He's obviously not legal. He has been getting louder and louder over
the years to the point of what I described in my earlier post about
the problem with the TV's now.


You are probably not going to agree with this Des, but the fact that you
have a problem with your TV and hifi is no indication that the guy with the
transmitter is at fault. Hams are legally allowed to transmit with very high
power and the fact that your equipment is susceptible to these transmissions
is more an indication of your equipment's short comings than the
transmitter's. Unfortunately some manufacturers take few precautions to
prevent this kind of interference getting into audio equipment etc. They
prefer to save money and only deal with complaints when they occur; it is
more cost effective for them!! The selling price is no indication of how
well a TV or hifi will stand up when exposed to strong transmissions.

Home theatre set ups are especially susceptible due to all the long speaker
cables lying about acting as antennas.

Regards
Jeff

DES wrote:

What the hell, public forum or not, I need some help here, and this
guy is giving legal users a bad name.

You have not in any way proved that he is NOT a legal user.

What I've gotten out of your posts a

1. He is having conversations using a radio.

2. Your stereo system picks them up.

3. You are annoyed by this.

Anything else is in the end irrelevant.

Since he is speaking to someone else, he is NOT broadcasting and may very
well be operating legally. Since you have not said where you are, people
have assumed that you are in the U.S. If that is not the case, this
is the time to say where you are.

I've approached the guy *several* times over the past few yrs and
asked him very nicely to lower the boost/gain (whatever it's called)
on his radio and he has complaied to a certain extent.

That's very nice of him. If he is operating legally, then there is NOTHING
that he MUST do, and he was trying to accomodate you. You were acting
like a neighbor who calls the fire department everytime someone lights
their barbeque.

His broadcast were only coming through my stereo speakers during low
passages at the time.

How were they doing that? Do they come through with the stereo off? If they
do it's a problem with the speakers and their wiring. If they don't,
it's a problem with the stereo itself, YOUR antenna, or YOUR power wiring.

As of a few months ago, it is now so bad, that his broadcast are now
coming through my TV speakers, and causing horizontal lines in the
picture. (on all four of my TV's) And it's so bad on my computer
speakers now, that I have to turn them off. As far as listening to my
stereo, I can't even do that now if he is broadcasting.

Now we are getting somewhere. Are they connected to cable TV? Do you have
an external antenna?

So I approached him again, only this time, he told me to "F off", that
"he wasn't doing anything illegal".

I don't agree with the method, but the message is correct. If he is
not doing anything illegal, it's your problem, not his. He's tried to
make a reasonable accomodation (reducing power), but you've done nothing
except complain more.

When I got home, not only was the broadcast even louder, he was
telling one of his radio buddies about the "incident" in FULL detail.

So, I know for a FACT it is him.

I know just need to know what kind of radio he is using.

Most likely he is using a ham transmiter in the AM mode. These are quite
rare nowadays, but are perfectly legal. If he were using FM mode it
would sound like a loud continuous buzz, and if it were single side band,
the more popular mode, it would sound like donald duck and you probably
could not understand him.

If he were using morse code, it would sound like buzzing that stops and
starts quickly.

He may be using a CB as many of them are AM, but generally they have a range
of about 5-10 miles. Even with illegal power, due to global cooling (lack
of sunspots), they won't reach far beyond line of sight for another 3-5
years.

At this point if I were you, I would go knock on his door, appologize for
the misunderstanding in the past and ask for him to either give you advice
on what to do to resolve the problem or recommend someone to ask.

My guess is as a start that YOU have an electrician come out and check
the GROUND wire on your electrical system. Make sure YOUR main panel is
in fact grounded and all the outlets you have are really grounded.

Unless you have ISO-BAR (or better) surge protectors, throw them away.
It's not a waste of good money, they are worthless trash anyway.

After that unplug the antenna connections from all of your TV's and
stereo system. Have him transmit a test signal. If they come through the
TV's, or stereo, get power line filters. If no signal comes through the
TV or stereo, and it starts when you reconnect the antenna, get a better
antenna (shielded wire) connection with a proper ground and a "high pass"
filter.

Get good computer speakers anyway. Try USB ones instead of ones that
plug into your sound card.

Geoff.
--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM

On Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:52:18 -0700 (PDT), DES
wrote:

So, if I'm hearing him on a daily bases speaking to someone that is
700 miles away, then it has to be a Ham?

There is nothing to distinguish a Ham from a CBer here.

He's obviously not legal.

As you came here to make a determination of class of operation, your
statement is clearly a guess, not "obviously" a correct observation.

Simple point in fact is that even for a professional, it is
exceedingly difficult to determine a power level that is not legal.
You, as a citizen, are perfectly empowered to notify the nearest FCC
field office that is equipped to do this, but I wouldn't hold my
breath. Your tax rebate check robbed that agency of enforcement power
funds so you could buy a new TV. You can change that at the ballot
box - expect a higher tax bill if you want government to solve this.

