Keyless Entries Fail In Las Vegas On Friday

Hoompini-Ting writes "Some accuse area 51, but in any case many folks were stranded when keyless locks failed or their car computers malfunctioned. No technical explanation but I'm sure slashdotters have theories. Similar to the failure in Seattle 3 years ago. See the Las Vegas Review-Journal for more details."

Terrorist act

[Anonymous Coward]

From the article:
Jerry Bussell, Gov. Kenny Guinn's adviser on homeland security, ruled out terrorism

It's amazing how, since 9/11, for every little problem in this country terrorism has to be ruled out...

[sarcasm]
We are talking about people that are unable to go in their cars, it's obviously a terrorist act...
[/sarcasm]

I just want to add a little something that IMHO makes sense here:
"Why of course the people don't want war... That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, a parliament or a communist dictatorship... the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders... All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger.

--Hermann Goering, Nazi Reichsmarshal and Luftwaffe chief at Nuremberg trials, 1945

Mod me down because I'm really off-topic.

Read this [scoop.co.nz].

Re:Terrorist act

[Vellmont]

Slashdot give me a new appreciation for the narrow mindedness of people. Say anything the challenges peoples beliefs and you're "flamebait". Take any kind of tangent from the prescribed topic and you're "offtopic". All it takes is a few narrow minded idiots. It's really quite a sad testement to community based moderation.

Re:Terrorist act

[iamhassi]

"It's amazing how, since 9/11, for every little problem in this country terrorism has to be ruled out...

[sarcasm] We are talking about people that are unable to go in their cars, it's obviously a terrorist act... [/sarcasm]"

I'm no wireless expert, but if it's effecting keyless entry couldn't it effect other wireless systems? Wireless security systems, special security doors that use wireless badges for access, perhaps even police radios and cellphones? So I believe the idea of it being terrorist related is quite valid and they had every reason to question if it was terrorist related.

From article:
"According to the Federal Communications Commission, the low-power radio frequency transmitters inside keyless entry devices are similar to those found in other everyday items such as garage door openers, remote-controlled toys, cordless telephones, building alarm systems and the rapidly spreading wireless fidelity computer networks, which are commonly referred to as "wi-fi.""

Next time RTFA before you post.

Re:Terrorist act

[k4_pacific]

Authorities have ruled out terrorism in yesterday's solar eclipse.

Re:Terrorist act

[ergo98]

Clearly someone watched Oceans 11 [imdb.com] and decided to try using a pinch to rob a casino. Apparently the plan didn't work...or did it?

Re:Terrorist act

[silentrob]

if that had happened there would be a lot more things not working right. An EMP wouldn't just disrupt keyless entry systems, but all electronic devices within a certain area.

In this case, I think the "terrorist" angle merit(ed) looking into.

It was worth considering for about a half second.

Whales!

[Soruk]

Forget the terrorist theories, someone please tell the whales to answer!

Re:Terrorist act

[Jennifer E. Elaan]

Absolutely. A standard microwave-oven-style cavity magnetron with a square waveguide on it can make a HERF that will very effectively knock out electronics. The first to go would be anything with antennas or receiving coils, especially if they are in the same frequency range (802.11 gear would likely be first).

Because these things are so cheap, and because there are several hobby-type people working on them, it wouldn't even need to be *deliberate*. It could simply be accidental leakage of microwave energy.

wait a second...

[Transient0]

They are building keyless entry systems without physical keys as a backup measure?

Didn't we learn our lesson about manual over-rides long ago?

sorry to reply to myself

[Transient0]

but this quote from the article was choice:

"Estrada resorted to using his key to unlock his car door, but that set off his alarm."

So in one case there was a physical key as a backup system and when the guy resorted to using it (as though a key were some sort of desperate emergency measure) his car freaked out.

I'm no luddite, but this kind of stuff makes me laugh.

Re:sorry to reply to myself

[SpookyFish]

My car alarm will also go off if I use the key in the door -- but turning the key in the ignition will stop it.

That doesn't seem like unreasonable behavior.

maybe, maybe not

[Transient0]

My car doesn't have keyless entry so the idea of using the key to open the door setting off an alarm seems ridiculous to me.

I mean, if the lock could detect tampering like from a pick or a jiggler and THAT set off the alarm, it would seem reasonable to me. But if the person has a key that will open the door easily, doesn't the same key work in the ignition?

Re:maybe, maybe not

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually, no. Most car doors have a more generic lock than the ignition. Once I went to drive my mom's car, sat inside, only to find the key didn't work in the ignition. That's when I realized I had never gotten my mom's car key, and had unlocked the door with MY car's key. I double checked to be sure, and my key always unlocked her car door with ease.

