Why do mixers interfere with old tube TV signal?

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As a kid i remember always watching the tv get a distorted signal whenever my mom was using the mixer. Why is that?

In: Technology

3 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

It’s actually the commutators on the motors, old electric motors have commutators which are brushes that touch spots as the motor moves causing the wires to get connected and disconnected as the motor operates. When this happens there is typically a small spark (on many devices you can look in and see these sparks).

Anyways, sparks create broad range RF, [basically a spark gap transmitter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spark-gap_transmitter), so these sparks act as small radio transmitters that interfere with all radio devices, with old TV being one of the common ones.

Now you probably use cable TV which shields the signal inside a wire so it’s not an issue. Also, more attention is paid to reducing the sparks, they interfere with modern circuit breakers that have spark detection (AFCI breakers). We have brushless motors that are truly spark-less, and these are used in most of the higher end equipment.

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