Uncle Sam's nefarious plot to pwn your garage door

Republican / Democrat, Christian / Muslim, Team Kristin / Team LC -- despite our many differences, if there's one issue that all Americans can agree on, it's that law-abiding, tax-paying citizens should have unalienable sovereignty over their automatic garage doors. So you can imagine the uproar occurring right now in Colorado Springs, Colorado, ever since the nearby Cheyenne Mountain Air Station (headquarters of the North American Aerospace Defense Command) began testing an emergency radio frequency that has the unintended consequence of pwning numerous garage doors within a 10-mile radius. It would be one thing if the doors just randomly opened and closed on occasion -- smashing a few windshields and delivering a few good laughs -- but apparently the Air Force signal completely flummoxes the garages' RF receivers, often resulting in a pricey house call or an even pricier replacement unit. According to David McGuire, owner of the suddenly-profitable Overhead Door Co, it may be possible to slightly tweak the transmission frequency and put an end to this madness -- an option that Captain Tracy Giles and team are reportedly looking into. While it may be somewhat of an overstatement to call this the most pressing issue that the country has ever faced, if we don't come together as a nation and nip this outrage in the bud, what's stopping Big Brother from waltzing in and breaking our home surveillance cams, car door locks, or -- gasp -- even our remote-controlled projection screens.

[Via The Inquirer]

[surfwax95 @ Dec 5th 2006 2:32PM]

You misspelled "own" in the headline...

:P

[Tim UF @ Dec 5th 2006 2:32PM]

Reminds me of that insurance commercial:
"honey whats this switch do? The one on the right" "On off on off on off"
[cut to view of garage showing neighbors garage door going up and down as the guy flips ths switch...

[Raz 4 life @ Dec 5th 2006 7:02PM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBDrRl7d5ZA

[Tim UF @ Dec 5th 2006 2:41PM]

oh! pwned!

[Richard @ Dec 5th 2006 3:29PM]

Well, what the article above doesn't tell you is that garage door openers operate on frequencies under which they are secondary users.

What's that mean? It means the primary users of the frequencies in question (which in the garage door opener frequencies are usually military air frequencies) have priority in all circumstances.

So if it's fuxoring up your garage door, you're out of luck. You're there at the pleasure of the FCC.

Similarly, and of more importance to readers here, is the 2.4 Ghz band that 802.11 uses. It's a secondary user as well. As a ham radio operator, I can legally operate up to 1500 watts of power there, for all intents and purposes disabling or interfering with wireless APs for miles around... and there's not a thing anyone can do about it. That's what those FCC statements you see in manuals are for, you know, the "this device must not cause harmful interference blah blah blah and must accept harmful interference"...

To the average middle class home owner, they're pissed with the government for using "their" frequencies, when in all reality they should be pissed at the manufacturer of the devices.

[Cosmos @ Dec 5th 2006 3:50PM]

I'm not an expert, but I have to agree with Richard, this seems to be solely the fault of the manufacturer.

[Michael @ Dec 5th 2006 5:22PM]

I'm also a ham radio operator, and I know that you can only transmit at that 1500 watt limit IF AND ONLY IF you need all 1500 watts to reach whom you are trying to communicate with. And you can't just jam the frequency either, you have to let others "speak" (others does not, however, cover WiFi products). But one thing that this does mean you can do, which would effectively jam those frequencies, is to boost the PEP of the router to 1500 watts (although I should note that if you don't have a ham radio license, you can't do that, you can't boost the power output past 35 dBi, or about 55 mW.)

[Lee Glantz @ Dec 5th 2006 3:55PM]

You say they are just 'testing' an emergency radio frequency, eh? This just proves that Stargate exists and we are under attack!!!

[Hangebokhan @ Jan 13th 2008 10:38PM]

Hay, as long as SG-1 is there, they can screw with my garage all they want!

[Virtuous @ Dec 5th 2006 4:03PM]

Another fine example of military incompetence and your tax dollars at work!

[codepoet @ Dec 5th 2006 4:03PM]

Your cordless phone is next.

[Sentient @ Dec 5th 2006 4:10PM]

Pwnt.

[- @ Dec 5th 2006 4:22PM]

I bet infrared garage door openers are suddenly very popular out there.

[Ryan @ Dec 5th 2006 4:43PM]

The same thing happened to my family in Harrisburg, PA where there is a Navy Supply Depot. My parents had to get an entirely new garage door opener with a different frequency range.

[sola.veritas @ Dec 5th 2006 10:46PM]

@Ryan
Explain to me why the Navy has doings in mining country...are they looking to convert their submarines to subterraneans?

[GrossGreg @ Jan 13th 2008 8:57PM]

@sola.veritas

Explain to us all what type of third-rate ignorant douchebag education you got that taught you that all of Pennsylvania is "mining country..."

...then maybe somebody will explain Ryan's comment to you.

[Brian @ Dec 5th 2006 4:57PM]

I had a similar experience in Colorado. Our garage door would open at random times, often in the middle of the night, and nobody (even the repair man) could figure out why. It turns out our neighbor down the road had the same door code as us, so we were always opening/closing each other's garages.

[Chris @ Dec 5th 2006 5:01PM]

Richard is correct. This came out some time ago and the Air Force warned users. So I say suck it up before they shoot you with their ray/pain gun.

