Posted on 10/18/2004 8:21:23 AM PDT by esryle
CORVALLIS, Ore. An Oregon man's flat-screen T-V is loaded with all the bells and whistles -- including one option he'd rather not have.
A couple of weeks ago the Toshiba with built-in V-C-R, D-V-D and C-D player starting emitting the international distress signal.
An orbiting search and rescue satellite picked up the signal and before long Chris van Rossman heard a knock at the door.
Air Force officials, a police officer and a search and rescue deputy were outside.
Officials have told him to keep the T-V off or face a fine.
A Toshiba spokeswoman says this is the first time the company has heard of such a problem.
Mabe the TV just wants Help relocating to a less Liberal State..
Swat Team sent in for a TV violation?
For a second I thought he had removed his V-chip.
It's serious stuff. My guess is that he's got his television on an ungrounded extension cord which is very long. At some points on the cord you will find a standing wave ranging from 10 hertz all the way up to a gigahertz. Once there is a powercord emmission at say one foot, every multiple of one foot will give a harmonic at a multiple of the original signal. Much like when you turn on your blender or vacum cleaner and it interferes with your AM Radio or television set. The longer the power cord the worse the radiated powercord emmissions become.
In all seriousness, they probably didn't know it was a TV - they thought it was a Search and Rescue mission.
Every time I hit my garage door opener, my wife's vibrator starts going off.
She can hardly ever wait for me to come home.
According to another news story, Toshiba is replacing the set for the guy. Problem solved.
E.T. phone home
their=there. Argh.
Dang. I had forgotten she died.
Sounds like it could be the basis a star-trek episode. :o)
NOT my fault!
[To BSIC Inc, LLC]
TOLD you the built in EPIRB was a bad idea!
;-)
I believe what they are talking about here is the 121.5 MHz ELT radios in every plane which are designed to turn on when they detect a shock in excess of a certain (I don't know the number) of G's. These devices have a high rate of false turn on's and result in a lot of wasted searches.
There is a plan to phase these out and replace them with a system running at 406 MHz which will contain codes to identify them to a specific plane. Hopefully the false turn on rate will also be reduced.
Most electronic devices these days include a computer chip of some kind and emit electromagnetic radiation at various frequencies..just put a portable shortwave radio near your TV and you will hear lots of 'junk'. There are limits on how much 'junk' they can emit, but obviously not all such consumer equipment really meets the standards. Clearly output at 121.5 MHz is something to avoid if you don't want the FAA to turn up at your doorstep.
The new 406 MHz equipment will be much less susceptible to this as it's specifically coded output is highly unlikely to be duplicated by an errant TV or similar piece of consumer equipment.
Oregon man's T-V signals for help...this is a "just damn" story if ever I heard one!
Wait until it starts ordering out for pizza. This guy is SCREWED!
Up until 1992 the rules on stuff regarding interference or being succeptable to interference were closely adhered to. They were greatly laxed during the Clinton years. The requirements for protection in military applications, which used to be strictly enforced, were dropped for Clinton's reduced defense spending in a program he refered to as "COTS", meaning commercial, off the shelf procurement. Most the FCC rules are not even tested for these days. It's so bad that that's why they are abandoning the 121.5 mhz spot. There is so much interference there they are just giving up.
Come to think of it I haven't turned on my Loran C for a few months. I wonder if they are still transmitting the Loran signals?
Can't wait for my brain-chip implant.
"Come to think of it I haven't turned on my Loran C for a few months. I wonder if they are still transmitting the Loran signals?"
I believe they still are, but it's unclear how long that will last.
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