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

Details of how to report to Ofcom: here

They are concerned about any interference not just with certain bands such as those reserved for aviation use.

I agree. I think it's actually very unkind to label him as crazy. He's a man with an uncommon, very niche interest; an interest that has made modern day life much more advanced.

I think it's ok if you ignore and live your life. But absolutely not ok for some of these posters to be making out like he's an oddball. It's really nasty.

I never said NOBODY can report ANYBODY to ofcom! 😆 I said he can’t just for a kitchen cabinet light adapter! I mean he could but they’d just laugh at him.

How do you know what Ofcom would do? You’re just spouting an opinion. The neighbour has the law on his side. As usual on here, because it involves a man and his hobby, he must be in the wrong.

I will happily give my head a shake if you can tell me when I mentioned aviation signals.

You could simply visit the Ofcom website and read the guidance and discover that the neighbour could certainly get them involved in this situation. With your aviation expertise I am sure you'll understand the science. People have posted the link to help you.

Perhaps you can provide a post explaing the wavelengths of all the different the channels of the different types of communication signals to help everyone here

You've been too obliging to this man.
I wouldn't have let him in.
No you can't be reported, the amount of these around the UK and he said yours can interfere with plane signals.
Avoid him, if he asks again, say No your busy, close door.
Put your lights back, it's your home, he's using plugs and adaptors for his radios.
I'd actually be thinking of getting a singal blocker, as I'd be paranoid he'd be listening to me or my phone.

Let’s take this a step back - you let this person into your house to do a bit of a walk around and then to tell you what do in your own house.

Is this something you regularly do ?

Id get an electrician in to check your sockets and appliances.

Yes, OP can be reported if they're generating interference on a reserved band. It doesn't matter whose home it is.
Signal blockers are strictly illegal.
No, he can't listen to OP on her mobile phone, because calls are encrypted.