What is your source for this statement. Ham frequencies are notched out by the cynical home plug manufacturers because they know hams understand the issues and would complain.

There is no place for homeplugs when cabling is so much better and does not cause interference. Mains wiring is not designed to carry data.

Ofcom do act on complaints as causing interference is illegal even if the equipment itself is legal.

There is this from Ofcom. It is a year old and so far not been able to find anything more recent


http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/enf...forcement/plt/

You may be correct that PLT devices do cause some interference, however if no one is affected locally I can't see the issue.

However I have an issue with low energy (planet saving) LED lighting in my utility blanking DAB reception on a portable radio. Should I complain to OFCOM or simply switch to FM which is perfectly OK ?

Time to get a sense of perspective, Frankly as you already know you I think you have totally lost all sense of reality. Technology advances, 4G will cause some degree of interference to TV viewers. Do you imagine OFCOM will shut down a 4G transmitter close to terrestrial users that a filter wont solve. Of course they won't the the service provider will fund an equivalent TV service not affected by 4G (satellite of course).

Simple questions

1 Do you currently suspect you have problems with PLT generated interference ? If yes how do you know it's actually down to these devices.

2 If not how do you know that none of your neighbours have PLT kit

3 If the answer to 1 is yes, what kit do you have that is affected ?

4 If the answer to 1 is yes what did OFCOM do to resolve the situation ?

If you aren't personally affected why are you posting information based purely on others equally biased ?

Just like 4G the tiny percentage of such devices causing issues will be sensibly resolved, a blanket ban suggested merely shows you have absolutely no sense of reality. You aren't related to Walter Mitty by any chance ?

I don't know if Ofcom are deliberatly lying or if the person who wrote that report doesn't know what an amateur radio user is.
I'm sure some complaints have been made by amateurs but many more have been made by short wave listeners who are not licenced amateurs.

PLT in large numbers in an urban raises the noise floor for everyone.

Your LED lighting is obviously faulty and shoud be returned to the retailer you bought it from. Quality brands do not cause this type of problem. Cheap imports often do as they leave out filter components to reduce the price.

The 4G interference issue has turned out to be a damp squib. Equipment suffering such interference is probably poorly designed in that the front end is not selective enough, or in the case of wideband amplifiers lacking in dynamic range. Ofcom has never provided protection for poorly designed equipment. The problem with PLT is that it operates on the same frequency as the wanted transmissions.
Answers to your questions.

1. Not currently. A prievous PLT problem was solved amicability after I had a friendly chat with the culprit.
2. Once you have heard PLT interference you know what it is.
3. Portable short wave radio.
4. Ofcom not involved, see 1.

Whine whine, blah blah. Usual tripe from the usual suspect. Before even opening the thread I knew who it would be lol

Quite. The fact that the complainers are radio hobbyists who have had their hobby ruined by these things is neither here nor there. The important thing is that these devices do not conform to the 'essential requirements' of EU laws on electromagnetic compatibility. They break those laws by such a huge amount it cannot be tolerated.
As someone who has suffered at the hands of a pair of these things installed in a house about 30 yards away, I know the effect they can have.

And PLT noise cannot be 'filtered out'. Unlike 4G it uses the same spectrum as shortwave/VHF radio so filtering at the receiver is impossible.

So we've now got TWO people (out of the huge DS membership) who claim to have suffered interference

Perhaps you would care to explain EXACTLY what they interfered with?, rather than Winston's ludicrous claims of blocking all radio, TV, and emergency services for an extended area.

CERTAINLY and EXACTLY. My shortwave receiver and my amateur radio equipment. The level of noise from the devices was so high, only the strongest signals were audible.
I wonder what anglers would say if they could no longer catch fish because it was suddenly deemed acceptable to pour poison into the lakes and rivers?

Which is what Ofcom have said, all the tiny number of complaints have been from hams and SWL's.

Well of course. Who would you expect to get complaints from - people who use radio a lot to receive signals from around the world or people who just put the radio on while they make the tea?
Like I said, it doesn't matter who the complaints come from. If the PLT equipment is causing interference to nearby radio devices, it is failing in its compliance.

