Author Topic: Channel 1 - Interference - wmr968 (Read 15059 times)

mackbig · « **Reply #25 on:** October 21, 2008, 07:37:19 AM »

Thanks Wayne. I found one more potential source. Perhaps the garage door opener was just a coincidence. I agree if the RF interence source is powerful enough to block that, I am fubar'd....

Tom mentioned CF lights being a potential source. I wonder if a cheap halogen desk task light could create this kind of RF interence. Perahps another coincidence but my wife left a cheap Ikea halogen light on overnight Sunday. It hums and clicks, and it several years old.... It is a few feet from the OS console. So I got rid of it. But if that is the source it again would have to be pretty strong to kill the shack units in the other parts of the house.

The fun factor is running out....

Andrew

W Thomas · « **Reply #26 on:** October 21, 2008, 07:44:55 AM »

You may be on to something !!
I have a bunch of the compact florescent units here and so far they haven't created any problems that I am aware of.
I usually listen on AM from time to time to get a feel for the noise over all.

Wt

www.smythweather.net
CW8217

SLOweather · « **Reply #27 on:** October 21, 2008, 10:00:03 AM »

Do you live near a military base? They are the primary user of the 433 band, with Amateur radio secondary, and unlicensed stuff tertiary. They're famous for firing up something that randomly opens and closes garage doors and generally wreaks havoc with the remotes that make our life easier.

mackbig · « **Reply #28 on:** October 21, 2008, 10:36:41 AM »

No military bases... There is a fire hall several doors down. They do have a big radio tower, but they always have had it. I actually thought it was a legacy comm link from years gone by...
Andrew

W Thomas · « **Reply #29 on:** October 23, 2008, 11:03:14 PM »

Quote from: mackbig on October 21, 2008, 10:36:41 AM

No military bases... There is a fire hall several doors down. They do have a big radio tower, but they always have had it. I actually thought it was a legacy comm link from years gone by...
Andrew

Several years back when Motorola's Quantar Line was new we were getting all sorts of problems from the paging stations.
We couldn't keep it out of our equipment with the exception of some of the older crystalled narrow front end stuff ( MASTRII )
Might snoop around there a little and see if anything has changed or if maybe they are seeing some degradation in their system over all..

Wayne
www.smythweather.net
CW8217

mackbig · « **Reply #30 on:** October 28, 2008, 05:36:50 PM »

so close... made it through 7 complete days with no drops... was about to conclude it was the cheap halogen light.... I was actually going to take the light, a shack reciever and extra sensor to a neutral location to see if I could replicate..... Monday night checked before turning in, was OK... this morning, flatline... 10:19pm to 5:00am.

back to the drawing board...

Andrew

tomwxman · « **Reply #31 on:** October 29, 2008, 10:18:54 AM »

Sorry to hear it. I know this is not going to be helpful

but I don't think it's an interference problem. I suffered the same as you, then I cleaned my sensor inside & out, polished the solar window, reset my 2nd console, reverted my software to VWS from FreeWX-Wi, and have not had a -- -- indication since, maybe 2 months now.

No rhyme/reason/rationale to the above; the cause remains a complete mystery...

Suncoast · « **Reply #32 on:** February 22, 2009, 10:36:37 PM »

I bet its a cable TV leak. I am a amateur radio operator and a scanner radio user. I had the same problem with my scanner picking up TV channels in the 400 meg range. I had to use a frequency counter to find my problem. It was a leak from a connector in my attic. New connector on and everything is back to normal. Check the connectors and the short jumpers from the wall to tv.

Bryan

mackbig · « **Reply #33 on:** February 23, 2009, 06:46:33 AM »

thanks Bryan, I have been good since October, aside from one flat line in the last week or so.

Andrew

mackbig · « **Reply #34 on:** March 30, 2009, 03:16:24 PM »

Well its back, with authority. Today has been pretty much 2 big flat lines.... Will try moving it tonight... then try my new 123n if that does not work. My next attempt at solving was going to be going back to a thgr968, but I was going to acquire that by buying a complete station from costco (which would give me spare anemometer and rain gauge, etc), but it appears they stopped stocking them recently... doh.

Andrew

mackbig · « **Reply #35 on:** March 30, 2009, 06:49:29 PM »

I got home and noticed that one of my shack base stations that was low battery the other day, was now low enough that it was not recieving any of the 3 channels. hmmm. I had read a thoery a while ago about the reciever kicking out bad signals .... so I knock the batteries out and instanly the console picked up the signal and has not dropped since. That is pretty impressive since it appears I have had only 4 diff temps today, till this fix.

