RAF Fylingdales and Smart Meters
 

Not sure if this is military or Jet Blast material. The Daily Telegraph are running a story that "hundreds" of houses near Fylingdales cannot have conventional smart meters fitted because they interfere with the radar. Given the location of the phased array and the distance to the nearest built up area, is this story remotely credible and could the radar be disabled by a device using similar wavelengths?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business...arning-system/

I fed it and found it peculiar, as the SMETS meters used Home/Wide Area Networks in the 2G/3G frequency bands as widely used elsewhere.

https://mindmachine.co.uk/write-up/w...-smart-meters/

(And why they are all going to have to be replaced again in the 2030s when the 3G network is finally switched off and the frequencies reused…)

I don't have a smart meter but I had heard that they are likely to be made obsolete in the fairly near future (without some serious updating) as the 2G/3G GSM network will be turned off at some none too distant point.

So what effect will 4G/5G have on Fylingdates (other then affect its Rad Alt) ?

In case anyone is unaware about the Rad Alt issues, see

https://publicapps.caa.co.uk/docs/33...e2021017V2.pdf

Not terribly informative other than being a general warning. At least the Feds have listed airfields where it is a potential problem and equipment considered to be immune.

If the CAA are engaged with OFCOM perhaps they could list 5G transmitters in close proximity to airfields where aircraft are likely to be using the types of systems susceptible to 5G.

Sorry Ninthace, I have now cause serious thread drift.

I just have the feeling this article is a non story using the RAF to advance an agenda but the subject is outside my area of military expertise.

Hopefully Russian aircraft don’t have smart meters fitted….. cheap stealth!

There are hundreds of houses near Fylingdales?

BLX.

There's bleak and then there's bleak!

Then you are ideally suited to comment on here... :E

Here is a link to a story in the Consumer Complaints section of The Guardian from Dec 2021 about someone who couldn't get a cheap rate for car charging due to being within 20 miles of Fylingdales.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/20...to-an-raf-base

Coo! Whooda thunkit?
Thanks,

They wouldn't need them, you could just have Joe Bloggs sat at the gate with a smart meter or such like device.

You have to wonder if the actual situation is not that the meters interfere with Fylingdales but rather the other way around - that the radar signals from Fylingdales would block the meters.

That would make much more sense.

I did some work near there years ago - we were concerned as it involved some very delicate electronic gear with some serious safety issues if it went wrong. I called them up and they were really helpful, suggesting zones where
"you may wish to exercise caution" - ... 'nuff said!

I've just received a communication from my energy supplier to say that I can't access their better electricity export tariff as my home is "near RAF Fylingdales (it's 29 statute miles away) who operate their communications through the same network as the smart meter comms hubs used in the north. This means that the smart meters can interfere with their communications." Apparently, I will be able to access the better export tariff when "a new comms hub [that] has been developed recently" become operational; no timescale provided.

Additionally, although SMETS2 meters were installed in 2019 (never commissioned!) my supplier is insisting on installing new meters because as "a different supplier installed your smart meter, the meter will need to be replaced".

So, from that message, it appears that the marketing blurb about being able to change suppliers easily when you have Gen 2 smart meters is complete baloney, but more importantly, what the hell were OFCOM doing allowing commercial energy suppliers to share frequencies with critical national defence communication networks? The whole scenario beggars belief.

They may not be telling the truth. The suppliers have a binding target to meet and will be fined for non-compliance: it may be worth their while to install another meter just o clock up another "conversion"

This story seems to me to make little sense. The PAVE PAWS radar at Fylingdales uses high power in the 420-450MHz band. This has various secondary users including radio amateurs and an ISM allocation at 433MHz. As far as I'm aware smart meters use either 3G or 4G cellular networks, the frequencies for which are much higher than 430MHz. I can well imagine that with the ERP of the radar there might be some local problems with items such as car remotes which use the 433MHz ISM allocation but I can't see how smart meters could be affected unless their electronics are remarkably badly designed.

>I've just received a communication from my energy supplier to say that I can't access their better electricity export tariff as my home is "near RAF Fylingdales (it's 29 statute miles away) who operate their communications through the same network as the smart meter comms hubs used in the north. This means that the smart meters can interfere with their communications." Apparently, I will be able to access the better export tariff when "a new comms hub [that] has been developed recently" become operational; no timescale provided.<

This is hilariously silly nonsense. The PR imbecile who wrote it should be exposed to a few megawatts ERP at very close range and experience how the inverse square law for RF field strength works in practice.

For what it is worth, my current supplier, Octopus, has recently managed to connect with my smart meter which was installed by EDF 6 years ago. Since then I have been through to other suppliers. I would say the need to fit a new meter on change of supplier was arrant nonsense.

If you're on V1 smart meters it's essentially a lottery as to whether you can connect them to a new supplier, based on what your new supplier has compatibility with. However, there is supposedly an over the air update process that will (in time) make them cross compatible with all suppliers (see https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information...ng-smart-meter)

V2 are supposed to be compatible with all suppliers so I'd be asking some serious questions of your supplier if they suggest yours is not.

HOWEVER, (caveat) do not confuse a smart meter (the box that is attached to your incoming energy supply that reports your use to the supplier) with an in home display (a small screen that displays to you how much energy you are using in near real time). These things are different and IHDs do suffer from network compatibility issues. There is every chance on switching you'll lose Ihd and have a devil's time getting your supplier to sort it out.

By its age I suspect my meter is V 1.0. Even EDF took 6 months to connect to it after they installed it. Eon and OVO could not connect to it. Initially Octopus could not either but shortly after my second contract with them, they stopped asking for meter readings. Going on line I found they were bang up to date and were running a 30min interval histogram of my usage. I infer from that, that they have successfully upgraded the meter remotely.