Whenever my MRC Prodigy Wireless DCC base unit is on and connected to my layout, a pair of 120-volt wireless remote control switches (Model BH9936, brand from China not shown) bought at my local hardware store that I use to control room lights plugged into wall outlets will no longer respond to the buttons on the handheld controller. If I move the remote control switches to the other end of the house and plug them into an outlet on a different circuit they work again. However, using them in outlets in the layout rooms on circuits independent from the DCC power yields interference that disables remote control of the 120-volt switches. I believe that the coupling mode for the interference is mostly radiated rather than conducted, but I haven't tried any RFI filters yet nor do I have the equipment I once did for such troubleshooting. The wireless remote control switches operate at 433.92 MHz and are apparently susceptible to the signal coming from the MRC DCC base unit. There are other frequencies in the ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) band between 433.050 and 434.790 MHz that devices can use and everything from garage door openers to you-name-it does so. I'm curious what frequency MRC uses for its Prodigy Wireless and will be posing this question to their technical support folks separately. But I'm also curious whether other modelers have experienced interference with any devices that can be traced to the MRC equipment emissions. If so, we may be able to figure out how to make these kinds of devices compatible with one another. Feel free to contact me offline at dchenry@gac.edu.
They are probably operating on the same band, and the MRC unit just swamps the devices around it. Or it distorts the signals enough that the receiver just won't work. Just like how, if you had a powerful TV or radio transmitter nearby, it would drown out adjacent channels or interfere with others, because the signal is so strong that it swamps the tuner.
As you say, when you move the receivers to another part of the house further away from the mrc device, that is probably exactly what is happening. Or if you turn off the mrc device suddenly the problem goes away.
You don't say if the MRC device is a transmitter or not. If it is just a receiver, its internal oscillator may be on a similar frequency which is leaking out and interfering.
Dennis at Brass Car Sides ...The wireless remote control switches operate at 433.92 MHz and are apparently susceptible to the signal coming from the MRC DCC base unit. There are other frequencies in the ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) band between 433.050 and 434.790 MHz that devices can use and everything from garage door openers to you-name-it does so. I'm curious what frequency MRC uses for its Prodigy Wireless...
...The wireless remote control switches operate at 433.92 MHz and are apparently susceptible to the signal coming from the MRC DCC base unit. There are other frequencies in the ISM (Industrial, Scientific and Medical) band between 433.050 and 434.790 MHz that devices can use and everything from garage door openers to you-name-it does so. I'm curious what frequency MRC uses for its Prodigy Wireless...
The online manual states the frequency as 433 MHZ ; however, a quick search of the FCC ID(BTQ170495) will bring up MRC's Application for Equipment Authorization, which gives a frequency of 433.92 MHZ, the same as your remote control switches.