radio teleswitch

[SparkyTris]

How do radio teleswitches receive the switching signal?

I recently had an "issue" where a teleswitch controlled storage heater circuit was apparently not energising in the periods when it should have been energising. it appears to have cured itself.
This happened at a time when the property in question was being supplied from a standby diesel generator in its garden (whilst linesmen moved a pole supplying the settlement).

I wondered whether the radio receiver within the teleswitch relies to any extent on a length of supply cable to act as antenna.

The 198khz BBC signal is very weak as far as AM-audio reception goes in this area.

 

[flameport]

I wondered whether the radio receiver within the teleswitch relies to any extent on a length of supply cable to act as antenna.

No, it has a ferrite rod inside the unit, entirely self contained.

Local intereference from devices such as a generator could have disrupted the signal, particularly if it was weak to start with.

 

[bernardgreen]

How do radio teleswitches receive the switching signal?

It used to be ( and may still be ) transmitted by Phase Modulation on the BBC Long Wave transmitter. Phase Modulation allowed the data to be broadcast without any effect on the quality of the radio service which was broadcast using Amplitude Modulation.

From memory the aerial in the TeleSwitch was a loop of wire, early prototypes using ferrite rod were better in weak signal areas but the ferrite rod aerial was very directional and this presented problems if the TeleSwitch was "pointing" in the wrong direction.

 

[SparkyTris]

I seem to recall that there is a little tab that pops up inside the window of a teleswitch to visually indicate which of its 'outputs' are energised... is such a facility common to all of them?