DES wrote:

...
Hit send by accident.

Question, can a CB transmit 700 miles?


CB (not Cooking Bands) can do 7000+ ... even on 5 watts, but then, sun
spot activity has been down ...

Regards,
JS

DES wrote:
Bad picture, but can someone tell me if the antenna on top of the
tower is for a Ham or CB radio? (I know the one on the left is a EV
ant

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...e/IM002446.jpg


Better question, are you receiving your TV from rabbit ears, external
(outside antenna), cable, satellite, internet, etc? -- which one(s?)

Regards,
JS

DES wrote:
Bad picture, but can someone tell me if the antenna on top of the
tower is for a Ham or CB radio? (I know the one on the left is a EV
ant

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...e/IM002446.jpg


Oh yeah, almost forgot, you are using coax? Right?

Regards,
JS

DES wrote:
Bad picture, but can someone tell me if the antenna on top of the
tower is for a Ham or CB radio? (I know the one on the left is a EV
ant

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...e/IM002446.jpg


If the offending freq(s) is/are in the CB band (and EVEN if he is
running a PA/linear), how about a trap filter to remove them (the
freq(s)) and prevent them from overloading the front end of your set(s?)

Regards,
JS

Thank you, very much!

Since I didn't know his name, I just started clicking on all of the
names in my zip code, and his address popped up.

So, it is definitely a Ham.

Thanks for everyone's advice and help!

He could be a ham , but also operating on the CB at times. If you can hear
him comming in with a clear voice on your computer or sterio speakers, he is
probably operating AM and not in single side band. If you got his name and
call leters off the FCC data base, you should hear him give the call leters
atleast once every 10 minuits. If you do not hear them,but he uses one of
the made up names, he could be operating out of the ham bands and on the CB
with too much power. This is not legal.

As pointed out , many computer speakers and other home items are not
resistant to radio transmitters. It is up to you and the maker of the
speaker, or other devices to correct this problem. If he is operating with
illeagle power or out of the ham bands then it is his problem.

"DES" wrote

What the hell, public forum or not, I need some help here, and this
guy is giving legal users a bad name.

I've approached the guy *several* times over the past few yrs and
asked him very nicely to lower the boost/gain (whatever it's called)
on his radio and he has complaied to a certain extent.

Well, here's another bit of my take on the matter.

By doing what you did, you (implicitly) put all of the blame and
responsibility for fixing the problem on his shoulders.

If he is in fact a ham (as your subsequent message seems to
indicate), and if he's transmitting legally within the scope of his
license, then *anything* he did to help reduce your undesired-
reception problem was a *favor* to you. It was not required by law.

In retrospect, you might have gotten better long-term results if you
had instead approached him and said,

"Hey, my stereo is picking up your transmissions. Is there any way
you can help me eliminate this problem?"

If you had phrased it that way, you might have a long-term solution by
now... you'd have indicated that you were open to possible solutions
other than "Hey, turn that blasted thing down!"

You didn't... because you didn't realize at the time that in a
situation such as this (if it's actually "ham radio transmissions
being picked up by consumer-electronics equipment"), the law says that
it is *your* responsibility to fix the problem, and not his. Instead,
you seem to have just repeated your demand that *he* fix the problem
(by changing his behavior).

I agree with others, that your neighbor could and should have done
more to help bring matters to a friendly and successful conclusion.
He could have educated you as to the actual cause of the problem, and
how to go about truly fixing it. He could have been a better
"ambassador" for ham radio. It's a shame that he didn't. Possibly he
didn't know how to go about doing this well... or possibly he's just a
jerk (some hams are, alas).

On the other hand, it's possible that the attitude you were expressing
at the time was hostile enough that he wasn't inclined to be a nice
guy and go to extra effort to calm you down and explain matters in a
helpful fashion.

At this point, the bridges between the two of you *may* have been
burned... or, you may be able to rebuild them, and get into a dialog
with him which will bring matters to a successful conclusion.

In order to do so, I suspect that you may have to eat a bit of crow...
by going to him and say "Hey, guy, I'm sorry I hassled you so hard. I
realize now that you're a licensed ham, and I understand that you do
have a right to transmit. I'd like to ask you for help in figuring
out how to filter my radios and TV so that your transmissions don't
get into them so badly."

If you're willing to do that, I think there's a fair chance that
you'll get a helpful response.

His broadcast were only coming through my stereo speakers during low
passages at the time.

