davidson@intvax.UUCP (William M. Davidson) (04/12/88)
I have a neighbor that is a amateur radio operator and sometimes I can pick up his transmissions on our kitchen wall phone. I know that the FCC has a law about radio and tv interference. Does the same law apply to phone interference? If yes, what recourse do I have to stop the interference? I am unable to understand anything that my neighbor is saying including has call letters. But his transmissions are louder than the phone conversation so I usually have to hang-up and try the phone call later. -- Forking is Fun! William [i aM not a dweeb] Davidson Sandia National Laboratories (505) 846-1868 ...ucbvax!unmvax!intvax!davidson
matthew@ucscb.UCSC.EDU (73550000) (04/13/88)
In article <528@intvax.UUCP> davidson@intvax.UUCP (William M. Davidson) writes: >I have a neighbor that is a amateur radio operator and sometimes I can pick >up his transmissions on our kitchen wall phone. I know that the FCC has a >law about radio and tv interference. Does the same law apply to phone >interference? If yes, what recourse do I have to stop the interference? > >I am unable to understand anything that my neighbor is saying including has >call letters. But his transmissions are louder than the phone conversation >so I usually have to hang-up and try the phone call later. > >-- >Forking is Fun! >William [i aM not a dweeb] Davidson >Sandia National Laboratories (505) 846-1868 >...ucbvax!unmvax!intvax!davidson First of all, talk to your neighbor and see if when you get interference correlates with when he is transmitting... often the person who you THINK is causing the problem really isn't. Secondly, your neighbor should be able to help you solve the problem,... there are several ways to eliminate interference from telephones. In fact, if your neighbor is in fact an amateur radio operator, he will more likely than not help you with your problem EVEN if he isn't the cause. Finally, your phone company can probably install components to help alleviate the problem. As it happpens, the laws regarding interference say, for the most part, that your phone can't interfere with your neighbor's radio, and not the other way around. Matthew Kaufman, KA6SQG matthew@ucsck.ucsc.edu ...!ucbvax!ucscc!ucsck!matthew
john@anasaz.UUCP (John Moore) (04/13/88)
In article <528@intvax.UUCP> davidson@intvax.UUCP (William M. Davidson) writes:
%I have a neighbor that is a amateur radio operator and sometimes I can pick
%up his transmissions on our kitchen wall phone. I know that the FCC has a
%law about radio and tv interference. Does the same law apply to phone
%interference? If yes, what recourse do I have to stop the interference?
%
%I am unable to understand anything that my neighbor is saying including has
%call letters. But his transmissions are louder than the phone conversation
%so I usually have to hang-up and try the phone call later.
The odds are very high that the problem is with your telephone. I
would suggest the following:
(1) Talk to your neighbor in a friendly way and inform him of the
problem. He may be able to help, and should try. However, he
is NOT legally required to do anything about your problem!
(2) Try other phones in your house. Do all phones pick up the
interference, or just the kitchen phone? Try it with the
kitchen phone disconnected. If just the kitchen phone has
a problem, get it fixed! If it is a Western Electric phone,
an AT&T phone store will install a filter for about $17.00.
If the phone has a cord (rather than directly mounting on the
wall), you can buy a filter at radio shack or an AT&T phone
store. It is your responsibility, not your neighbor's,
to fix it. If your hear it on every phone in your house, with
all others disconnected, then the problem is in the telephone
system. Call the phone company and get them to fix it.
The major cause of complaints to the FCC about ham radio interference
is now telephone interference. The FCC does not protect audio devices!
Amateur equipment can be installed in ways to reduce the interference
(with good grounding systems, HIGH antennas, etc), but in most cases
the only cure is to fix the defective telephone equipment.
I have accompanied FCC inspectors in a case exactly like yours. A number
of people were complaining about telephone interference. However, in
the same area, a number experienced no interference! The difference
was in their telephones. In one case, the interference was strongest
on a wall phone in the kitchen (sound familiar?). Removing that phone
caused the interference to go away in the other phones in the house. That
phone will be repaired, by a phone store, at the owners expense.
Please... talk to the ham and see if you can resolve it in a friendly
way! If you try to use coercion via the FCC, you will almost undoubtedly
discover that you, not the ham, are responsible for fixing the problem.
