It can sometimes be truly terrifying to explain "human intelligence". 
Posted on 10/20/2004 9:50:08 AM PDT by El Conservador
EUGENE, Oregon (Reuters) - TV hardly gets much better than this.
An Oregon man discovered earlier this month that his year-old Toshiba Corp. flat-screen TV was emitting an international distress signal picked up by a satellite, leading a search and rescue operation to his apartment in Corvallis, Oregon, 70 miles south of Portland.
The signal from Chris van Rossmann's TV was routed by satellite to the Air Force Rescue Center at Langley Air Base in Virginia.
On Oct. 2, the 20 year-old college student was visited at his apartment in the small university town by a contingent of local police, civil air patrol and search and rescue personnel.
"They'd never seen signal come that strong from a home appliance," said van Rossmann. "They were quite surprised. I think we all were."
Authorities had expected to find a boat or small plane with a malfunctioning transponder, the usual culprit in such incidents, emitting the 121.5 MHz frequency of the distress signal used internationally.
Van Rossmann said he was told to keep his TV off to avoid paying a $10,000 fine for "willingly broadcasting a false distress signal."
Toshiba contacted Rossmann and offered to provide him with a replacement set for free, he said.
Was the TV tuned to CBS News when the distgress signal was sent???
stuned beeber bump
Good question!
Now all the Democrats need is television that subliminally plant big government and conpiracy themes into the brains of the viewers. :)
| Keychain Remote Control Turns Off Most TVs |
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| Posted by Keith in Iowa to Spunky; leadpencil1 On News/Activism 10/19/2004 9:22:01 PM CDT · 33 of 52
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Kill your TV ping.
It can sometimes be truly terrifying to explain "human intelligence".
I think this was Kenneth's TV. Whats the frequency? Now we know!
You know, my back left molar filling does this every other month. It's a giant pain in the rump, but, I never have to worry about getting lost for too long.
I thought the 121.5 mhz has been phased out in favor of the 406 mhz.
Wanna bet this shows up in a plot on one of the CSI and/or Law & Order shows next year..
Gawl... that's a Bummer. I hope the manufacturer offers him a different one without a transmitter.
As a techno guy ...I find this story far fetched.
What distress signal was the TV broadcasting...the international Morse code distress signal?
Email from Toshiba:
"We're sorry for the inconvenience, that telly was meant for one of our UK customers, and had been in the shop for repairs. A Mr. Bond will be very happy to get it back.
A new set will be at your home shortly.
Thanks again, chap!
Sincerely,
Toshiba Special Projects Group"
I recently had a defective phone line at work that kept calling 911. The police came by 4 times and because of procedural issues, had to search the place and verify my identity every time. I finally had to have the phone co. "busy" out the line for the weekend until someone could come out to fix it on Monday.
Speaking of search...
FWIW, as a luddite of sorts, I tend to find techno guys farfetched.....among other things...(g)
It was broadcasting on 121.5 MHz. That frequency is reserved for distress signals. Just keying the transmitter's good enough to get everyone's attention.
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