Re: garage remote jamming

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Bill Kearney" <wkearney-99@hot-mail-com> wrote in message
news:dfSdnUzgqdNlanjYnZ2dnUVZ_tyinZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > > Oh please, that's just completely unsubstantiated FUD.
> >
> > I wouldn't say that.  This is at least the third instance I've heard or
> read
> > about where significant numbers of people have had to retool to
> accommodate
> > new RF interference from military ops.
>
> Three of the SAME THING. Garage door openers using a set of frequencies
the
> vendors KNEW were usable by the military and likely subject to
interference.

Unfortunately the reports also include remote car door openers and alarms.
That would really impact some people quite badly like those with wheelchair
vans, like my Dad.  I'm waiting for something to jam up the kneeling van's
remote controls.

> If anything the people stuck with these openers should be bitching to the
> vendor of their garage door opener, not the military.  But no, it's just
> more fashionable to bash the military.

I'd bash the FCC or whoever didn't allocate enough spectrum correctly to
serve low powered needs like WiFi, cordless, cameras, etc.  The truth is,
everyone is warned.  All those devices usually say: "Must accept harmful
interference."

> > If you were to experience any problems and called the Post to say your
> Lutron
> > RA system was hosed, it would very likely *never* be considered
newsworthy
> > because so few others would likely be calling in.
>
> Find a situation where an actual RadioRA setup has suffered from outside
> interference.  Lutron's gone out of their way to make that an extremely
> unlikely situation.

It would be interesting to know how true that is.  We don't have unfettered
access to Lutron's tech support department. Nor do we know how many RA
installations there are per square mile compared to garage door and car
openers so it's hard to say whether Lutron is better or just far less likely
to have an RA house near an airbase.  I tend to believe it's the smaller
user base that's masking any problems.  It could be that as RA is indoor
it's better shielded and more resistant to interference than outside
openers.

My admitted very limited understanding of RF is that no matter what error
checking and redundancy you do, a low power system can always be drowned out
by a more powerful transmitter.  If I am not mistaken, it's called jamming
and what we are seeing may easily be military tests to neutralize cellphone
and RF-triggered IEDs.  They won't work when you jam them.  My hunch is that
neither will Radio RA if the right frequency interference is close enough
and strong enough.

Now if I *cared* enough about Lutron RA, I'd go to their site and look for
information about how they've solved this problem.  Or I'd email their tech
support because it's certainly a valid, straight up sort of question for
them:

Could Lutron Radio RA suffer from the same problems being reported across
the country for radio operated garage and car door openers?

If not, why not?  Did they choose a more isolated frequency?  Do they use an
encoding method that somehow allows a weaker signal to "pass thru" a
stronger one?  What makes them immune from the same problem a rolling code
garage or car door opener suffers when "jammed?"

It's crate swamping time, so I'll leave that investigation to others.  I
don't foresee myself switching to Lutron any time in the future, so it's
kind of moot 4 me.

> > If it's absolutely, positively got to work without any possibility of
> > interference, go hard wired.  Neither PLC nor RF is immune to
> interference.
>
> Which would be rather impossible for a garage door opener IN your car.
> Sure, the usual wall-mounted controls are certainly not going to suffer
the
> interference.

(-:  Eventually it will be lasers because RF is too easily jammed and
listened in on.  Your car will have a pan/tilt aiming device and your garage
a receiver "target" that needs to see a specially encrypted and
authenticated message before it opens.  The area of "house" to "car"
information technology is in its infancy but it's taking on many fascinating
twists like GPSs, IPods, remote video, cellphones and more.

> > Hey, if it weren't for General Lafayette, we might not have gained our
> > independence from Merry Olde England.  Some Frenchies have spunk.  Look
at
> > Napoleon.  (-:
>
> Waterloo, 'nuff said.

Everybody's entitled to a bad war here and there.  Ask GW.

--
Bobby G.

>