You will just waste the FCC's time, the ham's time, and your own time!
You will also probably wait 3 years for FCC action.
--
John Moore (NJ7E) hao!noao!mcdsun!nud!anasaz!john
(602) 870-3330 (day or evening)
The opinions expressed here are obviously not mine, so they must be
someone else's.sorgatz@ttidca.TTI.COM ( Avatar) (04/14/88)
In article <528@intvax.UUCP> davidson@intvax.UUCP (William M. Davidson) writes: >I have a neighbor that is a amateur radio operator and sometimes I can pick To begin with, your key word is 'sometimes'. What this means is that your neighbor may be using one particular band (or group of RF frequencies) that the ole Kitchen phone is particularly sensitive to. Talk with your neighbor, if he is like *most* Amateurs, he will work with you to determine the cause of the interference and help resolve it. Some of the more modestly-priced telephones are notorious for their lack of filtering, no matter; they can be equipped with a filter and the cost is quite low. ($3-5) >up his transmissions on our kitchen wall phone. I know that the FCC has a >law about radio and tv interference. Does the same law apply to phone >interference? If yes, what recourse do I have to stop the interference? Yes there are laws that regulate the spectrum purity of Amateur RF emissions, but be forewarned, the likelyhood of the problem being at his end is very low compared to it being a problem with your phone and or extension wiring. The FCC hears complaints like this all the time, most are simply logged and nothing is done about them unless a large number of complaints are received from ALL the neighbors of a particular radio operator. Talk to your neighbor, he is (most likely) as interested in solving the problem as you are, since bad PR could cost him if the problem *is* with his equipment. The FCC will (in severe cases) limit his activities, with 'Quiet Hours' if no other means can resolve the issue. > >I am unable to understand anything that my neighbor is saying including has >call letters. But his transmissions are louder than the phone conversation >so I usually have to hang-up and try the phone call later. Your neighbor will most likely ask you to participate in a simple series of tests to determine which band or mode causes the problem. Once identified, such things as filter caps, chokes, etc. will most likely have to be added at your end, be cool, these items will not harm your phone and in fact are nominally added for free by the telephone company, to insure quality service. -- -Avatar-> (aka: Erik K. Sorgatz) KB6LUY +-------------------------+ Citicorp(+)TTI *----------> panic trap; type = N+1 * 3100 Ocean Park Blvd. (213) 450-9111, ext. 2973 +-------------------------+ Santa Monica, CA 90405 {csun,philabs,randvax,trwrb}!ttidca!ttidcb!sorgatz **
henry@utzoo.uucp (Henry Spencer) (04/16/88)
> I have a neighbor that is a amateur radio operator and sometimes I can pick > up his transmissions on our kitchen wall phone. I know that the FCC has a > law about radio and tv interference. Does the same law apply to phone > interference? If yes, what recourse do I have to stop the interference? There are two possibilities here. The first, which isn't actually very likely, is that there is something seriously wrong with the signal he is putting out. In this case it is his responsibility to fix it. The second, much more probable, is that he is putting out a legal signal on a legal frequency. In this case HE HAS EVERY RIGHT TO DO THIS, and if your phone picks it up, that is your phone's problem. Many cheap consumer electronics products are not adequately protected against this sort of thing. The fix will probably be to add some filtering to your phone wiring. In any case, the first thing you should do is talk to him about it. Most amateur radio operators are decent folks who are quite concerned about the bad press that can result from such situations. Together, you can run some tests and establish the exact nature of the problem. Quite probably he can at least make some suggestions about how to cure it, and perhaps help in doing so. Be polite; if his signals are legal, the problem is not his fault and you can't demand that he fix it at his expense. If his signals *aren't* legal, quite probably he is unaware of this and will fix it immediately (he can lose his licence if the FCC notices such signals). If, and only if, you can't reach some sort of accommodation with him, then it's time to talk to the FCC. Remember that the FCC has to consider his rights (to emit legal signals on legal frequencies) as well as your problem. -- "Noalias must go. This is | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology non-negotiable." --DMR | {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,utai}!utzoo!henry