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RF Troubleshooting guide
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Post 1 made on Monday June 14, 2004 at 19:30
oex
Super Member
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April 2004
4,177
Does anyone have a recommended troublshooting guide for RF interference? Or a recommended link.
Diplomacy is the art of saying hire a pro without actually saying hire a pro
Post 2 made on Tuesday June 15, 2004 at 04:12
Ernie Bornn-Gilman
Yes, That Ernie!
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December 2001
30,104
No, but a couple of ideas come to mind.

First, define where you think you have RF interference. You could mean on a remote control like the Pronto and RF Extender, or interference on an AM radio, or sparklies on TV channel 2, or an old Sony Sat receiver where the RF remote does not work any more...

A general help, though, is a portable AM radio. This is sometimes known as a sniffer because it can pick up burst noise, i.e. static or buzz. Chances are good that if something in the house is putting out lots of RF, an AM radio will buzz like hell when it is near it. You will want to use the AM radio in a locale with no interference, just to see what kind of noise it picks up when there is no problem; then go where the problem is and move the radio around the place. Use the antenna's directionality to pinpoint the source.

Another good tool is a spectrum analyzer, but that is WAY up there in cost, and it takes you back to my first comment: you have to have some idea why you think there is RF interference and also what frequency it is at. It is hard to get good information from a spectrum analyzer, which will show lots of signals, if you have no idea what frequency range you want to check out.
A good answer is easier with a clear question giving the make and model of everything.
"The biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place." -- G. “Bernie” Shaw

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