aerotow1

We are having troubles at our club field. It seems to be very specific position. If you fly a plane through the area you are likely to get hit. We have a small club and a large flying area, we normaly fly no more than 2 planes at a time. I am at a loss to try and figure out what is causing the problems. Most all of us are flying fairly new radio equipment and it seems to happen to everyone we also fly all different brands of equipment. Anyone have any ideas on how to chase down a radio interferance problem.

I know this is kind of an odd question, but please help if you have any ideas.

Thanks,
Dan

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

I read something sometime back about a situation similar to this. The cause was finally traced to some power lines that were "leaking" RF at a field. The power company later came out a changed a few things, and the problem went away.

Beagle RC Air

Back to the top...
To add to aerotow1 remarks,,
4 incidents in the last week. Each time only one flyer and other radios off. 2 crashes, 2 momentary electric motor shut downs and one unplanned loop by the orginator of this thread. Closest power lines 1/2 mile away. There is relay stations, repeaters and TV dishes, line of sight on a hill about 2-3 miles away. Also marine band and CB radios used in the bay 400' away.

Tired Old Man

My Feedback: (1)

I would get a frequency scanner in there as quick as I could and see if the problem is generally restricted to a select group of frequencies or the entire spectrum of r/c channels. It sounds like you folks have your work cut out for you and may end up considering finding a new site. And I know that's not an easy decision to make.

glowplug

My Feedback: (1)

I wonder if this has anything to do with the "BPL" (Broadband over powerlines) testing that is going on in some areas.......I believe this was talked about in the most recent Model Aviation mag......the frequencies are supossedly in the range of our RC frequencies.

JNorton

My Feedback: (2)

Link to an RC specific scanner - http://www.desert-wolfe.com/rcscan/7200.htm

WilsonFlyer

My Feedback: (13)

It's a beautiful piece of equipment. I own one. If you can figure out how to use it to find momentary hits, I sure would appreciate your sharing your knowledge with the rest of us that own one because I, for one; have no idea how to use it to find that kind of interference.

What they need is a spectum analyzer and more importantly; someone that knows how to use it and read it CORRECTLY IMO.

mglavin

My Feedback: (31)

Like SS mentions, our local field had a problem with intermittent interference. It was traced eventually to the insulators on power lines that ran parallel to the field, about a 1/2 mile away. A sledge hammer and a hand held scanner was used to find the problem, hit the pole and or guy wire and interference was obvious...

quint-rcu

My Feedback: (24)

One other point to add is that the lower channels in the 72Mhz band are shared with commercial services like controls, cranes and such with RC as the SECONDARY user. Is the interference on the upper channels as well?

quint

Sport_Pilot

But why did the power company bother to fix it? We are secondary user's and anybody can interfere with us, they didn't have to fix it.

quint-rcu

My Feedback: (24)

We are secondary only on the lower half of the band, but primary on the upper channels. Power companies, etc must meet the FCC stray and secondary emissions requirements "Thou shall not jam" and are pretty good about keeping things clean. As an ex ham, I remember them even washing salt build up off insulators on beach front lines to keep RF noise down... No one can purposely jam, or cause harmfull emmisions without getting the Feds ire.

quint

Sport_Pilot

I was actually mocking those who keep repeating this. Some say that the licensed users between our frequencies can stomp on ours as much as they want. But actually the differance is the urgancy of making repairs. If we interfere with them we must immediatly turn off our transmitter, if they interfer with us they can keep on transmitting but must make repairs as soon as it is known. If we don't say anything it could go on for quite a while before they make a routine inspection and servicing.

aerotow1

Thanks for the info and input Guys!!!!! Anybody have anything else that they have experianced regarding this? I am getting kind of worried about flying at that site.

And to reply to someones post, it seems to happen in the upper channels. From 40 on up, I dont know how many guys we have flying anything down low.

Thanks,
Dan