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Thread ID: 74423	2006-11-22 05:10:00	RFI & DSL Interaction?	SurferJoe46 (51)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
501137	2006-11-22 05:10:00	Does anyone have any input about the problem I am having . . . it's driving my ISP crazy and they haven't been able to figure out what's going on . I have a guaranteed 3M connection, asymetrically, and all day it runs just fine . At about 5:30PM every day except Saturday until about 4:00AM the next day, I get loss of synch and on re-establishing synch, my modem steps down a notch or two for speed . This might repeat a few time until I find I am running at below 56K . OK . . . and another strange thing: My over-the-air broadcast television signal deteriorates badly . . . severe picture hash and even after a while the sound breaks down a little too . . . like the station just moved another 50 miles away . Grounds (earths) have been checked and tested and rebuilt by the ISP . . . I drove a copper clad ground rod outside of the home and attached it to the antenna mast, the coax ground lug on the splitter and also tested the house ground integrity and tied it all together with 12 ga wire . I replaced all my phone wiring right up to the breakout box that is the ISP's responsibility . The ISP put a splitter on the best wires in the 4-pair of twisted copper they could find and moved a T1 that was parallel to me and near enough at the dslam to possibly cause crosstalk . I have some bad copper in the ground . . and in 8 individual wires of the four twisted pairs, only one of them is 100% good, the next best on another pair is about 90% and will hold the ring command for the phone for almost 10 rings before it fully degrades . DSL is not a high, or even a much measurable, amps load on the wires, and I don't suspect it is causing the problem . I lose synch with or without running streaming data links . . and the phone ringing does not cause any problems either . The phone works normally . Dielectric strength is poor on the other 6 wires and they are abandoned at this time . I do not use the DSL filters, as I have the splitter and a dedicated pair coming directly to the modem . I removed the surge protector from insertion in the dsl wires to see if that helps . . . it didn't . I meg'd out my side of the wires as the ISP did, and we both arrive at the same conclusion that I do not have any troublesome wiring from the breakout box all the way to my DSL modem . Does anyone know if there is a possibility that RFI or microwaves can cause this sort of problem? We also have an ELF antenna here in San Jacinto/Hemet, and although there's been some limited thoughts on it's causing the problem, it is pretty far fetched . I suspect an illegal and horizontally polorized ham or some other sort of two-way clandestine radio in the area where I live, and that would be a violation of the CCR's of the park and illegal . It isn't like CB or 27 mhz stuff, as that messes with channel 5 and 2 on US televisions . . . not my particular problem here . Any thoughts or head scratching would be helpful .	SurferJoe46 (51)
501138	2006-11-22 07:48:00	DSL certainly uses the RF spectrum, ~1.1 MHz. Joe, I am amazed you do not have an RF scanner to test the theory though. My scanner covers from 100 kHz to 1.65 GHz continuous, if you would like to pop over and borrow it... But yes, it's possible, but I suspect it would need to be a very strong signal. Sure your house is not bugged?	godfather (25)
501139	2006-11-22 17:00:00	DSL certainly uses the RF spectrum, ~1 . 1 MHz . Joe, I am amazed you do not have an RF scanner to test the theory though . My scanner covers from 100 kHz to 1 . 65 GHz continuous, if you would like to pop over and borrow it . . . But yes, it's possible, but I suspect it would need to be a very strong signal . Sure your house is not bugged? Hmmmmmm . . . maybe! Is it against the Homeland Security Act to communicate with NZ? . . . . . after all, youse guys are suspect . I usta have an RDF, but it wasn't broad spectrum . . . just 11 meters . I do have a couple of Realistic scanners . . one is the Pro 2001, the other a Pro 2011 . I guess they might work . Do you suggest I just scan the freqs around the 1 . 1 MHZ area? If it's digital, I may not get anything decipherable though . . . these are analog . The ISP (Verizon) has stated that if the IS some stray RF, that they'll find it . . . . . . but they cannot start until after this holiday week . . . . something about adult beverages and expensive equiptment in those hands . So . . Monday they will be here on my desktop watching me and they say they'll get to the bottom of this problem . I remember that many years ago, when I ran a clandestine CB radio station, I had a Moonraker full-wave antenna in a horizontal polarization . . I laid it down on the peak of my roof . It had a pattern that was really odd . . . heavy signal perpendicular to the plane, but really splattered off the ends . I was running 1KW on 27mhz . The legal limit was 4 watts . I don't do that any more . . . and besides, the statute of limitations has been exceeded . Maybe I am in a splatter zone of a ham or someone else with an FRS ( . provide . net/~prsg/frs-faq . htm" target="_blank">www . provide . net) linear-boosted signal . 73 regards	SurferJoe46 (51)
501140	2006-11-22 18:32:00	Well, if it's not faeries at the bottom of the garden, maybe it's the nearby ELF. Those frequencies usually require major power, and all that power does not necessarily couple to the antenna and radiate off to wherever. Lots of spare electric may be racing round warming sundry water pipes and maybe even your phone lines. Do any of your neighbors get this problem? Here, we would just naturally blame telecom, they automatically would deny any problem existed. It's unlikely to be a ham, CB'ers are more likely with their anti-social attitudes, arrogance, belligerence and ignorance. ;) :) Oh, that description fits the government too, does it not? :D Maybe it's circulating earth currents ? Try sticking a probe ten feet or so away from your earth (oops) ground rod and seeing how much AC you can measure. I once had a problem similar to this, a neighbors high powered mains driven electric fence was a bit deficient in the grounding department. Two probes stuck in the ground 1 metre (3 feet) apart in our property could give a visible and audible spark when the leads were brought together. Coupling implements to the tractor caused strong words and a short burst of highland dancing, refueling was a bit of a worry, but using car jump-start leads (both of them) to bond the storage tank to the tractor eased the nerves a tad. Fortunately this was in a vineyard, milking cows might have been a bit tricky.:lol: Also, the local bovine conception rate probably took a dive about then. I was running 1KW on 27mhz. The legal limit was 4 watts. I don't do that any more...and besides, the statute of limitations has been exceeded. Possibly a couple more statutes as well?? :eek:	R2x1 (4628)
501141	2006-11-22 18:40:00	OK>>>that's another good test...ground eddy currents..I'll have a looksee at it today..... Thanks	SurferJoe46 (51)
501142	2006-11-22 20:10:00	Sounds like a broadband noise source to me Joe . It could well be harmonic splatter off a badly set up am comms transmitter but it is odd that it is continuous . Most comms work is two way, so there are transmission breaks while the other end is talking . It could be local (most likely, given the TV interference) or it could actually be coming in via the phone line from a remote source, though in that case I don't see how it could interfere with your TV signal to that extent . I assume your TV is a terrestrial transmission, not satellite or cable, and what channel frequencies are affected? Is this not something that the FCC would investigate, or do you have residual radiation burn marks on your roof from previous exploits that you would rather they didn't see? :D I assume you have turned off or checked all potential noise generators on your own site? To interfere with your DSL line makes it potentially a fairly powerful source so following other comments, I'd be inclined to scan the bands and see if you can identify the fundamental frequency (strongest signal) . This is a situation when a spectrum analyzer and directional antenna would come in handy, and I have a neat little software driven communications receiver (winradio . com . au) that I use for these jobs . It connects to my laptop, does spectrum analysis and it is really great for identifying both steady-state and random interference sources . For airfares plus bed and broad (sorry, board) I'll shoot over and take a look for you if you like, can't say fairer than that! Cheers Billy 8-{) :thumbs:	Billy T (70)
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