25 June 2010

RF Problems in Gungahlin

| Andy
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So this is going to be one of those posts where you will think I am a crack-pot…but…

Is anyone else having problems with RF remotes in Gungahlin, This morning I went to the market place and when I went to hop back in my car (a new Mitsubishi Lancer) the remote for my car didn’t work. The woman parked next to me had the same problem (we chuckled, decided that remotes were silly devices and used our keys instead). I got back to my home and went to get my spare key. As i tried to exit through my garage my remote for that door didn’t work either. I walked around the long way and tried my spare car key… Still no luck.

I asked my sister who I live with if she could try her car (a brand new Toyota Kluger) – her remote didn’t work neither did her spare key.

I ducked next door to ask if they had any problems, their car (a late model Ford) worked ok but their garage remote doesn’t work either.

Any one else want to duck outside their Gungahlin home and give it a whirl because this has me stumped… I am getting concerned that their is some major RF intereference and I should have tin foil on my head!

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brento said :

arsin said :

Anyone have any ideas of what could be causing this or who to call about it?

ACMA would be the people to talk to, alternatively if you can find a geek with a spectrum analyser it might give you some idea of what the source is – remotes like you mention are 433MHz which doesn’t require a particularly fancy analyser.

Yep thanks Brento. I spoke with Canberra Connect who put me onto ACMA as they said it was a Federal issue.

I just spoke to ACMA. They basically brushed me off saying they really only deal with radio and tv. Their techs are going to send me out a step by step guide to try and determine the problem. Hopefully step 1 wont be ‘Grab your spectrum analyser’ 🙂

arsin said :

Anyone have any ideas of what could be causing this or who to call about it?

ACMA would be the people to talk to, alternatively if you can find a geek with a spectrum analyser it might give you some idea of what the source is – remotes like you mention are 433MHz which doesn’t require a particularly fancy analyser.

Gungahlin Al9:27 am 15 Aug 11

arsin said :

Same this happened to our household yesterday. Couldn’t set the house alarm, open/close garage, or lock/unlock cars. Problem still present this morning. As one of our cars is quite new we can’t even start it as the immobiliser kicks in when opened with a key.

If you drive down the road about 100 meters you can lock/unlock one of the cars with the remote without an issue. We are located in Gungahlin backing up onto Horse Park Dr.

Anyone have any ideas of what could be causing this or who to call about it?

The 3D Sun app on my phone informs me that “A hole in the sun’s atmosphere (a coronal hole) is spewing solar wind toward Earth. ETA 15 August.”

This sort of thing causes variable RF and electronic interference. As the sun is ‘waking up’ now from a period of low sunspot activity, we can expect a lot more of this over the next year or so (if that is indeed the source of your problem).

Same this happened to our household yesterday. Couldn’t set the house alarm, open/close garage, or lock/unlock cars. Problem still present this morning. As one of our cars is quite new we can’t even start it as the immobiliser kicks in when opened with a key.

If you drive down the road about 100 meters you can lock/unlock one of the cars with the remote without an issue. We are located in Gungahlin backing up onto Horse Park Dr.

Anyone have any ideas of what could be causing this or who to call about it?

Sorry for the late update but at about midday the same day remotes (all of them) magically returned to full working order. My opinion: Telstra (or similar) working on some RF equipment in the area – hopefully I didnt fry too many brain cells that day, that’s what beer is for.

Did both you and the other woman leave your remote next to your mobile phone (in your pocket or bag)? That’s the most common way they stop working.

DeadlySchnauzer said :

If you go to the top of Mount Wellington in Tassie exactly the same thing happens (they have warning signs to lock your car manually), because there is a bunch of broadcast towers up there bathing the immediate area in strong RF signals.

Its slightly scary that the same thing could be happening in a residential area.

If you also go to the top of Mt Wellington in Hobart you are also flipping cold. Even in the middle of Summer. But i always park my car as far away from the towers as possible – I got caught on Black Mountain a couple of years back – kinda embarrassing 🙂

WonderfulWorld10:33 pm 25 Jun 10

I guess your no longer a crack pot then.

Swing away…

phototext said :

The result of having a ranga as PM.

The result of having a woman as a PM! They can’t work electrical equipment.

Anyway, the most common reason is from high voltage electricity wires or television transmitters interfering with the frequencies under or around the local area around them. From memory there are instructions in most car manuals as to how to deal with it, such as trying to unlock from as close to the sensor position as possible, or indeed using the key.

Your car was in both locations when things didn’t work so you could be driving a electromagnetic hazard on wheels, you should definately put the tin foil hat on.

Funky1 said :

I’ve actually tried this (in a dark car park so no one thought I was an idiot) and it actually worked.

You are an idiot… 🙂

PBO said :

hmmm, badly shielded underground hi-power cables overlapping each other might cause a localised electromagnetic field which might have some effect on small RF transmitters. And being a new area one would expect that all the issues are far from ironed out.

Wouldn’t it happen all the time then?

I saw some black(hawk) choppers flying over there this morning.

hmmm, badly shielded underground hi-power cables overlapping each other might cause a localised electromagnetic field which might have some effect on small RF transmitters. And being a new area one would expect that all the issues are far from ironed out.

amarooresident33:18 pm 25 Jun 10

I wouldn’t recommend wearing a tinfoil hat. It’s likely to magnify the problem, or cook your brain.

Then there will be zombies.

The cold weather now is probably killing the batteries in a lot of remotes simultaneously.

The result of having a ranga as PM.

Someone playing Modern Warfare2 multiplayer set of an EMP device (Electromagnetic Pulse).

Similar behaviour has been seen all over the world.
Plenty of stories on it. 🙂

ConanOfCooma2:34 pm 25 Jun 10

troll-sniffer said :

Have you chercked to see if a Reiki practitioner has moved into the area and is sucking all your RF energy into their Reiki account so they don’t have to pay for the expensive ‘genuine’ energy?

Good point, worth investigating. Shifty reiki weilding buggers.

troll-sniffer1:47 pm 25 Jun 10

Have you chercked to see if a Reiki practitioner has moved into the area and is sucking all your RF energy into their Reiki account so they don’t have to pay for the expensive ‘genuine’ energy?

Rawhide Kid No 21:29 pm 25 Jun 10

Could be Solar flare activity.

Aurelius said :

Proving once again that Gungahlin is home to all sorts of alien manifestations.

Black Hole

I bet none of you were wearing your tinfoil hats. 🙂

In a related issue, did anyone see the episode of Top Gear were Clarkson tried to open a car with an RF remote from a fair distance away from the car and it didn’t work, yet when he put the remote up to his skull and tried it, the car responded!

I’ve actually tried this (in a dark car park so no one thought I was an idiot) and it actually worked.

Proving once again that Gungahlin is home to all sorts of alien manifestations.

DeadlySchnauzer11:38 am 25 Jun 10

If you go to the top of Mount Wellington in Tassie exactly the same thing happens (they have warning signs to lock your car manually), because there is a bunch of broadcast towers up there bathing the immediate area in strong RF signals.

Its slightly scary that the same thing could be happening in a residential area.

mark karlson11:32 am 25 Jun 10

Hi cashman,
I live in Gunghalin and had no problems with my car or automatic garage door when leaving for work around 8.30 this morning. Are you in the middle of Gunghalin?

must be pretty strong…up at telstra tower the are signs saying that the car keyless entry systems dont work up there

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