Cell tower interference?

by Rex Anderson in General Tech Discussion 8 years ago

Hello,
Does anyone know if it is conceivable that flying near an active cell tower could interfere with the ignition/modules, on a 912ULS? I had two incidents in the last week, occurring in the same location, where my engine was running normal for a good period of time, and as I got into the immediate vicinity of a cell tower, my engine would begin missing, lose power.......and I would wonder if I was going down. I made it back to strip both times, about 4 miles away from tower. Engine stabilizes on approach, and will run up on ground without missing a beat. Next flight, displays normal performance and power. Any thoughts? Thx

Re: Cell tower interference?

by Bill Hertzel » 8 years ago

Bill Hertzel

13 1.95k 7.98k

As a long time Cell Tower Technician, I can tell you that it is extremely unlikely.
As big as they are, the towers only output a few watts.
About 3 watts on average and 30 watts absolute MAX, which never happens.
Your phone can only muster enough power to get to a tower about 5 miles away on a good day.
It makes no sense to have towers that can transmit farther than the phones.
It is a two-way communication after all.
Towers continuously adjust power to match the incoming phone signals.

I have parked dozens of vehicles 50 feet or less from the transmitters.
And operated a multitude of sensitive electronic equipment withing the compounds of the towers.
The signal strength under the tower is strong enough to operate a phone with the batteries out.
OK, Not really, but you get the idea.

The areas at some sites meet the FCC Maximum Human RF Exposure Levels
and we would sometimes wear RF Field Intensity Alarms Devices attached to our clothes.

Bottom line, everything continued to work fine despite the strong RF.

You would have to be flying at Antenna Height and well withing 500 ft horizontally to get into any RF trouble.
As soon as you flew out of range, the problem should have disappeared if it was an RF event.

Look elsewhere for the problem.

Bill Hertzel
Rotax 912is
North Ridgeville, OH, USA
Clicking the "Thank You" is Always Appreciated by Everyone.

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Re: Cell tower interference?

by Roger Lee » 8 years ago

Roger Lee

128 5.28k 4.98k

No it won't. You may however get interference over the radio if close enough.

Roger Lee
LSRM-A & Rotax Instructor & Rotax IRC
Tucson, AZ Ryan Airfield (KRYN)
520-349-7056 Cell

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Cell tower interference?

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