During our club meeting which we hold at my house on Thursday evenings, my neighbour from across the road knocked on the door complaining that his caravan intruder alarm had gone off and he suspected that my transmission was the cause as him and his wife were sitting outside at the time and saw my antenna move. After a couple of quick tests we ascertained that is indeed it was my transmission on 20 m that was setting his caravan alarm off. I can't honestly say I've got a lot of time for this neighbour as he hasn't exactly done me any favours whilst I've been living here, quite the opposite actually. Anyway, I've been a radio ham for quite a long time now so I know that keeping your neighbours onside is always the best way to go.
The first thing I did was to get straight on the QRZ forum and get some advice from people who know what they're talking about. Everyone said the same thing, "not your problem mate" which was quite a relief I must say. What it boils down to is I am using some very sophisticated radio equipment and I'm operating it under the terms of my amateur radio licence. It just so happens that my neighbour has got an alarm fitted to his caravan that is malfunctioning, in other words it should not be falsely activating when I transmit. Now I don't know whether there is something wrong with it, it's been fitted incorrectly, or it's just plain rubbish, all I know is that I am not responsible for this continuous problem with his intruder alarm going off when I use my radio. The same goes for televisions, radios, any other equipment that may suffer from RF, if you're conforming to your licensing conditions and using equipment that is allocated for amateur radio use, then if one of your neighbours starts complaining that they are experiencing interference then you can inform them that this is not your fault and really, there's nothing more to be said. Having said this, none of us want to fall out with our neighbours so it's always advisable to cooperate with your neighbour and try and resolve the problem.
A friend of mine who has helped me before with interference problems passed on to me a very useful leaflet which is intended to give the proper advice to owners of security alarms. This is a very valuable piece of documentation that all radio amateurs should have in their possession, just in case you experience the same problems I have been having with my neighbour.
This document from the Radio Society of Great Britain is extremely helpful if you have been having trouble with radio frequency interference
http://www.g0vqy.co.uk/my-shack/radio-frequency-interference
