Microblog Memes

Like, you can add frequency-hopping-spread-spectrum stuff, but that isn't a magic wand; I means that yeah, maybe the FHSS device is more-resistant to interference on any one frequency, but it also means that it's edging into more spectrum space.

And the problem is if the only way you can reliably get a signal through is by ramming the power up, that creates bad incentives.

I used to have a Logitech gamepad (an F710) that ran using a proprietary 2.4 GHz wireless protocol. Used it happily for years, I can't comfortably use it now, because, over the past several years, some devices has shown up that eeevery now and then disrupts the connection briefly. And that's with the receiver's antenna and the transmitter's antenna just a few feet away, with a clear line of sight. Bluetooth gamepads still work okay; I believe that the protocol has got more reliability built into it.

Now, okay, gamepads are maybe a worst-case scenario. They have hard real-time constrants; you really notice it in the middle of a fast-paced video game if your gamepad stops responding. Just delaying and retransmitting is problematic. Something like, say, a baby monitor briefly dropping out doesn't matter so much.

But by the same token, they're also the canary in the coal mine.

I have wondered if the end game is going to have to be taking the really high bandwidth things, stuff like WiFi, and shifting it to requiring line-of-sight and a mechanically-aimed laser or something like that.

I try to make sure that the microwaves in the house have good isolation, for safety and communication integrity,

Hmm. How do you do that? Like, go to a brick-and-mortar-store that has plugged-in microwaves with a some kind of spectrum analyzer? Just keep buying microwaves until you find one that you like?

I haven't paid attention to microwaves, but I have been a little concerned about what LED bulb power supplies do; they're apparently a rather significant and growing source of noise as everyone is replacing their (silent) incandescent bulbs with LED bulbs. I've actively tried to find low-RF-emission bulbs, and it's a pain.

As I understand it, the basic problem is a combination of the facts that:

• They are using a hefty amount of juice.

• The power line is unshielded, and so can act as an antenna as a PWM power supply flips on and off.

• Lamps designed for incandescent A19 bulbs, were never designed with LEDs in mind, so the LED's power supply isn't built into the lamp; instead, you have to put a small, high-power power supply where users are very price-sensitive in a very small space: inside the bulb.

Even if there were a low-RF-emission rating, which there isn't, it's not as if someone can do something about other people using them.

I suppose that in the long term, this problem will probably slowly solve itself if people just wind up moving in the direction of lamps designed specifically for LEDs (usually with non-removable LEDs); maybe lamp-integrated power supplies will perform better. But even an LED bulb will hopefully last a long time, not to mention a lamp. So that's not happening any time soon.