AU: Bunnings black spot wreaks havoc with car locks - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Shock
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2016, 03:33:46 am
content: Customers at an east Brisbane Bunnings car park have been warned to check their cars are actually locked after a black spot of interference that renders remote mechanisms almost useless has been discovered.http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/bunnings-black-spot-wreaks-havoc-with-car-locks-20160105-glzz1a.html

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2016, 09:16:00 am
content: And there I was thinking there was acar park on a hill in line of sight of a high power radio transmitter. Then any local metal with some corrosion and the right size can act as both a detector and RF modulator to make a RF noise source.Kind of like the US early camera systems used to spy on the USSR, which used a large mostly plastic balloon that flew across the USSR taking photos. Unfortunately one piece of aluminium used in the design was the right length to make a quarter wave dipole at the Soviet Radar transmit frequency, which made these show up very brightly on RADAR. they were brought down by a pilot who figured out that just before dawn the baloon was cold and thus low enough that he could actually reach it with his fighter. The Soviets used the film they recovered inside a few of these, which was radiation and cold resistant, to make the first spacecraft that photographed the far side of the moon.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_3http://www.damninteresting.com/faxes-from-the-far-side/

author: PA0PBZ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2016, 09:43:04 am
content: "When I looked at my software to find radio..."

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2016, 11:56:05 am
content: Quote from: Shock on January 06, 2016, 03:33:46 amThere's a word I'm looking for---now what was it?That's it ---BOLLOCKS!

author: Tim F
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2016, 12:15:47 pm
content: Article should be titled "mainstream media contacts reality tv show contestant about viral internet story, gets semi-plausible bs response, prompts photoshoot holding domestic tv antenna"I find it hard to believe he 'could not see anything' from 100kHz to 2.2GHz...

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2016, 12:17:35 pm
content: It has happened to me too in a certain car park here in the NL; I had to lock the car with the key because the remote control didn't work at all. Back home it worked just fine.edit: typo

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 06, 2016, 12:27:01 pm
content: Quote from: PA0PBZ on January 06, 2016, 09:43:04 amWhy not?https://sites.google.com/site/policescannerhowto/

author: PA0PBZ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2016, 12:52:08 pm
content: Quote from: wraper on January 06, 2016, 12:27:01 pmBecause of the difference between "Software to find radio" and "Software defined radio"

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 06, 2016, 12:54:17 pm
content: Quote from: PA0PBZ on January 06, 2016, 12:52:08 pmThere is a difference between "looked at my software to find radio" and "Software to find radio"Quote

author: miguelvp
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2016, 03:47:54 pm
content: I rented a car on my last visit to Spain, a Volvo turbo diesel. One day the remote wouldn't work at all, but eventually did after many tries. It did work fine everywhere else.I went to Hertz and they asked me if I was near a police station.Indeed I was next to a police station and somehow whatever they run near them affects remotes.

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2016, 03:54:53 pm
content: Thieves use this technique to break into cars. They point a jammer at you when you are leaving your vehicle and they hope you won't notice that your car didn't lock.

author: SL4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 06, 2016, 09:53:10 pm
content: Seriously, but it couldn't be funnier...I had been visiting Australia's 'communications and media authority' (the spectrum regulator) about a decade ago, and returned to the car park... and couldn't unlock my car.When I was next talking to them, we discussed that event - and they knew about it !, Interference from a nearby VHF TV tower!

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2016, 03:11:03 pm
content: Quote from: SL4P on January 06, 2016, 09:53:10 pmActually,it wasn't "interference"---the TV Transmitters were operating within specifications.The problem was a spurious response in the receiver of your car remote system.

author: SL4P
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 08, 2016, 03:38:46 pm
content: yes, you're right... it was interfering with the central locking reception (possibly saturating the input?)..I'm not an RF guy.I'm guessing you know the site