RF Detector?

J

JPmedia

Known around here
Sep 11, 2024
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1,109
Southeast
Is there a handheld device to detect RF and where it is emanating from? It would be helpful to show signal strength to pinpoint direction and closeness. Hell, it would be a bonus to show the activity/events of the RF in real time as well.

Any suggestions?
 
Any frequency that would interfere with the normal operation of electronics equipment. Possibly 1Mhz to 3Ghz?
 
Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I have a feeling our property is being bombarded with RF to jam/interfere with electronics in our dwelling. I can see a large coil of wire leaning against the fence at the neighbor's house across the way facing us. That is relatively new addition.

There has been some random odd equipment behavior that I cannot explain which coincides with when that coil first appeared and none of the equipment is connected to the net. I just want to find out if there is an unexplained presence of RF and where it is coming from
 
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looney2ns said:
Then again, you could go ask the neighbor what's up?
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This is the same guy who has 6 IR panels on his fence pointing as us. Since I'm running in color, they don't make any difference to us. He does NOT want us to have cameras which captures any part of his property. The guy never leaves the house since last year. He really needs to see someone. He's got a couple of screws loose.

I won't set foot on his property as he would likely trespass me

I just want to verify the RF issues exists and its origin so I can contact the FCC
 
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It's going take some time to go through the options on Amazon. Seems like many of the detectors are geared toward finding bugs and spy cameras. I want to sniff out signals from 100 feet or so. Frequencies from Khz to Ghz. It would be nice to have a real-time monitor of RF activity so I could match up a random event with the spike in RF and record it as evidence
 
N9010B EXA has a nice Signal Analyzer that goes from 10 Hz to 44 GHz. If higher frequencies are needed, then another analyzer will be needed. To buy you are looking at $35K plus.

Suggest renting for a day to keep costs down.
 
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If a large coil of wire were hooked to a power supply, it would generate a magnetic field that could interfere with radio signals. Like driving under a power line interferes with the AM band. I don’t know if it could be tuned to certain bands. I do think that interfering with radio bands is an fcc offense and they can track down the interference.
 
wittaj said:
I wonder if you reach out to the FCC, would they investigate with their equipment?
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The FCC has little interest unless there a proven RF interference issue caused by a radio operator (think ham/amateur/CB) radio. There would have to be a consistent cause and effect and directly pointing to your neighbor.

If others in the neighborhood are experiencing similar RF issues at the same time you are, then there is a chance that a problem exists. The issue could be with your neighbor or with some other facility producing RF interference.

Would suggest you log dates, time and a description of the issue. Then check with your other neighbors to see if the same patters exists at their location. RF in general spreads out (radiates) so if you are having an issue others are most likely too.

PSIX-ESIX Homepage - PSIX-ESIX

fccprod.servicenowservices.com fccprod.servicenowservices.com
 
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Alaska Country said:
The FCC has little interest unless there a proven RF interference issue caused by a radio operator (think ham/amateur/CB) radio. There would have to be a consistent cause and effect and directly pointing to your neighbor.

If others in the neighborhood are experiencing similar RF issues at the same time you are, then there is a chance that a problem exists. The issue could be with your neighbor or with some other facility producing RF interference.

Would suggest you log dates, time and a description of the issue. Then check with your other neighbors to see if the same patters exists at their location. RF in general spreads out (radiates) so if you are having an issue others are most likely too.

PSIX-ESIX Homepage - PSIX-ESIX

fccprod.servicenowservices.com fccprod.servicenowservices.com
Click to expand...
Yeah, I've dealt with the FCC before back in 2020. If you have no evidence, they don't want anything to do with it.

This is why I would like to verify if RF is being emitted and where it might be coming from.

If I can find a unit to monitor rf in real time, it would show activity that may coincide with the random issues cropping up.

Other than the guy I suspect may be causing the issue, I would say everyone else in the neighborhood wouldn't suspect foul play and chalk it up to service disruption
 
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