Air Force Jams Garage Doors

[KG4JYD]

The Chicago Tribune (http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/sns-ap-air-force-garage-doors,1,4844376.story?coll=chi-news-hed) is reporting 'Cheyenne Mountain Air Station, home to the North American Aerospace Defense Command, a joint U.S. and Canadian operation in Colorado Springs tested a radio frequency this past week that it would use to communicate with first responders in the event of a homeland security threat. But the frequency also controls an estimated 50 million garage door openers, and hundreds of residents in the area found that theirs had suddenly stopped working. Technically, the Air Force has the right to the frequency; Capt. Tracy Giles of the 21st Space Wing said Air Force officials were trying to figure out how to resolve the problem of their signal overpowering garage door remotes. '

[KF7CG]

The Air Force should just ignore the problem. What part of "must accept harmful interference that causes improper operation" didn't the designers of the openers understand when they picked a frequency that was assigned to the Air Force. Those frequencies have very erratic use profiles and the use when it occurs is often at quite high powers of large band segments.

This has happened earlier in other areas and is something that the garage door manufacturers are responsible for repairing.

[K1VSK]

what part of 50 million garage door openers don't you get?
Let's see here - two choices:
1. put hundeds (or more) companies out of business, or
2. change frequencies on which to communicate with emergency folks (which hopefully they have been doing for years...)

Isn't this a no-brainer?

[KD6NIG]

Don't use the air force's frequencies http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Better yet, don't use a garage door opener. Open the door manually. At least then you can tell your doctor that your only exercise does NOT consist of Couch-Bathroom-Couch-Refrigerator-Couch-Bed.

http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Gotta love part 15 http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[W9WHE]

Its all part of a secret plan. I read on one of those far-left kook websites that Haliburton is going into the garage door business!

This is all George Bush's fault!

[N2MMM]

Quote[/b] (W9WHE @ Dec. 07 2006,13:08)]Its all part of a secret plan. I read on one of those far-left kook websites that Haliburton is going into the garage door business!

This is all George Bush's fault!
Cute post. Actually the USAF has been using a frequency for some time which is the same as my RF activated doorbell. Occasionally, the doorbell will ring when no one is at the door but it is not a major problem. If it becomes a problem, I'll just get a different doorbell. Conversely, if the Air Force notifies me that I am interfereing with their system, I will also get a new doorbell. bu$h has nothing to do with this.

[n8zzf]

http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif #it makes me wonder if my new roomba might go beserk by chasing my cat when air force # planes overhead http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[w6em]

Quote[/b] (W9WHE @ Dec. 06 2006,15:08)]Its all part of a secret plan. I read on one of those far-left kook websites that Haliburton is going into the garage door business!

This is all George Bush's fault!
Get it right, Jonathan. Haliburton is a Cheney company.

Sounds perfectly reasonable to me. If Alberto can't open doors fast enough, why not have 'master control' of everyone's door?

[K1OU]

It's the ARRL's fault.

[WA9SVD]

It really isn't that hard to understand. in our U.S. allocation on 70 cm, Amateur Radio Operators have a SECONDARY allocation. That means we are NOT protected from interference from PRIMARY users, including Military?Government users, and must NOT CAUSE interference to those users. Simple enough.
And Part 15 devices receive absolutely NO PROTECTION at all. They can NOT CAUSE interference to either primary (e.g. Militry/Governmant) users, OR to Amateur Radio. And they have NO recourse if they RECEIVE interference from the primary or secondary users. And that can be applied on an individual basis.
So technically, the garage door owners only recourse is to complain to the manufacturer for a remedy. It was the responsibility of the manufacturer to provide a device that works, and by FCC regulation, their devisc HAS to accept interference from primary or secondary users. If it malfunctions because of such interference, I can see a class action lawsuit for all the garage door owners.
Blaming the military (Air Force) for the problem or expecting the military to "change their frequency" is entirely out of line; they ARE the primary users! And even if they DID change the frequency of their new system, there's no guarantee it would solve the problem.

Blame the garage door opener manufacturers, not the Air Force. It's just unfortunate that many innocent civilian people have gotten involved in this problem. But THAT is the downside of using Part 15 devices, and unfortunately, the general public never understands that, and naturally, the manufacturers never spell out the possibility, or put it in unreadable "fine print."

[w6em]

Quote[/b] (wa9svd @ Dec. 07 2006,11:12)]It really isn't that hard to understand. #in our U.S. allocation on 70 cm, Amateur Radio Operators have a SECONDARY allocation. #That means we are NOT protected from interference from PRIMARY users, including Military?Government users, and must NOT CAUSE interference to those users. # Simple enough. #
# #And Part 15 devices receive absolutely NO PROTECTION at all. #They can NOT CAUSE interference to either primary (e.g. Militry/Governmant) users, OR to Amateur Radio. #And they have NO recourse if they RECEIVE interference from the primary or secondary users. #And that can be applied on an individual basis.
# #So technically, the garage door owners only recourse is to complain to the manufacturer for a remedy. #It was the responsibility of the manufacturer to provide a device that works, and by FCC regulation, their devisc HAS to accept interference from primary or secondary users. #If it malfunctions because of such interference, I can see a class action lawsuit for all the garage door owners.
# #Blaming the military (Air Force) for the problem or expecting the military to "change their frequency" is entirely out of line; they ARE the primary users! #And even if they DID change the frequency of their new system, there's no guarantee it would solve the problem.

# #Blame the garage door opener manufacturers, not the Air Force. #It's just unfortunate that many innocent civilian people have gotten involved in this problem. #But THAT is the downside of using Part 15 devices, and unfortunately, the general public never understands that, and naturally, the manufacturers never spell out the possibility, or put it in unreadable "fine print."
Sure sounds like you know 'the way it should be' but, thanks to the FCC's recent BPL Order, licensed services must tolerate interference from Part 15 devices. It would follow that Part 15 users could complain, on a similar basis, that licensed or otherwise permitted users are interfering with their proper operation.

The FCC can't have it both ways. Not unless they would like the United States Court of Appeal to accuse them of being capricious and arbitrary with respect to enforcement of their regulations.

The ARRL will undoubtedly have the last laugh, in that category......

Unless, of course, Congress intervenes to protect the sanctity of the garage (door).

http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[KG4JYD]

I know this isn't directly related to ham radio (blah blah), but I thought it was a)humorous, and b)worth noting since a great deal of people here would be interested in reading about this

[ka5piu]

Hello.

The Freq's in question are in the 290 MHz to 300 MHz part of the military aero band.

[WA9SVD]

Quote[/b] (w6em @ Dec. 08 2006,13:54)][

The FCC can't have it both ways. Not unless they would like the United States Court of Appeal to accuse them of being capricious and arbitrary with respect to enforcement of their regulations.

The ARRL will undoubtedly have the last laugh, in that category......

Unless, of course, Congress intervenes to protect the sanctity of the garage (door).

http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
WHAT??? The FCC (or any government institution) being arbitrary and capricious? Heaven forbid! THAT would never happen!

And Congress has no business sticking it's nose in my garage's business. What two (or more) consenting autos do in the privacy of their own garage is their own business, not the governments.

[W4CBJ]

Can anyone explain why the new COOL radios need heat sinks http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/rock.gif 73 Joe W4CBJ

[kb7uxe]

see,,, if they switched to CW they wouldn't have that problem... ...

( yea, ya knew that was comming.. )