SPOOKY

[K7SGJ]

A little history first. My wife and I built our house about 20 years ago. We did all the work ourselves except for the flatwork and brick walls. The land we bought several years prior to that. To the best of my knowledge, it's not an old Indian burial ground or anything like that. When I did the electrical, I put motion sensor switches in the hall ways and laundry room, mostly to keep grubby hands off the walls. Now, the rest of the story. (apologies to Paul Harvey)

A few days ago, I heard a noise that woke me up around 2am. I thought maybe one of the dogs were milling around, but no. So I got back into bed. Just as I got comfortable, the lights in the hallway came on. So, I got back up and looked around. The big dog was still in the family room, and nothing else was moving or obviously wrong. The lights timed out, and went off. Everything was normal for the next day or so. Then it happened again. This time it was the laundry room. Then the hall, then both, then none. For the last several days, this oddity has been occurring often, but irregularly.

Last night, my wife and I were watching a movie in the family room. All of a sudden, the fire place came on, went to high flame, and then the fan started. The fireplace is a propane gas fired unit, and the on/off, flame, and fan are controlled by an RF remote control, similar to a GDO. Since it is in the 300 MHz range and uses a digital encoded code, the chances of another coded signal are very very slim.

I thought the problem might be a connection in one of the panels that had come loose, putting a spike on the line. Nope, breakers are solid, wires tight, and everything A-ok. Then I checked all the light switches, outlets, and j-boxes. Nope. I suppose it could be an appliance or something, but it is highly unlikely. No radio or other equipment is on at these times, either.

At this point, I'm kind of at a loss. This has never happened before, and it is a little annoying, at best.

If the old ladys head starts spinning around and she pukes green pea soup, I'm outta here.

[NQ6U]

I have a ceiling fan with a similar RF remote control and it sometimes turns on or off for no apparent reason. Also, whenever I key up my transmitter, the IR motion sensor light over the door outside my shack comes on. I imagine your events are due to some stray RF from somewhere, although from whence it originates is anyone's guess.

[W3WN]

My first thought would be that some of the units are getting some sort of RF front-end overload from someone else's transmitter. It might not even be anything in the immediate vicinity, depending on how sensitive the receiver(s) are and how powerful the remote transmitter(s) are.

You wouldn't be located relatively close to a military installation running a high powered radar array, would you?

[K7SGJ]

No, the nearest base is about 75 miles away. The closest mtn top radome is a couple hundred miles out. I could maybe understand the possibility of a long shot RF issue for the fire place, but the lights are just simple rate of heat rise detectors. I'm more apt to accept the fact that some kind of spike or noise on the ac line might be the culprit. We are toward the end of the line, but it seems odd (as opposed to even) this would all start so suddenly.

One thing I am considering is the possibly of someones Christmas lights generating some kind of interference. Some of the newer "trick" lights have logic controllers to do all the fancy sequences and what not. And it did just start recently as did the decorations. If I don't locate something definitive, I'll be curious to see if it goes away after the first of the year.

[W3MIV]

Area 51 is carrying out remote testing using stealth drones.

[K7SGJ]

I thought Iran shot them all down with their stealth RPGs.

[W3WN]

He's not THAT close to Area 51. Now, Area 52, that's another story...

Considering that this has started recently, the remote controls on someone's nearby display does raise an interesting flag as a possibility.

(Personally, I'll stick with timers on mine. I have enough gadgets as it is)

[W3MIV]

He's not THAT close to Area 51.

Remote testing of UAV-mounted cyber weapons. They are too smart to conduct such tests too close to home. It attracts attention. The UAV is being uplinked from a remote site that is located much farther east -- in fact, not very far from where I am typ

[n2ize]

It's Ghosts !!!!

[K7SGJ]

It's Ghosts !!!!

Nah, I can see right through em.

[WØTKX]

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_mJ4lc_Q9Q6k/RqvO6c4MPkI/AAAAAAAAGjA/zVlU4zsKjo0/s320/SPOOKY3.gif

[kb2vxa]

Spooky the ghost, ya beat me to it!

