MadSci Network: Computer Science |
It may be possible that your computer monitor is interfering with your pager, however, I believe this to be unlikely. Your problem is exasperated by the intermittent nature of the interference. In general, frequencies that are harmonics are the most likely to cause interference problems. For example, if you pager is operating at 400 MHz, then a close by device that has a frequency of 800 MHz, or 1200 MHz, etc. may cause a problem. Alternatively, your pager may be operating at a harmonic of some other device's frequency (i.e., another device that is operating at 200 MHz). Either of these situations can cause interference. A second cause of interference is due to close-by, or adjacent frequencies. Sometimes, devices that have a frequency that is close to another device's frequency will cause interference. For example, a pager may operate over, say, the frequency range of 400 MHz - 410 MHz. Another electronic device may be operating from, say, 390 MHz - 399 MHz, or from 410 - MHz to 415 MHz. Either of these two devices may cause interference; especially, if they have a stronger signal. Sources of interference are usually hard to identify. When the interference is intermittent, finding the source is much harder. I would expect your computer to be a better candidate as the source of interference than your monitor. I do not know what frequency your pager receives on, but I would guess that it is somewhere between 300 MHz and 800 MHz (it could be higher than 800 MHz, but not likely to be less than 300 MHz). Therefore, your computer's CPU may be operating near your pager's frequency, or at a harmonic. If you find the source of interference, there may not be a practical solution to eliminate it. If both devices (i.e., the interfering device and your pager) are operating within their specifications, then the only solutions are to shield one or both devices, or increase the distance between the devices, or do both.
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