This post is by Steve Hayes, EMC & Safety Managing Director, TRaC
I stumbled upon a section of the OFCOM website the other day and noticed that OFCOM no longer accept interference complaints from individuals or consumers - this has now been passed exclusively to the BBC and is essentially a web-based process that is followed to identify and resolve interference issues.
It appears from the OFCOM web site that the only interference issues they deal with are from pirate radio stations. Surely domestic users and pirate radio stations aren't the only sources of interference, otherwise we wouldn't need legislation like the EMC Directive?
I stumbled upon a section of the OFCOM website the other day and noticed that OFCOM no longer accept interference complaints from individuals or consumers - this has now been passed exclusively to the BBC and is essentially a web-based process that is followed to identify and resolve interference issues.
It appears from the OFCOM web site that the only interference issues they deal with are from pirate radio stations. Surely domestic users and pirate radio stations aren't the only sources of interference, otherwise we wouldn't need legislation like the EMC Directive?
I wonder about the reasons for OFCOM's decision? Is it because there are
so few interference complaints that it doesn't warrant further mention;
that they have too few staff to deal with the issues; that it is hoped
that interference issues are dealt with directly between the victims?
What do you think - should OFCOM accept interference complaints from
individuals or consumers?
Some previous Certification & Test entries:
* Meeting MET
* The impact of the new legislative framework on CE marking
* FCC Certification: The cost of making assumptions
* Choosing an EMC test lab
* First it was EN55022, now it's the generic standards requiring >1GHz emission testing
* How the UK helped prevent dangerous explosions
* Why some certifications need factory inspections
* Can Standards really be improved?
* What does a UKAS schedule mean?
* Improve temperature testing by optimising chamber airflow and distribution
* Which standard should I apply?
* Are EMC Standards Really Necessary?
* Standards really do help the economy
Some previous Certification & Test entries:
* Meeting MET
* The impact of the new legislative framework on CE marking
* FCC Certification: The cost of making assumptions
* Choosing an EMC test lab
* First it was EN55022, now it's the generic standards requiring >1GHz emission testing
* How the UK helped prevent dangerous explosions
* Why some certifications need factory inspections
* Can Standards really be improved?
* What does a UKAS schedule mean?
* Improve temperature testing by optimising chamber airflow and distribution
* Which standard should I apply?
* Are EMC Standards Really Necessary?
* Standards really do help the economy
After obtaining his Bachelor's degree in engineering, Jonathan worked for a number of engineering companies prior to obtaining a teaching role at the University of Hull (England). In 1995 he joined KTL, an internationally renowned test laboratory which then became TRaC, as part of the Digital Group specialising in regulatory requirements for digital telecommunications equipment. During his time at the company he has, among other things, been appointed as Senior Protocol Engineer, and Approvals and Homologation Group Manager. Jonathan has actively participated in various technical working groups for the ZigBee Allianceâ and is currently the ZigBee Qualification Group (ZQG) Lead Technical Editor. 
Steve is Managing Director for the EMC and Safety business of TRaC and has been involved in EMC and product approvals for 19 years. In addition to the day to day running of the business, Steve is actively involved in EMC standardisation both in commercial and defence areas. In addition to being the UK Principal expert on EMC standardisation of Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) products he is also the convenor of CISPR/B/WG1 who has the responsibility of writing the International standard, CISPR 11. Steve wrote the CE marking annex to the UK's defence EMC standard as well as being co-convenor of CENELEC TC210/WG9, responsible for writing a guide on approval of military systems with commercial (CE Marking) requirements.
Joe Lomako MSc is the Business Development Manager of Telecoms and Radio at TRaC. He has been involved in the testing and compliance industry for over 15 years. Prior to joining TRaC Joe specialised in EMC, EMF Exposure and Radio compliance.
Appointed Test Manager in 2007, following three years as Projects Manager at TRaC, having previously worked as Head of Environmental Testing at another UKAS accredited test house. Over 20 years' experience of modelling, testing and measurement in the structural dynamics and seismic fields.
Chris has worked in electrical safety compliance for over 17 years. Having previously worked for BSI, he joined TRaC in 1996, progressing through a number of testing roles before becoming Safety Product Manager in 2006.
Appointed Commercial Manager - Analysis in November 2009. Prior to joining TRaC, he was the Business Development Manager at Onward Technologies, an engineering services company based in India. Graham has spent over 20 years working in the CAD / CAE domain selling both engineering services and engineering systems. 
Stephen Tait joined KTL, an internationally renowned test laboratory which then became TRaC, as part of the Telecom Group specialising in telecommunications product testing for worldwide approvals. Stephen is also responsible for the Telecoms commercial activities within the TRaC group.
Simon Barrowcliff is the Director of the ATEX Notified Body at TRaC. He set up TRaC's Lancashire-based, ATEX business in 2002 and has been heavily involved in EX testing and compliance since then. Simon also runs TRaC's certification schemes for electrical safety under the IECEE CB scheme. He is a chartered electrical engineer with more than 20 years experience of product compliance for electrical and mechanical equipment.
Appointed Managing Director in November 2007. Previously he was Test Facilities Manager for Flight Refuelling, part of the Cobham group, and spent his early career in the Environmental Engineering Department of British Aerospace at Stevenage.
Brendan was appointed Sales Director in August 2009. He joined the group in 2005 as Business Development Manager for environmental test services. Before joining TRaC he spent five years in Application Engineering and Technical Sales roles for automotive test equipment. He studied Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering at Trinity College Dublin.
Leave a comment
What a user pic? Get a Gravatar!