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posted by mrpg on Saturday February 02 2019, @11:22AM   Printer-friendly
from the color-me-wireless dept.

Many customers at a small town grocery store in Alberta had trouble unlocking their cars, while others had their car alarms going off mysteriously, since early January. According to the CBC, after trial-and-error of turning off electricity to nearby buildings and calling in the federal government for assistance, the source of the interference has been traced back to "faulty consumer electronic equipment stuck in transmit mode".

The story of the original mystery can be found here.

Key fobs that suddenly won't unlock vehicles. Cars that won't start. Alarms that go off for no reason and can't be quieted. Something mysterious is thwarting drivers outside a grocery store in the small Alberta town of Carstairs — and it's sparking all kinds of theories.

The problems have been happening for weeks in the parking lot outside the Westview Co-op grocery store in Carstairs, a town of about 4,000 about 60 kilometres north of Calgary.

[Ed. note: key fob: A passive wireless electronic device that usually uses RFID technology to control access to buildings, containers, computers, etc. by being placed near a detector.
Remote keyless system (RKS):

Widely used in automobiles, an RKS performs the functions of a standard car key without physical contact. When within a few yards of the car, pressing a button on the remote can lock or unlock the doors, and may perform other functions. A remote keyless system can include both a remote keyless entry system (RKE), which unlocks the doors, and a remote keyless ignition system (RKI), which starts the engine.

Updated: 20190202_131403 UTC]


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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by EvilSS on Saturday February 02 2019, @04:52PM (1 child)

    by EvilSS (1456) Subscriber Badge on Saturday February 02 2019, @04:52PM (#795427)
    Just in case you wanted to save a click: ""In this case, it was determined that it was a remote car starter. It has since been deactivated and the interference has stopped," Hans Parmar said, in an emailed response to CBC News late Friday."
    Starting Score:    1  point
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  • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Saturday February 02 2019, @06:22PM

    by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Saturday February 02 2019, @06:22PM (#795448) Journal
    ... and a handful of people start building a jammer to piss off their neighbours!