[ptrix @ Dec 5th 2006 5:03PM]

i think there's something terribly ironic about an emergency radio broadcast frequency that effectively prevents the town's populace from evacuating in the event of said emergency. Score another victory for "Military Intelligence" on that front. (/sarcasm)

Why couldn't they have tried that on an unused frequency? How many of them are there available anyway? I dread to wonder what's next on their list of experimental tactics to keep us "safe". I swear, sometimes, the "cure" can be more deadly than the "disease" itself.

imagine the possible news headline: "Residents of Colorado Springs forced to jog double-time out of town after nuclear warhead mishap occurs during test near Cheyenne Mountain Air Station. Says a local, "We would have preferred to DRIVE, but�"

>_

[Greg @ Dec 5th 2006 8:35PM]

"i think there's something terribly ironic about an emergency radio broadcast frequency that effectively prevents the town's populace from evacuating in the event of said emergency."

1) If they're too stupid to not know how to open their garage doors without their "clickers" (an untrained monkey could figure that out), they deserve what they get.
2) The military has long had rights to these frequencies.

That said, if the military can change frequencies without too much trouble, that's what they ought to do.

[Richard @ Dec 5th 2006 9:10PM]

Yes, of course, you can transmit at "the highest power level needed" to establish communications... but I've yet to see that enforced by the FCC.

All you have to say is you were experimenting with long range data transfer, and that's that.

[LikesGadgetsWillTravel @ Dec 5th 2006 6:49PM]

It's the classic problem between what's permissible, and what's acceptable. Sure they have the right to use the frequency, but would there be a better alternative? Looks like they've already found one.

To the comments of our ham-nerds here, saying they can transmit on 2.4GHz at 1500W... Praytell, what will happen to wildlife if you decide to send microwaves at almost double the average wattage of a microwave oven? What'll happen to your precious boy-parts, while we're at it? Or is the signal dispersed enough where the resonance frequency of H2O is no longer an issue?

[Richard @ Dec 5th 2006 9:13PM]

Well, part of our exams to get our licenses involve theory of exposure limits and general RF safety.

Using 1500W on 2.4Ghz is rare, but not unknown. It would likely involve a pair of Yagi antennas, which are highly directional. Much like long distance microwave relays, just don't stand in front of them, and you'll be perfectly fine.

[jeff Foster @ Dec 5th 2006 7:21PM]

"often resulting in a pricey house call or an even pricier replacement unit"

i think you mean "in rare cases"

...i live in colorado springs. My garage door opener wasn't working, and i just re-programmed it. I've yet to meet a single person who need it replaced. (more than likely it's just greedy repair men squeezing out an extra few bucks.)

I was wondering why it just stopped working 2 or 3 times... now i know. (or, actually, a number of days ago when this story was everywhere else on the net. seriously, why are you guys so slow on the take?)

[Mik @ Dec 5th 2006 9:41PM]

Same thing happened as far away as the French coast when digital terrestrial TV was introduced in the UK...

[spam4jan @ Dec 6th 2006 12:22AM]

To all making fun of the military. The Military, perhaps only the Air Force specifically, has had dibs on that frequency range for a while now. It is the Garage Door manufacturer's fault that they chose a frequency they knew could be interfered with.

I think it's simple economics for them, chances that you will live near an Air Force base, 1 in at least a million, so it's cheaper to not bother changing their flawed product and deal with the few thousand that may be inconvenienced.

[TonyC @ Dec 6th 2006 5:02PM]

Garage door openers are being used by terrorists to remotely detonate IED's in Iraq.
Could be that they are testing IED countermeasures at these sites (Colorado Springs also being home to the 4th division).
Most of you should educate yourselves a little before you spew forth the usual bull.

[Brian @ Dec 8th 2006 9:56AM]

Even though this was just posted it has been resolved some what. I kind a work in
the Garage door industry (my company owns a garage door business) and we knew about
this a year ago. The military told the garage door industry that they will be taking
over the 900 MHz rang for testing and emergency crap, or something like that. So
the industry switched all new operators and receivers to the 300 MHz rang. So now
all our frequencies match to what Canada frequencies are. The only problem that
there is, is that you can not add a new receiver to a old operator. The receivers
are built in on the board making it hard to change and forcing you to buy a new
operator. The old old operator used to not have a built in receiver and you were
able to switch the receiver easily.

"While it may be somewhat of an overstatement to call this the most pressing
issue that the country has ever faced, if we don't come together as a nation
and nip this outrage in the bud, what's stopping Big Brother from waltzing in
and breaking our home surveillance cams, car door locks, or -- gasp -- even our
remote-controlled projection screens."

Problem resolved just need to inform the public about it. And yes this is going
to make the general public go out and spend about $299.00 on a new operator.

[Brian @ Dec 8th 2006 10:01AM]

Even though this was just posted it has been resolved some what. I kind a work in
the Garage door industry (my company owns a garage door business) and we knew about
this a year ago. The military told the garage door industry that they will be taking
over the 900 MHz rang for testing and emergency crap, or something like that. So
the industry switched all new operators and receivers to the 300 MHz rang. So now
all our frequencies match to what Canada frequencies are. The only problem that
there is, is that you can not add a new receiver to a old operator. The receivers
are built in on the board making it hard to change and forcing you to buy a new
operator. The old old operator used to not have a built in receiver and you were
able to switch the receiver easily.

"While it may be somewhat of an overstatement to call this the most pressing
issue that the country has ever faced, if we don't come together as a nation
and nip this outrage in the bud, what's stopping Big Brother from waltzing in
and breaking our home surveillance cams, car door locks, or -- gasp -- even our
remote-controlled projection screens."

Problem resolved just need to inform the public about it. And yes this is going
to make the general public go out and spend about $299.00 on a new operator.

[Brian @ Dec 8th 2006 10:06AM]

I am sorry I was wrong about the frequency rang in my last post. The military is messing around the 400MHz rang which is causing problems on the 390MHz rang that garage door receivers use. So the industry moved there frequency rang down to 315MHz rang to get away from the problem.