Tune Detectives Find Odd Causes of Interference
RADIO and television interference is unpredictable — and nobody should know it better than a man in the Rochester area who complained to his congressman.
He was certain an amateur radio operator was upsetting his television reception. His irate demand for relief was directed straight to Washington.
G.E. Franklin, engineer-in-charge, Buffalo Office, Federal Communications, recalled the incident today.
“When the complaint was referred to us, our investigation showed the interference was originating in the butter-conditioning unit of the complainant’s own refrigerator.”
800 Complaints
The case immediately was marked “closed” by the FCC engineers — sometimes called “tune detectives” in their vigilance over communications channels.
The Buffalo office received nearly 800 interference complaints in the fiscal year that ended in June. The office serves all of New York State except counties between Albany and New York City and all of Western Pennsylvania — an area with a population of 11,000,000 persons.
Causes of interference? Mr. Franklin gave this simplified explanation: “Most energy stays in one frequency — but by the nature of radio and sound, some of it strays off. There’s the basis for trouble.”
Modified embarrassment was the aftermath of a complaint from the Greater Buffalo International Airport.
The FCC was asked to locate local interference that had existed for several weeks on the military aviation channel. The nearby Westinghouse plant was suspected as the source.
Airport Problem Solved
“We took our mobile equipment into the factory and checked carefully, with no results,” Mr. Franklin said.
“Finally we went to the airport administration building. We traced the trouble to a transmitter used by one of the airlines.”
Electronic heating processes — used increasingly in the manufacture of plastics and wood veneers — are a growing problem.
“They usually are reconciled, but such cases often call for long and difficult checking,” Mr. Franklin said.
“Hams” Aid Efforts
He commended the volunteer efforts of two groups in overcoming interference.
The amateurs — the “ham” operators — have formed television interference committees throughout the country and the users of radio communication in industry have organized co-operative interference committees.
“They’ve made our job easier. Very often all we have to do is co-ordinate the efforts of one of these groups and maybe a local power company,” the FCC engineer explained.
Area Record “Good”
He expressed gratitude for this self-policing. Only one other engineer, Carolus C. Spencer, is assigned in Buffalo.
The local FCC office is alert to recent reports of indecent and profane language from small-boat radio transmitters along the Great Lakes.
“Such language is unlawful,” Mr. Franklin said. The Great Lakes area has a “good record” in this respect, he added. He referred to the troublemakers as “the 2 per centers — the small group that doesn’t follow the rules.”
When assigned to the FCC office in Mobile, Ala., Mr. Franklin — working with the Coast Guard and the FBI — led the first successful prosecution against use of profanity over the air. Several Gulf Coast fishing-boat captains were fined $500 and received suspended jail sentences.
Race Track Arrest
Reports of recent FCC activity in other parts of the nation include:
1—Arrest at a Florida race track of a man who had a miniature transmitter built into his clothing. Detection of such a clandestine operation is difficult because the equipment is well hidden and the user gives no visible evidence except seeming to talk to himself — as many persons do in the excitement of a race.
2—The tracing of a military experimental balloon equipped with radio from its California launching to a North Carolina farm landing. This is one of the agency’s extra-curricular monitoring activities.
3—Discovery that disruption of TV reception in a California community was caused by technicians in a nearby research laboratory who had forgotten to turn off some transmitting equipment being tested.
