If you live in southeaster Connecticut you may be experiencing some frustration with your garage doors. It seems a radio signal transmitted by a submarine is probably behind the failure of the doors to open and close. This is making them more like walls then a doors.
The signal is part of the Enterprise Land Mobile Radio system used by the military to coordinate responses with civil emergency workers said a representative of the nearby Groton sub base. Unfortunately the same frequency is used at low levels by the makers of garage door openers and these signals are being blocked by the signal from the base
The story, first reported by The Day of New London newspaper, reported that a local garage door dealer has been receiving complaints from several nearby towns but after service calls all equipment was found to be working perfectly.
Residents are reporting having to stand in close proximity to the door in order for the remote to operate correctly and one was told by an installation company that it would cost about $300 to change to another frequency.
This snafu is happening because garage door openers are unlicensed devices and so aren’t given any guarantee of non-interference unlike licensed users of the same frequency. Licensed user in this case being the United States Military.
After the attacks on September 11, 2001 the military reinstated use of the frequency range that included garage doors when officials discovered they needed a new system to allow civil and military first responders to communicate.
The problem isn’t unique and has been reported in Colorado as well as Rhode Island resulting in similarly reluctant garage doors.
The Federal Communications Commission warned that the new radio system could cause interference like this.
“In response to the increased needs of homeland security, the Department of Defense now must make more use of these frequencies to deploy new mobile radio systems on and around certain military bases,” the FCC told the Day of New London. “Some consumers near these bases may experience interference to their garage door openers that can reduce operating range or cause the remote control to cease functioning.”
As we become an increasingly wireless society who knows what sort of arguments our electronics will be involved in? One thing you can count on is the quality and service from Raynor Garage Doors of Kansas City. We sell, install and service garage doors that will complement your home and give you years of lasting durability. And although we can’t guarantee that a UFO won’t open and close your doors during the night you probably don’t need to worry about that.
Leave a Reply