Cordless phone interfering with certain SKY channels!?

Forums › Home Theatre › Cordless phone interfering with certain SKY channels!?

spazz

264 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 2

Topic # 25265 17-Aug-2008 00:44

Lately I've been getting the 'Atmospheric conditions have interrupted your viewing conditions' message intermittently on certain SKY channels; namely TV1, TV3, Movies 2, and C4. The Olympics keep fuzzing out, I couldn't watch Family Guy on C4 this week, nor Outrageous Fortune.

So I rang SKY, and the rep told me my cordless phone was interfering with those channels.

Really?

Admittedly, I have just purchased a new 5.8GHz cordless but is that even possible? How can a cordless phone interfere with a satellite TV signal?

http://walkingisoverrated.com

scottjpalmer

Minimalist
5450 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 400

Moderator

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

Reply # 157482 17-Aug-2008 09:26

When you are experiencing the problem unplug your cordless phone's power supply from the wall, see if it makes any difference?

r0lly

23 posts

Geek

Reply # 157484 17-Aug-2008 09:51

I got some friends who have the same problem - poor reception on TV3 and others. Sky told them the same thing - cordless phone interferring.

The strange thing - Sky's right. Unplug the phone, reception clears up. I'd love to know why.

Try Wrike: fast, easy, and efficient project collaboration software

guyz

232 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 157485 17-Aug-2008 10:22

hi,

yep had the same problem , got sky echno to come out, he said the sky updated satelite ( back in june last year)works on slightly different frequency which unfortunaely brings it closer t some cordless cell phone frequencies. he changed mine to the updated firmware decoder and no probs since

mch_nz

53 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 157509 17-Aug-2008 12:43

Same symptoms here but haven't got a new cordless phone. Maybe one of the neighbours. What sort of range would these phones have? But whatever, it sounds like we probably need the firmware upgrade....

cyril7

6120 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 210

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 157636 18-Aug-2008 08:55

1800MHz where DECT phones operate is also the first IF of satellite systems, the signal in the cable from the LNB to the dish to the box is on similar/same frequency. So if you DECT phone is operating on a channel close to or on the frequency that is the same as the transponder of the channel you are watching then there is a potential problem.

On Sky TVOne, TV2, MGM, Trackside, Rialto are on 12671, if you have a dual orbit (oval) LNB then the IF is 1920. TV3, C4, ESPN, SM2 are on 12644, so the IF is 1894, both 1920 and 1894 are in the middle of the DECT band. The older LNBs with a 11300 LO avoided the DECT band. Also some models of STB have better LBand tuners than others (ie dont have ZIF tuners) and are also less prone to this issue.

Spazz I find it odd that your 5.8GHz phone is causing issues, maybe some other mechanisim at play.

The levels of the signal received from the satellite are quite small, and even once amplified by the LNB are still quite small by comparison to the transmit signals of a cordless phone if near by, and as they are on similar frequencies, there can be issues.

Cyril

motogpnz

112 posts

Master Geek

Reply # 157753 18-Aug-2008 15:55

cyril7:

Spazz I find it odd that your 5.8GHz phone is causing issues, maybe some other mechanisim at play.

Cyril

Maybe Spazz has a wireless router?

Quoting from my HDi upgrade installer notes:

"... Also swapped out 2nd Pace STB for Silver Pace STB due to 2.4GHz DECT interference from Wireless Router..."

We had 2x original Pace boxes and after the dual LNB was fitted we had signal dropouts on one box only on Prime, Disney and MTV. Since we didn't watch them much nothing was done until I mentioned it in passsing to the tech during the HDi install. He was well aware of the issue and asked straight away if we had a cordless phone or wireless router. The new Pace box fixed the problem straight away. This was the first I had heard of the problem - just thought it was the dish getting a marginal signal.

Spazz: Suggest you call Sky and get them to swap for a different model box if possible.

cyril7

6120 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 210

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 157757 18-Aug-2008 16:02

As I said, some earlier pace boxs had a particular design of ZIF (Zero IF) tuner in them that was easily upset by local interference, a ZIF design assumes certain input signal contraints that normally are fine with satellite inputs, but dont take account of strong local interference that couples directly into the STB via the down lead. Latter designs have fixed this, so as suggested ask for a box upgrade.

Cyril