Investigating QRM from Powerline Ethernet Devices with a Funcube Dongle

January 11, 2016

Over on his blog Andrew has created a good writeup where he determines the QRM (interference) effects of a PLT (power line transmission) device. PLTs are also known as ethernet/internet over powerline devices and they are devices that plug into an electricity socket and use household electricity wires to create a computer network, thus eliminating the need for ethernet cables or WiFi. However, many hams and radio hobbyists hate these devices because they believe that they can cause significant amount of radio interference, especially on HF.

In his investigation Andrew bought a pair of Netgear Powerline 500 PLTs. He then plugged the PLTs in and started streaming a movie over the powerline network connection to cause maximum radiation. Then using his Funcube dongle and SDR# he investigated ham bands to see if these devices brought any noise.

In his results Andrew writes that he barely saw any interference caused by these devices. Some interference was noticed at 17 meters and 12 meters, but he notes that the amateur portion was left relatively unaffected. Many hams believe these devices can completely wipe out HF, but it seems that this is untrue, at least for this particular PLT model.

Netgear PLT devicesNetgear PLT devices

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Investigating QRM from Powerline Ethernet Devices with a Funcube Dongle