XL-1 RF Issue with Police Cars Resolved

Jack Smith · July 10th, 2007, 08:59 PM

Are you putting the camera anywhere near the radar units output?
I don't know how powerful the microwaves of a cruiser are, but a fighter jet's radar is turned off before taxiing cuz it'll cook a turkey from 10 feet.

Glenn Davidson · July 10th, 2007, 10:12 PM

Could be related to the department's Computer Aided Dispatch system. It would be interesting to setup a portable spectrum analyzer and watch for packets of data and see if they relate to the RF interference on the camera.

James Emory · July 11th, 2007, 04:27 PM

Don't video cameras use a crystal to maintain accurate timecode? I bet whatever it is that's causing this is pinging that crystal. I wonder if I used a DTE tapeless drive if there would still be a problem because there would be no physical contact and alignment issues like with tape. But maybe there would be with timecode because it and the crystal are electronic. If a DTE drive is the fix, then I can get ALL of my cameras back on-line and forget about tape!

July 10th, 2007, 08:59 PM	#16
Jack Smith Major Player Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: ontario Posts: 445	Are you putting the camera anywhere near the radar units output? I don't know how powerful the microwaves of a cruiser are, but a fighter jet's radar is turned off before taxiing cuz it'll cook a turkey from 10 feet.

July 10th, 2007, 10:12 PM	#17
Glenn Davidson Major Player Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Nevada City, California Posts: 499	Could be related to the department's Computer Aided Dispatch system. It would be interesting to setup a portable spectrum analyzer and watch for packets of data and see if they relate to the RF interference on the camera.

July 11th, 2007, 04:27 PM	#18
James Emory Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Atlanta, Georgia Posts: 1,892	Don't video cameras use a crystal to maintain accurate timecode? I bet whatever it is that's causing this is pinging that crystal. I wonder if I used a DTE tapeless drive if there would still be a problem because there would be no physical contact and alignment issues like with tape. But maybe there would be with timecode because it and the crystal are electronic. If a DTE drive is the fix, then I can get ALL of my cameras back on-line and forget about tape!