4 ms·

My neighbors have something crazy emanating from their house. None of my Bluetooth devices, from Bose to Plantronic to new AirPods Pro, survive signal connecti

My neighbors have something crazy emanating from their house. None of my Bluetooth devices, from Bose to Plantronic to new AirPods Pro, survive signal connectivity when I walk past their house. The connection gets very disrupted and the devices have trouble reconnecting. So I have to leave everything off when I go for a run and not connect headphones until I make it to the end of the street. It’s weird.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
abdullahkhalids 3y ago
Crazy story that someone at the local radio astronomy observatory told me. Context: Radio observatories need to minimize as much radio interference as possible. Typically, they are some distance away from population, and people are asked not to use phones within a couple of km of them. Inside the premises no unshielded electronics are allowed. If any are used, you can immediately see the effects on the data being collected by the telescope. Anyway, these guys were getting some sort of strong interference signal at 4 pm every day. They could not figure out where it was coming from. They eventually decided that it was not coming from within, but from somewhere outside the observatory. They got some triangulation equipment out and over the course of several days, finally determined that the signal was coming from a house a couple of km away. So they went over and knocked. Asked the owner what was going on. Turned out, the guy had a electric can opener, and every day at 4 pm he would open a can to feed his dogs. That was the interference signal they were getting all the way to the observatory! Eventually, after some back and forth, they got the guy a new can opener they had vetted to not cause an interference signal.
randyrand 3y ago
could be a continuously recording wireless camera that likes to hog spectrum
- browningstreet 3y ago
  I live in deep suburban/exurbs and this feels quite likely, given the neighborhood. Everyone’s wired for cameras and Amazon Key, etc.
xattt 3y ago
Sometimes it’s things like baby monitors or low-cost cameras blasting analogue video.
- vel0city 3y ago
  A lot of current video baby monitors are actually digital video over DECT.
Havoc 3y ago
The same can also be very localized. On my way to work there is a 2x2m spot in the middle of open space that does that too
kiltedpanda 3y ago
Sounds like they have something pretty powerful swamping out that band. Even though the ISM (2.4 GHz) band is unlicensed, there are still regulatory limits to the maximum emission levels. Devices that exceed those levels are illegal to use. The FCC can apply hefty fines in certain cases. Fun story, I used to live in an apartment building and my car key fob wouldn't work when I parked close to the building. It would work on the other side of the parking lot though. Turns out someone was using a jammer because they hated the noise that cars make when they lock and unlock. They tried to blame a nearby military base, but I had some RF test gear and located the culprit. They turned it off pretty quick when I showed that they could be fined $10k per day.
- averageRoyalty 3y ago
  Can you recommend gear for this? I also have a major interference issue on my street and I'd like to locate maybe vendors by MAC or some information about what's causing spectrum issues.
londons_explore 3y ago
Old CCTV cameras cause this. They use the whole 2.4 G band and transmit at high power, acting as WiFi and Bluetooth blockers for about 100m around. If someone tries to use WiFi, it garbles the video feed too.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

abdullahkhalids 3y ago

Crazy story that someone at the local radio astronomy observatory told me. Context: Radio observatories need to minimize as much radio interference as possible. Typically, they are some distance away from population, and people are asked not to use phones within a couple of km of them. Inside the premises no unshielded electronics are allowed. If any are used, you can immediately see the effects on the data being collected by the telescope. Anyway, these guys were getting some sort of strong interference signal at 4 pm every day. They could not figure out where it was coming from. They eventually decided that it was not coming from within, but from somewhere outside the observatory. They got some triangulation equipment out and over the course of several days, finally determined that the signal was coming from a house a couple of km away. So they went over and knocked. Asked the owner what was going on. Turned out, the guy had a electric can opener, and every day at 4 pm he would open a can to feed his dogs. That was the interference signal they were getting all the way to the observatory! Eventually, after some back and forth, they got the guy a new can opener they had vetted to not cause an interference signal.

randyrand 3y ago

could be a continuously recording wireless camera that likes to hog spectrum

browningstreet 3y ago
I live in deep suburban/exurbs and this feels quite likely, given the neighborhood. Everyone’s wired for cameras and Amazon Key, etc.

xattt 3y ago

Sometimes it’s things like baby monitors or low-cost cameras blasting analogue video.

vel0city 3y ago
A lot of current video baby monitors are actually digital video over DECT.

Havoc 3y ago

The same can also be very localized. On my way to work there is a 2x2m spot in the middle of open space that does that too

kiltedpanda 3y ago

Sounds like they have something pretty powerful swamping out that band. Even though the ISM (2.4 GHz) band is unlicensed, there are still regulatory limits to the maximum emission levels. Devices that exceed those levels are illegal to use. The FCC can apply hefty fines in certain cases. Fun story, I used to live in an apartment building and my car key fob wouldn't work when I parked close to the building. It would work on the other side of the parking lot though. Turns out someone was using a jammer because they hated the noise that cars make when they lock and unlock. They tried to blame a nearby military base, but I had some RF test gear and located the culprit. They turned it off pretty quick when I showed that they could be fined $10k per day.

averageRoyalty 3y ago
Can you recommend gear for this? I also have a major interference issue on my street and I'd like to locate maybe vendors by MAC or some information about what's causing spectrum issues.

londons_explore 3y ago

Old CCTV cameras cause this. They use the whole 2.4 G band and transmit at high power, acting as WiFi and Bluetooth blockers for about 100m around. If someone tries to use WiFi, it garbles the video feed too.