ham radio interference
donk812000
Newbie

My neighbor is a ham radio operator and every morning we lose our DSL connection while he is transmitting, is there anything that I can do to stop this ?

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Re: ham radio interference
smith6612
Community Leader
Community Leader

What kind of cabling are you using in your home? I would check to make sure your cabling is of the CAT3 or CAT5 rating as the build of the cabling tends to help keep noise out. The wires are twisted and also, the cabling has some shielding on it to keep some noise out.

There isn't much you can do about Ham radio if the problem isn't with the wiring in your home. The only thing you can do is ask Verizon to come out to see if they can find a problem with your drop or a trunk line near your home that might be having issues with Ham Radio.

Re: ham radio interference
warwick1
Enthusiast - Level 3

A few years ago, some residents of my apartment complex had a problem that stemmed from a resident who was a ham operator.  There was interference with OTA television, phones, and other electronic devices.  Most residential wiring, including telephone wiring, is not shielded enough to prevent this kind of interference.  My neighbors filed a complaint with the FCC.  They regulate licensing for ham operators, and they are not supposed to interfere with TV, phones and other communications in their area.  Aside from rewiring your dwelling , the FCC is probably the venue.   If you are friendly with the ham operator, perhaps you can persuade them to adjust their equipment or provide you with shielded cabling that solves the problem..  Otherwise, you must use the FCC.  That is a process that will take time and persistence.  The ham operator in our apartment complex was not able to renew his license.

Re: ham radio interference
Frozen001
Newbie

As long as the Ham operator is operating per the FCC rules and regs, which includes spurious emmisions, there is not much you can do.

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Re: ham radio interference
warwick1
Enthusiast - Level 3

I checked the FCC website and licenses for my area, and in fact quite a few of them have been cancelled.  The ham operator license is a privilege, not a right, and the FCC has canceled a number licenses in my area due to enforcement actions.   Consumers do have a right to receive OTA TV broadcasts, telephone calls, wireless services and other communications without interference from a ham operator.  If the ham operator is interfering with access to these services, their license can be canceled.   The operator, especially if they are a non-commercial operator is probably not operating within FCC rules if their emissions are powerful enough to disrupt communications lines within your home or apartment

Re: ham radio interference
nn3w
Newbie
I have been licensed for nearly 25 years and I have not heard of a single amateur having his/her licensed yanked owing to interference issues involving TVs, stereos, etc.

The the cancellations you see are owing to license lapse of the license or death of the operator.

As long as an amateur station is properly designed and grounded, the problem likely resides with the lousy construction of the TV, telephone or stereo. Remembrt, things like cordless phones and baby monitors are subject to Part 15 rules which states that they must accept interference from licensed and properly functioning apparatus.
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Re: ham radio interference
jmw1950
Specialist - Level 2

Actually this is not the problem it once was. FCC regulations for the past 25 years or so have placed strict limits on conducted and radiated emissions from electronic devices not specifically designed to radiate, especially for devices (Clas B) intended for residential use. The same technology that bottles up energy inside the devices is also quite good at shielding devices from external sources.  Equipment that predates those regulations almost invariably has problems with interference from multple sources.

Generally good equipment design goes a very long way toward eliminating the problem. I used to design and build equipment that had to be tested on a test range to insure FCC compliance. After a couple rounds, I learned what  tecniques worked well and what didn't work so well. That cut down on our testing expenses condierably, since we didn't have to repeat visits to the FCC certified test range.

The difference between such regulations and not having them is often quite striking. For example in many countries, you can tell when a GSM mobile  telephone is about to ring because of the interference produced by the 217 hz transmission rate on many inadequately shielded electronic devices as the call is being 'set up' with the hand set.

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Re: ham radio interference
garato78
Newbie

break the ham radio. 

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Re: ham radio interference
niedobry
Enthusiast - Level 1

Best course of action is to talk to the neighbor. I've been a ham radio operator for many years and haven't seen an issue like this but most of us are more than willing to help when strange problems come up.

Re: ham radio interference
Hubrisnxs
Legend
Are you hard wired when the problem happens. If you are, run to RadioShack and get a radio filter for your phone line or call Verizon and they will install one, it gets installed at your main Verizon box. If your problem is when you are wireless, the you should be able to fix the problem by simply changing the wireless channel in your router settings.