The question of cell phones interfering with our R/C equipment is a tough one that presently has no definite answer.
I have never experienced any trouble with cell phone interference even though I always carry a mobile phone in a belt clip when flying. On occasions I received calls during flight (using a hands free head set), without any problems whatsoever. I have tried really hard to induce some kind of disturbance in my trusty old JR X-388 Tx by deliberately operating my cell phone as close as possible to the transmitter. So far the Tx has withstood my abuse with no signs of problems.

Having said that, there is a possibility of cell phones interfering with electronic equipment:

- Multiplex recommends that cell phones should not be operated in the immediate vicinity of their Royal Evo transmitter. Apparently there have been some incidents where the "computer" part of the transmitter has malfunctioned due to soft error interference.

- It appears that the latest version of the Apple iPod has a problem with cell phones, see this link: [link=http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27709]http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=27709[/link].

IMHO cell phones have no effect on the radio link between the Tx and Rx in the traditional "radio interference" sense. Instead it appears that the radiation emitted from cell phones might induce soft errors in the digital circuits used in modern "computer radios".

It may be a good idea to test your own Tx by operating your cell phone, i.e. making a call with the cell phone in different positions as close to the Tx as possible. This should ideally be done in a location where cell phone reception is poor in order to make it operate at the highest power. If your transmitter stands up to that you are probably safe. Remember that this is a worst case scenario. The power intensity of the radio waves emitted from the cell phones decreases with distance squared, e.g., at 3 feet the intensity is only 1/9 of the intensity at 1 feet.

/Red B.