• Thanks for stopping by. Logging in to a registered account will remove all generic ads. Please reach out with any questions or concerns.

Flat-screen TV emits international distress signal

canuck101

Full Member
Inactive
Reaction score
1
Points
210
Read this article on the Cnn website:

http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/TV/10/18/odd.television.reut/index.html

EUGENE, Oregon (Reuters) -- TV hardly gets much better than this.

An Oregon man discovered earlier this month that his year-old Toshiba Corporation flat-screen TV was emitting an international distress signal picked up by a satellite, leading a search and rescue operation to his apartment in Corvallis, Oregon, 70 miles south of Portland.

The signal from Chris van Rossmann's TV was routed by satellite to the Air Force Rescue Center at Langley Air Base in Virginia.

On October 2, the 20 year-old college student was visited at his apartment in the small university town by a contingent of local police, civil air patrol and search and rescue personnel.

"They'd never seen signal come that strong from a home appliance," said van Rossmann. "They were quite surprised. I think we all were."

Authorities had expected to find a boat or small plane with a malfunctioning transponder, the usual culprit in such incidents, emitting the 121.5 MHz frequency of the distress signal used internationally.

Van Rossmann said he was told to keep his TV off to avoid paying a $10,000 fine for "willingly broadcasting a false distress signal."

Toshiba contacted Rossmann and offered to provide him with a replacement set for free, he said.
 
I just bought a flat/wide screen HDTV.....money well spent.....it looks better than real life.... :dontpanic:
 
Wow... whats next? Fridges that call in imminent core meltdowns?
 
we had a huge problem with roughly the same thing: after market sattelite signal cards (made for stealing sattelite TV signals) were emitting interference on the Guard frequencies. The interference was so bad that aircraft in the landing pattern couldn't hear atc.

 
Back
Top