Military radar Wi-Fi interference on LCD panel?

Question

Hi all. New member here, so apologies up front if this post is misplaced or a repetition. I have searched the forum, but my problem is about suspected Wi-Fi interference and there are a million posts about that. This might not be the usual kind of interference though. I just bought an Inspiron 9100, and obviously I love it. So I was deeply dismayed when yesterday the LCD panel started flickering different colours and the objects/text on screen were slightly distorted and blurred. I did what I could - reinstalled the graphics driver, ran Dell diags, System Restore... no luck, and I finally had to concede that it was probably hardware failure and I'd have to send it back to base. At my lowest point, with the LCD panel flickering away before me (remember how the screen used to look when loading a game on your old Spectrum computer... UK only perhaps), my attention was drawn to two WWII warplanes doing loops over the small airfield right next door... and then I remembered the 9100 has a (dual band) Wi-Fi card installed (do these things have aerials, and are they mounted inside the LCD casing...???) I have heard that Wi-Fi and military radar don't mix. To reinforce my suspicions, the interference ceased after the air display ended and the LCD panel has been good as new since. So my question is: how likely is it that the vintage warplanes caused some kind of radio interference which manifested itself on my LCD panel? Or do I have a different problem that may return and requires service? Thanks for any help. I appreciate you lending your experience here. conrad

mattcowger · Answer

Its hihgly unlikely - the planes of that vintage tend not to have their own radars. Also, interference to your wireless card would not translate into the LCD, but would disrupt communications with other wireless devices.

And yes, the wifi card has an antenna (not an aerial) built into the lcd casing.

johnallg · Answer

antenna/aerial - depends on where your from!

mattcowger · Answer

I've always understood that and antenna and aerial are different. An antenna is any device which increases the gain of the transmitted or received signal, whereas an aerial is a type of antenna that is exposed to the outside elements (essentially, unprotected).

Either way, the response is the same :).

conrad2 · Answer

Thanks chaps. Still a mystery about the LCD panel (and still no reappearance of the flickering), but I looked it up and I can confirm that our aerials are the same as your antennas. But, did you have Spectrums in 80s?

cheers

conrad

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

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