Interference from PLA in neighbour's house

Interference from neighbour's BT Vision PLAs. The interference swamps the 21 metre band on all 3 of my antennas, including a small active antenna at the end of the garden. My DRM setup for Deutsche Welle and the BBC has been rendered useless by these 'cleared' devices. All other frequencies in hf range similarly affected.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• bt vision
• interference
• homeplug
• home plug
• pla
• network adapter
• short wave
• digital hash
• hf drm
• swl
• ham
• cb
• amateur radio

[pezz12345]

@GW4BLE The problem is that the QRM is coming from multiple directions. Directly from the household wiring itself, then it seems to have several lobes coming from the overhead 3-phase lines at the end of the garden. QRM from one fixed point is easy enough to phase out,but PLA is so prolific now it's coming from all directions.

Friend of mine had PLAs 1/2 a mile away, radiating from the street light wiring and producing almost fullscale deflection on his s meter. Took Ofcom a day to find.

[GW4BLE]

Although very good, the WiMo QRM eliminator is only really effective if you stay on one frequency, when moving off frequency you have to adjust the controls again. That said, it IS just about the best such device to use when trying to deal with PLA/PLT QRM.

[London2272]

UHF isn't the way to go unless you're happy with line of sight comms. It's useless for long distnace and for international broadcasting it's a non-starter.

HF, which PLT is illegally interfering with, is the long established method of long distance communications and is still used as such by commercial and miltary as well as amateur, aeronautical and maritime services. Are they all really expected to give up using their bona fide licenced service for an unnecessary gadget like PLT? I think not.

[26highstreet]

@London2272 It is i am afraid, the reason many people are getting the ham ticket is because it's easy now, rigs are cheap and the market is flooded by them.

People get hf rigs and within a month they have flogged them on, it's just a cheaper hobby now then it use to be.

U.H.F is really the only way to go if you want to get away from most of the interference, antennas are short and easy to install, far less troublesome and much clearer audio.. skip on hf is getting worse it's dragging in crap

[G0IFI]

@calcvids Maybe if everyone was as prepared to make a loud enough noise about this spectrum abuse from non-EMC compliant rubbish, that time may be farther off.

@London2272: If we're going to resist this law-flouting by corporations, we could start with hassling Mark Prisk, Business and industry minister, who's regurgitating the junk the PLT lobby have forcefed him with no technical understanding of his own. No surprise that a Tory minister would defend big business over licenced radio users.

[calcvids]

@G0IFI It probably won't take long until every MF, HF, VHF, and UHF ham band is lost. --KJ6PSG

"... turning our power grid into a large antenna"

[London2272]

@TheDiddlysquat Err, no it's not, not by a long straw. Uptake of amateur licences is still brisk, sale of HF equipment flourishes. What's done and dusted is non-EMC law compliant crap like PLT, which is merely a convenience gadget, thinking it can muscle in and ignore ITU and EMC law and the rights of legitimate licenced stakeholders for a fast buck. That's bullshit, and it'll be resisted to the bitter end. Heads will roll.

PLT is not just crap, it's expensive crap too. Direct cable: £3

[G0IFI]

@FerribySinger All of them work the same way: they communicate over the household mains wiring using radio frequency energy. If you inject that energy into any length of wire or other conductor which is neither balanced nor screened, it will radiate. That's what a radio transmitter does, by design. Some of them fall almost silent between transfer of data, but obliterate reception when in use. Others radiate noise continuously. It's a flawed concept, and cannot comply with EMC regulations.

[G0IFI]

additionally, there are so many other services using HF radio, commercial, government and military, that it's hard to know where to start. Aircraft rely on it.

Hams, as well as making friends locally and worldwide, self-train in the use of radio communication, and are expected to be available to provide a service to their community should the need arise. With this interference, that self-training is often impossible. Everday listeners to the many things like the BBC world service are ignored.

[G0IFI]

@FerribySinger Here are the frequencies used by amateurs: 1.8-2.0 (160 metres) 3.5-4.0 (80 metres (USA)) 5.260-5.600 (60 metres) 7.0-7.3 (40 metres) 10.1-10.150 (30 metres) 14.0-14.350 (20 metres) 18.068-18.168 (17 metres) 21.0-21.450 (15 metres) 24.890-24.990 (12 metres) 28.0-29.700 (10 metres) These are the frequencies within the range of most at present. The newer, faster PLAs are creeping up into VHF. There are hundreds of broadcasters worldwide within the range affected.