UKC

Don't know if anyone else has come across this or not. Ofcom have decided to make the use of static mobile signal repeaters legal in houses and in cars which will be welcome to those of us living in or travelling in rural areas. There's a few restrictions like the power is capped at 1 or 2 watts, the use of 2.6 Ghz is not included yet, you can only use a device that repeats one networks signal at a time and (I think I'm right in saying) that the device has to be capable of regulating it's power depending on signal strength so it does the minimum amount to hold signal. I expect this will mean that the cheaper repeaters available to buy today (but illegal to use) transmit at higher power over a range of networks frequencies will still be illegal to use and that the majority of legal repeaters will be supplied by existing network providers but I guess time will tell. I just want a massive arial on my roof that lets me use 4g in the highlands and makes me feel like i'm in 24.

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/107254/Repeaters-State...

In reply to Sharp:

as 4G can blot out Freeview signals presumably their use is limited to places where it does not cause this effect?

(We lost ourTV services for a week because of temporary radio controlled traffic lights nearby, so we know it happens)

In reply to wercat:

? Our 4g router sits on an upstairs window sill about 2-3m in a straight line from our tv aerial in the loft. Never been a issue. Is it if tv and 4g masts are too close together?

In reply to wercat:
I think the idea is that they repeat the signal in low signal areas to a level which would be adequate to hold a connection and no more. We're probably talking about much lower power than the traffic lights you had trouble with and probably lower than 4G signal in a good area but I'm not really sure. It will also be inside your house, while your tv antenna is on the roof. The approved in car boosters are to be low gain so presumably less likely to interfere with anything. I expect the versions we will be able to buy and use legally wont be a problem where as the high power illegal ones are and that's part of the reason they're giving us access to legal ones that they have approved.

A lot of 4G signal is still carried on 800Mhz though (I think especially in rural areas?) and that overlaps with the top end of the range allocated to tv (maybe?) so potentially if you set up a few 800Mhz repeaters right next to your arial then you could get it to interfere with channels that broadcast on the higher end of the tv range.

In reply to summo:
There's been some publicity given to the problem and I think there are plans to alleviate difficulties where official 4G rollout causes problems


My real problem is loss of access to HF spectrum caused by BT Superfast arriving in the village

In reply to wercat:

Interference will depend on which band its deployed on. Some of the newer 'digital dividend' bands at 700MHz are potentially interfering but its not likely repeaters will use this frequency, or routers for that matter.

In reply to wercat:

Done some digging, all tv has switched to 700 this autumn here and 4g is 800, 900, 1800 and 2600. Might explain why our combined router / transmitter/reciever doesn't impact the tv.

Can't be that hard to plan for the future and separate else where. Although in time I imagine old school transmitted tv may go and everything will be fibre or some level g.