Twilight Zone on the car yard

[barra240t]

Hey all,

We experienced something quite odd this morning, a lot of the cars on the yard didn't want to unlock with their remotes! Also cars in the car park near by too. I am sure there is some techo explaination but it's the first time we have experienced it! They are all working fine now.

[jphanna]

was there a guy around with a placard that says....'the end is near'

[barra240t]

Originally Posted by jphanna

was there a guy around with a placard that says....'the end is near'

No!

But there was a guy in the corner under a light post with not much of a top lip in a suit with a ciggie in one hand ;)

[Road_Warrior]

Are you near a port or an airbase??

[barra240t]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

Are you near a port or an airbase??

No the sunshine coast airport is around 20 or so kms away from us.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by barra240t

No the sunshine coast airport is around 20 or so kms away from us.

They could have been getting jammed or interfered with by something.

Some years ago there was an occurrence involving a USN aircraft carrier moored in the river of one of Australia's capitals and that its electronics interfered with automatic garage door opening systems in the city. Hobart I think it was.

[FoxtrotGolfXray 5.0]

Originally Posted by barra240t

No the sunshine coast airport is around 20 or so kms away from us.

You sure there wasn't a Wedgetail nearby....???

[Oxa384]

very strange cue the weird music....now ring current affair im sure they will make a story out of it!!lol

[Iggypoppin']

Originally Posted by oxa384

very strange cue the weird music....now ring current affair im sure they will make a story out of it!!lol

Yeah, along the lines of "hoons destroy car yard remotes whilst recklessly driving" or some such!

I remember the bloke at my old job had a remote that only wanted to work sometimes, and the only time it wouldn't was in the spot the boss sometimes parked in. But the bosses Porsche remote always worked....

[mik]

Originally Posted by oxa384

very strange cue the weird music....now ring current affair im sure they will make a story out of it!!lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzlG28B-R8Y

[BHDOGS]

i had this same experience up at mount lofty i believe it has something to do with the fog or something like that stopping the signal.

[aussie muscle]

Originally Posted by BHDOGS

i had this same experience up at mount lofty i believe it has something to do with the fog or something like that stopping the signal.

The theory that fog interferes with consumer grade electronic transmitters is that they use the 'free' (license-free) band of 2.4ghz (or 5.8ghz) same as wifi and microwave ovens. This is apparently a frequency (or harmonic) of water. (microwaves work by radio-electricially agitating water molecules to heat your food). the frequencies are license-free because they are basically 'junk' for interference.

[barra240t]

Originally Posted by aussie muscle

The theory that fog interferes with consumer grade electronic transmitters is that they use the 'free' (license-free) band of 2.4ghz (or 5.8ghz) same as wifi and microwave ovens. This is apparently a frequency (or harmonic) of water. (microwaves work by radio-electricially agitating water molecules to heat your food). the frequencies are license-free because they are basically 'junk' for interference.

We have never seen fog in Maroochydore until the last couple of days, this may explain it!

That, or its the government man!

[DK30RB]

Is there a phone tower near by. I have client i see who lives near a phone tower. No matter which car i go there with, the remote never works when parked in their driveway!!

[HULK EF]

Solar flares.. lol

[creative]

Funny you should say this.

One of the guys at work is has started to have issues with his in a morning. I thought it might be his remote battery or something, until his wifes car started to do the same! They have lived in their house for 5 years, park in the same spot and its never happened before!

[csv8]

Call in the FRINGE Team....

[xisled]

I think an EMP bomb has gone off. LOL

[SPArKy_Dave]

If it's in Vic, I'd suggest interference from those new wireless Smart Meters maybe?

The transmitters in those, are supposed to be pretty powerfull.

[bobthebilda]

Originally Posted by barra240t

Hey all,

We experienced something quite odd this morning, a lot of the cars on the yard didn't want to unlock with their remotes! Also cars in the car park near by too. I am sure there is some techo explaination but it's the first time we have experienced it! They are all working fine now.

Carbon Tax??

[HUNTER8]

We had the same thing. It ended up being the button on the remote control for a ceiling fan being stuck and blocking the signal. 4 cars and the roll a door remote weren't working.

[mr_xr8]

Swamp gas from a weather balloon was trapped in a thermal pocket and reflected the light from Venus

[cobramania]

Fog blocking remote unlocking, that's the funniest thing I've ever heard, the other RF engineers I work with will love to hear that.