I'm honestly not sure why this is, but I do have a suspicion. The intent is probably that you can't make a key that fits the car from the outside. First you'd need to make a key using the door lock, then you'd have to get inside the car, then make another key using the ignition. Hopefully this takes too long or requires too many visits to the car, and before you can make keys for both locks either the owner will return and catch you, or a passerby will notice what you're doing.

As for having the car alarm go off "by default" if you put a proper key in the door, I still think that is stupid and obnoxious. I think car alarms should be outlawed altogether, at least until the things have some remotely significant success rate. And by success i mean only going off if someone is actually breaking into the car. Alternatively, the car's owner should be fined (maybe 200$) if the alarm goes off without real provocation. Too many car alarms are too sensitive, and the owners dont give a shit because they're not the ones trying to sleep in the house/apartment/dorm next to their blaring car alarm.

Re:You and your mom should trade in those Yugos

[SlowGenius]

Er, brothers and Saturns, not moms and Yugos.

Last weekend a young woman politely knocked on my door and asked if I drove a red Saturn. Well, no, but my visiting brother does.... It turns out some friends of hers (who live across the street) had let her borrow *their* red Saturn. She not only was able to unlock my brother's car with their key, she was able to $#@%in' DRIVE AWAY with it. FWIW, apparently it wasn't completely trivial; after she managed to drive away with it, she was unable to get it started again when she tried to drive it back....

Re:You and your mom should trade in those Yugos

[doormat]

A buddy of mine has a 1999 Ford Ranger. There are only 12 different lock cylinders for that year of Rangers. If you have one key for a Ranger, you have a 1/12 chance of opening up and driving away in any other Ranger. The chances arent so astronomical.

Re:Car Al-army

[sjames]

Car alarms are completely worthless these days. I don't know anybody who upon hearing a car alarm thinks 'someone is trying to steal a car'. Instead it's more like 'some asshole's alarm is too sensitive', or 'OH MY GOD, a leaf landed on someone's car!".

In at least one case, I saw a car alarm REDUCE a car's security. As a rather large and apparently intoxicated person walked past an expensive looking car, he triggered one of those stupid proximity alarms (as in 'this is the Viper, don't look so hard at the paint' or some such junk). He yelled 'OH YEAH!!! Well FUCK YOU!', and proceeded to kick in the headlights and smash the windshield. I guess it should have just kept quiet.

The best alarms don't make a sound. They give the thief a minute or so to drive off and then cut off the fuel. The idea being that they will be in traffic by then where they are much too high profile to attempt to bypass the alarm.

Re:Car Al-army

[sjames]

or do you believe that cars are still driveable without fuel?

I'd say the danger is minimal. I've had a fuel pump fail before, and the car did give some warning before cutting out completely. That would also be the correct time for the lights to start flashing and the horn sounding. At the same time, it will warn other drivers of the disabled car.

to say all car alarms are completely worthless is overly broad. I think proximity sensors that detect motion outside the car is worthless, but inside would be useful.

The vast majority of car alarms are the start screaming when a leaf touches the car type. Certainly, that is the type that everyone except the owner hates, and what most people think of when they hear the term car alarm.

Any motion sensor is an invitation to trouble. Many savvy thieves pick out a car they like in it's driveway. Every night at a disgustingly early hour, they set the alarm off by bouncing the car and hide in the shadows. Eventually, the combination of carelessness and sleep loss gets the owner to conclude the alarm needs an adjustment and he leaves it off.

The night the alarm doesn't go off, the car is stolen.

There are useful anti-theft devices, but ALARMS do no good and annoy the neighbors. After enough of that, they CAUSE vandalism.

Personally, I choose cars by utility value and don't leave anything valuable in them. I've never had a poblem.

Re:maybe, maybe not

[SpookyFish]

Actually, come to think about it, the alarm isn't set off when the key is turned, rather when the door is opened. Still makes sense to me, since the window can be left open with the alarm enabled...

The door's lock is essentially physical; detecting a pick would certainly add complexity. Picking is rare anyway, they use a slim-jim or a curved tool that hits the power lock button.

The ignition's tumblers are higher precision and, in some cars, have sensors that read a code embedded in the chip to verify the key.

Re:maybe, maybe not

[Ironica]

Most vehicles have a switch under the dash that lets you turn off the alarm once in the vehicle.

