I am still having reception issues , replaced the ISS board and Davis is sending me an updater for the consoles. However I am still out looking around.
The neighboors have one of those electric buried fences for their dog from Hell ( AKA Fang) . They are trying to keep it from digging in their flower beds so they have put this fencint all over their yard. I happened to be out and about complaining as ususal about this issue and she said that the two had put in one of those dog fences that shocks the dog if it gets into their stuff. Then the next item came up that it was about the same time I had the problems with the reception.
I have looked on the internet a bit and the only frequency I can find is about 10.8khz on one unit, but a range of 90 feet. Now 90 feet would be within the distance beteen that unit and the station. IF they keep it switched on all the time then I can see it might have an effect. When they come out of hiding… I am going to ask them to switch the unit off for a while to see if the problem goes away.
Ideally a bunch of snow on top of the wire would be a nice option, but it is 63 right now and I would have everyone in town after me…
Has anyone had any similar issues with the fencing ? I am trying to figure out all options here.
The problem with a long bit of wire is that even if the device is only supposed to be working at 10.8kHz, if there are any unwanted frequencies or harmonics generated in the control unit then they have a long transmitter antenna available and get radiated quite widely. I’ve heard of electric fences for cows causing interference, so it’s quite possible that the device your neighbours are using might cause similar problems.
If they’re willing to help with a test, then getting them to shut it down (and disconnect it from the mains) is a very good test to do.
One other possibility with buried/outdoor wires is that corrosion at the joints can sometimes caused interference. You could check for that (and harmonics from the control unit) with an AM radio. If you hear interference on that and it gets louder as you get nearer to the wire then the system is radiating something that it probably shouldn’t be doing. This is a test you can do without your neighbour’s assistance (and with the unit turned on).
In case anyone gets the wrong idea, an electric fence puts hi voltage pulses (something like once a second) onto a bare wire that directly shocks the animal when it touches it. Fang’s fence send a low frequency signal that’s picked up by a receiver on the dog’s collar, and the collar then generates a high voltage pulse that shocks the dog, usually after a couple of warning beeps.
Aardvark should bear in mind that it’ll work well if Fang’s not a real aggressive dog, but many dogs have a very high pain threshold and will just blow straight by it when motivated by seeing Fifi on the other side, but then can’t get back home afterwards
the “sisters” claim it is shut off. Considering both are farm girls I am not going over to dispute that. I did get the updater from Davis and updated to the march 30 04 and I don’t see much difference. SO… I went out tonight ( the wife claims that is the only time I go out at night anymore :lol:) and removed the battery again from all the extra sensors and turned on dip switch 4 to drain the super cap . I am going on the assumption that the only thing that seemed to change was that I added the new 4 station soil moisture unit. I am guessing that I need to eliminate the signal from that unit. I wonder if although the ISS is on channel 1 and the moisture unit on channel 8, maybe the signals are canceling each other out. I also seem to find that the signal from the ISS doesn’t show up on my police scanner as a noise or anything.