SpokEasy

Interference

\"interferenceInterference doesn\’t affect only large electronics such as televisions.

I once had a cyclocomputer on the hybrid that drove me absolutely crazy. Sometimes it would work; and sometimes it wouldn\’t. I probably drove my bike shop\’s personnel crazy, too, with my frequent visits about it.

Then one day I went for a short ride in the evening, which I don\’t usually do. The cyclocomputer seemed fine. As it began to get dark, I switched on my headlight;  a handlebar-mounted type. Soon I looked to see how fast I was going — and that **** cyclocomputer wasn\’t doing a thing!

That\’s when the proverbial lightbulb went on. To be sure of it, I turned off the headlight. The computer started working. I turned the headlight on again; and the computer quit.

That incident, as much as anything else, prompted me to put my headlight on top of my helmet. It was a huge relief to figure out what the problem with that cyclocomputer was!

My first heart-rate monitoring system was a Sigma. I used it for about two years, and then the HR transmitter quit on me. I discarded the chest strap/transmitter, but kept the readout unit to use as a watch/stopwatch.

A few weeks ago I began wearing my wrist blinkie when riding to work, because there\’s less daylight now at that hour. I looked to see what time it was, and the watch\’s screen had gone blank! It didn\’t come on again until I had turned off the blinkie.

Electronics can be very helpful, but they can also cause a lot of interference. What a bother that is!