Fog generally won't seriously start to interfere with radio signals, until about the 23GHz range, it rarely effects Pay TV Satellite signals at 12.5GHz, heavy rain or thick cloud laden with lots of water particles will, but that's because the large water particles/droplets scatter the signals energy, coming from 33,000 km's out in space, not from sub 100 micron diameter water droplets (fog) 10cm away.

Planes use a Microwave Landing System at 5GHz, for when fog is too thick to use any other type of landing system.
Wi-Fi & Bluetooth use 2.4GHz, & I've never heard of fog blocking those signals.

Garage door & car remotes, use frequencies of either 27MHz, or between 303MHz & 440MHz, the most common being around 433MHz.
The Ford AU Series 2 & 3 Falcons used 304MHz remote controls, & the BA-FG Falcons & Territories, use 434MHz remote controls. At those frequencies the fog would have to be so thick & impenetrable, you literally wouldn't be able to see the fingers at the end of your outstretched arm.
Fog can effect radio waves higher in the frequency ranges, (or shorter wavelengths) over a distance, but generally, if fog was going to block those frequencies at the distances of a few meters, then UHF CB radio wouldn't work when there was fog around, & UHF TV would stop working when fog descended. Many UHF TV transmitters sit atop mountains covered in fog for most of the winter months, so many people would have trouble watching TV for large periods of the year. UHF TV uses frequencies from 527MHz to 820MHz, (above the frequencies of car & garage door remotes). 2G, 3G & 4G Mobile phones operating at 850MHz, 900MHz, 1.8GHz (1800MHz) & 2.1GHz (2100MHz) would stop working if fog was to effect lower frequencies too.

I frequent many high power Radio Frequency Broadcast sites, & haven't yet had a problem with remotes not unlocking. Some cars do though, it depends on how well the receiver is shielded from other RF sources. At high power sites, it's because of overload to the receiver from other RF. A car or garage remote is only about 25mW (milliwatts), I've been at the base of Broadcast sites with 100's of 1000's kW (kilowatts) of RF.

This problem would've been something very local interfering with or blocking those remotes frequencies. Probably one of the remotes with a stuck button, many different remotes share the same frequency, but use different digital coding to differentiate, which transmitter operates which receiver.

[barra240t]

Originally Posted by cobramania

Fog blocking remote unlocking, that's the funniest thing I've ever heard, the other RF engineers I work with will love to hear that.

Fog generally won't seriously start to interfere with radio signals, until about the 23GHz range, it rarely effects Pay TV Satellite signals at 12.5GHz, heavy rain or thick cloud laden with lots of water particles will, but that's because the large water particles/droplets scatter the signals energy, coming from 33,000 km's out in space, not from sub 100 micron diameter water droplets (fog) 10cm away.

Planes use a Microwave Landing System at 5GHz, for when fog is too thick to use any other type of landing system.
Wi-Fi & Bluetooth use 2.4GHz, & I've never heard of fog blocking those signals.

Garage door & car remotes, use frequencies of either 27MHz, or between 303MHz & 440MHz, the most common being around 433MHz.
The Ford AU Series 2 & 3 Falcons used 304MHz remote controls, & the BA-FG Falcons & Territories, use 434MHz remote controls. At those frequencies the fog would have to be so thick & impenetrable, you literally wouldn't be able to see the fingers at the end of your outstretched arm.
Fog can effect radio waves higher in the frequency ranges, (or shorter wavelengths) over a distance, but generally, if fog was going to block those frequencies at the distances of a few meters, then UHF CB radio wouldn't work when there was fog around, & UHF TV would stop working when fog descended. Many UHF TV transmitters sit atop mountains covered in fog for most of the winter months, so many people would have trouble watching TV for large periods of the year. UHF TV uses frequencies from 527MHz to 820MHz, (above the frequencies of car & garage door remotes). 2G, 3G & 4G Mobile phones operating at 850MHz, 900MHz, 1.8GHz (1800MHz) & 2.1GHz (2100MHz) would stop working if fog was to effect lower frequencies too.

I frequent many high power Radio Frequency Broadcast sites, & haven't yet had a problem with remotes not unlocking. Some cars do though, it depends on how well the receiver is shielded from other RF sources. At high power sites, it's because of overload to the receiver from other RF. A car or garage remote is only about 25mW (milliwatts), I've been at the base of Broadcast sites with 100's of 1000's kW (kilowatts) of RF.

This problem would've been something very local interfering with or blocking those remotes frequencies. Probably one of the remotes with a stuck button, many different remotes share the same frequency, but use different digital coding to differentiate, which transmitter operates which receiver.

Thank you for the info.