New Grower check your ballast!

[illbethere]

Don't know if any body knows/has seen this but might be an issue for some people?

http://www.policeone.com/drug-inter...How-cops-are-catching-grow-ops-with-AM-radios

 

[BRICH999]

Yikes!

 

[Waximus]

Don't know if any body knows/has seen this but might be an issue for some people?

http://www.policeone.com/drug-inter...How-cops-are-catching-grow-ops-with-AM-radios

Hi illbethere We've had a post or two on this, before, and its a possibility. I know that my Thunder ballast makes AM radio interference from 50 yards away, so the ballast definitely can cause RF interference. After I first noticed it (I'm a medical/legal grower, so it was more from curiousity in my case) I went down 2 "camp roads" near my place, and I think I know of at least 3 other grows... lolol
That said, there are a bunch of other devices that can cause the same RF interference, so I'd hope a cop had a better line on approaching a house than "you were making Glen Beck's show squelch out"... lololol
I've also heard-never tried it- that you can put a foil/copper wrapped box over your ballast (SAFETY.. Don't smother the thing, it'll catch fire!!) and that can eliminate the RF interference.
Great post!!:Sharing One:

 

[Gone Camping]

I'v caught mention of something about this recently.. gonna have to tune the radio to am and see whats going on.

Hoping my Lumatek is of higher quality and not an issue. Perhaps an older magnetic ballast would be advisable.. but i dont see Hammy antena's around the neighborhood.

 

[Waximus]

Those comments, at the end of the article, are a NarcoPhobic tour de Force.... What a bunch of brainwashed automatons.......

 

[1guy1plant]

I came across a similar article last year when I was researching my first grow. It was one of the reasons that I went LED. In that article the problem growers were having was that the ballast would interfere with theirs and their neighbor's cable TV reception. I am not very technical but evidently the neighbors would report problem and the cable company has the ability to figure out it is RF interference and triangulate it. Then the cable company, with a cop sitting in your drive way, knocks on your door and asks if you have any devices that could be causing a problem.

I don't think this is super prevalent but it does happen. I started looking for magnetic ballasts and ended up going LED but I am only growing a few plants and understand that HID are more cost effective in the larger grows. It is a sucky issue because it is hard to know if your ballast is a problem until after you purchase it.