Presumed RF Interference

Sun Mar 5 23:53:08 UTC 2006

Jon R. Kibler wrote:
> Greetings:

[snippage]

> Given what I have described, would you think this is an RF interference problem?

No.  Many of the devices mentioned are not particularly RF sensitive. 
Those that are will recover when removed from the interference source 
unless you're talking about levels that are harmful to humans.   A 
*PATCH PANEL* ???  Short of putting it inside a microwave oven, I can't 
think of a means of damaging it with RF, particularly from any distance. 
  Google "Inverse square law".  If you turn the switch off and the 
fluorescent lights stay on, then you indeed might want to look into RFI.

> RF problem or not, how would you track down this problem? 

I'm 99.9% sure you have a grounding problem.  Verify that your power and 
equipment grounds have no significant potential difference.  Likewise 
your telco ground, and the metal building itself.  Is the entire 
building fed from a single electric meter?

> We are to the point of bringing in a consulting EE, but I am not sure that 
 > most would be equipped to solve this problem; so, what should we look for
 > in a potential consulting engineer?

NEC grounding specification compliance, some who knows the difference 
between a groundED and a groundING conductor and is familiar with static 
and lightning protection issues.

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Jay Hennigan - CCIE #7880 - Network Administration - jay at west.net
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