He has been getting louder and louder over
the years to the point of what I described in my earlier post about
the problem with the TV's now.

And even the very first time I approached him, I mentioned that I knew
he was broadcasting illegally, and that we all have our hobbies, but
his was interfering with mine, which at the time was home theater. He
didn't deny that he wasn't illegal, at the time, and he did lower the
power, for a while.

I've approached this guy at least 5 times in the past few yrs, and
every time he has lowered the power, for a while. Not this time,
though, and it is now out of control.

Yes, not pleasant at all. Your complaint is neither new, nor original
over the course of 80 years now. In all practicality, your only real
option is to go to Radio Shack and stock up on suppressors. Save
yourself the added postage cost of sending a letter to the FCC and the
delay of bureaucracy waiting for them to tell you the same thing.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC

DES wrote:
He's obviously not legal. He has been getting louder and louder over
the years to the point of what I described in my earlier post about
the problem with the TV's now.

How do you know that? It could very easily be that YOUR problem is getting
worse. You just automaticly blame him without doing anything to determine
what the real problem is.

I'm probably at least 6,000 miles away from you but you should check out
what I wrote in my last post very carefully. I think in the end not
only will you owe him an apology, but you will thank him for pointing
out a situation which could cause your house to burn down with you in it.

BTW, do you happen to live in Willingboro New Jersey? Or somewhere built
around the same time? *

Geoff.

* Aluminum house wiring, which if you do have it, it ALL should be
replaced. Aluminum wiring from the pole to your main panel is ok, but
in the walls, it's a disaster working up to the "big one".

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM

On Aug 19, 1:00*pm, Bert Hyman wrote:
(DES) wrote :

On Aug 19, 9:24*am, (Geoffrey S. Mendelson)
wrote:
DES wrote:
OK, I'm gonna try and get a better picture for you guys, but it
won't be today because it's pouring down rain.

How about going up to the door and asking?

Geoff.

That isn't an option. I can't go into details in a public forum.. I
just need to know if the guy is broadcasting with a ham or CB radio,
and figured you guys could tell me from looking at the antenna.

Do you know the guy's name? You can see if there's a license issued to
him:

http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsS...rchLicense.jsp

--
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN |

Thank you, very much!

Since I didn't know his name, I just started clicking on all of the
names in my zip code, and his address popped up.

So, it is definitely a Ham.

Thanks for everyone's advice and help!

On Aug 19, 1:44*pm, (Geoffrey S. Mendelson) wrote:
DES wrote:
He's obviously not legal. He has been getting louder and louder over
the years to the point of what I described in my earlier post about
the problem with the TV's now.

How do you know that? It could very easily be that YOUR problem is getting
worse. You just automaticly blame him without doing anything to determine
what the real problem is.

I'm probably at least 6,000 miles away from you but you should check out
what I wrote in my last post very carefully. I think in the end not
only will you owe him an apology, but you will thank him for pointing
out a situation which could cause your house to burn down with you in it.

BTW, do you happen to live in Willingboro New Jersey? Or somewhere built
around the same time? *

Geoff.

* Aluminum house wiring, which if you do have it, it ALL should be
replaced. Aluminum wiring from the pole to your main panel is ok, but
in the walls, it's a disaster working up to the "big one".

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel *N3OWJ/4X1GM

Like I said, thanks for everyone's help and advice.

He has been getting louder and louder over
the years to the point of what I described in my earlier post about
the problem with the TV's now.

And even the very first time I approached him, I mentioned that I knew
he was broadcasting illegally, and that we all have our hobbies, but
his was interfering with mine, which at the time was home theater. He
didn't deny that he wasn't illegal, at the time, and he did lower the
power, for a while.

I've approached this guy at least 5 times in the past few yrs, and
every time he has lowered the power, for a while. Not this time,
though, and it is now out of control.

Well, I have some good news and some bad news for you.

Let's do the bad news first, OK?

As others have pointed out, it's entirely possible that your neighbor
is transmitting legally. If he has a ham license, he could be
transmitting with power levels of up to 1500 watts, in most bands, and
still be entirely within the bounds of his license.

The fact that he "didn't deny" that he was "broadcasting illegally"
isn't proof, by any means. He may simply have not wanted to get into
an argument with a neighbor who was making harsh accusations without
proof or evidence (and, sorry to say, I *am* referring to you here).

Unless you have evidence that he's transmitting without a license, or
in ways which violate whatever license he has, you don't have much
legal leverage, and probably won't be able to persuade anybody to do
anything on your behalf.

