If you compare your dates/times to the calendar here: https://www.rsgbcc.org/hf/ and see if they correspond (particularly 80m). If they do you probably want to see if there is a local amateur radio operator. I can help you with this if needed.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

Hmmmmmm .... reading your last post, I’m doubting REIN now. And if it is, you’ll be very lucky to locate it.

oh dear . Your ideas are much appreciated though. I will give the MW radio a go. Is MW labelled as AM on some radios?

I do notice that there a lots of WiFi networks visible where I live. When upstairs some of the other networks appear to be more powerful than my own network even though the houses are all detached and spaced apart so i'd have expected mine to be more powerful.

The reason I was thinking interference from other sources than just Wifi was due to the issues I was getting with Evohome which is totally different frequency - but still struggling with the same comms issues my wifi is.

Sorry for the ramblings.

Cheers for this. I'll keep a track of them dates and if I see drops in performance & power.

Last night started @ around 7:30pm and I can see on their website they have
Mon 4 May.
1900-2030
80m CC SSB
100W-A 10W-A

For reference. Would I expect to see large vertical aerials on peoples houses / sheds if they were radio enthusiasts? A couple of streets away is someone with an antenna. I think they might have something to do with taxi radio comms.

In my previous house around the corner I used to get a similar issue (of stuck websites / videos randomly stopping) on Virgin Media, however just assumed this was the router being useless. This also used to happen later in the night coming to think of it but nowhere near as common as it is here. There was only one or two other wifi networks visible at that property too.

Additionally. I had Virgin Media here too and also saw large speed drops around the house even though signal on device remained strong.

Edited by gary333 (Tue 05-May-20 12:53:44)

In reply to a post by gary333:

I do notice that there a lots of WiFi networks visible where I live. When upstairs some of the other networks appear to be more powerful than my own network even though the houses are all detached and spaced apart so i'd have expected mine to be more powerful.

Yes, different makes of router can achieve more transmission, depending on the design. Most of the ISP provided routers are quite cheap, some of the third party ones can achieve more.

I live in a block of flats where 2.4 GHz WiFi is unusable due to the volume of people using it. Before lockdown it was okay, as most people were not at home - you could see network names, but they were not in use. Now they are in use, throughput on my 2.4 GHz has dropped to 50 Mbps with lots of stalling. On 5 GHz there is a lot less range, so I can get coverage of my flat, and I mostly get the full 200 Mbps of my connection.

I have Hive which also uses the Zigbe system, and I've not had any problems with that. If you have interference across all those bands, it make me wonder if you are a) near an airport, or b) near anything military? Wide band RF interference is very rare and you may need a guru, or talk to Ofcom ??

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by gary333:

I do notice that there a lots of WiFi networks visible where I live. When upstairs some of the other networks appear to be more powerful than my own network even though the houses are all detached and spaced apart so i'd have expected mine to be more powerful.

Yes, different makes of router can achieve more transmission, depending on the design. Most of the ISP provided routers are quite cheap, some of the third party ones can achieve more.

I live in a block of flats where 2.4 GHz WiFi is unusable due to the volume of people using it. Before lockdown it was okay, as most people were not at home - you could see network names, but they were not in use. Now they are in use, throughput on my 2.4 GHz has dropped to 50 Mbps with lots of stalling. On 5 GHz there is a lot less range, so I can get coverage of my flat, and I mostly get the full 200 Mbps of my connection.

I have Hive which also uses the Zigbe system, and I've not had any problems with that. If you have interference across all those bands, it make me wonder if you are a) near an airport, or b) near anything military? Wide band RF interference is very rare and you may need a guru, or talk to Ofcom ??

I am just over 13km immediately west from Doncaster Airport. Not aware of anything military that's still in use close by - but you never know I suppose. The flight paths used to push planes over our house years ago, however the flight paths got changed many years ago before the airport ramped up in demand. Very occasionally we do see a plane climbing from the front of the house. Airport (or at least it's estate) I think does still have some RAF presence.

Edited by gary333 (Tue 05-May-20 13:34:17)

Post deleted by gary333

Edited by gary333 (Tue 05-May-20 13:24:49)

I've given Ofcom spectrum helpline a ring for assistance. They have said unfortunately all the frequencies I have mentioned are unregulated, so they could not do anything.

I asked about devices they could recommend that might be able to help me track the cause down. They have advised something called an RSP1 or software defined radio to be able to start this process.

They mentioned it could well be anything power related (and they said they've had weird and wonderful), so as per one of the comments above I'm going to have to try wiring up the boiler and the router to a battery somehow if I want to work out if it's generated by me or external.

I'll give the cheapest option a whirl first, (the MW radio) and if nothing there looks like I need to dip in to my pocket and get some form of analyser.

Edited by gary333 (Tue 05-May-20 13:57:30)

D'oh!

Same applies to many modems/routers though. My Vigor 130 has a 12V DC input.

The size and shape of the antenna vary a lot, but tall vertical ones are often used - i'm talking about 40+ feet tall. The short 6 ft white ones are different frequencies which tend not to muck anything up apart from sometime remote car locking.
A good rule of thumb is if that it doesn't look normal, its some form of amateur radio, or other radio transmitter

The SDR they are talking about are the very cheap RTL tv dongles paired with some software such as sdr-sharp