What is causing this interference?

[desertbird]

I am helping my friend who is getting his license program his Baofeng UV-5RTP to same as my Baofeng GM15.

Got channel 1 programmed into his and was crazy inbound traffic, see video.

I thought I had programming wrong till I left my office and what appears to be interference went away.

What could cause this?

Frequency is GMRS channel 1 462.5625.

[desertbird]

Outside everything works, and appears I have programmed correctly.

GMRS channel 2 has no issue.

just wonder what things are close to that frequency and understand that a little bit.

[WRHS218]

I am not sure what would be close to that frequency but if the interference stops when you go outside I would guess it is something in your office. Your radio may not pick it up due to the receiver being less sensitive. Just a guess. Maybe a smart person can shed some light on the subject.

[desertbird]

Also, the GM15 does not have the same interference on that channel. same antenna.

 

I adjusted the squelch through all ranges on his, no real difference.

[RayDiddio]

Splashy sounding. Almost spurious in a way.

[SteveShannon]

It could be a battery charger, one of those wall warts, a computer power supply with problems, fluorescent lights, LED lights, almost anything. Unplug things until it stops. 
Such noise is not uncommon. 

[Guest]

The only thing you be ever heard like that is the kids down the street playing games with the FRS radios

[WRYZ926]

I have to agree with @WRHS218 and @SteveShannon. The interference could be anything inside the building. It is common for computer monitors (and their power supplies) and unshielded network cables to cause interference. And those cheap gas station phone chargers are bad too.

I had issues with unshielded network cables causing interference with my HF radio. And my some of my computer monitors cause interference with my Baofeng GT/UV-5R and Icom IC-T10 hand held radios.

[emory]

8 minutes ago, WRYZ926 said:

I have to agree with @WRHS218 and @SteveShannon.

motion carries, i get this occasionally on my scanners. in the mornings it's accompanied by being able to pick up repeater output multiple states away in the morning and goes away by 8-0830 and returns in the evening. i bought an RF/EM meter to wand around and figure out where it was coming from and one of them was only happening when HVAC kicked on to run fans. another one still to be determined, it ends up being audible in other GMRS frequencies.

if you have a hard time finding a meter that isn't overdoing it (some instruments are out there for thousands of dollars you don't need that) here's an old hacker trick: add "ghost hunting" to the search, since apparently "ghost hunters" follow EM/RF physics  

[WRYZ926]

You can also use your hand held radio with a small yagi antenna to find and pin point sources of interference. The rubber duck antenna will get you close but the yagi will narrow the search down.

[Raybestos]

37 minutes ago, emory said:

if you have a hard time finding a meter that isn't overdoing it (some instruments are out there for thousands of dollars you don't need that) here's an old hacker trick: add "ghost hunting" to the search, since apparently "ghost hunters" follow EM/RF physics  

That's a great bit of advice!  I always wanted one of those, anyway.  Thing is, I have so many actual ghosts in my house, one of those things would probably go haywire. 

[nokones]

11 hours ago, SteveShannon said:

It could be a battery charger, one of those wall warts, a computer power supply with problems, fluorescent lights, LED lights, almost anything. Unplug things until it stops. 
Such noise is not uncommon. 

An old computer with a processor clock speed close to your receive frequency will cause havoc. 

[SteveShannon]

17 minutes ago, nokones said:

An old computer with a processor clock speed close to your receive frequency will cause havoc. 

Yeah, I remember when we opened up a “466” (as I recall it was a 486 processor running at 66 MHz) computer case and the security guy’s handheld went ape.

[nokones]

Back in the 80s when my Area Offices were changing over from Teletypes to Computer Terminals my company radio started going ape stuff every time that I was getting close to one of our Offices.  It was wideband noise that tore up the radios.

[nokones]

18 hours ago, desertbird said:

I am helping my friend who is getting his license program his Baofeng UV-5RTP to same as my Baofeng GM15.

Got channel 1 programmed into his and was crazy inbound traffic, see video.

I thought I had programming wrong till I left my office and what appears to be interference went away.

What could cause this?

Frequency is GMRS channel 1 462.5625.

IMG_4691.MOV

I had to look up that tone on the chart.  I don't think I ever seen anyone using that tone freq.

[SteveShannon]

19 hours ago, desertbird said:

I am helping my friend who is getting his license program his Baofeng UV-5RTP to same as my Baofeng GM15.

Got channel 1 programmed into his and was crazy inbound traffic, see video.

I thought I had programming wrong till I left my office and what appears to be interference went away.

What could cause this?

Frequency is GMRS channel 1 462.5625.

Set Tone Mode to TSQL and it may help. 

[quarterwave]

Not uncommon with those radios, mine goes ape at some traffic lights. 

[GreggInFL]

It goes both ways.  When I key up near my computer's UPS it triggers the alarm on the UPS.  Go figure.

[WRXB215]

1 hour ago, GreggInFL said:

When I key up near my computer's UPS it triggers the alarm on the UPS.

Oh you could have fun with IT with that one. 

[WRYZ926]

59 minutes ago, WRXB215 said:

Oh you could have fun with IT with that one. 

I would have fun that way when I was in the Army. The PTO driven generator on my truck mounted machine shop would totally block all radios within a 150 foot radius.

[desertbird]

I remember when I was about 10 years old and Radio Shack had kits for crystal radios and all kinds of cool electronic stuff that fascinated me and I spent my lawn mowing money on. I hooked up a DC motor and some other weird stuff, I don't remember what I thought I was building but it scrambled the living room TV. This was when it was broadcast over the air, no cable at all, no satelite. I had so much fun pissing my Dad off with that little machine I made.  I could hear him yelling "god damn it, here it goes again". He'd get off the couch and start banging it, which was the common TV fix back then.

[WRUU653]

14 minutes ago, desertbird said:

I remember when I was about 10 years old and Radio Shack had kits for crystal radios and all kinds of cool electronic stuff that fascinated me

Ahh yes, I had one of those kits as a kid… Great story! I have a clear picture of what that would have looked like with my dad.

[WSCS601]

I've seen a treadmill knock a modem offline back in the dialup days and a MRI magnet starting up interfere with printers.

[emory]

my keyfob for my car (or any audi/vw) if i'm holding it near my radio or a scanner bursts a crazy transmission that startles me every time! there's something weird with my living room i still can't nail down. my doorbell WiFi connection is unreliable and i'm using Ubiquiti gear here. the chair in the corner of that room is like a portal to another dimension or something. possibly speaker related.

[LeoG]

On 7/31/2024 at 3:04 PM, GreggInFL said:

It goes both ways.  When I key up near my computer's UPS it triggers the alarm on the UPS.  Go figure.

At 467 my handheld will trigger my headlamp, my stove and the Fein vacuum in my shop.  My 20 watt mobile will turn my neighbors motion lamp on.