (Military) is 380-400, Federal Agencies (DoE etc) are the 400-420.
My comment was DoD (Military) is 380-400, Federal Agencies (DoE etc) are the 400-420.
Cell Tower causing Garage Doors to Malfunction!?
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prcguy
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All those would be at multiples of the door opener receive frequency, which if in the 300-400Mhz range would be interference from 150-200MHz or 75-100MHz or 32.5-50MHz, etc. Probably unlikely since it would have to be a nearly continuous transmission or pure luck that it coincides with the times people are opening their garage doors.
I agree its hard to pin on radio interference without camping at the problem location with a spectrum analyzer, but that would quickly rule out things like noisy LED bulbs, etc.
prcguy
I agree its hard to pin on radio interference without camping at the problem location with a spectrum analyzer, but that would quickly rule out things like noisy LED bulbs, etc.
prcguy
I live in the very southeastern part of Washington State (Walla Walla to be exact). No military installations in our area. The interference was a sudden onset problem that coincided with a new cell phone tower construction. We have been told by the cell phone company that no equipment has been hung or operational on the tower.
I have been using my Yaesu FT60r which will tune to 315MHz although probably not a real sensitive receiver at that frequency. I can take it around the neighborhood and around my house and I have been able to pick up some serious/significant noise on 314.655MHz specifically. The nose and interference seems especially strong at the cable TV box on the outside of my house. The cable TV outlets inside my house also seem to be very noisy. To try and help narrow down the interference I turned off my main breaker at the breaker panel therefore shutting off the power to the entire house (no battery backups). The nose/interference levels did not change at all with the power off. I believe the interference coming from the outside utilities but seems to be especially strong at my house. The best part is that is that I do not have any cable TV/Internet/Phone and should be disconnected from their services. I have contacted the cable company (Charter) and they are coming out to take a look at everything on Saturday.
I have been using my Yaesu FT60r which will tune to 315MHz although probably not a real sensitive receiver at that frequency. I can take it around the neighborhood and around my house and I have been able to pick up some serious/significant noise on 314.655MHz specifically. The nose and interference seems especially strong at the cable TV box on the outside of my house. The cable TV outlets inside my house also seem to be very noisy. To try and help narrow down the interference I turned off my main breaker at the breaker panel therefore shutting off the power to the entire house (no battery backups). The nose/interference levels did not change at all with the power off. I believe the interference coming from the outside utilities but seems to be especially strong at my house. The best part is that is that I do not have any cable TV/Internet/Phone and should be disconnected from their services. I have contacted the cable company (Charter) and they are coming out to take a look at everything on Saturday.
mmckenna
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That frequency certainly falls in the area of Cable TV use. A leaky connector, damaged coax, faulty line amp could certainly be spewing out RF.
Even if you don't have cable TV service in your home, the cable TV service does run up and down your street, either underground or on utility poles. It may not be coaxial cable all the way, many services are now over fiber, but at some point it does get converted back to coax for distribution/delivery.
Cable TV leakage is a fairly common issue, and it can cause a lot of issues. Would't be surprising if this was the source of your trouble. The cable TV company should be able to track this down and replace the faulty components.
Even if you don't have cable TV service in your home, the cable TV service does run up and down your street, either underground or on utility poles. It may not be coaxial cable all the way, many services are now over fiber, but at some point it does get converted back to coax for distribution/delivery.
Cable TV leakage is a fairly common issue, and it can cause a lot of issues. Would't be surprising if this was the source of your trouble. The cable TV company should be able to track this down and replace the faulty components.
Well the Charter Communications tech failed to show up today and has rescheduled for tomorrow. I am glad I am not a paying customer of Charter. I can't stand their customer service as a non-subscriber!
Still experiencing the same issues however the frequency where the most noise/interference is detected seems to be wondering. For example a couple days ago the frequency seemed to be the noisiest at 314.655 and this evening it is 314.960. Not a huge difference but noteworthy I suppose. I don't have access to a service monitor so I am limited to using scanners and my ham radios to detect noise. I have tried multipliers of that frequency to the extent that I have something to monitor the frequency with. I have not noticed any noise at the other bands.
This problem has been an issue for almost 2 weeks now and its really getting annoying...
Still experiencing the same issues however the frequency where the most noise/interference is detected seems to be wondering. For example a couple days ago the frequency seemed to be the noisiest at 314.655 and this evening it is 314.960. Not a huge difference but noteworthy I suppose. I don't have access to a service monitor so I am limited to using scanners and my ham radios to detect noise. I have tried multipliers of that frequency to the extent that I have something to monitor the frequency with. I have not noticed any noise at the other bands.
This problem has been an issue for almost 2 weeks now and its really getting annoying...
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Not that it would really speed anything up, but cable TV systems are bound by FCC rules, and causing harmful interference is something that would be a violation of the rules. You -could- call the FCC and open a complaint, but don't expect that to really do much. If properly done, you might be able to use that as a way to get the cable company to follow through.
video carrier frequencies for TV signals are quite wide, so not surprising that it appears to be wandering around.
video carrier frequencies for TV signals are quite wide, so not surprising that it appears to be wandering around.
The cause of the interference was finally located. It was a RainWire wireless rain gauge. The battery in the transmitter was very low and once disconnected all noise and interference immediately stopped. The 15+ other houses in my neighborhood seems to be operating their garage doors normally once again.
mmckenna
I ♥ Ø
Wow. Good find.
How far was it from your house?
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