So I am pretty sure for whatever reason it was the low battery on my extra reciever that was somehow killing my channel 1 on console, and other recievers... until it happens again

Andrew

sam2004gp · « **Reply #36 on:** March 30, 2009, 07:03:07 PM »

Hmmm, interesting theory.

So let me get it clear what you are saying here. When one of your Radio Shack Base units gets a low battery it "throws out" an errant interference signal. And this signal seems to disrupt your reception on your OS-WMR968 console. Am I correct?
How far is the distance between your Radio Shack Base Station to your OS-WMR968 Console?

I also have 2 of the OS-WMR968 Consoles and 2 of the Radio Shack Base Units, and 3 Radio Shack temp sensors/transmitters. I did notice that when my windspeed issues started that one of those Radio Shack Base units was having a low battery condition, but I did replace that one at the time. I will have to check the other base unit and transmitters as well for low batteries.
My Anemometer is being read by my console sometimes just fine; and then other times it may show only wind direction - 0MPH wind speed, or even other times it shows unrealistic wind speeds.

mackbig · « **Reply #37 on:** March 30, 2009, 10:18:47 PM »

That is the thoery... it only seems to affect channel 1 though. for me. All my other sensors are fine, channel 2, 3, rain, wind...

The shack base staation is about 30 feet away in the master bath (due north from office/console). The channel 1 sensor is about 50 feet due east of console....

Andrew

Quote from: sam2004gp on March 30, 2009, 07:03:07 PM

So let me get it clear what you are saying here. When one of your Radio Shack Base units gets a low battery it "throws out" an errant interference signal. And this signal seems to disrupt your reception on your OS-WMR968 console. Am I correct?
How far is the distance between your Radio Shack Base Station to your OS-WMR968 Console?

mackbig · « **Reply #38 on:** March 30, 2009, 10:29:13 PM »

theory blown. it flat lined between 8 and 10... doh

unless one of my other base units is low, or any one of my neighbours has a similar frequency gadget... or its the nosey neighbour, or perhaps a certain government that is mad that the Canadian think tank exposed their computer probing, etc...

Andrew

sam2004gp · « **Reply #39 on:** March 31, 2009, 08:07:56 AM »

I removed all of the batteries for the day from the Radio Shack base units to see what I get.

Since my new anemometer is still days away traveling in a UPS truck somewhere.

mackbig · « **Reply #40 on:** March 31, 2009, 08:14:48 AM »

well it was good the rest of the night... hmm?

other theory rehashed, my garage door opener is not working consistently again. The last time this happened I also had issue with the opener ...........

of course the opener and clicker are probably 20 years old, maybe I should change the batteries, but then again it has worked fine for 5 months since last round of flat lines..........

Andrew

port1 · « **Reply #41 on:** July 19, 2009, 07:40:30 AM »

Andrew:
Recalling this thread, here's something I read in a Honeywell remote thermo-hygrometer sensor (wireless) owner's manual:

"TRANSMISSION COLLISION
Signals from other household devices such as wireless
doorbells, home security systems, and entry control may
interfere with this product or cause temporary reception
interruption. This is normal and will not affect the
general performance of the product. The transmission
and reception of the temperature readings will resume
once the interference subsides"

It's clear that the 433 Mhz frequency is used by so many other instruments, appliances and household accessories that any one of them could cause that transmission collision.

Were you ever able to find the item causing your issues?

I myself had a great deal of trial-and-error setup with my sensors.
I have a super-insulated dwelling, with foil faced polyisocyanurate sheets between the sheathing and fiberglass batt insulation, also with a foil faced vapor barrier.
Plenty of RF shielding!

Took quite some time for me to locate my console until the line-of-sight through windows became dependable.

Henry

mackbig · « **Reply #42 on:** July 19, 2009, 01:13:07 PM »

Henry,
Had a few theories, but the problem went away.... so I stopped looking.

Andrew

port1 · « **Reply #43 on:** July 19, 2009, 03:57:55 PM »

Roger that one...makes complete sense.

I'd stop looking too.

Henry

sam2004gp · « **Reply #44 on:** July 19, 2009, 04:12:47 PM »

I noticed about a month ago that my neighbor has a Temp Only gauge that reports on my OSWMR 968 Channel 1 sometimes. So when I sync up my channel 1, I always need to place the console near the sensor, then I can move them back to their normal resting locations

News:

Author Topic: Channel 1 - Interference - wmr968 (Read 15059 times)