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[J.B.]

Hello ladies and gents.

It's been a fair time since I've frequented the forums but thought what better place to seek info for a strange issue I developed with my AHP setup recently.
Several days ago my system started having issues seeing any RF at 310MHz. I should note though that any items like the powermid (418MHz) seem to be working normally.
In my activity monitor I can rarely see any RF being picked up even holding a palmpad, camera remotes, etc... within inches of my CM15a.
I've tested 4 different CM15as, 2 DS7000 consoles and my V572RF32 to see if the problem persists which it does.
With this number of different transceivers tested I really think I can rule out all of them failing at the same time.
I tried several full uninstalls of AHP, different AHP builds, several different or new .ahx files all with the same or similar results.
I've even unplugged many electrical items that I thought may have been causing some RF interference.
Now, the odd thing is that I'm getting random constant floods of the M MTCDDVD code in my activity monitor, so I removed the batteries from every last one of my security modules, removed the V572RF32 from my system and installed AHP clean with no other plugins.
I then opened my activity monitor and using a palmpad and a CR15A camera remote held several different buttons on each and low and behold the only thing that came up in my activity monitor was Receive RF M MTCDDVD. (See attached image) These remotes should not be showing as 32bit security signal when, from what I remember, this M MTCDDVD is actually a valid security command that isn't read properly.
I should add that any PLC injected directly with AHP, maxi controllers, etc... works 100%, so this only seems to be RF related.

Has anyone else experienced something similar to this that has any tips on further troubleshooting or fixing the issue?

[dhouston]

Look for an RF source transmitting continuously at or near 310MHz. This sounds like all the transceivers are being flooded with non-X10 RF or X-10 RF that has somehow gone haywire so it's transmitting nonsense that the transceivers do not recognize as X-10.

You might try buying a small RF receiver (315MHz is close enough - turn the tuning slug about 1/8T CCW) and monitoring its output with a 'scope if you have one or with some oscilloscope software (there used to be some free ones) that will use your soundcard (do a search - I haven't looked lately).

RF Modules

• http://davehouston.org/modules.htm

Circuit diagrams

• http://davehouston.org/learn.htm

Also, are you near a military base? A few years back there was an incident where some new military hardware being tested jammed a lot of garage doors within a few miles of the base.

[J.B.]

Thanks for the suggestions.
I am actually near a military base and had that pop into my head that they may be doing something there.
This is the only time I've ever had a major RF issue with my system and it started very suddenly.

[dhouston]

The other thing to check for is a remote stuck under a couch cushion. As its batteries fade, it may send gibberish although I've never heard of a specific case. One sending Dim/Bright may not be sent to the powerline by the CM15A after max brightness/dimness and the CM15A may not report the RF after that point, as well. My experience with the stock CM15A and AHP was limited to the few days it took me to modify it and write my own software so others here may help there more than I. The CM11A would only report the max number of Dim/Bright commands.

There was also a phenomenon that occured mostly with the TM751 where the powerlines, acting as an antenna, transmitted the 120kHz powerline RF, tricking the TM751 which apparently took a shortcut and assumed the remote was still sending Dim/Bright so repeated the powerline code and retransmitted 120kHz powerline RF ad infinitum. However, the range of the retransmitted RF was limited in those cases and was 120kHz rather than 310MHz.

[J.B.]

Welp, as is the norm a lot of the time, I feel ridiculous...
When this first started I looked around for any remotes and removed their batteries and batteries from all of my security sensors and other x10 items just to rule out a faulty item. I THOUGHT I had found all of them. I was wrong..  
It seems my issue was a CR15A camera remote that had somehow been covered by several items which must have caused a button to stick and drain the batteries, also causing my RF issues.  
I still find it odd that even with a clean AHP install with no plugins that this was causing the M MTCDDVD command to show in my activity monitor where this is a supposed valid 32bit security command which isn't reading properly.



Thanks again for the suggestions dhouston. Much appreciated.

[dhouston]

I still find it odd that even with a clean AHP install with no plugins that this was causing the M MTCDDVD command to show in my activity monitor where this is a supposed valid 32bit security command which isn't reading properly.

The camera remotes send a 20-bit RF code but without any break between codes (regular X-10 RF automation commands send 32-bits but with a 40mS space between copies. Security codes are usually longer than 32 bits - tagging on extra info after the first 32 bits. The protocol distinguishes 1 and 0 purely by the time between rising edges so it doesn't surprise me a great deal that a stuck key on a camera remote might be misinterpreted, especially as the batteries become marginal which might effect timing. Unless they changed the design, the transmitter in the camera remotes use discrete components and are not crystal or SAW resonator controlled although the PIC should not be too much effected by battery level, X-10  usually uses an LC tank circuit as the oscillator circuit and that might affect the PIC clock substantially at low voltages. And, sending continuously might also cause some heat build up.

Thanks again for the suggestions dhouston. Much appreciated.

Glad you found it.  I've encountered this 2-3 times on the old CHA Usenet group and they were always very difficult to figure out. Even after deciding it must be a remote, finding it is usually a problem - if it were out in the open it would have been seen and fixed almost immediately.

[orcusomega]

WOW - I am glad I am not the only one who had similar issues - I had an A1 storm a month or two back that was so bad, I gave up on the whole HA system completely.  No idea where it came from, but its gone now   I was getting in excess of 5000+ A1 On messages an hour - even after pouring through everything I had in the house, I was not able to track it down

Glad you are up and running now though

Bob