CCTV radio interference

[MR T 123]

Hi all, this one is for the cctv gurus

Installing a cctv system with 14 HiKVision is cameras. 13 of which are via wireless bridges as it is a caravan site.

• One camera is Poe hardwired back to the nvq and has no issue.
• There are 3 base station radio receivers which are streaming 4-5 cameras each
• the basestation covering the local cameras seems to be fine
• the other two base stations have had all cameras working but are intermittent

The radio manufacturer are scratching there heads as they think there is some sort of interference or something maybe wrong with the network switches, just wondering if anyone has ever had a similar issue and been able to sort it? Before we cough up £600 for a site visit from them!

Forgive me I am not a cctv installer so my knowledge is not great but any help gratefully recieved

 

[littlespark]

So the cameras causing problems are wireless?

I don’t know enough about cctv myself to give a definitive answer, but I was involved in a system where one camera signal was radio... or a microwave link?? Had to be line of sight.
The transmitter was mounted to a lamppost which would sway in the high winds and knock off the signal...
Caravans driving past also caused a problem... whether the signal was bouncing off the roof of the vans and caused interference.

 

[telectrix]

maybe just put this on loud. ( Roy Wood was born 10 days before me, so I consider him as a contemporary). Sod the cameras.

 

[MR T 123]

So the cameras causing problems are wireless?

I don’t know enough about cctv myself to give a definitive answer, but I was involved in a system where one camera signal was radio... or a microwave link?? Had to be line of sight.
The transmitter was mounted to a lamppost which would sway in the high winds and knock off the signal...
Caravans driving past also caused a problem... whether the signal was bouncing off the roof of the vans and caused interference.

yes, there is line of sight between the transmitter and receiver but when observing the activity of the radios via their software, they seem to drop in and out constantly.
some cameras and radios combine into a network switch before they get transmitted back, wondering whether its worth getting a better one?

 

[MR T 123]

maybe just put this on loud. ( Roy Wood was born 10 days before me, so I consider him as a contemporary). Sod the cameras.

maybe just put this on loud. ( Roy Wood was born 10 days before me, so I consider him as a contemporary). Sod the cameras.

I shall try this approach with the gaffer first thing tomorrow morning. ?

 

[UNG]

Hi all, this one is for the cctv gurus

Installing a cctv system with 14 HiKVision is cameras. 13 of which are via wireless bridges as it is a caravan site.

• One camera is Poe hardwired back to the nvq and has no issue.
• There are 3 base station radio receivers which are streaming 4-5 cameras each
• the basestation covering the local cameras seems to be fine
• the other two base stations have had all cameras working but are intermittent

The radio manufacturer are scratching there heads as they think there is some sort of interference or something maybe wrong with the network switches, just wondering if anyone has ever had a similar issue and been able to sort it? Before we cough up £600 for a site visit from them!

Forgive me I am not a cctv installer so my knowledge is not great but any help gratefully recieved

What frequency are the wireless bridges operating on ?. If you are on 2.4 or 5Hz radios then first off I would use one of the many WiFi analyser apps that are available to check for any co-located or co-channel radio interference.
The issue with both the 2.4 & 5 GHz frequency bands is they are in open use and for something like a caravan site using those frequencies for infrastructure equipment could give problems with the site users bringing mobile phones and other WiFi equipment on to the site
If you are using any other frequency then you would need a spectrum analyser to locate the source of the interference
With regard to intermittent interference I installed a 2.4GHz radio link in Oswestry many years ago and it kept dropping out we eventually located the interference source as the local wood merchants who had a very leaky microwave wood drying kiln that they used 3 or 4 days a week

So the cameras causing problems are wireless?

I don’t know enough about cctv myself to give a definitive answer, but I was involved in a system where one camera signal was radio... or a microwave link?? Had to be line of sight.
The transmitter was mounted to a lamppost which would sway in the high winds and knock off the signal...
Caravans driving past also caused a problem... whether the signal was bouncing off the roof of the vans and caused interference.

Probably caused by fresnel zone incursion if it was a microwave radio, normally caused by not mounting the units high enough to avoid incursion into the radio "bubble" of passing objects

 

[MR T 123]

They are silvernet echo radios which I’ve read to be a frequency of 5Ghz.
When initially configuring there is the option to use uk band A, B or C, initially put it on band b but changed to band c to see if it solved the problem but no joy.

Like you say with being a caravan site there is various other radio equipment dotted around such as WiFi etc.

I will try downloading one of the apps you suggested, hopefully that will narrow down the potential cause of the problem

 

[UNG]

Not looked at the info on the radios you are using yet as I'm out on site so not up to speed on them
Are you using point to point or a point to multi point setup for this system

 

[MR T 123]

Not looked at the info on the radios you are using yet as I'm out on site so not up to speed on them
Are you using point to point or a point to multi point setup for this system

Using a point to multipoint like so. The crosses are representing the radios and the bs (base stations) are the receivers which are hardwired back to the nvr via a network switch.

 

[UNG]

While this on the surface is a CCTV problem it would appear the issue is more related to the method of transporting the video to the NVR which is a radio / data network issue

So a few questions

Installing a cctv system with 14 HiKVision is cameras. 13 of which are via wireless bridges as it is a caravan site.

• One camera is Poe hardwired back to the nvq and has no issue.
• There are 3 base station radio receivers which are streaming 4-5 cameras each
• the basestation covering the local cameras seems to be fine
• the other two base stations have had all cameras working but are intermittent

Who was responsible for the LOS survey, design, installation and commissioning of the radio and data network

Is the CCTV / radio set up in it's own network (subnet) with fixed IP addresses or is it running on DHCP
Also is the CCTV part of the rest of the site network infrastructure

The radio manufacturer are scratching there heads as they think there is some sort of interference or something maybe wrong with the network switches, just wondering if anyone has ever had a similar issue and been able to sort it? Before we cough up £600 for a site visit from them!

What does the radio manufacturers site visit charge cover is this just to look at the system and offer advice or are they going to do any hands on work. While they are scratching their head it would be interesting to know if they have made any suggestions as to why there are problems

Forgive me I am not a cctv installer so my knowledge is not great but any help gratefully recieved

So having established your CCTV experience is very limited what level of experience do you or anyone else involved on the project have of data networks, installation of radio networks and the integration and commissioning of them, I'm assuming that no specialist sub contractors have been employed on this project to set up the radio network and data switches

They are silvernet echo radios which I’ve read to be a frequency of 5Ghz.
When initially configuring there is the option to use uk band A, B or C, initially put it on band b but changed to band c to see if it solved the problem but no joy.

Like you say with being a caravan site there is various other radio equipment dotted around such as WiFi etc.

I will try downloading one of the apps you suggested, hopefully that will narrow down the potential cause of the problem

If all you have set is the operating band on the radio kit then it sounds like you do not have a properly structured and commissioned radio network. The radio links used when used in isolated single link scenarios would more than likely operate perfectly well in out of the box as a plug and play solution.
The set up you have with multiple radio links needs more structured programming and channel separation

Using a point to multipoint like so. The crosses are representing the radios and the bs (base stations) are the receivers which are hardwired back to the nvr via a network switch.
View attachment 85331

Although the diagram is probably not a true topographical representation of the site I'm not understanding why you have 2 point to multi point links in parallel from the cafe to the reception

I suspect that some of the issues are down to poor deployment and set up of the radios in the absence of network test kit I think a laptop used at some strategic points to fire some loaded pings across the network to the NVR might help to identify some of the problems