A friend asked me about a problem he has.

He picks up a local radio station thru his phone line.

What could cause this?

The phone wires not sheilded, or at some resonant length of the frequency. Corroded connections could make things worse.

You can buy RF chokes (DSL filters may work).

Easy..... he lives near a radio station building and antennae. This is a telephone line problem outside. Nothing to do with his house or phone line. The phone company has to resolve this and they have this problem many times. Complain to them!

Is it at least a good radio station?

-Randy

Actually,he lives in Metro Atlanta,so he's close to a lot of radio stations,but picks up 1 in particular.

Randy,he can hear the Braves games well.

You might talk to the folks at Sandman. The call-center guys seem to know their products well. They are a telecomm supply house with a number of filters for RF/broadcast interference. www.sandman.com




[This message has been edited by Bjarney (edited 07-28-2004).]

http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/rfitel.html

I had this problem several years ago. I would have to unplug every phone for at leasdt 15-20 minutes to get rid of the signal.

The phone company (PacBell) finally came out and did some rewiring and all was well after that. The phone tech said he thought it was the main phone jack coming into the house.

... I would have to unplug every phone for at leasdt 15-20 minutes to get rid of the signal. ???

How would that get rid of the signal

Anyway, this can be a problem if you are close to a strong AM transmitter. First thing to try is another type of phone. Some are not as immune to RF interference as others. If your neighbors don't have the same problem it must be something you are doing. Another thing to do before you spend money and time on filters yourself is to call the TELCO. They may have suggestions or solutions because you can't be the only one with this problem. It may be as simple as a problem with corrosion someplace or old or poorly routed/installed wiring.

-Hal

I bet a tenner that he's picking up News-Talk Radio 75 (WSB-AM) right?

When I was a little kid and used my aunt's phone I could hear NewsRadio 88 AM (WCBS-AM) over her telephone.

Sven,you are a winner!!! It is WSB-AM.

Russell

Russell, my Dad would love that for the un-televised Braves games.

Roger

Hal -


You asked;

"How would that get rid of the signal"

I don't know, but it did. Of course, it may have gone away in that time frame without my unplugging all the phones.

I had a cordless phone system that was 900MHz (if I remember correctly). I know have a 1.2 gig cordless system.

Steve

There are many possibilities. Try lifting the protectors out first and see what happens.

This sort of thing has become much more of a problem with modern electronic telephones. You'll often find that if you plug in an old 500 or 2500-set that you won't have any trouble.

You have to stop the RF signal getting into the phone in the first place. Once it's in and been rectified into audio, nothing will stop it. As the offending signal is coming from one particular station, the best approach might be to install a notch filter.

I had a cordless phone system that was 900MHz (if I remember correctly).

Only thing I can think of is that cordless phones automatically switch channels in an attempt to find a clear one. They may have decided on one that is a harmonic of the radio transmitter frequency. When unplugged they may have defaulted to some other channel then after awhile gone back to that problem channel for some reason.

Kind of far fetched but possible.

-Hal