As others have pointed out... if a stereo amplifier, or loudspeaker,
or telephone starts picking up and reproducing radio transmissions,
then *this* device is defective/broken/badly-designed. This is a
condition referred to as "undesired operation" - the phone or speaker
is reacting to something (a strong RF field) which is irrelevant to
this device's normal mode of operation.

It is the position of the FCC that such "undesired operation" is a
defect in the device in question, and not the fault of a (legal) radio
transmission. It's is technically possible (and not all that
difficult) to shield and filter devices such as amplifiers and phones
so that they don't react to RF fields. Some manufacturers skimp on
this filtering and shielding, in order to save money... and if the
consumer buys such a device (rather than a more expensive, better-
designed one) then any problems which result are the responsibility of
the consumer and the device's manufacturer.

Many, many consumer electronics devices these days come with a "Part
15" label or advisory, on the device or in the manual. Part of the
wording says these devices "must not interfere" with licensed radio
services, and "must accept" interference from both licensed and
unlicensed radio services "including interference which causes
undesired operation".

That's the bad news.

Now, for the good news.

It's usually possible to add some after-market RF suppression devices
to the affected components, and greatly reduce or entirely eliminate
the interference. You can buy such devices over the counter or by
mail, and they're not expensive.

For phones, a small filter which plugs in between the phone cord and
the wall outlet will often do the trick. Plug-in DSL filters are
commonly available and will probably do the job well enough.

For loudspeakers and stereos - in most cases I've seen, the RF is
being picked up by the wires between the speaker and amplifier or
PC... the wires act as antennas, carry the RF into the amplifier
section, and the amplifier "detects" the RF by accident and converts
it to audio and amplifies it. It is often possible to entirely
eliminate such unwanted pickup by adding an interference suppressor
(a.k.a "choke" or "ferrite") to each speaker wire, right before it
enters the amplifier. The commonest variety is a "snap-on" two-part
ferrite - snap it open, wind the speaker wire through it a few times
(leaving a short stub of wire at the end), snap it closed, and
reconnect the wire to the amplifier/receiver. With amplified speakers
(computer or subwoofer), put a ferrite right at the speaker end of the
wire.

Adding ferrites to the AC power cords of the receiver, amplified
subwoofers, etc. is also a good idea.

For TV interference, you may need a "high-pass filter" connected in
the antenna line right at the TV. This will keep the strong RF signal
from your neighbor's transmitter out of the TV set's receiver.

Ferrites and filters are probably available at your local Radio Shack,
or by mailorder from quite a few suppliers.

For further information about actually solving the problem, I'd
suggest that you look at the ARRL's extensive collection of
information about this issue. Start at

http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/rfigen.html

for a table of contents and a good overview of the basic issues
involved. The "Information for neighbors of hams" page is also
worthwhile reading.

Oh... if you want to know whether your neighbor is a ham, you may be
able to find out from:

http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsS...rchLicense.jsp

Click "Amateur", then plug in your zipcode and do a search. See if
your neighbor's name comes up.

However, even if your neighbor doesn't have a ham license, and is
transmitting on CB, it's entirely possible that his transmissions
could be getting into your radio even if they were limited to legal
power... and if so, he wouldn't be under any obligation to stop
transmitting or reduce power.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

What the hell, public forum or not, I need some help here, and this
guy is giving legal users a bad name.

I've approached the guy *several* times over the past few yrs and
asked him very nicely to lower the boost/gain (whatever it's called)
on his radio and he has complaied to a certain extent.

His broadcast were only coming through my stereo speakers during low
passages at the time.

As of a few months ago, it is now so bad, that his broadcast are now
coming through my TV speakers, and causing horizontal lines in the
picture. (on all four of my TV's) And it's so bad on my computer
speakers now, that I have to turn them off. As far as listening to my
stereo, I can't even do that now if he is broadcasting.

So I approached him again, only this time, he told me to "F off", that
"he wasn't doing anything illegal".

When I got home, not only was the broadcast even louder, he was
telling one of his radio buddies about the "incident" in FULL detail.

So, I know for a FACT it is him.

I know just need to know what kind of radio he is using.

Question, can a CB transmit
In my limited experience it is not the power level that leads to the
interference but excessive modulation level. Over modulation leads to
spatter all over and is lost power as far as the user is concerned.

In other words, he would put out a larger signal if he kept it to the
intended frequency. Unfortunately those who flaunt the law are seldom
interested in facts.

If it is infact a legal transmission you should at some time hear
callsign information.

John Ferrell W8CCW

"Dave Platt" wrote in message
...
The fact that he "didn't deny" that he was "broadcasting illegally"
isn't proof, by any means.

I agree with you, Dave, but it's the usual case where it sure *looks*
suspicious if someone who's doing something entirely legal doesn't claim as
much when accused of doing something illegal. Something like, "Actually, I'm
a licensed amateur radio operator, and my setup is perfectly legal, although I
don't really care to debate this with you -- good day." is in no way
provocative.

