I have a Pronto TSU-7000 with an RFX 6000 rf extender, in 2 different scenarios unless the rf extender is aproximately 7 feet away from the TV the rf extender does not seem to recieve RF (the red LED does not blink). This is not the case when I physically unplug the TV sets from the AC power source. In the IR mode the system is 100%, we are using a RF extender for avoidance of obstructures.

The TV models are:

Panasonic TH-50PX20

Sony KDF55XS955

When I was 18 and bought my first beater car, I complained to my dad that it had a rattle in the dash. He replied, "turn up the radio it will go away".

If the RF extender works 7 feet away from the TV set, then locate it 7 feet away. It can be frustrating getting the Pronto RF system to work in some situations. There are a lot of threads on the subject in this forum. Lots of tips and trickas relating to the Pronto RF system. In my mind, with that system, it's more important to get it to work reliably than to understand how you achieved that.

First, 2.4GHz is NOT your friend. If your client is using 2.4GHz cordless phones, step them up to the 5GHz bandwidth. Also, same goes for wifi - step them up from 802.11b or 802.11g to 802.11a. Also, move the RF extender away from things with lasers (CD players, DVD players...) Hope that helps.

Yup.. I am with RC Geek on this one. Wireless access points cause problems if they are streaming things... but the fun one from last week ... the Carosel DVD player that I wanted replaced in the first place has sprung an RF leak. It used to work but now when its on it stops the RFX cold.

I tired to replace the thing with a $100 dvd but he would not hear of it. I explained that the evidence pointed to RF leaking from the DVD player while it is on. He NO $h!+ constructed a RF shiled to wrap around the DVD player. Looked like sheet metal to me... BUT IT SOLVED IT!

This message was edited by Springs on 04/14/05 08:54 ET.

Just because I always like to understand these as well as fix them, and it seems as if someone might know --

What is it about these devices, especially the 2.4 Gig ones, that mess up the RFXs at 418 mHz? I would think that 2.4 is so much higher than the RFXs that they could not mess with them. Are there lower frequencies inside the wireless stuff that are leaking out, or is there just A LOT? Also, are the RFX AM devices, or FM, or something else?

For that matter, it doesn't make a lot of sense, but it really happens, that a plasma would cause interference with the RF. I guess a strong clue is that the LED does not light at all, meaning that the signal is apparently being stopped, or its travel through the RFX circuitry is swamped out by something else, so that nothing comes through. Interference at 418 would cause the LEDs to light when no commands are being sent, so no LEDs at all indicates a different interfering mechanism.

I had a nasty problem once with the RFX. I unplugged every electronic device in the house, wireless access points, all computers, all cordless phones, plasmas even the refridgerators and dimming systems for the lighting. There was not change in the results. I swapped out the RFX and the Pronto twice with two different units, same problem. A radio buff advised me to take apart the RFX and compress the helical antenna so that the gap between the windings became narrower. I did this and the thing worked flawlessly. We still don't know what is causing the problem, but a tip fixed it.

We had a bad interference problem in one house, and we were trying everything to solve it... to the point of firing up a generator in the truck and driving around the neighborhood with the remote and receiver and a meter. 100 yards in any direction, this house was an RF black hole... We determined it was the house we were working in, and then started turning off breakers... It turns out the brand-new digital-controlled wall-mount oven had locked up in some way, and was broadcasting some sort of RF interference in a big way... turned the breaker back on, and the problem was gone...
That took a few trips to sort out...

Ernie
I had a similar problem where it quit working whenever the plasma (Toshiba/Panasonic type) was on a bright white picture, but worked okay when the screen was dark or on idle blue screen, no input. Used a AF120 X10 noise filter on the AC feed cord to the plasma, all worked fine again. The LED did not wink like it was being swamped, but what happens is you get random noise that's not specific enough to be a "clean" frequency, like 418, but enough that the RF AGC in the receivers front end gets swamped, and then turns down its overall gain, making it useless. They don't have real hi tech filtration, or band pass filters, too expensive. Harmonics are another problem of any frequencies floating around, too, specially network wireless. Classic noise problem is 55th order harmonics and above, on 120v AC, which will go right through surge suppressors and some UPS systems. The BMI Power Scope looks for this when troubleshooting wierd computer problems. And don't forget lower harmonics of FM that get in to low band VHF when you amplify an antenna signal. That's why you see the amps with FM trap switches. Half of 108mhz is 54, ch5 video.
And on ad nauseum !
Dan