Marine ch00 QRM

[deadite66]

Has anyone else picked this up?

its like someone has a terrible mp3 to rf transmitter in their car or something playing pants R&B music.
doesn't stay for long though fades out like they are moving away.

[paulears]

Look very local to you. 156.0 is probably one of the worst frequencies for low power interference from power supplies. The cheap unfiltered switch mode psus are a killer! My internet router was replaced my talktalk and shut down channel 0 in my office, until i found it and put the old power supply back. My journey to the office in my van is a noisy one. Three houses i pass in walking speed traffic have enormous amounts of noise, and one does have music quietly in the background. Probably plugged into a powered speaker. Knock on doors within 25m if the neighbours are friendly. If the interference has only just started, i bet one has had a recent delivery.

[deadite66]

it's been going on for a month now, thankfully it's brief and only every few days or so.

[paulears]

if you have a portable have a wander, one way it vanishes, other way it gets stronger. should be fairly easy to find.

[Agent 48]

With all the noise appearing on VHF/UHF frequencies, its only going to get worse in the next 20 years or so until Marine Band will have to go digital. Its happening all over the place. In my area 433 MHz 70CM simplex band has become totally unusable because of pulsing noise covering almost all the simplex 70CM frequencies especially on 433.500. The bands will be filled with noise in the not so distant future and all services will be forced to migrate to DMR or other digital or network communications.

[DuncanM]

With all the noise appearing on VHF/UHF frequencies, its only going to get worse in the next 20 years or so until Marine Band will have to go digital. Its happening all over the place. In my area 433 MHz 70CM simplex band has become totally unusable because of pulsing noise covering almost all the simplex 70CM frequencies especially on 433.500. The bands will be filled with noise in the not so distant future and all services will be forced to migrate to DMR or other digital or network communications.

Marine band will never go digital. It's worldwide. I have multiple radios, my laptop and my television in close proximity to each other, no interference on marine frequencies. Filters are available.

[Agent 48]

With all the noise appearing on VHF/UHF frequencies, its only going to get worse in the next 20 years or so until Marine Band will have to go digital. Its happening all over the place. In my area 433 MHz 70CM simplex band has become totally unusable because of pulsing noise covering almost all the simplex 70CM frequencies especially on 433.500. The bands will be filled with noise in the not so distant future and all services will be forced to migrate to DMR or other digital or network communications.

Marine band will never go digital. It's worldwide. I have multiple radios, my laptop and my television in close proximity to each other, no interference on marine frequencies. Filters are available.

At the moment there are no plans for Marine Band going digital but there will be at some point in the future... I reckon within the next 20 years if not sooner. It will take time because it is a worldwide system, either that or it will become some kinda phone app or other network type of comms or something.

[DuncanM]

Just because one person has a dodgy set up doesn't mean the world has to change to suit. You can get noise through having a flat screen television, cheap power supplies etc. I have a Realistic 2402 with an Anytone 878 and a Uniden 3500 sitting on top of it and a laptop beside them and no noise. What you have in your home is inferior to what the Coastguard etc use. Channel 0 (156.000) I keep reading has interference, but the Coastguard still use it because they can't hear any.

[deadite66]

Thankfully that QRM has disappeared a while back.

Though the CG seems far more aware that many more people can listen (Baofeng) into them now and what info they pass isn't as interesting as it once was.

i used to run rtl_airband with a marine dipole 24/7 but gave up on it a few years back.

[paulears]

Its not scanner/radio users they worry about, its GDPR. They are simply careful about what they say. They no longer chat, everything is 100% business.

To a degree, marine is like aviation. You tinker with it, but as safety is the key, you cannot make changes globally. The current aviation system is horrible. 8.33KHz in Europe and not in America, yet AM is unchanged. The change cost every general aviation pilot lots of money for a new aircraft radio and many have a handheld as backup. Its argued that aviation costs are higher so their radio swap was affordable. Marine users (certainly in the UK) can buy radios quite cheaply, and yet many do not take the RYC exam, and it is under £100, and the OFCOM licence is free. I am constantly getting asked to repair ancient radios. Inside, everything is oxidised when seals went brittle and salty air got in. How much is your cheapest new one? £150 for a 12v one or £70 for a handheld. They always say “have you got any second hand ones?” The other day a guy in the office pointed to my own one in the rack. How much is that? It was a second hand one with a faulty back light. I pointed out it didnt light up. I use it scanning channels that are active locally. He bought it for £75 happily!

Changing do digital would need huge investment and also running the old system in parallel for years. Coastguard dont want this nor the users.