Posted on 10/19/2004 9:47:10 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
CORVALLIS, Ore. (AP) -- Chris van Rossman's television came with a VCR, DVD player and CD player - plus a hidden feature that had a rescue team beating a path to his door.
On the night of Oct. 2, the TV began emitting the international distress signal - the 121.5 megahertz beep emitted by crashed airplanes and sinking boats.
The signal was picked up by a satellite, relayed to an Air Force base in Virginia, then to the Civil Air Patrol, then to officials in Oregon. Most signals are false alarms, but they're all checked out, and soon, men in Air Force uniforms, a police officer and Mike Bamberger, a Benton County Search and Rescue deputy, were at van Rossman's apartment door.
"I have a pretty spotless record, so I wasn't overly concerned - just a little confused," van Rossman said. "The police officer asked if I was a pilot or had a boat or anything."
They left when he said "no," but came back when they narrowed the location of the signal to a wall in van Rossman's hallway, Bamberger said.
The solution to the mystery was nailed when van Rossman turned off the TV before answering the door the second time. The signal stopped, too. An inspection of the television confirmed it was the source.
"Their equipment was just bouncing everywhere as they turned it on and off," van Rossman said.
Neither investigators nor officials at Toshiba Corp. know exactly what caused the problem, Bamberger said Tuesday. Toshiba plans to replace the television and examine the offending one.
"We have never experienced anything like this before at Toshiba," said spokeswoman Maria Repole.
In the meantime, van Rossman is keeping the set unplugged - to avoid a fine of up to $10,000 per day if his TV cries wolf again.
ping
Maybe he shouldn't have been watching that "Funniest Airplane Crashes and Boating Accidents" video?
This was up for discussion yesterday. Let me see if I can find it...
Thanks for the link.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1248724/posts
Different source though...
It's not that surprising. The TV set was frightened by some of the leftists in Oregon.
this happens every time my tv set has gore on it
Something like that happened to me once. My cordless telephone, for some preverse reason, dialed 911 in the dead of night. I awoke to pounding on the door and a patio full of police. Weird. Had I been a dope smoking FM maggot type and doing something illegal at the time, I'd have been busted for sure. After all, they had probable cause. That would be a h&ll of a way to get busted.
Does anyone check for dups anymore?
I hear you...sometimes no matter what you run it doesn't come up. But then after you see it's a duplicate it seems like it should.
We must be searching incorrectly.
I guess we are. :-)
.../personal rant over.
I typed in Oregon man T-V, about the 5 th one down, bingo.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.