Air Force Frequency Jams Hundreds of Garage Door Openers

Normally one doesn't associate garage door opener remotes with national security. But this past week at a secretive facility in Colorado Springs the Air Force tested a radio frequency that it would use to communicate with first responders in case of a homeland security threat. The same frequency also controls an estimated 50 million garage door openers. Hundreds of residents in the area found their remote controlled garage doors ceased to function.

The signals, coming from Cheyenne Mountain Air Station, have since been shut off. The Air Force may be able to adjust the transmission so it does not interfere with the devices, but says it technically has a right to the frequency.

TechnologyExpert calls for an expansion of the RF spectrum:

Security? Garage Door? Garage Door? Security? As I said, another sign of why a larger RF spectrum is wanted by all. Another example you may see in your home: your 2.4 GHz wireless land line phone interfering with your 2.4 GHz 802.11b/g wireless network.

MT Milcom Monitoring Blog really breaks down the technical aspects of the story.

-Dippold

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