I have a Bluetooth clock radio that's about 8 years old, and for some reason, I'm hearing voices or noises from it when I'm downstairs. It seems like my neighbors are connecting to it, even though I don't have any upstairs or downstairs neighbors since I live in a townhouse. The wall where the radio is located is an exterior wall that faces six other units.
I'm wondering if I could use Faraday fabric, like Titan RF, to block their connection. Would putting a section of fabric on the wall be effective? If the clock is only a few inches from the wall, would a piece that's 1 square yard be sufficient?
8 Answers
I'm skeptical about it being Bluetooth interference. Maybe your radio is picking up signals from something else, like a baby monitor. Blocking RF signals can be tricky. You want to block out unwanted signals, but still get a clear sound from your radio. Have you thought about trying ferrite beads on the power cord?
A Faraday cage works best when it fully encloses the object, which would make it pretty inconvenient to use. Also, if the clock radio is cheap, it might not really filter out signals well anyway. It sounds like an intriguing puzzle to figure out.
For someone to connect via Bluetooth, they'd usually need to press the pairing button on the device first. It sounds more like a psychological issue than a tech one here. No offense!
I have a cheap one from China that just invites connections when it’s not paired. No password or anything. You can see this behavior with gadgets on transport too.
Just a heads up— a Faraday fabric will likely need to be grounded for effective blocking. Even then, you'll probably only get limited results against RF signals anyway.
Honestly, you might be better off just buying a new clock radio instead of trying to block this one. It's probably not worth the hassle!
How are you sure that they’re actually connecting? And why would they want to connect to it in the first place?
Look, it sounds to me like either your neighbors are playing a prank or you might be experiencing a phenomenon known as auditory pareidolia. A basic Bluetooth clock radio shouldn't even have the capability to broadcast voices. They would need to hack it and add components for that… which seems unlikely!
True, but a basic Bluetooth radio can connect to calls or audio streams. That could potentially lead to voices coming through unintentionally.
To really block connections, a Faraday cage needs to surround the device completely, which sounds like a hassle. If you share what model you have, we can check if it has a password option.
Have you experienced these voices when you're near the radio? That would be important to know.
That's not necessarily true. Some Bluetooth devices are in open pairing mode by default when not connected. I've seen that happen with several gadgets.