Pirate radio jammed electronic car keys

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Hollywood: Cops say pirate radio jammed electronic car keys - Sun Sentinel

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/20...29_1_pirate-radio-entry-systems-keyless-entry

 

[MassMusicMan]

Mechanical keys worked fine. This is why I still haven't driven a car made after 1999. Bells and whistles are just to jack up the price. I get rental cars on vacation with the tags that read "average replacement cost $250," and I think "GFY."

 

[landtuna]

Keyless cars are generally the upper-mid to luxury class vehicles. They are there because it is part of the package, not to "jack the price up". There are plenty of cars built today with normal keyed doors, trunks and ignitions. And even if you have a keyless entry you can still use the mechanical key if desired.

It is nice though walking up to your car and without taking the fob out of your pocket the car unlocks and turns on the courtesy and interior lights for you. ;D

 

[WNTIRadio]

Most cars, even some before 1999 that aren't luxury cars, have a chip in the regular key. Car won't start without it. Honda did it a lot.

The bad thing is that if someone steals the fob from you, all they have to do is walk around the parking lot and wait for the car to unlock.

 

[landtuna]

The bad thing is that if someone steals the fob from you, all they have to do is walk around the parking lot and wait for the car to unlock.

We in Phoenix are protected from that in two ways:

1. During summer it is so hot that spending more than ten minutes walking around a parking lot would result in a dead, dusty body being found on Row 57.

2. At least on my car the fob will not automatically unlock the car if approached. It allows the car to unlock but you either have to press the button on the fob or on the door. Not much different from the old days where the perp would keep trying the key in the door until he found the right one. By then, of course, he'd have carpel tunnel and need an operation. ;D

 

[WLYNWAZNgm]

One more reason to drive a 1968 Mustang!

 

[aaronread]

With the temps plunging to single digits overnight here in Providence (that's a tad colder than usual for here) my wife and I are totally going to drop the $150 and have a remote-start system installed in our car. If we could have an attached garage, we'd do that (we had that in upstate NY for three years and it was SO WORTH IT) but unfortunately our current place doesn't have that...so remote-start it is. Damn steering wheel was literally so cold it was painful to grasp.

To get this a bit back on radio, that pirate's transmitter must've been total garbage. Either his low-pass filter wasn't working for squat or, perhaps more likely, maybe he didn't have one. Key fobs usually work in the 400 to 450MHz range***, so for an FM transmitter to swamp them it's gotta be one hell of a harmonic.

*** The reason I know this is because I once did some work at the PAVE PAWS radar at the USAF base on Cape Cod and it works in that same frequency range, and the first time I went their I had forgotten their suggestion that we not lock our cars (the parking lot has an armed guard and is at the end of a very isolated, mile-long driveway) and did it without thinking, and of course the damn thing locked and then refused to unlock until I'd fiddled with it for nearly 20 minutes. The Airmen were nice about it, though, and even offered to try to break into my car (I'm not the only one who had this problem) but that would've just triggered the car alarm.

 

[landtuna]

Damn steering wheel was literally so cold it was painful to grasp.

Next time you buy a car make sure it is a Canadian Hyundai with heated steering wheel (and seats). ;D

 

[dumber than a box of hair]

Either his low-pass filter wasn't working for squat or, perhaps more likely, maybe he didn't have one.

"Low-pass filter? We don't need no steenkin' low-pass filter..."