As of a few months ago, it is now so bad, that his broadcast are now
coming through my TV speakers, and causing horizontal lines in the
picture. (on all four of my TV's) And it's so bad on my computer
speakers now, that I have to turn them off. As far as listening to my
stereo, I can't even do that now if he is broadcasting.

I feel I ought to point out a minor terminology issue here (which is
something that your neighbor would know as a ham, but which you
weren't aware of).

In FCC language, a "broadcast" is a one-way transmission - somebody
sends it, there's no direct response from whomever is listening (if
anyone is). TV stations broadcast. Commercial radio stations
broadcast.

Hams don't broadcast - with very rare and specific exceptions, we
aren't allowed to. We "transmit", in a two-way conversation with one
or more other hams.

So I approached him again, only this time, he told me to "F off", that
"he wasn't doing anything illegal".

When I got home, not only was the broadcast even louder, he was
telling one of his radio buddies about the "incident" in FULL detail.

So, I know for a FACT it is him.

I know just need to know what kind of radio he is using.

It's not likely to be easy to tell just by looking at his antenna,
because the CB frequencies (the 11-meter band, around 27 MHz) are very
close to those used in one of the ham-radio bands (the 10-meter band,
around 28 MHz). If he's transmitting CB with enough power to get into
your radios, then he's probably breaking the law... but if he's
transmitting on 10 meters using his ham privileges, then there's a
very good chance that he's entirely legal.

You'll probably need access to a radio receiver or some test equipment
to determine accurately what frequency he is transmitting.

A simple RF frequency counter, hooked to a few feet of wire, would
probably be sensitive enough.

A CB radio, tuned through the channels, would let you determine
whether he's transmitting on a (legal) CB frequency.

A ham-radio receiver, or a general-purpose shortwave receiver which
works up through 30 MHz, would do as well, as long as its dial is
calibrated accurately enough.

Question, can a CB transmit

Yes, it can. CB radios are limited by law to a relatively low power
and to relatively short distances (and, unfortunately, these laws are
broken just about as frequently as the laws against jaywalking).

I agree with another comment that was posted - it's unlikely that a
legal-power CB transmission would cause your problems. Legal CB AM
transmissions are limited to around 3.5 watts of RF power, and in my
experience one usually does not start getting "break-through" into
consumer electronics equipment until the RF power is up in the range
of 20 to 30 watts (depending on frequency, antenna gain, proximity,
phase of moon, and about a dozen other factors).

At this point, my advice is to approach your neighbor in a non-hostile
fashion, and ask him for help in fixing your problem (rather than
demanding that he shut down). As others have pointed out, if he's a
ham and is acting legally, the FCC almost certainly *not* provide you
with any help or ammunition in shutting him down, and your local legal
authorities have no jurisdiction to do so.

If you don't feel comfortable in approaching him in person at this
point, try writing him a friendly letter.

--
Dave Platt AE6EO
Friends of Jade Warrior home page: http://www.radagast.org/jade-warrior
I do _not_ wish to receive unsolicited commercial email, and I will
boycott any company which has the gall to send me such ads!

DES wrote in news:c377d678-0e14-4051-a74f-
:

On Aug 19, 12:20*pm, Richard Clark wrote:
On Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:02:39 -0700 (PDT), DES
wrote:

Question, can a CB transmit 700 miles?

At the power levels you are suggesting, globally during certain
periods of the sun spot cycle. *But that is not terribly different
with legal CB power.

So, if I'm hearing him on a daily bases speaking to someone that is
700 miles away, then it has to be a Ham?

At this point in the sunspot cycle, I would think that to be the case,
though summertime sporadic E propagation can put a CB signal down at that
distance.

As to his remarking that he wasn't doing anything illegal (CB with
amplification that some smarmy posters here think is perfectly OK); if
that be the case, then you need to fix your problem, because the FCC
does not mandate that a Ham legally using his equipment is obligated
to defer to your TV watching habits.

He's obviously not legal. He has been getting louder and louder over
the years to the point of what I described in my earlier post about
the problem with the TV's now.

