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Recording and cellphone interference

Subject: Recording and cellphone interference
From: "William Ruscher Jr." immonacan99
Date: Mon Oct 13, 2008 12:02 pm ((PDT))
I thought I would pass my past weekend experience along to the group,
as I don't remember this being discussed on the group in the past.
We were camping in state forest land at the the end of a large (dead
end) dirt road circle ,that looked like it could have been used by
local youths for after hours gatherings. We really liked the area
(great scenery!) and decided to pull the vehicle well off the circle
road and camp further back in the forest. After midnight, and the two
of us already in our tents, 4 car fulls of youths Did show up looking
for a "keg" party, and thought that We were it. Several of them must
have smelled our campfire smoke and seen my vehicle... and boldly
walked right into our camp. My partner was pitched closer to the camp
and confronted them, while I was further back in the woods listening,
and watching his back. After some words, they eventually left. We
decided to keep our cellphones on, to text each other for
communications, should the youths decide to return, as they threatened
that they might, but never did. Being public land, they had every
right to do so, but just not in the same spot that we had chosen to
camp in...but that is another topic for another group.
So, that is the explaination why my cellphone was left on, as we were
a bit rattled by the encounter, but with no real harm done.
I had my rig (Fostex FR2-LE with Sony ECM55b mics)set up with the
recording levels already adjusted , and turned on the recorder
(unmonitored)in the tent when things finally got quiet and I stared
hearing nocturnal sounds.
Bottom line for this post.... having my cellphone on in the tent
ruined almost 45 minutes of a very interesting recording.  Barred
Owls, a family of Raccoons that were frolicking around my tent and
vocalizing, and some fairly loud night flight chirps of migrants
passing overhead in the moonlight.....all had a constant ticking sound
(like putting your ear to a wrist watch) and noisy static surges (like
an out of tune radio )from the cellphone interference.
I finally put on the headphones to monitor the recording and realized
the problem, that cleared up as soon as a turned off my cellphone.
Fortunately, the rest of the recordings were ok, but with not as many
interesting sounds, all at once. I don't believe there is any way to
filter this out of the recording, with software.
I don't really know the technical whys, and detailed causes of this
interference, but have also noticed it in the car radio sometimes,
when a cellphone is present. I have also serviced trouble calls on PA
systems on the job, that I could not find any problems in the
equipment, but was able to duplicate the problem with my cellphone
(Morse Code like noise, ticks and sound surges).
Hope this story will serve as a reminder to keep your cellphones off,
while recording, if staying near your rig setup.

Regards,

           Bill





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