Interference Report

March 22, 2000

My name is Jake Gier, N7VIV.  The following is a factual log of a recent interference problem in Boise, Idaho.  I located the signal using standard DF'ing procedures.

CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO VIEW FULL SIZED.

On March 20, 2000, a carrier appeared on 147.000 MHz at or about 9:00 to 9:15 P.M. MST in Boise, Idaho.   This particular frequency is the repeater frequency for Mt. Harrison repeater located 200 miles SE of Boise.  But the signal wasn't coming from Mt. Harrison.  

It was a low power signal coming from Boise, Idaho.  I located the signal coming from a house at 3691 N. Jullion St., Boise, ID 83704.  AC7BF, came at my request and also DF'd the transmitter to make sure I was correct on the location.  There wasn't anyone home so I went home and did some searching on the internet.  There isn't a ham license registered at that address.  I then went and searched the Ada County tax records for that property.  This gave me the name of the registered owner of the property.  I then located some recent real-estate listings for this property.  The real-estate listings listed the property owners work phone #.  Armed with this phone # I called and asked for Ben, the owner of the property.  I introduced myself to Ben and asked, "had he recently got an amateur radio license."  He told me,  "no do I need one?"  I then explained to him that I had tracked a radio signal and it appeared to be coming from his residence.  I asked him if maybe he had recently got a new piece of electronic equipment that might possibly be transmitting accidentally in the amateur bands?  He said the only thing he had, was a cordless phone but he didn't have a radio.  I mentioned the antenna I could see up on top of the patio roof.  He said that was the antenna for the cordless phone.  He said it was a "NOKIA" and it had a five ( 5 ) mile range.  I had never heard of a cordless phone with a five ( 5 ) mile range.  Ben invited me to his home that evening at 9:00 P.M. MST to look at the cordless phone and check it out.  I accepted.  

Well as it turned out the cordless phone was indeed transmitting in the two ( 2 ) meter band.  Myself, N7VIV and KB7SYC both had our frequency counters with us when we showed up to look at the cordless phone.  The cordless phone was transmitting a constant signal on 147.003 MHz. according to the frequency counters.  We asked if we could unplug the base unit to check it out.  When we did the signal disappeared on 147.003 MHz.  Notice in the pictures that the plug in is one of those built for foreign countries.  They had it plugged into a Radio Shack power adapter.  It had been in constant transmit for twenty four (24) hours.  The base unit was cool to the touch and didn't have a visible fan.  Over the twenty four (24) hour transmit period the signal kept coming up as though it was gaining in power output.  W7ZRQ could receive it anywhere in the Boise area.  KB7SYC could receive it twenty (20) miles to the west near the Caldwell, ID airport.  

Heather, the lady of the house explained that they had bought this phone off of "ebay".  She was upset at the sellers for not telling them that this unit was illegal in the United States.  She also explained that they had $300.00 per month cellular bills until they bought this cordless phone.  That's what interested their friends.  So we may see more of these in the Boise area.  Heather said they paid about $1000.00 for this unit.

As you can see from the pictures this unit doesn't have any stickers on it showing FCC approval.  

Lately here in Boise we have been having problems with carriers on our local repeaters.  When I was DF'ing this signal I talked with Larry Smith, W7ZRQ, about this particular situation.  Larry is the local frequency coordinator.  Also he is an engineer at a local TV station.  He has a great amount of knowledge which I wanted to draw upon.  After I discovered this transmitter, Larry came up with a theory.  He thinks that maybe this unit is built like a trunking system.  And that would explain why we have been getting carriers on a lot of local frequencies.  We are still negotiating with the people to see if we can buy the unit or possibly trade with them.  That way we can get the unit to do some testing into a dummy load of course.  

Larry also said there had been an article in a past "QST" magazine about these units being built in foreign countries.  And there was a warning about them appearing in the US. 

Also the owners of this unit told us that they had a lot of friends that wanted to buy these units.  We may not have seen the last of this yet.  And here is the reason.  Ben & his wife Heather own a pawn shop.  They told us they sell a lot of CB's and assorted electronics.  This may be the way these units are being imported.  I don't know for sure.  But keep your eyes and ears open.  Please send any information you have about this problem.

Here is the information on these people:

Ben & Heather Motamedi
3691 N. Jullion St.
Boise, ID 83704
Home Phone: 208-322-6030

Owners of:

State Street Pawn, Inc.
4590 W. State St.
Boise, ID 83703-4467
Business Phone: 208-343-3262

Here is a site that advertises Cordless Phones with a range of up to 100 Km.

All photos are courtesy of KB7SYC.