Sorry.....But I am sick to death with the problems on my line.

[#1]

I met my nemesis head on today and 'locked horns' metaphorically.....but alas he won again......but I did hear him talk!
See attatched RSL graph. My connection had a really long 'event' today, it lasted for approxinmately 50 minutes between approx 1336hrs and 1426hrs.
For the first time I actually was at my pc when the SNRM made its first sudden drop into an 'event'.......as observed in real time on my open RSL program (hmmm has it's worth then ;)). I got my pocket tranny out and heard my demon talking!!!!
My MW radio starts its frequency at 530khz. Between 530khz and 800khz I could hear a regular pulse (approximately 2 regular pulses a second). It was most pronounced, clearest and loudest around the 600khz area. General white noise couls be heard as a constant but with this regular pulsing.
I went around the house, every room, turning things on and off.......but the pulsing remained. I went outside and walked around for a bit and the pulsing was as clear as a bell out in the garden too. I then put my tranny to where the  BT cable comes into the house and it appeared to actually be strong around the BT cable itself....may have just been coincidence...dunno.
At approx 1426 the pulsing suddenly stopped....it did not wind down or fade away it just suddenly stopped....which once again is exactly as it shows (as it always does) on the RSL plotting.
Does my observations made today help at all?
Alex

[#2]

Here's a suggestion: next time it happens unplug the router from the telephone (do a disconnect first!) and see if the pulsing continues. If it does power down the PC and turn off your house mains at the distribution board. If it still continues you've proved it's nothing in your house.

[#3]

Jelv......fantastic idea.....did not think of this.
Thanks

[#4]

Very effective way to check but do remember that electric clocks and devices with an internal clock are likely to need resetting after you turn the power back on.

[#5]

Well done Alex, now you are onto something. Yes your observations certainly help. And the fact that you got a good signal out in the garden should make tracking a bit easier. Try and find the point in the garden and direction for the strongest signal before doing jelv's suggestion (which is a quick way of eliminating everything in the house), the reason will become obvious as you read on.
When you know where you can get the strongest signal outside (and try tuning the radio as well) then back to the modem/router - do a disconnect as jelv said, and one point - power it down, before unplugging from the line. (That will make RSL very happy (not) by the way so don't get confused).
Now if at any stage during this part, the noise appears to stop, check next to the phone line, check outside where it was strongest, and check next to the phone line where it's before the RF3 filter, if you have one (still? - I vaguely recall you had one fitted). no matter if you haven't.. If you can still detect it outside, that helps, then carry on with what jelv suggested - ie. power down your PC first and unplug it, then go and switch off the house and check again. BUT If you cannot detect it at all, there is liitle point in turning the house off as it's not in the house (or it's actually stopped).
If this was the case, you could plug the modem/router back into the line but NOT power it up yet. See if the noise is detectable again. If not, I'd now wait until an hour after it originally started before powering up again because historically, it has stopped in under an hour. If you sync whilst the source is still present, as you know you'll get a slower sync speed.
You may be thinking well if it's gone much less/or away after I powered down the modem/router then it must be that, well yes&no. It's more likely that it's because of how the modem/router is/has to behave to respond to interference coming down the line. The cause of the gradual downward trend in the margin when the noise appears has yet to be discovered, I'm not ruling out that it may be the way the modem/router is responding, as I've seen another 582n respond with an SNRM that looked a bit like waves on the sea when subject to one source of interference.
What it means is, it could make life a bit more sticky trying to track the source if it's coming down the line. If this seems to be the case, I think the next time it appeared, I'd be heading for the Cab, to see how strong it was there, noting any increase or decrease in strength on route.
If you find all that a lot to take in, drop me a PM with any bits you find confusing.
Edit: Clarification of power down.

[#6]

Isn't the advised frequency for thesting something like 612?kHz?

[#7]

Quote from: lucerne

Isn't the advised frequency for thesting something like 612?kHz?

I do not know the justification for that figure but have seen it quoted before - probably a multiple of the ADSL signals basic frequency or frequency step size or somesuch. However, very few transistor radios have accurate enough calibration to mean much aroung 600kHz. Also, its probably more important to match the frequency of the interference rather than the frequency at which the ADSL is most susceptible. And the interference could be on any frequency somewhere around  600kHz.
One of the things BT try to do is identify the actual frequency of the interference - it gives them clues about the type of source apparently - and their equivalent of a transistor radio is digitally tuned.
@Alex. Have you tried walking along your road to see if the signal is even loader outside someone elses house? - Or if you have a U shaped street, up the road behind your house. Don't be fooled if it starts to get quieter as you walk  - keep going a little way to make sure it does not come back again. In my case the interference was mostly on the electrical wiring which goes into all the estate houses on the right hand side. As I went from one house to another, the signal would fade as I passed the left hand side of each house and then peak again as I reached the right hand side with its electrical wiring. If you are lucky, you get a really load signal outside one particular house - preferably one where a friend lives - you knock on the door and get them to do some powering down and lo and behold the problem is solved. If only!

[#8]

612kHz is what I've always understood but anything around there that isn't 'interfered with' by any radio stations (it MUST be 'off-tune') will likely work just fine.

[#9]

There is no advised frequency. 600KHz or there abouts is often mentioned because there is no strong radio stations around there and as w23 has mentioned you must be off tune of a radio station so you get clean reception of the "interference" signal. You should tune up or down until you get the interference at it's strongest. The other reason 600 KHz is mentioned is it's pretty much the middle of the band for ADSL1.
Also Alex, if you are holding your radio as though it were just sat on the table and you rotate it round through N,E,S,W there will be a direction where the signal nulls. The direction is along the "line" of the radio (not perpendicular to it) but you don't know which of the two "ends" the direction is. This is why you then go to another spot and do it again. In theory you go to a third point and repeat it. This is called "triangulation" and where each of the 3 lines cross is the source of the signal. Not quite so easy in practice 

[#10]

Quote

The direction is along the "line" of the radio

. Not sure what that means. Is it from left to right of its cabinet?

[#11]

Yes, but could equally be right to left.

[#12]

I'm sure Alex will ask if he's confused. Different people would describe things slightly differently, depending on their point of view.
Consider the typical portable radio sitting on a table with the loudspeaker in the front of it and facing you. Just using any typical sizes for an example, you could describe the size of the radio by saying it was 4" tall or high, 1½" thick and 7" long or wide. The "line" of it in this case is along the width/length.

[#13]

Quote from: w23

..... could equally be right to left.

But that depends on whether one's shoes are on correct feet. Mine are so worn the markings have come off.
It was a stupid question, but with tecchie things one just doesn't know.

[#14]

I won't make the usual specsavers remark 

[#15]

Yesterdays 'event'.......twas a massive one....lasting between 1400 and 1504 hours......