So, just how bad is Microwave Oven Interference? (MOI)

Take a look at the image below. This was taken through a spectrum analyser and downconverter combination.

The Converter was mounted some 45ft above ground. The paths RF from a typical oven would have to travel to arrive at the antenna are quite tortuous to say the least

The humourous aspect is that there is QSB on the signals as whatever is being cooked rotates on the turntable!

You can see the oven interference spread as a large disturbance around 2450MHz (to the right of the screen, and the frequencies shown here are VHF because the downconverter is doing all the work). This energy spreads out as a large comb of carriers typically over a 50MHz minimum band, (not apparent here, but in narrow spans, it's obvious), often extending well below 2200MHz on occasions depending on the purity (!) of the signals.

Monitoring around shows that there is almost continuous activity on the frequencies involved all day long. One wonders in some cases whether it is just the owner's food that is being cooked!

Back to the microwave radio page