Yeah... mine has that. It's called the fuse box. ;-)

Re:maybe, maybe not

[jayhawk88]

On my car, the key has a microchip (or something, maybe just more like a magnetic tag) of some sort built into the key. This chip interacts somehow with something imbedded in the ignition, which allows the car to start. In other words, if you try to start the car with something other than my key, supposedly the car won't start because that chip or whatever is missing.

This may be the idea behind this sort of thing. You can open the door with the key, or something else, and the alarm goes off. If you're the legitimate user, you then start up your car, and this chip or whatever then confirms that yes, you really are the driver, and the alarm shuts up. Otherwise, it's probably a robbery in progress.

Doesn't seem like that big of deal to me. I mean either this helps prevent your car being stolen or, worst case, you have to sit around for a bit embarrassed while AAA comes out to help you.

Re:maybe, maybe not

[MrResistor]

if the lock could detect tampering like from a pick or a jiggler and THAT set off the alarm

Interesting idea. I think it would be fairly simple to distinguish between a key and a lockpick. You'd have to have contacts inside the lock for each tumbler. Typically, a key will set the tumblers from the outside in, while it's much easier to pick a lock from the inside out. I've never used a jiggler, so I don't know how you'd detect that. Of course, people who wanted to pick those locks would just develope techni

Re:sorry to reply to myself

[The Wicked Priest]

I would not buy a car with this behavior, unless I could disable it. And I'd prefer it be disabled by default.

@#@&* car alarms!

Re:sorry to reply to myself

[stefanlasiewski]

My car alarm goes off when someone uses a crowbar to open the door, but smashing the alarm with the crowbar will stop it.

Re:sorry to reply to myself

[Aardpig]

Estrada resorted to using his key to unlock his car door, but that set off his alarm.

What the hell was he doing in Vegas? Doesn't the "C" in "CHiPs" stand for "California"? And what's this about a car? Has he lost his bike?

Re:sorry to reply to myself

[El]

My 2003 Honda security system works the same way; I can get into the car using the key, but the alarm goes off if I don't use the transmitter. In fact, if I stop the car, take the key out, open and close the door, and remain in the car, the alarm goes off after a minute. Likewise if I leave the trunk open too long. Damn annoying technology, if you ask me. Why can't the alarm just turn on when I tell it to, and then turn off when I tell it to?

Just be glad you weren't driving a Toureg

[RedSynapse]

From Car Talk's Good, Bad, and Ugly of 2003 [cartalk.com]

An engineer at Volkwagen thought that if someone tries to steal a new super-deluxe Toureg sport utility, the theft deterrent system ought to make it damn hard. So, if the car's alarm is not turned off using the key fob, the would-be intruder (even if he uses the key to manually unlock the driver's door) will run into several obstacles.

He'll find that the car won't start. And he'll then find he can't remove the key from the ignition (it locks it in place), and can't take the car out of Park.

Unfortunately, if the battery dies (for no apparent reason), the alarm cannot be turned off. So the owner will face the same set of obstacles.

He will use the key to manually open the door. He will insert the key and try to start the engine. He will fail, and try to remove the key, which will not come out. He will call VW roadside assistance, who will call AAA. The tow truck driver will arrive and won't be able to jump start the car, because the battery is in the rear cargo compartment, and the door locks are either dead or disabled by the alarm system. He will shrug and leave. Another tow truck driver will arrive, shrug, and leave. A third tow truck driver will arrive and decide to tow the car. He will discover that the transmission is locked in Park, so he can't tow it. He will shrug and leave. After another call to VW roadside assistance, a local dealer will get involved, sending a tow truck with a dolly, so the car can be rolled onto a flat bed truck and taken to the dealer.

The owner will be really happy he just spent $40,000 on a high-end German sport utility vehicle.

Manual over-ride? Don't you watch Star Trek?

[Barlo_Mung_42]

There is always a small panel near by with a red lever or wheel. Good thing car thieves aren't geeks.

Re:wait a second...

[kfg]

I am many years out of date on this, but the last time I looked BMW was the only car manufacturer with the perspicacity to include an emergency window winding mechanism in its cars with electric windows. It always seemed like a no brainer to me.

An impact puch might serve (and I recommend every car carry one in its glove box), but that's messy and expensive for simple, non life threatening situations.

KFG

Re:wait a second...

[Penguinshit]

perspicacity
Holy crap dude, you win the prize for Obscure Word of the Week. Have you been reading books again??

(ps: I actually had to bust out the dictionary for that one.)

Re:wait a second...

[Crypto Gnome]

What lesson? Slashdoters have conclusively proven that Manual Overrides neither grow hair on your palms nor do they make you go blind.

