Forrester keyless entry problem-strange

The keyless entry system works pretty good except for one particular
parking lot....where it doesn’t work at all. Anyone have a similar
situation?

Nothing outwardly different about this lot...it’s open air and doesn’t
look any different from any other parking lot.

Roger

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Roger / spottr wrote:

The keyless entry system works pretty good except for
one particular parking lot....where it doesn’t work at all.
Anyone have a similar situation?

Nothing outwardly different about this lot...it’s open air and
doesn’t look any different from any other parking lot.

Could they be using wireless headsets at a drive-through fast food
place in the parking lot that are on the same frequency?

I looked this up on Google and got a ton of hits. Sometimes this
will happen mysteriously for many cars in a region then stop. (I
know that's not the problem here but it's intriguing.)

For example, from a Las Vegas paper:
Valley has keyless encounters of the weird kind
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_ho.../23271330.html
But I'm only going to quote parts that may help with this problem...
=====>
According to the Federal Communications Commission, the low-power
radio frequency transmitters inside keyless entry devices are
similar to those found in other everyday items such as garage door
openers, remote-controlled toys, cordless telephones, building alarm
systems and the rapidly spreading wireless fidelity computer
networks, which are commonly referred to as "wi-fi."

Paul Oei, an electronics engineer with the Los Angeles office of the
FCC, said keyless entry systems operate on unlicensed frequencies.
The devices can fail when they are near an antenna emitting high
radio frequency energy. But that scenario would affect only vehicles
in a limited area, he said.
<=====

It's also happened in Metro DC:
Keyless Remotes To Cars in Waldorf Suddenly Useless
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp...8217-2004Jul4?
=====>
Some of the devices that have failed in Waldorf operate on a
frequency of 315 megahertz. Another common keyless entry frequency
is 302 MHz. Both of these frequencies fall within a range licensed
primarily for use by the military and the federal government.

In a summary of radio spectrum use from the National
Telecommunications and Information Administration, the frequencies
in the range from 225 MHz to 328.6 MHz "are heavily used worldwide
for critical military air traffic control and tactical training
communications."
<=====

OK, this one may not help but it's so wild I wanted to mention it:
Locked Your Keys In The Car? Get Out Your Cell Phone
http://www.wsdmag.com/Article/Articl...453/13453.html

=====>
There has been a rumor going around in one of those dreadful e-mails
that your friends and co-workers feel compelled to forward to you
all the time. If you lock your keys in your car and you have a
remote keyless entry system, you can get outside help to open the
car if you have your cell phone with you. Just call someone that has
a duplicate key fob that will open your car. Then, hold you cell
phone near the door lock and have the person with the key fob call
you back. The person with the key fob should then put the key near
their phone and push the unlock button. The door should open.

I was skeptical, to say the least, about this rumor, and was about
to dismiss it as one more Internet hoax. But I thought I better try
it out first. Well, low and behold, it works. I tried it with both
GSM and cdma cell phones, and it reliably opens (and relocks) the car.
<=====

Fascinating....
--Mike Blake

In article <RFUMh.135405$_w.68118 (AT) newsfe13 (DOT) lga>,
M1keB (AT) yahoo (DOT) com says...

If you lock your keys in your car and you have a
remote keyless entry system, you can get outside help to open the
car if you have your cell phone with you. Just call someone that has
a duplicate key fob that will open your car. Then, hold you cell
phone near the door lock and have the person with the key fob call
you back. The person with the key fob should then put the key near
their phone and push the unlock button. The door should open.

While the other stuff you mentioned sounds
plausible, this one is not. You can read why it
won't work here:

http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/keyless.asp

On Fri, 23 Mar 2007 14:05:43 -0500, Mike Blake wrote:

=====
There has been a rumor going around in one of those dreadful e-mails
that your friends and co-workers feel compelled to forward to you
all the time. If you lock your keys in your car and you have a
remote keyless entry system, you can get outside help to open the
car if you have your cell phone with you. Just call someone that has
a duplicate key fob that will open your car. Then, hold you cell
phone near the door lock and have the person with the key fob call
you back. The person with the key fob should then put the key near
their phone and push the unlock button. The door should open.

I was skeptical, to say the least, about this rumor, and was about
to dismiss it as one more Internet hoax. But I thought I better try
it out first. Well, low and behold, it works. I tried it with both
GSM and cdma cell phones, and it reliably opens (and relocks) the car.
=====

Fascinating....
--Mike Blake

That is total bullshit. phones are designed to carry the frequencies of
the human voice. Physical microphones pick up sound waves pulses in the
air. 20-20000hz, if that. They are incapable of picking up 300MHz radio
frequency vibrations. And certainly not capable of broadcasting them.
That would be one helluva set of speakers...

Its not a bad idea for a patent though to include a keyfob in a telephone.
They could do that functionality easily, but phones are made cheaper and
cheaper and they just dont have that engineering expertise.

