Radio obsessive threatening to report us to Ofcom..?

[emmalinewre]

Hope this is ok to post here!
Got a knock on the door a few days ago from a man carrying a full sized aerial under his arm..
He said could he walk around the perimeter of my house with his radio frequency thing to check where some interference is coming from?

Turns out he’s a radio person (uses aerials and such to communicate with other radio fans, just a hobby but seemingly a rather serious one)

He said he’s been picking up lots of interference when trying to use his equipment and has tracked said interference down to our house..

He told me to turn some lights on and off and showed me on his screen thingy (?) how its an adapter we’ve put on our kitchen cabinet lights which is knocking out his frequency. Said we’d need to remove the adaptor else he’d have to report us to Ofcom as its a protected frequency, and also interefering with aeroplane signals or something?
Anyway, he’s the neighbour across the road so we did it and he hasn’t come back, so we assume the problems is fixed.

However. Is this reasonable?
He said the adaptor is probably Chinese imported fake CE marked and not legitimate which is why it has started to fail and mess with signals (we installed it six months ago and only now is there a problem)
But we bought it from a really quite high-end retailer - its not fake or dodgy.

Do we all just have to do whatever the local radio ham tells us to do, including removing perfectly legitimate and useful technology in our own homes?
We don’t really have that much of a problem with it - but it still feels a bit cheeky - and we do miss being able to control our kitchen lights remotely, as the rest of the house is set up that way.

Can ofcom really fine us for using a light switch?

Thanks!

Bemused, Cambridge

Such unkind comments about him being a fruit loop, nutjob etc. Would the same comments be made if it was a woman experiencing issues with, say, a baby monitor? There are strict laws about radio interference, and with very good reason.

Isn't it just about being a good neighbour and not doing something which annoys other people and is technically illegal even if you'll probably get away with?

(Also a slightly dodgy anti neuro-diverse undertone in the thread that "weird men" can safely be scoffed at and ignored.)

Honestly I'd just leave it as it is now. It seems mean to knowingly interfere with a hobby he's probably been doing for decades.
You could perhaps pop over and just ask if the issue is resolved now, because if it isn't it obviously wasn't you anyway!

We had it the other way around - moved into our house decades ago and then noticed the great big aerial in our neighbour’s garden. Didn’t cause any real problems to us except the radio in the kitchen was virtually unusable in the evenings, when I liked to have it in when cooking. The neighbour was a very reserved man on his 60s who had been the carer for his mothet for years. He turned out to be a ham radio/citizens radio enthusiast. He came around and listened to my radio, apologised and then adjusted something on his end and it was fine.

I didn’t begrudge him his hobby - now, he’d be online typing andkeeping in touch with a world outside his home. It was a sad story as his mother died, he finally had a freerer life and went out and about more then died very quickly of advanced cancer 😕

How do we know if he’s neuro diverse?

Have you asked him to advise on a suitable replacement and would he go halves on the cost ?

The spinelessness of people on MN never ceases to amaze me. OP I wouldn't even have opened the door to him. Keep using the switch and don't worry. He couldn't been a burglar for all you know casing your property and you happily let him
It's not Joe Public's job to be bothered with all this that's why electronic products sold have standards. If they're not met it's the retailer's fault.

@VeritableChestnut I'd have the exact same comments if it was a woman. But also, I highly doubt that one especially a mother would knock on a stranger's door and proceed to tell them about what they're doing wrong like that.

Strict laws should be enforced by the people paid to do so not vigilantes.

We don’t really have that much of a problem with it - but it still feels a bit cheeky - and we do miss being able to control our kitchen lights remotely, as the rest of the house is set up that way.

Turn it back on. If he complains again, tell him he can buy you a new one. If he won't, he can report you to whoever he likes.

The problem is that not only does this create a lot of extra work for the OP, why is the onus on HER to fix something that's causing him a problem?
Engaging with customer service is enough of a pain for actual faulty items.

Also how would OP know that anything new wouldn't cause the same issue?

If he was really friendly and cared that much he could have bought the replacement.

I hate people that think of themselves as so clever, coming up with problems then dumping the actual solving into someone else.... Can you tell?

I wouldn’t remove anything on the advice of a neighbour carrying a huge aerial, especially if I brought a legitimate item from a recognised company.

Have you googled the product to see if there’s any articles online reporting interference problems? I presume you brought the item to fix a specific product, which this item is designed for.

I’d be tempted to call his bluff regarding Ofcom. .

@PerkyPeachMaker

I suspect many mothers who became aware that a neighbour's equipment was interfering with their baby monitor would absolutely go barging over to demand an explanation. This man has a respectable, potentially useful hobby and, for whatever reason, something in OP's house appears to be generating an illegal signal which disrupts it. Apart from his manner, I struggle to see why the man is in the wrong here.

I am puzzled about why you need to control your kitchen lights remotely. Surely when you are in the kitchen and it is dark you can turn them on , when you leave the kitchen you can either leave them on and run up your own electricity bill, or remember to turn them off.

I use a lot of IoT (Internet of Things) devices in my home—they use radio frequencies (of which WiFi is one), so it's quite possible the one you're using on your kitchen lights is causing interference, depending on which frequency it uses.

You should be able to replace it with a device that uses a different frequency. Maybe get to know your neighbour and get him to explain more about frequencies—it's fascinating, and IoT is a lot of fun.

Oh dear, just turn your stuff back on and don’t let him in again.

He can report you to the Pearly king & Queen for all it matters lol

While I doubt very much that he can report you to anyone or that you were legally obliged to do anything about it I think you were very reasonable and kind to take on board what he said and resolve something in your home that was affecting his hobby rather than just telling him to fuck off or any of the other unpleasant suggestions on here.

I’d have enjoyed hearing about his hobby tbh!

There is an easy to find ofcom email address for him to use if he suspects the equipment is flawed

This. I get people can do what pleases them within the confines of the law but I'm truly baffled. 😁

"no, that's just our poltergeist"

My DH loves nothing more than an app controlled gadget and it gets right on my nerves.. tbh we annoy each other with them I’ll use the switch which messes up the app 🤣 I’d quite cheerfully throw the bloody things in the bin tbh!! 😩

Said we’d need to remove the adaptor else he’d have to report us to Ofcom as its a protected frequency, and also interefering with aeroplane signals or something?

You'd think there would be more plane crashes over your house in that case, OP.

God yes, my internet used to be significantly affected every Christmas because of dodgy tree light transformers. Fortunately more modern LED lights are not such a problem, but it can still happen with those big outdoor tree and house lights. We had to ask a neighbour to stop using theirs one year - to be fair, we were by no means the only ones in our street affected by it. It would start every evening the minute his lights went on!

Your neighbour is correct that you should not be causing interference on certain frequencies.

Electronic equipment (even equipment that is legit and CE marked on occasions) can interfere with radio signals and so he may well have a point. If it is interfering with radio spectrum you need to stop using it. He can report you to ofcom and they could come out and investigate. If they find your adapter is the issue they won't fine you but would expect you to stop using. I am not sure why people are being so I unkind about this man. He just wants to carry on doing a hobby and has asked op to stop using something that is (illegally) interfering with him doing that.

Wow, some neighbour you’d make. Only one person is breaking the law in this situation, and it’s not the ham radio enthusiast.

Some of the language on the first few posts on this thread ‘nut job, psychotic, rambling, fruit loop’ have really made me think that a lot of people are truly vile and incredibly selfish.