MODerators: if you don't get the joke then you never read Cryptognomicon - what kind of geek *are* you?

It's Vegas.

[Trigun]

Vegas was built upon a geographical oddity known as a bad luck epicentre. This is merely a cute manifestation of this bad luck phenomenon.

And that's also why I lost all my money there too.

Re:It's Vegas.

[Mick Ohrberg]

Better start handing out tinfoil hats at the air port and city limits.

Re:It's Vegas.

[Trigun]

Tinfoil wallet liners as well. And Many of those people are going with the expectations of winning big. I'm sure we can sucker them into spending a bit to improve their chances.

I'll flip for the foil. You live near the airport?

Re:It's Vegas.

[void warranty()]

I think it's more likely the concentration of slot machines attracts badluckons, the particle responsible for transmitting bad luck. Much in the same way as critical systems designed for stability attract murphyons. The universe always strives for equilibrium.

Re:It's Vegas.

[Waffle Iron]

Actually, bad luck doesn't really scale.

One person losing a pile of cash on a trip to Vegas == bad luck.

Millions of people losing piles of cash in Vegas each year == expected statistical outcome.

Good luck epicentre.

[www.sorehands.com]

It is not a bad luck epicentre, but a good luck epicentre. If you build a casino on it, you will always end up winning.

Re:It's Vegas.

[tommck]

This is merely a cute manifestation of this bad luck phenomenon.

It's cute? Does it roll over on its back when you scratch its belly too?

Agent Mulder...

[fm6]

...have you met Commander Bond?

radio jammers?

[cRueLio]

this reminds me of those personal cellphone jammers that people have been buying... surely the same technology can be applied to the frequency of these keyless entry remotes...

just my 2 cents...

Yes, they can.

[Moderation abuser]

With hysterical results.

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:radio jammers?

[tigertiger]

Back in school our physics teachers had a Tesla generator (or Tesla coil), a simple device that creates an electromagnetic signal which can jam a large part of the frequency spectrum. It uses electrical sparks to achieve that.

The field of these thingies is powerful enough to light up a lightbulb over a few feet (if you wire the lighbulb to a reception coil). The story I heard was that the local equivalent of the FCC came in and shut the Tesla generators down. And that was long before cell phones and wireless can openers... I mean car openers.

Would be more fun to have a strong emitter send out all possible code sequences so all the cars in Vegas would unlock...

What you say?

[Leffe]

A weather baloon caused it, there is no need to worry!

Re:What you say?

[kfg]

Of course it was a weather ballon released by aliens studying our atmosphere.

And don't get me going about the so called "Goodyear" blimp.

Geez, wake up people!

KFG

No worries...

[AKnightCowboy]

Someone's probably just using an electromagnetic pulse device to rob a casino. Round up the usual suspects (Clooney, Pitt, etc.)

Re:No worries...

[mesach]

Who are these Clooney, Pitt, Etc?

I thought the usual suspects were

Verbal Kint, Dean Keaton, Michael McManus, Etc.

Don't tell me Det. Kujan Traced Keyser Soze to Vegas!

Oh the Horror!!

[PetoskeyGuy]

Estrada resorted to using his key to unlock his car door...

What is this world coming to?

future darwin award winner

[Anonymous Coward]

My car is one of them," Ferguson said. "It's some kind of electrical disturbance. Either that or a nuclear bomb went off a few miles from here."

I'm betting it's an electrical disturbance because I don't think there would be much of him around otherwise.

Re:future darwin award winner

[Anonymous Coward]

actually if it were the latter wouldn't there be a lot of him around but at a greater distance?

Wouldn't they all be affected?

[mwyner]

If it were some weird electrical disturbance or whatever, wouldn't all the keyless entry systems be affected? I didn't get the assumption from the article that it was all of them, rather a small amount. I'd be curious to know whether or not all the ones that failed where in the same area, or if it was spread out over Vegas.

the article sez

[my sig is bigger tha]

that some Ford, etc. systems use the same frequency as the military, so if it were a military cause, than perhaps only those keyless systems would be affected?

Re:Wouldn't they all be affected?

[cats-paw]

It would be interesting to see how many of the fob's were older. The SAW's used in FOB's drift in frequency over time. It's possible that they are operating marginally, and so even a little interference would affect performance.

In addition to the usual military radio use which could interfere, ham's could also cause problems even if they are not operating directly on frequency.

If some ham operator doesn't know his power amplifier has decided to start distorting for one reason or another, you could get intermittent distortion which lands @ ~ 430MHz, and again you have a problem.

