Garage Door Openers Shut Down By The Military

from the too-risky dept

While the question of spectrum interference may seem like a bunch of random techie talk for most people, those who happen to live near military bases may experience it first hand when their garage doors stop opening. While your garage door opener may be safe from DMCA claims, the military has a bit more clout. Most garage door openers use a frequency, 390 megahertz, that is reserved for military uses, but open for low power devices (such as garage door openers) as long as they don't interfere with military uses. The military uses, obviously, have no such restriction. So, a set of new radio devices that use the frequency may start causing trouble for anyone leaving within range of a military base. It's not a huge deal to adjust the door opener, but it's yet another example that spectrum interference really is a big issue -- and those claiming that it's simply a technology problem still have a lot of work to do.

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