VK Logger Ham Radio Forum Archive

I find myself wanting to get back into night time broadcast band listening again, Im in a quite rural location but have located two sources of huge noise at home.

1st is halogen downlighting with switch mode transformers, Im trying to source older iron core transformers and then swap to LEDS, Im pretty sure this will sort that out.

More problematic is Wireless NBN...this is mounted (fixed on wall) approx. 10m from the shack, it consists of a wall mounted unit, plug pack supply and roof mounted antenna/amp (I assume it uses power over Ethernet?)...this thing pretty much wipes out the HF spectrum from LW up to about 10Mhz...in spots 30 over "buzzing" noise.

I thought it would probably be the 12V plugpack so wired it up to a 12V battery...no difference at all

Wondering if anyone has mucked around with these yet or have any suggestions ?

Hi,
had my Wireless NBN installed in early June this year, so far it is all but invisible to my radio listening. I know that the plug pack is the biggest offender for me and plan to connect it to the home made linear PSU I have for my networking equipment. I have not done this as yet as I wanted to bed in the NBN system and be sure it was going to be reliable and wanted to avoid the quizzical looks of a NBN repair person should they see it not using the super special NBN power supply.

May I ask what bands you hear it on? The end of my 160m sloper is about 10 metres away from the flat panel and NTU and so far its only the plug pack that adds to my noise level.

Regards,

I've heard of it happening, but not what the cure was (if any).

However if there is interference to broadcast band reception, I would think that's justification for a complaint to the ACMA.

Interference to amateur or shortwave reception they don't seem to care about, but broadcast radio and TV interference is another matter.

thanks for replys........

Its pretty much constant from 200khz to 10Mhz with peaks at random spots which change!

Was thinking of contacting ACMA, NBN Co etc...but reckon they won't be too interested or will simply tell me to go back to 3G internet

I think the local coastguard may be switching to NBN Wireless soon, I will keep an eye on that as they still have a Codan running on MF, possibly if it interferes with that someone may take action...Im not sure if the noise is coming from the box or being radiated from the cable to the roof....was thinking of trying an eddystone box, tinfoil , anything!

At the moment If I want to use the radio I switch the NBN off but sometimes it would be good to have both at once

I think you need to follow through with your investigation and reporting. The ACMA are interested in interference like this and do investigate. Follow the reporting process outlined on the ACMA site. I've reported PLI and it does take some persistence but you can get it sorted.

Good luck.

How about doing a short survey with an rx walking off site and around the site to see where it is worst , should be interesting then you can make an informed complaint ?.
Barry

VK3NJ wrote:I find myself wanting to get back into night time broadcast band listening again, Im in a quite rural location but have located two sources of huge noise at home.

1st is halogen downlighting with switch mode transformers, Im trying to source older iron core transformers and then swap to LEDS, Im pretty sure this will sort that out.

More problematic is Wireless NBN...this is mounted (fixed on wall) approx. 10m from the shack, it consists of a wall mounted unit, plug pack supply and roof mounted antenna/amp (I assume it uses power over Ethernet?)...this thing pretty much wipes out the HF spectrum from LW up to about 10Mhz...in spots 30 over "buzzing" noise.

I thought it would probably be the 12V plugpack so wired it up to a 12V battery...no difference at all

Wondering if anyone has mucked around with these yet or have any suggestions ?

call eric VK3ZSB qrm finder for secv if he cant it wont be fixed
and approach the fault from a BCI point of view not ham radio and you may get it resolved.

VK3ZAZ wrote: call eric VK3ZSB qrm finder for secv if he cant it wont be fixed
and approach the fault from a BCI point of view not ham radio and you may get it resolved.

I agree. Eric came to my house after I lodged the PLI complaint and his detailed, methodical approach left no stone unturned. Once you have a report from a professional Like Eric your battle is half won.

Do you have any nearby neighbors experiencing similar BCI? That would certainly add weight to your complaint.

No neighbours for at least 1klm....noise is all over house (abt 40 squares), as soon as I walk outside (about 6 foot from house) noise is gone...
Example, if I had radio on am broadcast band inside house (running on batteries) its unusable with NBN turned on....not one single station can be heard through noise...turn off NBN and about 5 stations during the day and dozens at night can be heard on a small portable (grundig yachtboy)

Well at least you can prove it's the NBN box. Have you contacted the installer/ NBN Co and asked them to investigate?

first thing I would test by substitution would be the nbn switch mode psu

VK4TI wrote:first thing I would test by substitution would be the nbn switch mode psu

He did that in his first post, "replaced the plug pack with a 12V battery"

VK4TI wrote:first thing I would test by substitution would be the nbn switch mode psu

I think he already eliminated the plug pack by substituting a 12V battery. Is there another mains supply?