Or maybe it's just that the batteries were faulty.

It's sort of don't care, except for the truly stupid involvement of homeland security.

funny

[my sig is bigger tha]

"We've got a jammer in the inventory, but I don't think we've got any out here, let alone flying," he said. Even if electronic warfare aircraft were flying, they operate at much different frequencies than commercial devices, such as garage-door openers and remote keyless entry systems, Estrada explained.

"The military is certainly capable of fibbing about these things," Pike said. "But, for the military to have done it, they would have to have seriously miscalculated the effects of some test."

oh no.

Military

[drgonzo59]

I am blaming the military. Come to think of it, wouldn't it be possible to create a "Denial of Entry" by jamming those frequencies in a given area.
On the other side, that would make people actually open their doors by hand (what a concept!), they might loose some weight and build some muscle in the process too.

ticked off the martians

[stonebeat.org]

maybe the 2 rovers we sent to mars, ticked off the martians. they figured that why not tick off some people in the unluckiest place (LV) on the earth.
by the way, martians exist in different dimensions, so the rovers will not be able to see them :)

al quaeda not involved

[ansonyumo]

Terry Bussell, Gov. Kenny Guinn's adviser on homeland security, ruled out terrorism...

Whew, that's a relief.

Conspiracy Theory

[sabat]

My best guess: it was a HAARP experiment [alaska.edu].

Whew

[chaoticset]

From the article:

Jerry Bussell, Gov. Kenny Guinn's adviser on homeland security, ruled out terrorism and described the phenomenon as a "frequency problem."

Here's two dumb questions in a row:

1. 
   Are governors asking their homeland security advisors whether everything could be terrorism now? "My toilet clogged up this morning...could that be terrorism?" Isn't that really time the governor could spend better, I don't know, say, whimpering underneath a desk in the fetal position, or playing golf, or even chewing gum?
   
2. 
   How do they know it's not the result of terrorist action? Perhaps there are some acutely stupid terrorists, and this is the first strike against keyless entry...in a very small area of the world...which nobody really noticed. Maybe they're just stupid terrorists. Maybe their next plan is to have a terror blog. Maybe their next plan is to get shirts printed up with the word "Terrorist" emblazoned on the front.
   

Y2K+4

[liverslury]

the y2k+4 bug rears its ugly head

Funny, this

[panurge]

I bought my last car just after a colleague had had problems with his keyless system - it started unlocking the doors every time a truck with a CB went past. As a result, I insisted on not having keyless entry. I'm beginning to think I should moderate my decision "Insightful".

More Followup:

[Jedi Holocron]

HERE [syzygyjob.net] and HERE [freerepublic.com] and HERE [klastv.com]

From Rumor Mill News [rumormillnews.com]:

Across the nation today reports were streaming in of unusual electrical occurrences and bizarre abnormal appliance failures.

From Ohio to Nevada and Washington State to Arizona, thousands of mystified citizens reported that, for no apparent reason, simple function appliances such as garage door openers, automatic gate latches and even some cell phones, appeared to fail simultaneously.

There has been no official comment on these reports.

In view of the quality of past official explanations of similar occurances anyway, it is highly doubtful that, were such comment to be forthcoming, they would serve to enlighten the nation's darkened garages and their equally "in the dark" owners.

This odd phenomena is apparently without precedent in scope.

As of this morning, reports are still surfacing from regions that have been affected. Details remain sketchy. I will attempt to stay abreast of related stories as they break.

In conjunction with this unusual event, an unprecedented chemtrail campaign appears to be underway. This, amid widespread reports of strange behavior among domestic and wild animals gives one cause to wonder just what kind of major future potentiality is getting set to emerge as a present reality.

anyone want to translate?

[TubeSteak]

...gives one cause to wonder just what kind of major future potentiality is getting set to emerge as a present reality.

English Please?

Re:More Followup:

[Lifewish]

See if we can compile a list of possibilities. Natural:

• Abnormal solar radiation
• Unexpected other space radiation (supernovae? pulsars?)
• Earthquakes (similar earth-based cockups such as changes in the mantle)

Man-made:

• Nuclear testing
• A lot of batteries being manufactured at the same time
• Secret military/terrorist testing

Just plain unlikely:

• Alien activity

Can anyone think of anything I've missed? Especially in the "man-made" section. Even more useful would be actual data on any of these. Do we have any astrophysicists or geologists posting here? Thanks.

Re:More Followup:

[Snork Asaurus]

See if we can compile a list of possibilities. Natural:
Abnormal solar radiation
Unexpected other space radiation (supernovae? pulsars?)...

