Phone headset buzz

[vjp...@at.biostrategist.dot.dot.com]

What causes a buzz/hum on my land line phone? Interference?

Details: I got like four dozen fifty cent 2.5mm mono universal headsets a
decade ago. (all my phones have a plug for them, except the new smarphones)
On some occassions I get a buzzzing background sound, maybe mor elike a hum.
On those occassions, using a fancier headphone eliminates the sound. Could
the phone voltage be dropping because of the weather? One other suspect is a
rechargeable DVD player nearby. Heater? Neigbor's equipment? Is it possible
the magnets on the headsets are fading?

Any ideas?


- = -
Vasos Panagiotopoulos, Columbia'81+, Reagan, Mozart, Pindus, BioStrategist
http://www.panix.com/~vjp2/vasos.htm
---{Nothing herein constitutes advice. Everything fully disclaimed.}---
[Homeland Security means private firearms not lazy obstructive guards]
[Urb sprawl confounds terror] [Phooey on GUI: Windows for subprime Bimbos]

[Jon Elson]

vjp...@at.BioStrategist.dot.dot.com wrote:

> What causes a buzz/hum on my land line phone? Interference?
>
> Details: I got like four dozen fifty cent 2.5mm mono universal headsets a
> decade ago. (all my phones have a plug for them, except the new
> smarphones) On some occassions I get a buzzzing background sound, maybe
> mor elike a hum. On those occassions, using a fancier headphone eliminates
> the sound. Could the phone voltage be dropping because of the weather? One
> other suspect is a
> rechargeable DVD player nearby. Heater? Neigbor's equipment? Is it
> possible the magnets on the headsets are fading?

The worst thing is "a ground on the line", ie. the insulation has
a pinhole in it, and when the ground is wet, it makes a connection
from one of the phone line wires to the earth. You can get crackling,
buzzing, whistles and pops, as well as a completely dead line.

It can be at your property where the line is buried to the house, or
in buried cables some miles away, between you and the central office.

Another problem can be corrosion on the wire junctions or in the lightning
protector at your service entry.

Jon