File transfers to NAS devices is one thing, where 80 or 90 megabytes a second is much nicer than 9 or 10 - and given that all of my computers have gigabit ethernet cards, and gigabit switches are cheap, it makes sense to run cables to give me that 24/7 guaranteed

If I had an internet connection above 100Mbit (which may be true at some point) then that'd be another reason

I haven't tried the 200 or 500Mbit variants but I tried some 85Mbps ones and they struggled to give me 20 or 30Mbit so I'd assume more modern ones won't be a huge improvement. Not worth the hassle and the interference issues

But owners of homeplugs have no real control over how much interference they create. I don't think there's a tick box that says "drown out Radio 4" or "screw over ham radio users".

That's different to me buying a radio transmitter and deliberately using it illegally

Look what you can buy from BT Online

http://www.shop.bt.com/products/devo...FG.html?src=15

And your point is?

You can buy plenty of things online that don't conform to EU or anyones laws.

So you now reckon BT are breaking EU laws. Your posts get more and more ridiculous.

From the technical data sheet

Certifications CE Class B (EU, CH, NO)


http://www.dbicorporation.com/ite.htm

I'm going to get some more for my house, and I'll make sure that checkbox is ticked

Hmmm. Not sure how to take that. Is it a joke or do you really have a boiling hatred for people who like to listen to radio?

If you have any evidence that a person/organisation is breaking the laws on RF inteference (whatever they may be) by using or selling these devices, you have authorities you can complain to. UK plc has a system for complaints about such things.

Whining in generalistic, hand-waving terms about these things will get you nowhere. Find out what specific British and/or European laws are being broken, by whom and how, and report your findings to the relevant authorities (Ofcom/Trading Standards/Home Office/whoever) for such complaints.

That's really the end of it if you actually want to get anywhere (other than moaning on forums and having people take the piss).

You miss the point, just look at his track record. Moaning on forums and having people take the piss IS what he wants. How else would he pass the time now that his shortwave listening is b******d?

Did I say that?

It is often the case that it is legal to sell something that is not legal to use or does not conform to legal requirements.

As an to topic example it is perfectly legal to sell an amateur radio transmitter to someone who does not have a ham licence.

It has been shown that many homeplugs do not conform to their legal specifications. (Read my link earlier in this thread). The manufacturers self certify and cook the books.

No need to tell us that.
It is not against the law to sell them. Using them can break the law on interference issues and action has been taken many times after complaints.

Par for the course. If he had any sort of evidence he would have responded to my post by now.

In fact this poster is guilty of defamation. He posted a libellous statement inferring that BT was breaking EU law, without a trace of any evidence.

This forum should be extremely wary of allowing such unfounded assertions. BT would be entirely within their rights to sue. Free speech has it's limitations, libel isn't one of them.

I don't condone deliberately causing problems for others, the fact is that a tiny tiny minority of these devices cause any problems at all. For the few that do common sense dictates that a mutually agreeable solution should be pursued.

Completely impractical total bans, invented assertions without a shred of evidence, frankly stupid comparisons with the legal sale of cigarettes, massively exaggerated effect on emergency services etc merely expose a somewhat twisted point of view.

Ironically as one poster has joked he has probably sold more of these devices than he has dissuaded others from using

Post a sensible suggestion that PLT might be a solution to a difficult situation on any forum that this poster frequents, despite pointing out that a wired solution is preferable, you can guarantee the same pointless arguments get trotted out ad nauseum.

Again, what do you hope to gain from lying? - as I understand it (and from the official links YOU have posted) there has been hardly any 'actions' taken.

More twisted logic.

I posted a link to device sold by BT.

You responded. Asking what my point was. Clearly it was a respected maker and retailer was selling a legal device. Something you are prepared to condemn without shred of evidence that it was in fact not 100% legal. Not a single post you have ever posted acknowledges that many devices do in fact not infringe EU laws in anyway. According to you they are all equally illegal.


There is only one way to interpret this, and that is the linked device is not legal to sell in the EU (plus Switzerland and Norway) . If this is incorrect what is the point of your post ?

This isn't a fly by night seller on e-bay flogging counterfeit goods shipped in from China with fake credentials.

If you have evidence that the CE specification quoted directly from the device manufacturers website is fraudulent I suggest you post it quickly. Otherwise your post is libellous to both BT and now the manufacturer.

Personally I hope they sue, at least we can continue a sensible discussion.

Or do we assume that if the CE approval is genuine we can buy a pair of these with a clear conscience ?