[WØTKX]

I do the cartoons, you can do the lyrics... ;)

[KB2SFH]

The remote devices in your neighborhood seem logical, but at 2 am? also puzzling is that a noise woke you up but not your wife or dog. maybe you should do a little self ghost hunting and see if you can get any evp on digital recorders for starters or infra red cameras that might catch any entities. Make a written journal of everything that is happening, times of day or night and what rooms and see if a pattern develops.:chin:

[K7SGJ]

I think I may have stumbled upon the problem quite by accicdent this morning. So far, none of the symptoms have reoccured. I want to give it until tomorrow to be convinced it's fixed.

[kf0rt]

Got a few of these devices around here, too.

My first question would be your rural/urban ratio. If a bit urban, it could be anything.

Haven't seen anything too odd here, but I have a (really cheap) remote control RF device that lets me run my home theater receiver from the garage, where I have a remote audio amp (Heathkit, seriously). The receiver end is a little UFO shaped device with an antenna and some LED's. Runs in the 300 MHz band and the lights on it are *always* blinking, indicating signals.

The other remote 300MHz device we have is a weather sensor -- it just feeds a LCD device in the house ($29.95 deal at Costco). I think the garage door runs in the 450MHz range.

Lots of 300MHz stuff in the air and in this urban setting, I see 10-12 WiFi signals, using a Kindle Fire as a receiver.

If I was in the wilds of Kalhoo, this might be disconcerting, but in the back yard of urban America, RF is both dense and dense. Might be a fun hobby to track it down.

[K7SGJ]

Got a few of these devices around here, too.

My first question would be your rural/urban ratio. If a bit urban, it could be anything.

Haven't seen anything too odd here, but I have a (really cheap) remote control RF device that lets me run my home theater receiver from the garage, where I have a remote audio amp (Heathkit, seriously). The receiver end is a little UFO shaped device with an antenna and some LED's. Runs in the 300 MHz band and the lights on it are *always* blinking, indicating signals.

The other remote 300MHz device we have is a weather sensor -- it just feeds a LCD device in the house ($29.95 deal at Costco). I think the garage door runs in the 450MHz range.

Lots of 300MHz stuff in the air and in this urban setting, I see 10-12 WiFi signals, using a Kindle Fire as a receiver.

If I was in the wilds of Kalhoo, this might be disconcerting, but in the back yard of urban America, RF is both dense and dense. Might be a fun hobby to track it down.


I'm in a rural area. A few acres from others. The older GDOs ran in the 400 MHz range or thereabouts, the newer ones 300-319 or so. BTW, I used to hook a crystal earphone to the old GDO receivers, and when the oscillator slug was tuned about, I could get a couple of the tower frequencies at Luke AFB. The receivers were regen, but pretty sensitive, and fun to mess with.

I do have a weather station with wireless remotes. They, too, run in the 319 range. I know it's not likely them as I've had that for quite awhile without problems. If it turns out to be what I think I have found, I'll be somewhat amazed. Details to follow, film at ten.

BTW Thanks to your glowing report and silver tongued description of the Fire, I finally had to order one. It should be here around Friday or so. Can't wait. If you have any tips, tricks, or neatshit, let me know.

[K7SGJ]

Well, the lights haven't been tripping on/off for the last two days, the fire place is working right, and here is what I found. The day before yesterday, I went out into the shop. I turned on the stereo, and nothing happened. Upon a closer inspection, I noticed the florescent display was fluttering. I tried the on/off again, and still nothing. So, I unplugged it for a minute or so, and plugged it back in. The display went to clock as usual, and I sparked up the radio and it worked fine. I thought nothing more about it. During the rest of the day and night, I noticed the hall lights weren't going on and off randomly any more, and they worked all day today just fine, as well.

I was a little skeptical at first because I couldn't believe that that was the cause. Either it was a coincidence, or that was the fix. The only thing I can figure is the oscillator that is used to generate the voltage/timing for the display went wacko and was generating some bizzare rf, or it was loading the power supply on/off in such a way that it spiked the line. Or it might be I'm full of shit and it is a ghost. Anyway alls well.

[ka4dpo]

Most likely a garage door opener. They operate in the same frequency range as your fireplace.


Or it's a creepy ghost....

[kf0rt]

Bizarre stuff, but we still think you're fulla shit. (Kidding!).

Keep us informed, though. If I knew more about RF, I might even get a ham license. ;)