EMI, bigtime

[Anonymous <nobody@replay.com>]

>Date: Fri, 16 Apr 1999 14:15:58 -0700 (PDT)
>From: 7Pillars Partners <partners@sirius.infonex.com>
>
>US Navy Closes Doors Down Under
> by Stewart Taggart 
>
> 12:15 p.m. 16.Apr.99.PDT
> When the USS Carl Vinson pulled into port
> in Hobart, Australia last week, nearly
> every automatic garage door opener
> within 6 miles of the aircraft carrier went
> on the blink. 
>
> The Carl Vinson uses the 310-320 MHz
> range of the wireless spectrum for
> communication, the same range that
> Australians use for short-range electronic
> transmissions devices. That's because
> the US government allocates spectrum
> differently than Australia. 
>
> Matched up against the mighty antenna
> of the US Navy, Hobart's rag-tag army of
> low-power garage door openers was
> simply no match. "We knew as soon as
> the calls started coming in," said a
> saleswoman at Tom Moore & Son, one of
> Hobart's major garage door opener
> retailers. "The same thing happened the
> last time the ship was here." 
>
> En route back to San Diego from duties in
> the Persian Gulf, the nuclear-powered
> carrier often passes through Hobart. It
> left Monday after five days in port. 
>
> Happily, no one was stranded in his or her
> garage, said Ian Fletcher, Tasmania area
> office manager for the Australian
> Communications Authority. Most
> electronic garages are fitted with a
> button for manual opening and closing of
> the door. 
>
> While most residents of sleepy Hobart
> welcome the arrival of ships like the Carl
> Vinson, Fletcher said one resident won't
> be anxious for a return visit. He lives so
> close to the docks that the ship's
> emissions penetrated the metal shielding
> around his car's security system. The
> man found his car security system
> immobilized by the massive Vinson,
> preventing his car from starting. 
>
> People living further away didn't have the
> problem, Fletcher said.
>
>