What's the data rate on the Ethernet cable from the NBN box?
Generally, 10Mbit/s = little to no noise, 100Mbit/s = noise and 1Gbit/s = lots of noise.
Given that 10Mbit/s will probably not be fast enough for NBN, you may need to shield the Ethernet cable if this is the problem.
You could experiment by plugging the other end into a PC and altering the network card settings to force different data rates and see if it make any difference.

If the unit runs on 12v, then it probably has built in power supplies and these are usually the real problem.
One fix for some wireless units is that this equipment is never earthed. Try a mains earth to the negative supply from the power pack.
If the house has a steel roof the interference will be problematic inside but not outside. My solution at home was to earth the power pack to the roof. Noise gone.
Results will vary, but the problem is the unit, not the NBN as such.

"VK3ALB"

I think he already eliminated the plug pack by substituting a 12V battery. Is there another mains supply?""

Getting specific information about the fibre interface is currently difficult but often there are various internal voltages and and ocilators operating so obtaining these can be quite rf noisy , checking for residual external voltage differentuals might be enlightening ?

NBN Fixed Wireless Broadband causes severe interference to HF / MW communications systems.

The Wireless Institute of Australia supports move on NBN Fixed Wireless interference complaints.

A technical solution to fix spurious emissions that comes from the NBN Fixed Wireless network has been found.

http://www.wia.org.au/newsevents/news/2 ... /index.php

Skybridge and Ericsson Field Services Engineering Officers spent an afternoon retrofitting a custom ODU V2 and isolation kit to the tripod, plus shielded cabling to the NTD as a directive from the Wireless institute of Australia's legislative framework on ACMA Radio Frequency compliance mandates.

This has now fixed the problem with the interference to the HF /MW communications systems at my QTH.

The full transcript of the technical analysis of the faults on the NBN Fixed Wireless can be found below.

https://community.optus.com.au/t5/NBN/N ... ad-message

Hope this information helps! It has literally taken months of campaigning to eventually win this fight!!

Steen - VK7AP

VK7AP wrote:NBN Fixed Wireless Broadband causes severe interference to HF / MW communications systems.

The Wireless Institute of Australia supports move on NBN Fixed Wireless interference complaints.
A technical solution to fix spurious emissions that comes from the NBN Fixed Wireless network has been found.
http://www.wia.org.au/newsevents/news/2 ... /index.php
Skybridge and Ericsson Field Services Engineering Officers spent an afternoon retrofitting a custom ODU V2 and isolation kit to the tripod, plus shielded cabling to the NTD as a directive from the Wireless institute of Australia's legislative framework on ACMA Radio Frequency compliance mandates.
This has now fixed the problem with the interference to the HF /MW communications systems at my QTH.
The full transcript of the technical analysis of the faults on the NBN Fixed Wireless can be found below.
https://community.optus.com.au/t5/NBN/N ... ad-message
Hope this information helps! It has literally taken months of campaigning to eventually win this fight!!
Steen - VK7AP

Hi Steen,
I also have fixed NBN wireless on 2300 MHz but so far have not experience a problem on LF or HF, can you post photo of your NTU or maybe send it to me at this email address: vk8zlx@gmail.com

I am curious to see if your NTU is different to mine.

Regards,
Peter, vk5pj

Hi Peter,

The NTD and the switch mode plug pack power supply doesn't cause the problem. It's specifically associated with the ODU V2 that is a diamond shape antenna. The ODU V1 that is a square shape antenna doesn't have the problem at all. I've included a link of a video created before the modifications to the ODU V2. It includes the NTD at my QTH that remains unmodified. I also checked across HF / MW in heavy rain; and no interference at all to the radios. Though, I can still hear my neighbors ODU V2 almost a kilometer at S9 on the 75M DX Window, using a half size ground mounted vertical with 20 radials. Can you confirm an ODU V1 or V2? http://www.wideo.co/en/view/12203461450 ... ms?from=cp

Steen - VK7AP

Hi Steen,

VK7AP wrote: Can you confirm an ODU V1 or V2?
Steen - VK7AP

yes mine is the same as in the referenced video, it is mounted a diamond (square on its points). Had it since June of 2015 and it is dirtectly under one of my 160mx antennas on a small tripod on the peak of the shed.

Will get up there on the weekend and look at the mount to see if it has any insulators in there, the cable used was of an unshielded nature as he left me a couple of metre offcut.

Guess I should approach the NBN about getting an update to my install while the topic is fresh in their mind Thanks for your efforts to get this highlighted and to some degree resolved. I have an on-going dispute withthe local power company about powerline noise that block reception into the high VHF ranges and into UHF at times.
Regards,