...Slashdot Effect...

Re:More Followup:

[FrostedWheat]

Can anyone think of anything I've missed? Especially in the "man-made" section.

Hundreds of people suddenly degaussing there monitors after reading a Slashdot poll?

Anyone got a plot of the occurences?

[Moderation abuser]

Location + date/time might I suspect be very enlightening.

I smell a cover-up!

[Snork Asaurus]

Now one of the pages you linked to is "Temporarily Unavailable". Sounds like a cover-up to me. That proves that something must be going on.

Vegas...

[Punk Walrus]

"What happens here, stays here..."

"... because no can leave!"

"... two men enter, one man leave... the Passion of THUNDERDOME!" ... sorry, Mel.

I'll be damned

[ffallen]

I loaned my vehicle to a friend for a few days last night which was supposed to be returned around 10PM. Around that time, she called and was frantic because she was late and she could not disable the alarm to get into it. I had no idea what the heck was going on. Probably some SDI research gone awry. There is always wierd stuff going on here in the Las Vegas Valley. Vegas is a great place to live. Always something going on, always something interesting happening.

This happens all the time in Manhattan

[Speed Racer]

Whenever I'm in Manhattan near the Empire State Building my keyless entry is absolutely useless. I'm fairly confident that my poor little electronic key fob gets drowned out by the sheer volume of RF signals in the area. Probably the same sort of thing in Vegas only in a short burst.

Curse the FCC and part 15 of their rules [gpo.gov].

Re:This happens all the time in Manhattan

[ozbird]

Bingo. If you ever visit the summit of Mt. Wellington in Hobart (Tasmania, Australia), they have a sign warning drivers that their keyless entry may not work due to the proximity of the tranmission tower. I didn't have any problems with my hired Toyota Camry, but YMMV. :-) The sign also mentioned something about an override switch, probably for the ignition security system.

Unintentional jamming

[NachoDaddy]

Sorry to all you conspiracy theory nuts, this happens all the time. The fact that it made the news surely indicates a slow news day. 30 people in a town of millions called a towing company for a lockout, oooooo! Many keyless entry systems operate around 430MHz. Anytime I transmit on 440MHz while sitting in a parking lot, I set off car alarms and laugh at the people press the crap out of the buttons on their keyless entry systems. Military over the horizon radar is broadband and around 430-440MHz. Anytime the Navy has a big boat in the area, the 440 repeaters are buzzing with radar noise, and low-end keyless entry systems can fail. Granted that Las Vegas doesn't have a whole lot of Navy vessels nearby, but they do have miltary there. On the other hand, it's more fun to blame it on Area 51

Re:Unintentional jamming

[fatboy]

Military over the horizon radar is broadband and around 430-440MHz.

Um, no. Over the horizon radar is located in the HF portion of the band. Without the ionosphere boucing the HF signal back down, it would not make it over the horizon.

What you are hearing is conventional radar.

My Guess...

[aredubya74]

Someone used a pinch [imdb.com]. To quote Basher:

"A pinch creates a similar electromagnetic pulse, but without the fuss of mass destruction and death. So instead of Hiroshima, you'd be getting the seventeenth century."

Ok, I just wanted to post a quote from one of my favorite TV screen saver movies. Still, it's somewhat on-topic.

Reminds me of...

[Aardpig]

RAF Fylingdales, on the North Yorkshire moors in England. They've had big problems with the poweful radar there (which will form part of the NMD system); cars that get too close have their alarms or engine immobilizers triggered. In the latter case, they have to be towed out of range of the radar. More about the story can be found here [thisisyork.co.uk].

testing 1, 2, 3.....

[pair-a-noyd]

EMP weapons test.

http://popularmechanics.com/science/military/2001/ 9/e-bomb/print.phtml [popularmechanics.com]

Similar Problem - Faulty FM Transmitter

[ErichTheWebGuy]

We had a very similar situation here in the Colorado Springs, CO area a few years ago when a faulty FM broadcast tower started sending out signals on rogue frequencies.

Not only were keyless entry systems affected, but garage doors started opening at seemingly random intervals as well. It happened on the southwest side of the city, which as anyone familiar with the area knows, is smack-dab next to NORAD (as well as the main array of broadcast antennae that serve the city).

Needless to say, the conspiracy theorists had a field day with that one too.

Montreal - circa 1994

[Anonymous Coward]

Another similar situation in Montreal when a brand new public transport train locomotive was put into service: its route took it through a residential neighborhood lined w/ houses equipped w/ 1-2 door garages. Imagine the owners' surprise when, as the train passed by for the first time, nearly all the garage doors equipped w/ electrical openers opened on their own! I can't remember exactly what caused it, but it was related either to the new locomotive's communication system or the part-electric propulsion system.

