Mystery signal blocking Ottawa door devices

CBC News ^ | 04 Nov 2005

[cloud8]

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

[manwiththehands]

"The signal is transmitted on the 390-megahertz band, which is used by virtually all garage door openers on the continent. That's the same frequency used by the U.S. military's new state-of-the-art Land Mobile Radio System."

Who's bonehead idea was this?

[WilliamWallace1999]

The military signal is digitally encrypted and supposedly unbreakable. It now seems to have the secondary benefit of keeping the enemy from opening the garage doors to drive the tanks out of their hardened bunkers.

[NerdDad]

"The signal is transmitted on the 390-megahertz band, which is used by virtually all garage door openers on the continent.

That's the same frequency used by the U.S. military's new state-of-the-art Land Mobile Radio System."


How widely known was this information before the CBC's loose lips began flapping??

[Eric in the Ozarks]

It took 15 seconds to blame the Americans.

[The Electrician]

Angolan Ambassador Miguel Puna's operation is one of those affected by the problem. He can no longer open his embassy's electronic gate.

"Not only in this gate, but even other gates, we are having a lot of problems," said Puna. "This could cause security concerns."

Mr. Puna should be congratulated on the wisdom of admitting to all of Canada in a CBC news article that the Angolan embassy has security problems. Duh!

[ASA Vet]

I took you longer to post this thread than it should have taken to fix the location.

[Clara Lou]

It took 15 seconds to blame the Americans.
Well, in this case, it seems logical, doesn't it?

[cloud8]

> Who's bonehead idea was this?

Maybe it's some kind of early warning system :)

Actually I was wondering if Ottawa was experimenting with Broadband over Power Lines (BPL), and that was causing the trouble.

[null and void]

Space aliens...

[MarineBrat]

I plugged my old CB into my new linear amp, aimed the beam antennae at Canada, and just look what happens!

[TN4Liberty]

How widely known was this information before the CBC's loose lips began flapping??

If the foriegn press knew it, I'd guess any adversary that could use the info already had it.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Probably ITU frequency assignments. The military almost never uses frequencies outside of assigned bands.

I'll be dollars to donuts they find some amateur rig responsible, either maliciously or innocently. Roof-top TV antennas with active amplifiers are notorious for oscillating and interfering with television signals. Could be an amateur UHF relay, a single ham or some home owner who bought a "radio shack" roof top amplifier.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Probably ITU frequency assignments. The military almost never uses frequencies outside of assigned bands.

I'll be dollars to donuts they find some amateur rig responsible, either maliciously or innocently. Roof-top TV antennas with active amplifiers are notorious for oscillating and interfering with television signals. Could be an amateur UHF relay, a single ham or some home owner who bought a "radio shack" roof top amplifier.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I knew it was you!

[WilliamWallace1999]

Howdy all. It probably is us. Just talked to a friend of mine with the border patrol. It is probably them and not the military. This new system works like a private cell service. Think Nextel walkie-talkies not available to the general public. System digitally encrypts voice over old analog frequencies. They have constructed "cell tower" all along the section of Texas border where I live. Now the coyotes smuggling wets can't monitor them with standard scanners. Without the digital key code it is all just gibberish.

No, it is not a widely held secret. Everyone on our southern border knows about it.

PS- Our boder patrol a great individuals led by PC buffoons at the advisory level. Take off the administrative cuffs imposed by Washington and they could slow the infiltration WAY DOWN. Bust employers like they used to before Clintoon halted the practice.

Just needed to get that off my chest. Wheww.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Well, in this case, it seems logical, [to blame the Americans] doesn't it?

No. Occam's razor suggests thousands of more likely possibilities. Paranoia suggests the neighbor to the South.

[Buffettfan]

I'll bet Bush did it :)

[Rocketwolf68]

It's not exactly the same frequency, it's just that the more powerful transmission bleeds over onto civilian frequencies, disrupting them. The door companies have many other bands they could be using, and could retofit their systems for IR or 5 ghz and alleviate the problem. The companies involved in wireless devices know exactly what frequencies are used for military, state,local, aircraft and civilian use and which ones they can use. What's scary is no matter how high tech we think our security is, it only takes a low tech problem to circumvent it. Arm yourself, put a fence up, get a German Shepard. I have yet to see the batteries die on a 12 gauge, or a solar flare affect my dog's bite...

[mollynme]

How widely known was this information before the CBC's loose lips began flapping?

FR knew about it last year - Here, here, and here.