Interference problem

[chewie327]

I'm getting interference from my router on my scanner. I'm using a Uniden BCD396T with a Radio Shack 800 MHZ antenna. My Linksys router is causing interference on almost the whole 152-162 mhz band. It seems to extend out in a 10 foot radius from the router which happens to be located near my computer; a spot where I would like to listen to my scanner. For various reasons (certain cables cut to a specific length among other things) I can not move the router. Is there anything I can use to shield the router so it cuts down the interference? Any help would be appreciated.

Allan
Albany NY

PS I know it's the router because the interference goes away if I unplug it.

 

[Luis_C]

What I would do is get some kind of metal box and drill small holes for get the cables out of the router, just a thought I got, could work maybe but it wouldn't remove all the interference, that's for sure.

 

[oregontreehugger]

Did a search for "router" and there's a ton of hits:

http://www.radioreference.com/forums/search.php?searchid=335737

This is a topic I can relate to -- my router causes a lot of interference on the VHF band as well.

My solution has been to move the scanner into the other room. For periods of monitoring where I don't want to put up with the interference, I just unplug the router. Cheap and easy.

Not much else you can do short of putting up an external antenna.

 

[kb2vxa]

Hi Chewie (the Wookie?) and all,

Routers are notorious RFI generators and often the only solution is to unplug it while using a radio receiver or just put up with the noise it generates. All you say about the antenna is it's "800MHz" which doesn't say anything about it's location. Possibly moving it away from the router may reduce or eliminate the interference but in some cases any antenna even located far from one will receive interference on some bands, every RFI case is unique and must be treated as such.

BTW, why are you using an 800MHz antenna on VHF? That in itself makes little sense. Although it's not the cause of the problem one will receive strong local signals on other bands, but it won't do so efficiently so it won't receive weaker ones at all.

 

[chewie327]

Thanks for the replys. I was hoping for an easy answer or a quick fix but I should have known better.

 

[Dispatrick]

Same Problem

same here i get interfearence from my wireless router. all over the radio band. i unplug it when not in use. it causes so much interfearence with my radio.

 

[RISC777]

I must go home and pat my router on its head since I have no issues with it at all, since this is not the only thread on routers and interference.

 

[LordJ]

I don't have a router so I am not sure what type of RI you are talking about. Does it cause your scanner to open up to unactive channels? Does it create noise Interference behind normal voice comms?

 

[jeffrey420]

Do the wired routers cause more VHF problems than the wireless?

 

[brandon]

I find that wired routers cause the most noise. I've now converted everything to wireless, moved the Internet wireless router in the garage near the FiOS optical network terminal. Then in the radio room I have a wireless switch/bridge device which talks to the main router in the garage and lets me plug in the VoIP phone and a few other computers right into it using ethernet cables. I got a little nosie still when plugging in computers to the bridge using the ethernet cable so I ended up getting a USB wireless card for the extra computer and now I am 100% wireless except for my phone but there is no noise at all now. Low band sounds perfect where before I would get open carriers all over the place.

Bottom line: Keep the router as far away from the radio/antenna as possible.

 

[MacombMonitor]

I'm not having any interference issues with my router. It's a Netgear WGM124 PRE-N WiFi, and 4-Ports. The router enclosure is all steel. It's located about six feet from my radio equipment. It also happens to be the most reliable WiFi router I've ever used, and I have a lot of them!

 

[RISC777]

NetGear is a (highly) recommended manufacturer. That name is a subsid. of Nortel Networks (they do the big switching, etc., very much a competitor to Cisco and the likes).

 

[stanson]

Progamming My Radio Shake PRO 95 Scanner

When you program in all the 800.00 and up frequencies I have city and county groups
I was wondering can I put all the freq. in one channel or do I need to put them in two different channels
I'm just getting started programing all these talk groups in I will seperated those gruops in different channels but I put all the trunking Freq. In channel 0 there are around fifty freq. will this work If Not can some guide me in the right direction.
I dont want to spend hours programing and have to start over
again I have a Radio Shack pro 95
is there programming software and interfacing cables so I can program the the radio using me PC

 

[kc4jgc]

Possible fix

I'm getting interference from my router on my scanner. I'm using a Uniden BCD396T with a Radio Shack 800 MHZ antenna. My Linksys router is causing interference on almost the whole 152-162 mhz band..

Do you have any freqs programmed in that range? I'm assuming you do or perhaps you're searching through that range from time to time. Do you have an attenuator switch on that radio or can you program attenuation for that channel? If so, does the radio still hang up there?

If you tried the above and you still have problems, there MAY be a simple fix: an rf choke. Simply run your coax or AC line through/around a toroid core. Since it's a very weak signal you may be able to choke the router out while still being able to recieve what you want to hear on that part of the spectrum.

I have some ideas on my ham radio web site: http://www.qsl.net/kc4jgc/catvi_1.htm
It's a 7 part (short parts!) that deals mostly with QRM from cable TV systems but could work with your situation. Parts 5 through 7 should be of most interest from you.

 

[DickH]

When you program in all the 800.00 and up frequencies I have city and county groups
I was wondering can I put all the freq. in one channel or do I need to put them in two different channels
I'm just getting started programing all these talk groups in I will seperated those gruops in different channels but I put all the trunking Freq. In channel 0 there are around fifty freq. will this work If Not can some guide me in the right direction.
I dont want to spend hours programing and have to start over
again I have a Radio Shack pro 95
is there programming software and interfacing cables so I can program the the radio using me PC

This question has nothing to do with the subject of this thread. You should start a new thread in the Radio Shack forum.
Tell us where you are and what you want to monitor (Police, Fire, etc) and we can help you.