How many times have you changed your equipment over the years? I mean
your audio equipment is responding to RADIO signals. Those are not
audio signals and the problem really lies in the fact that your equipment
is responding to radio signals that it SHOULD reject. As the years have
gone by, audio and TV equipment has used smaller and smaller devices.
Vacuum tube TV sets were virtually immune to this kind of interference
(though not to harmonic interference). Vacuum tube stereos were almost
never affected. Transistors began to dhange that. This is because
transistors are essentally the same kind of thing early crystal set
radios were made from. With the advent of microchips, the problem got
excessive, because some of the transistors are much tinier than the
crystal-catwhisker junctions of the old crystal sets. So put a strong
radio station, especially an AM or SSB station (if you're able to copy
your neighbour, that might be a clue that he's using CB, as few hams use
AM these days, but if he sounds like Donald Duck and you have to strain
to make him out, he's more likely a ham) near a modern stereo made by
companies more than willing to save 10 cents per product by leaving out
any credible attempt to suppress radio frequency pickup, and you have the
makings of a nasty problem. My Kenwood stereo is remarkably immune, but
Kenwood also makes and sells amateur radio equipment and has a reputation
to uphold with the users of same. Even so, I needed suppression on the
line cord, the stereo input cabling (except the digital inputs) and all
the speaker leads.

And even the very first time I approached him, I mentioned that I knew
he was broadcasting illegally, and that we all have our hobbies, but
his was interfering with mine, which at the time was home theater. He
didn't deny that he wasn't illegal, at the time, and he did lower the
power, for a while.

If he is running on the CB band. a local ham should be able to at least
veryify this. Power on CB is limited to 5 watts AM carrier or 12 watts
peak SSB power. Hams, on the other hand, are permitted a kilowatt.

I've approached this guy at least 5 times in the past few yrs, and
every time he has lowered the power, for a while. Not this time,
though, and it is now out of control.

Knowing the dimensions of the antenna might help, along with a better
picture.

snipped helpful info


One more thing, if he's a ham, he will sign his callsign fairly often,
whereas CBer's don't really have them anymore.

--
Dave Oldridge+
ICQ 1800667

On Aug 19, 6:51*pm, John Smith wrote:
DES wrote:
Bad picture, but can someone tell me if the antenna on top of the
tower is for a Ham or CB radio? (I know the one on the left is a EV
ant

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...e/IM002446.jpg

Better question, are you receiving your TV from rabbit ears, external
(outside antenna), cable, satellite, internet, etc? -- which one(s?)

Regards,
JS

Cable. And the house was completely rewired inside and out about 4
yrs ago.

Just had the cable company out here last week, and they said there was
nothing they could do because everything was in working order.

"DES" wrote in message
...
On Aug 19, 6:51 pm, John Smith wrote:
DES wrote:
Bad picture, but can someone tell me if the antenna on top of the
tower is for a Ham or CB radio? (I know the one on the left is a EV
ant

http://i126.photobucket.com/albums/p...e/IM002446.jpg

Better question, are you receiving your TV from rabbit ears, external
(outside antenna), cable, satellite, internet, etc? -- which one(s?)

Regards,
JS

Cable. And the house was completely rewired inside and out about 4
yrs ago.

Just had the cable company out here last week, and they said there was
nothing they could do because everything was in working order.

----------

While there are exceptions to the rule, generally cable installers are not
electronics savvy. Installing cable does not require any education in
electronics. That is why most cable companies subcontract their installation
work to independent folks. They don't want to have to pay qualified
electronics people at positions other than the head end.

So, don't think that the cable guys have the final word on your situation.
Being a home theater enthusiast, it will be good for your system's
performance for you to become proactive and learn some electronics. No one
will care for your system as well as you will.

Ed, NM2K

DES wrote:

...
Cable. And the house was completely rewired inside and out about 4
yrs ago.

Just had the cable company out here last week, and they said there was
nothing they could do because everything was in working order.


I have had interference from neighbors with CB units. I have had RFI
from my own equipment--mostly with my VHF xmitters and old coaxial tank
circuits. In every case of mine, going to a cable company completely
removed all RFI ...

Still, I wonder about a stub trap/filter made out of coax, on a
tee-fitting and the length pruned to rid the offending freq(s.) I have
only done such a thing in the past when I was using twin-lead and was
able to construct a trap for an offending VHF freq out of two ~8 inch
lengths of twin-lead with a variable cap the ends of the
twin-lead/8-inch sections (other two ends of these were shorted to form
series loops with the twin-lead sections.)

I have never had to duplicate the above with coax ... but I am sure
someone here has played with such enough to be an expert ... other than
that, I would have little experience to offer ...

If the signal is coming across the ac power, perhaps a "brute force
filter", but I haven't seen one of those to purchase in ages. The
internet or hams here may have construction details ...

Regards,
JS