KISS Principle

[lwsimon]

The article said that the people up at Nellis were gearing up for a "Red Flag" operation next week. If memory serves, Red Flag is a mock warfare exercise, and i'm thinking they had an electronic warfare aircraft of one kind was on the way in, and flikked on the the switch marked "jam" instead of the button to turn on the surround sound in the cockpit :)

The movies..

[Deal-a-Neil]

Haven't any of you watched Oceans Eleven? I think that the Bellagio better check their vault.

Somebody call Ford and Zaphod

[jayhawk88]

It sounds like the Infinite Improbability Drive is malfunctioning again.

Why is this even a question?

[rtilghman]

"Solar flares can produce and eject large numbers of charge particles, and usually the Earth's magnetic field deflects them before they enter the atmosphere,"

In other news, the Sun reached out and incinerated a home in Dayton, Ohio, late last week. The front yard was also slightly scorched, but neighbors reported absolutely no damage from the 50,000 Kelvin temperatures.

However, Tom Glavine, a next door neighbor did report breaking a sweat.

Can you spell EMP?

-rt

Re:Why is this even a question?

[gnu-sucks]

Had this been a real EMP, the devices still wouldn't work. An EMP would render most semiconductors (transistors, diodes, etc) completely useless, and indefinitely so.

Is your remote from TRW?

[gnu-sucks]

The OEM remote control for my Chrysler Concord has FCCID GQ43VT9T. Which is registered to a company called TRW (TRW is also engraved into the back of the keyless entry remote).

According to the FCC [fcc.gov], all remote controls with this FCC ID operate at 315.000mhz. My guess would be, most keyless entry systems built by this company operate at this frequency (ie, they don't all have separate FCC ID's, and separate frequencies).

It would only take me, an amateur radio operator, about an hour to come up with a way to block transmission on that frequency for, say, a 50 mile radius.

Go here [fcc.gov] to check your FCC ID.

Electric shavers

[gspr]

It's surely caused by someone's huuuuge king-size electric shaver [slashdot.org] nearby.

The natural explonation in not always so obvious..

[zz99]

I know of a case where a bunch of people got locked out of their cars for some hours. It was in a parkinglot in front of a shopping center.

After an investigation it turned out that in one of the high apartment buildings next to the parkinglot, someone had a wireless set of headphones jamming the keyless car locks.

Happens at a little pub in harrogate

[Moderation abuser]

You stop there for lunch on your bike and will the alarm/immobliser disarm afterwards? Will it buggery. Apparently there's a US Airforce "listening station" nearby.

This happened to me not too long ago

[Thagg]

There is a fairly large mountain, Mount Wilson, about 15 miles from the center of Los Angeles. It is a weird bit of topography to have such a high mountain right next to a city at sea level, and both the academic and telecommunications fields have taken advantage of it.

I went up there with my son to see the array of telescopes. They have some amazing, unique installlations, including a spectacular optical interferometer.

About a mile from the observatory there is the largest antenna farm you've ever seen. Antennas of every size, geometry, and description.

And -- the keyless entry on my Toyota Spyder [216.102.153.252]didn't work. It was a little puzzling, I assumed that the remote's battery was dead -- but the little light worked just fine. If I put the remote right next to the car, it would work about one time out of 10. Very odd. I thought maybe it was the altitude...

Then when I tried it at the parking garage the next day, it worked perfectly, with its normal range and exuberance. I now believe that it was interference from the antenna farm that was causing it not to work at Mount Wilson.

I'm sure that there was some kind of similar interference in Vegas yesterday. I wonder if Aviation Week will write it up.

Thad

Effect sometimes less than total failure

[Frank T. Lofaro Jr.]

My keyless entry transmitters range was horrible (as in much more horrible than usual) yesterday, but it worked if you got close enough.

I was wondering my both transmitters seemed to get weak at the same time.

I haven't tried it today.

My computer stayed up throughout, no DSL problems, no cable problems, no power problems either, cell phone seemed ok except one call I made the signal quality was poor even though I was not too far from the tower.

The reason is obvious

[mathematician]

I would have thought that everyone would have figured this one out. I saw it on a movie called "The Core." Basically, the center of the earth has stopped moving. Our only hope is to send down some kind of manned underground machine and detonate nuclear weapons.

Doesn't anybody have a receiver?

