Garage Door Openers Shut Down By The Military

from the too-risky dept

Tue, Dec 7th 2004 11:42am — Mike Masnick

While the question of spectrum interference may seem like a bunch of random techie talk for most people, those who happen to live near military bases may experience it first hand when their garage doors stop opening. While your garage door opener may be safe from DMCA claims, the military has a bit more clout. Most garage door openers use a frequency, 390 megahertz, that is reserved for military uses, but open for low power devices (such as garage door openers) as long as they don't interfere with military uses. The military uses, obviously, have no such restriction. So, a set of new radio devices that use the frequency may start causing trouble for anyone leaving within range of a military base. It's not a huge deal to adjust the door opener, but it's yet another example that spectrum interference really is a big issue -- and those claiming that it's simply a technology problem still have a lot of work to do.

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Anonymous Coward, 7 Dec 2004 @ 1:56pm

Don't tell anyone
How many thought police officers does it take to change a light bulb?

None, because the light bulb never existed.
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Matt Maier, 8 Dec 2004 @ 12:33pm

This reminds me...
..of a similar story in the Washington Post earlier this year in which folks were inexplicably unable to get their keyless car remotes--the ones used to unlock their car doors--to work from time to time. apparently it was wreaking havoc at car dealerships and for people in the neighborhood. while the local military base would admit to nothing, it seemed obvious that they were the most likely culprit. makes you wonder how smart it is to make cars that have no way to unlock the door w/out a remote.
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