I would suggest that the O.P. contact his local amateur radio club and see if
anyone there has a spectrum analyzer -- that should very quickly resolve the
question of whether he's transmitting on 11m or some ham frequency. If it is
a ham frequency, I would agree that realistically one has to assume he's
transmitting well within his legal rights, as (1) exact power measurements
aren't going to be easy and (2) perfectly legal power levels can still cause
plenty of interference.

I would hope that all hams would be intersted in assisting the O.P. in this
case. While the transmitter may well be a hermit ham operating perfectly
legally, it's certainly in the amateur community's interest (and perhaps even
charter) to help the O.P. out by at least verifying that the transmissions are
plausibly legal, and then providing suggestions on reducing interference (if
they are legal), as you have done.

However, even if your neighbor doesn't have a ham license, and is
transmitting on CB, it's entirely possible that his transmissions
could be getting into your radio even if they were limited to legal
power...

Also true, but highly unlikely, IMO. This can usually be verified by just
listening to the guy for awhile -- pretty much every CB'er I've ever met who
had an amplifier liked to brag about it at some point on the air.
Additionally, if some local ham with a spectrum analyzer can additionally
estimate the gain of the antenna, he can estimate what sort of signal power a
5W CB should produce with a test dipole connected to his analyzer. If he's
getting, e.g., 20dB or more above the estimate, the likelihood that it's a
legal CB transmission is effectively zero.

---Joel

"DES" wrote in message
...
On Aug 19, 11:09 am, (Geoffrey S. Mendelson) wrote:
DES wrote:
That isn't an option. I can't go into details in a public forum.. I
just need to know if the guy is broadcasting with a ham or CB radio,
and figured you guys could tell me from looking at the antenna.

I don't know what youthink you are doing, but it's not going IMHO to end
well. If you think that the resident of the property is operating
illegally, on whatever band you think they may be doing so, contact a
local ham radio club, or if you don't know of one, the ARRL or local
equivalent and ask for assitance in tracking down the source of the
interference.

I'm sure there is someone near you who has the skill and the equipment to
find out what the problem is and locate the actual source.

Usually they guy with the most visible antennas is the one who is
the least likely source of whatever interference you are experiencing
assuming you are experiencing some sort of interference and are not
just out the get the guy because you don't want anyone with antennas
in your neighborhood.

Geoff.
--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM

What the hell, public forum or not, I need some help here, and this
guy is giving legal users a bad name.

I've approached the guy *several* times over the past few yrs and
asked him very nicely to lower the boost/gain (whatever it's called)
on his radio and he has complaied to a certain extent.

His broadcast were only coming through my stereo speakers during low
passages at the time.

As of a few months ago, it is now so bad, that his broadcast are now
coming through my TV speakers, and causing horizontal lines in the
picture. (on all four of my TV's) And it's so bad on my computer
speakers now, that I have to turn them off. As far as listening to my
stereo, I can't even do that now if he is broadcasting.

So I approached him again, only this time, he told me to "F off", that
"he wasn't doing anything illegal".

When I got home, not only was the broadcast even louder, he was
telling one of his radio buddies about the "incident" in FULL detail.

So, I know for a FACT it is him.

I know just need to know what kind of radio he is using.

Question, can a CB transmit

---------------

Yes, CB radios transmit. They wouldn't be of much use if they didn't.

It is possible that your neighbor IS doing everything legally and that your
particular situation is what is causing the reception of unwanted radio
waves.

Go to Radio Shack and ask them if they have any devices that will help block
out your neighbor's transmissions. I know that they used to sell such
devices. I don't know if they still do today. If they do not, you can look
for sellers on the internet.

Years ago, Congress was presented with a bill that would have required all
consumer electronics that were susceptible to RF interference to have
factory installed devices that would eliminate the problem. The estimated
additional cost per each consumer electronics device was $1.50. The
electronics industry lobbyists convinced the congress critters that it would
be too expensive for them to do. So, congress voted down the bill. If you're
really ****ed about your situation, jump up and down on your congress person
via TELEPHONE. They don't read their emails. At least they don't yet. They
will someday, but the phone is the best way to make your point.

If you are using rabbit ears for TV reception, you don't stand a chance of
winning your case with the FCC. If you are utilizing a properly installed TV
antenna, the fix is simple. Your computer speakers can be muted by buying
aftermarket ferrite cores and installing them on your speaker leads. It is
up to YOU to eliminate the RF interference that your appliances are
experiencing. Not the radio operator.

Typically, it is up to you to fix your interference problems and not that of
the CB or amateur radio operator. Yes, it sucks, but that's the way it is.
Whether the CB operator is operating legally or not is between he and the
FCC. It bears no relevance to you. Keep pestering the guy and you could end
up with a broken nose.

Ed, NM2K