On Fri, 23 Mar 2007 17:25:38 +0000, spottr wrote:

The keyless entry system works pretty good except for one particular
parking lot....where it doesnÂ’t work at all. Anyone have a similar
situation?

Nothing outwardly different about this lot...itÂ’s open air and doesnÂ’t
look any different from any other parking lot.

Roger

If you stare long enough you will probably find some transmitter somewhere
nearby that is jamming the receiver. Hopefully this is not near an
airport as that jamming will keep the car's receiver awake which will
drain the battery much faster than with it off.

my subaru does not open or close in a reliable fashion. but I finally
figured out that when it will not open, if I push close then open, it
always opens. And vice versa. The Japanese favor those lock state
switches for some reason. I probably have one going bad.

On Mar 24, 9:19 am, CompUser <NoooSp... (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote:

In article <RFUMh.135405$_w.68... (AT) newsfe13 (DOT) lga>,
M... (AT) yahoo (DOT) com says...

If you lock your keys in your car and you have a
remote keyless entry system, you can get outside help to open the
car if you have your cell phone with you. Just call someone that has
a duplicate key fob that will open your car. Then, hold you cell
phone near the door lock and have the person with the key fob call
you back. The person with the key fob should then put the key near
their phone and push the unlock button. The door should open.

While the other stuff you mentioned sounds
plausible, this one is not. You can read why it
won't work here:

http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/keyless.asp

I agreed with Snopes until I saw that article...Lou Frenzel is no RF
hack. He knows his stuff, and he knows it far better than any of us
know RF. Something apparently DOES work, but probably not all phones
and not all remotes. Where's Mythbusters when we need them?

-John O

In article <1175111511.977501.103480
@e65g2000hsc.googlegroups.com>, t696asm (AT) yahoo (DOT) com
says...

I agreed with Snopes until I saw that article...Lou Frenzel is no RF
hack. He knows his stuff, and he knows it far better than any of us
know RF. Something apparently DOES work, but probably not all phones
and not all remotes. Where's Mythbusters when we need them?

As I read this, I was wondering if Mythbuster's
hadn't addressed this one in their first season--
wasn't sure.

I'm not familiar with Mr. Frenzel, but if he
purports that you can open a remote lock system
via "phone to cell phone" link, I would
respectfully suggest a reassessment of his RF
understanding ;-)

On Mar 29, 12:43 pm, CompUser <NoooSp... (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote:

In article <1175111511.977501.103480
@e65g2000hsc.googlegroups.com>, t696... (AT) yahoo (DOT) com
says...

I agreed with Snopes until I saw that article...Lou Frenzel is no RF
hack. He knows his stuff, and he knows it far better than any of us
know RF. Something apparently DOES work, but probably not all phones
and not all remotes. Where's Mythbusters when we need them?

As I read this, I was wondering if Mythbuster's
hadn't addressed this one in their first season--
wasn't sure.

I'm not familiar with Mr. Frenzel, but if he
purports that you can open a remote lock system
via "phone to cell phone" link, I would
respectfully suggest a reassessment of his RF
understanding ;-)

Mythbuster's hasn't done it.

The problem is that Lou writes for "electronic design," a highly
respected RF engineering journal. We've received it here for years,
and Lou has history with my employer. So, he's not just any old
blogger with wild ideas. In any case, there are ways that the fob
signal *could* be transmitted indirectly by a phone. I mean, I could
create a technical way for it to work but it would be pure
conjecture.

Next nice day, a buddy and I are going to try this with a couple
different types of phones.

-John O

JohnO wrote:

On Mar 29, 12:43 pm, CompUser <NoooSp... (AT) yahoo (DOT) com> wrote:
In article <1175111511.977501.103480
@e65g2000hsc.googlegroups.com>, t696... (AT) yahoo (DOT) com
says...

I agreed with Snopes until I saw that article...Lou Frenzel is no RF
hack. He knows his stuff, and he knows it far better than any of us
know RF. Something apparently DOES work, but probably not all phones
and not all remotes. Where's Mythbusters when we need them?
As I read this, I was wondering if Mythbuster's
hadn't addressed this one in their first season--
wasn't sure.

I'm not familiar with Mr. Frenzel, but if he
purports that you can open a remote lock system
via "phone to cell phone" link, I would
respectfully suggest a reassessment of his RF
understanding ;-)

Mythbuster's hasn't done it.

The problem is that Lou writes for "electronic design," a highly
respected RF engineering journal. We've received it here for years,
and Lou has history with my employer. So, he's not just any old
blogger with wild ideas. In any case, there are ways that the fob
signal *could* be transmitted indirectly by a phone. I mean, I could
create a technical way for it to work but it would be pure
conjecture.

Next nice day, a buddy and I are going to try this with a couple
different types of phones.

-John O

I've read Mr. Frenzel's post that this works. Yet he never describes
exactly what he did. My remote only works about 40' from my car. Three
guys at work can use their remotes from the 6th floor of our building
with their cars a couple of hundred feet away.

If the person with the sending cell phone was in the remotes range, this
would easily explain how this worked.