Comments on: A plea for help: My problems with radio interference

By: milind deshpande

milind deshpande — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 11:14:17 +0000

i have redio interference problem in monitor of LG which is connected with our machine.monitor is rendomly going to on and off.what should i do to keep ON screen of monitor.

By: Trena

Trena — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 21:27:05 +0000

Q: “…how can I fix the problem without setting foot in Radio Shack?”

A: Try Best Buy?

Sorry, J-Plautz, I couldn’t resist.

By: DW

DW — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 17:23:31 +0000

Switch to headphones.

By: teal

teal — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 14:48:47 +0000

Are these computer or stereo speakers? First, reorient the power cord, as they often incorporate or act as an antenna. Next, try the ferrite choke coils on the speaker cables near the speakers. Option 3 is to filter your power supply, as the signal may be in the building power grid. Finally, you may have to resort to shielded speaker cables. Last resort would be to fashion some type of metallic grid between the speaker wires and the signal source, but that doesn’t work with most decors.
Or you could just turn the speakers off.

By: Slippy Lane

Slippy Lane — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 01:16:26 +0000

There are loads of things you can do to reduce interference and induced rf reception on your speakers, not the least of which is to keep all your speaker cables as far apart from any power cables as you can. Invest in heavily shielded replacements for all replacable cables and make sure they all have good connections to earth. Use spike filters on all your electronic devices. Obtain some ferrite rings to place around your speaker and comms cables, move your wifi antenna into a different room, unplug anything that injects signals into the mains, try changing channels on any wireless equipment, turning off flourescent lights, using gold-plated connectors wherever possible, replace any electronic equipment over five years old, borrow or buy an rf hotspot detector and move all your speaker equipment away from any hotspots you find. You could also try unplugging everything in the house/building except for the speakers and one sound source, see what result you get and try selectively connecting devices until you hit on the combination that turns your speakers into antennae.

Any or all of the above may do something, or nothing to help. Obviously, I cannot accept responsibility or liability for any damage to any property, physical or otherwise which may or may not ensue from the heedless following of Slippy’s advice.

Failing all of the above, you could try living in the woods with a tinfoil hat and a bamboo PC. :-)

By: Scott

Scott — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 00:58:56 +0000

I had the same problem and fixed it by reverting back to semaphore flags. No electrical interference, work with or with out power, no problems with SPAM, Nigerian prizes or e-mail from work.

By: Phil

Phil — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 06:58:34 +0000

RF interference problems are not easy to solve. Ferrite choke cores could help.

Consider not only the speaker wires but the AC power cable to the speakers.

By: Renee

Renee — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 01:41:07 +0000

Has nothing to do with Nextel. All electronics cause interference… I can’t even have my phone in the same room as my television, the signals cross, and even if I’m not getting a call, the signal will cause the television to freak out.
I’m with J on this one.
That is, confused/annoyed…>

By: Lynne

Lynne — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 22:38:40 +0000

My (hated) Nextel phone causes any near-by speaker make a weird noise just before the phone rings. I used to think it was something to do with radio frequency, but it even does it to computer speakers streaming satellite over the internet. It makes my clock radio click and buzz all the time – incoming call or not. I’ll use it as another excuse to ditch the Nextel!

By: Dave

Dave — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 22:18:52 +0000

Since speakers in their natural state really don’t have any sort of radio receiver and you’ve gotten yourself on the wrong side of Radio Shack, it’s fairly obvious that one of their “associates” has infiltrated your office/home and planted a bug of some sort in your speakers. These guys mean business; your only hope is to purge your life of all techie toys, change your identity, and move to the Montana foothills.

Godspeed J-Plautz; I’ve dealt with these Radio Shack types before, and you don’t want to mess with them.