[Ben]

I think I've heard it all now. Seriously, you networks have some educating to do.

http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=22864


VILLAGERS IN ye olde London hamlet of Meopham are blaming a 3G upgrade to a mobile phone mast for the mysterious behaviour of their cars.
Apparently since the upgrade, villager’s cars have become possessed and have a mind of their own. Sometimes they lock their owners out, other times they just switch on their car alarms.

The local rag News Shopper is reporting how motorists have been locked out of their cars because of phone mast interference and a small mob is forming to force Vodafone to do something about its mast at Meopham train station.

Subaru has confirmed its cars can be affected by radiation from 3G masts, but the problem seems to affect all makes and models.

There is just one slight snag. The mast has been there for years, and there have been no problems before. Besides the mast operates at between 900 and 2,100 megahertz which is far above the range of key-fob remote controls which operate at around 300 megahertz.

According to Vodafone, the mast has not been upgraded to 3G either. So maybe the cars of Meopham just do not like their owners.

[Hands0n]

Now look here you, I live not far from Meopham and I can tell you that summat is afoot! Its a government conspiracy or sump'in like that. My car definitely behaves strangely when I drive through the village. I mean, its not like I actually want to drive through that leafy little hamlet at 60mph in a 30!! What do you think I am, completely off my trolley, officer?

This article appeared in a local rag and took up almost an entire page. Now, I know that a lot more important things go on in sleepy Gravesend and surrounding areas but .... really, this made headline news! So it must be true. Yet another edition tells how the NIMBYs succeeded in getting planning permission for the H3 mast on Windmill Hill rejected. Now, allegedly, H3 will have to go and remove it - yea, right I'll believe that when I see it. These will be the same NIMBYs who leave for work in the morning with a mobile phone handset in their pocket/handbag! Geez, makes you wanna crush a grape!

But news media coverage aside .... it is astonishing that the reports all contained the simple fact that the transmitters operate on frequencies way away from the vehicle RF-controlled locking and alarm systems. Okay, so it made for balanced reporting. But the point seems to have been discarded as quickly as it is mentioned (in my copy). Even allowing for harmonics, the chances of causing interference with the ability to actually trigger these systems seems utterly remote [pardon the pun] to me with my not-entirely limited knowledge of RF. These random signals will have had to not only be on the same frequency but contain the same key information to trigger these doors and alarms. These will be the doors and alarms that we are all told are completley proof against being scanned and replayed by the local villianry. But are then asked to believe that it is oh so easy for a 3G transmitter to do what the local crime lord cannot?

It certainly is a funny ole world we live in :)