I've heard others on here say that adding an FC to the emitters (assuming near the 260) can help cure that issue. Never tried it personally.

My 2 cents:

When the 260 came out, there were very few things that caused interference. Now there are all kinds of wifi units (tvs, blu rays, apple tvs ... etc) being added to the mix. Just replace with the 350. It will allow you to move the antenna without dragging all the emitters along for the ride ... the additional wifi unit interference is the biggest problem.

The problem with the 260, is if you have a cabinet with limited space, you can try all day to find the magic spot where it won't get interference, but it in the end, just when you think you've got it, that friggin interference starts kicking in and the emitters start glowing red again. Yup, your screwed. Oh yeah, and it's so much fun trying to drag that tangled mess of IR wires around with the 260 to find the right spot!

Have this happen a couple of times and you'll be a 350'er forever.

We only use the MRF350. Never an issue.

What I think is funny... URC many years ago now, went to the narrow band RF to solve interference issues. During that time, there was a lot of confusion about which remotes & base stations were compatible (narrow band vs. non).

I guess URC didn't go narrow band enough!

Seriously, in the 418 & 434MHz bands that the FCC has assigned to these type devices, we shouldn't even be having these kind of issues. But yet, here we are. In particular, it seems a lot of this interference (at least in the case of URC product), doesn't have anything to do with the band it was designed to receive.

I have sold & used just about all the major players in the 'handheld remote' category over the years (OFA, Pronto, URC, RTI, etc.) and they all seem to have varying degrees of interference problems. But URC & RTI are currently the premium of this low end category, charging premium prices - but yet they are constantly building junk and throwing it at us.
These are some seriously CHEAP pieces of plastic they are making for us and charging out the yang for.

But since they (the manufactures) are all doing it, there really is no alternative to turn to. To punish the offending company. Because they are all doing it.
Only way to get away from it is to step up to a real control system provider and deal with the headaches they provide for you. Which for many dealers is way outside the budgets their current clientele will spend.



Maybe one day we will have a remote company step up to the plate again, that has a knowledgeable staff of engineers. That is not controlled by a bunch of shareholders clawing for their payday, for sitting behind a desk and doing nothing. And has the right manufacturing facility to get products out correctly.
Nope... probably dreaming. The world is going to hell in a hand basket.

ORRRRRRR


Just use the MRF350. How many times does it have to be said? In 10 years of using them, I can count the amount of interference issues on ONE finger. That's a pretty good track record in my book.

And ten years of people telling you to use the 350 and not the 260!


From the moment the 260 was mentioned, at least in this year's posts, I have been wondering why nobody said junk it and replace it with a 350. Years ago it was discussed that the 260 was not built with a means of keeping out RF that comes to it on the connecting wires: power, ground, data input, LED output. (For the record, this would have been simple RF bypass capacitors on each input, about a penny apiece.)

Why would anybody expect success with a receiver for which an interference cure is to remove the antenna? Think about it: it receives signals just fine without the part of the circuit designed to receive signals! Wow, even considering a 260 is just beyond me!

If you had a preamp that delivered horribly distorted audio when connected normally, but would deliver the audio you want to hear when you disconnect the audio inputs: would you give that product a second thought?

I do use the MRF350. It is much better than the 260. But I still have had issues with the 350 as well.

I have had dozens and dozens of 260s in service working well. Plus I had a lot of 250s in service before that. It is pretty well-documented that some geographical areas are more prone to RF interference. It should not take a good technician very long to determine what works for him and what doesn't.

Maybe we should try to pin this down, as geographical properties don't sound like they correlate well with RF interference. Population, however, would probably correlate closely. It's a fact that people don't live on steep hillsides, so population and geography are one in such a case.

But can someone tell us what places the 260 works well?

Maiden Rock, Wisconsin is a prime location for mrf260's.

260s are useless in Portland. Standard and i both, I have warned all of our sales people that they will receive a throat punch if they are selling 260s.

Systems that have been in place for 7-8 years are all of a sudden popping up with interference issues over the last couple of years as well. HDMI, power supplies and RF cable remotes seem to be the worst causes.

Tonopah, Nevada comes to mind.

I have wanted to quit them SO many times over this. It's ridiculous, but I was persistent and have kind of figured it out.

Use the 350 and put the antenna LOW to the floor and away from electronics, especially anything with a hard drive.

I can get the 260 to work fine too but it's sloppy and a PIA dealing with the emitters. Also works great if you remove the antenna but it cuts the range down so do this only when it's one small room.

Apparently they still work well here: Director of sales office, Universal Remote Control, Inc. 500 Mamaroneck Ave. Harrison, NY 10528.