[Animats]

You'd think that somebody would turn on a general-purpose receiver or a spectrum analyzer [pasadena.net] and find out what's emitting high-power RF in that band. It's not like this is rocket science. Some hams, most cell phone companies and the better Wi-Fi installers have one around someplace. Yes, it's an ISM band, but if there's interference over a wide area, somebody is way over allowed power. Any ordinary analog receiver should pick it up.

Back when the FCC had District Engineers, instead of "Regional Directors" who are usually lawyers, you could probably get somebody on the phone who'd crank up a receiver and tune around until they found the source of the problem. Today, the FCC doesn't even have an office in Las Vegas. The nearest field office is in LA.

I have a very simple explanation....

[fatboy]

Many tower sites have 460Mhz high power paging transmitters co-located there along with 150Mhz transmitters. Often times these transmitters are not "UP" at the saame time. Paging transmitters are up most of the time during the day. When you have two stations that are close to each other and you don't have a device called a "circulator" on the output of the RF Power Amp (PA), you get a mix of the two signals. 460-150 puts out a mix at about 310Mhz. Right in the band that many of the wireless key entry systems use. If the mix is only a few watts, comming from a high gain paging transmitter's antenna, yep, it would stomp all over the keyless remote.

No need for panic, I am sure it was someone replacing a bad circulator on a paging transmitter.

Side effect of casino RF jamming?

[Charles Dodgeson]

Just some speculation here. I have heard rumors that casinos attempt to distrupt certain sorts of electro-magnetic communication within the casinos. Some might have been trying out a new system around some new frequencies that needed a bit of tuning.

Either that, or it is terrorism.

Jamming - Yes Opening - No

[kd5ftn]

While whatever causing the disturbance can cause your remote to stop operating, there is no way that random RF interference can cause your car and garage doors to start opening. All these systems use a set "code" of pulses - so it takes a lot more than just broadcasting on the right freqency to make something happen.

Could be a little more down to earth.

[rspress]

Being an amateur radio operator and at one time a repeater owner I know that all kinds of radio frequency problems can happen. My repeater only transmitted one someone was using it but when a small little transistor started to self oscillate it transmitted by itself. Since it bypassed the control there was not auto shut off. Worse yet my normal narrow 7Khz signal was now running 100mhz in each direction! Since my transmitter was in the 146Mhz range it was now blotting out other transmitters and devices from 46Mhz to 246Mhz.

It blotted out Fire, police, business, TV and worse yet, military frequencies! A friend who works at mountain top sites for Motorola found the problem from a nearby mountain via a 50 thousand dollar service monitor and noticed that it was centered on my frequency! I found him on my doorstep when I arrived home. It was powered down and a resister network on the transistors stopped it from ever happening again.

The point is I could have been fined BIG dollars for this little problem and would have if I reported it. Cities are dense with radio signals from all kinds of sources and any one of those can malfunction. If no one can traces this down I doubt the offending person or equipment will come forward. Unless this was a test of a military EMP bomb in the desert test range I doubt it was the military since it only effect a narrow range of devices. The narrow range of problems almost eliminates the EMP bomb as well.

Area 51 Wireless Woes

[Isbjorn]

I live in Nevada, and have done a lot of work with 802.11 in various locations around the state. The most interesting project I ever worked on was in Pahrump. We discovered that we could not create any working connections with a directional antenna pointed toward Area 51. I don't know if they use conventional jamming equipment, experimental wireless equipment or weapons, or who knows what. All I know is that it was a real pain in the butt, and required moving equipment around to avoid pointing anything that direction.

Re:"Similar to the failure in Seattle 3 years ago"

[Anonymous Coward]

The article refers to the event (U.S. aircraft carrier docked near Seattle, similar electronic glitches were noted). So, RTFA.

Re:"Similar to the failure in Seattle 3 years ago"

[Jonathan]

Well, this is probably the occurrence:
http://www.thesunlink.com/news/2001/m arch/03302mys tery.html

Re:"Similar to the failure in Seattle 3 years ago"

[nacturation]

The intro quotes this as happening in Seattle 3 years ago...can anyone provide evidence?

I think this is the event [microsoft.com] they were referring to.

Re:"Similar to the failure in Seattle 3 years ago"

[Zocalo]

There is another example of this type of thing happening in the UK as well, but either my Google Fu is playing up or I read it on a dead tree because I can find any links. IIRC cars would experience periods when they were failing to start or engine management systems would temporarily fail, often causing cars being driven to stall. The cause was attributed to the local RAF base which had just had some new radar installation constructed which presumambly either uses or has a harmonic that matches frequenci