Mobile phone causing box freezing

Rippy

Had an unusual phone call this morning. lady was asking me if I could look at her digibox as it was freezing when the phone rang!
I asked her if she had a DECT cordless phone, but it turned out it was mobiles causing it. Every time a mobile rings, or SMS recieved in the house the screen freezes. I declined the call, as it turned out she hd the box less than a year from sky direc t, so advised her to contact sky for a warrenty replacment.
Anyone else come across this one?

byte

Can't admit I've ever come across this problem. Or at least, if some people had problems, I haven't heard about them.

But I suppose that just like a mobile intereferes with radio and television, the same can be possible with digiboxes, or other sensitive electronics..

I'd think though the mobile would need to be pretty near the digibox though to have much effect. Unless her phone is giving off super high radiation!

chorus techy

Classic FM TV transponder seems to be affected on a lot of peoples box, probably because the mobile phones transmit close to the same signal as the signal would be going down the cable for that transponder. Its unusual the box would freeze up on every channel though!

HarryD

Rippy wrote:

Had an unusual phone call this morning. lady was asking me if I could look at her digibox as it was freezing when the phone rang!
I asked her if she had a DECT cordless phone, but it turned out it was mobiles causing it. Every time a mobile rings, or SMS recieved in the house the screen freezes. I declined the call, as it turned out she hd the box less than a year from sky direc t, so advised her to contact sky for a warrenty replacment.
Anyone else come across this one?

My sisters picture jumps when a call/sms comes in..
The receiver's an Amstrad DRX100, which apparantly has a sensitive tuner..
I put it down to that..

Capt'n Midnight

Many computer monitors will shudder if a phone rings nearby. may depend on the reception - if it is poor then the phone will use more power.

If it wasn't for the fact that Digiboxes are notorious for overheating I'd suggest wrapping it in thin foil (don't it would kill the box)

Is there a remote extender / magic eye on the line that could be the thing affected ?

Rippy

No idea what the box is or if magic eye fitted. I passed on this job and told her to ring sky! No doubt if she gets no joy out the muppet show she will be back on to me. As she said it is less than a year old I assume the box will be a pace DS430N. Wondering now if unscreened coax had been used could that pick up RFI from a phone?

Capt'n Midnight

VHF and one GSM band are in the 900Mhz range (960?)
and I used to get a stronger signal from Three Rock than from NTL on a run of cable with braided outer - use foil !

chorus techy

Capt'n Midnight wrote:

VHF and one GSM band are in the 900Mhz range (960?)

And the other band is around 1800 MHz - subtract whatever the Local Oscillator frequency for the particular band (low band or high band) which Classic FM TV transmits on from the frequency that the transponder broadcasts on and you'll find its very close to 1800 Mhz on the cable...