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Author Topic: Possible cause of RF range problem  (Read 19717 times)

joe

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Possible cause of RF range problem
« on: June 24, 2005, 08:06:05 AM »

I had the cable guys over yesterday. They
found a few crappy connections on the cable
TV. Since then, I have considerably better RF
performance with my CM15A. I believe the
cable signals go right in the 310 MHZ area so
if the cable was leaking signal, it would
interfere with the receiver in the CM15.
Makes sense to me, I noticed it particularly
with the stick a switch. Mine is about 10
feet away from the CM and it was right on the
fringe but since the cable was fixed, it
works solid now. Just a thought, if you are
having range issues, check the cable TV.

Joe
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wmp789

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Re: Possible cause of RF range problem
« Reply #1 on: May 24, 2006, 05:29:25 PM »

I had the cable guys over yesterday. They
found a few crappy connections on the cable
TV. Since then, I have considerably better RF
performance with my CM15A. I believe the
cable signals go right in the 310 MHZ area so
if the cable was leaking signal, it would
interfere with the receiver in the CM15.
Makes sense to me, I noticed it particularly
with the stick a switch. Mine is about 10
feet away from the CM and it was right on the
fringe but since the cable was fixed, it
works solid now. Just a thought, if you are
having range issues, check the cable TV.
 
Joe

What should I check if the TVs are working fine? How does cable interfear with the RF signals?
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Brian H

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Re: Possible cause of RF range problem
« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2006, 07:16:34 PM »

If the cable TV cables are not tight or have poor shielding so some of the TV signals are being spread over the area. They could interfere with the cm15a if there where signals in the 310 MHz area used by X10 for it's RF communications.
Just like the X10 cameras share the 2.4 Ghz band with cordless phones and wireless network interfaces. They can interfere with each other.
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billy

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Re: Possible cause of RF range problem
« Reply #3 on: May 24, 2006, 08:18:19 PM »

               GENERAL TELEVISION FREQUENCIES
Sub CATV Band - T7 - T13 7                    -               58 Mhz
VHF Band - Ch. 2 - 13 54                         -              216 Mhz
Low Band - VHF Ch. 2 - 6 59                    -                88 Mhz
Mid Band - UHF Ch. 14 - 22                       -     121 - 174 Mhz
             - UHF Ch. 95 - 99                       -       91 - 120 Mhz
High Band - VHF Ch. 7 - 13                       -     175 - 216 Mhz
Super Band - CATV Ch. 23 - 36                 -     216 - 300 Mhz
Hyper Band - CATV Ch. 37 - 62            -     300 - 456 Mhz
Ultra Band - CATV Ch. 63 - 158                 -    457 - 1002 Mhz
UHF Band Ch.14 - 83 - CATV Ch. 63 - 158  -     70 - 1002 Mhz
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Charles Sullivan

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Re: Possible cause of RF range problem
« Reply #4 on: June 02, 2006, 09:52:42 PM »

Joe,
VERY interesting observation!!!

I suppose other users could test for this problem by disconnecting the TV cable where it enters the house and see if that improves the RF range for X10 RF devices.

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Yesterday it worked.
Today it doesn't work.
X10 on Windows is like that.

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