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paulmbowers

Would you like to know how dumb I am?

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I've been an electronics geek since childhood. I dug in the walls of my parent's home to locate unused phone wires to extend stereo speakers. I installed car stereos for the cool guys in the neighborhood when I was 13. I was a HAM radio guy in high school, CB radios, and a lot of auto electronics stuff. I have satellite radio on both my bikes, and a precious 60's vintage analog hi-fi system at home, linked to a digital connect unit, of course. I had business phone systems in my home, I've run Appletalk networks in the 80s and Cat-6 Ethernet all through my home and studios.


But sometimes I amaze myself with stupid.



I've been having terrible problems with interference on our radios. Mostly clear, but periodic nasty loud k-k-k-k-k-k- sounds that drive me crazy. I tried different radios, different antennas etc. In fact, I returned one radio to the Amazon seller due to terrible interference- and the replacement was not much better. And it was particularly annoying because it was not consistent- just periodic.

And then, for some reason just the other day I came to my senses. It was not just my radio in my backpack. Immediately adjacent to my radio was my mobile phone, which is a radio transceiver, that often "checks in" with local cell towers (or tries to in remote areas) to up/download data.

DUH.

I also carry an InReach and a SPOT device (radio transceivers) that use tracking features that check in periodically with their respective satellites.

DUH.

This week, I moved all three to different places on my person and on the bike- and guess what? Yup. MUCH better. I still got some, and I suspect the culprit is the mobile phone. The interference was generally worse when I was in remote areas, and it's transmitting power increased to find a connection. I still had a couple instances of k-k-k-k-k-, but much, much better.

So, don't be as dumb as PMB. Check the proximity of your radio to your other devices.

 

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  Pfft...My RR radio is located within 5 inches of my phone and three inches from my Spot. "Relive" is active on my phone during rides. Rugged Radios Rule Man. And.... remember to zip up your riding pants pocket, if you decide to move your phone to there, right? 🤣

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3 minutes ago, SoCalMule said:

Rugged Radios Rule Man

But they're blue.
I don't do color.

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18 minutes ago, paulmbowers said:

But they're blue.
I don't do color.

Ha!

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Think what it does to you brain when its next to your dome...................

 

 

Talk about interfering.

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35 minutes ago, hobiee said:

Think what it does to you brain when its next to your dome...................

 

I line my helmet with tinfoil, and ground it to the bike.

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I had the exact same experience at home suddenly the clock radio I put my cell phone on made noise, realized it was the phone transmitting.

When riding I have everything segregated on the bike, GPS on bars, tracked in backpack, cellphone turned off and in backpack.

That solved my problems

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With one of my first cell phones like 10 years ago, I could always tell when I was about to receive a text message when I was in my old truck or near any other audio speaker because of the k-k-k-k-k-k-k sound produced from the incoming message.

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^^^^^^^ I remember that too.

 

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