[BC] RFI stalls cars near Empire State Building

[Broadcast List]

Seems odd to me since the RF on the ground cannot be that high.  For  
one thing, the antennas are quite high off the street, and as over  
height Class-B stations they are pretty low powered, 6 kW ERP.

I have never seen an issue on my cars or rentals in that area, even  
the remote keyless entry system/alarm.  On the other hand, I have  
seen places like Cougar Mountain where the keyless entry was totally  
swamped.  I'm sure it is Receiver Induced Intermodulation Distortion  
not an issue with the stations emissions.

Since the issues is not cars dying in the area, but not being able to  
restart, I wonder if the problem is with the keyless ignition  
systems.  The newer Prius' have a system where you just keep a  
transponder on you.  When you touch the door handle to open the door,  
the car asks if the transponder is nearby.  If so the doors unlock.

You may then just sit in the car and press a button marked "Start."   
Now, if a poor quality receiver front end is swamped by the RF, the  
car may not start.  SOME of the newer cars don't even have a  
provision for a conventional metal cut key with mechanical pins.  I  
think Mercedes only have a fob, but it does have a hole in the dash  
where you can put it.

It is pretty typical to have people blame the station(s) when it is  
actually inexpensive, poorly designed receivers at fault.

As an aside (the very quick version) I once had a new neighabor in an  
old neighaborhood call all bent out of shape because all of his  
consumer electronics was acting up.  He yelled at me that he just  
moved in to his new house on TOWER STREET and how could an FM station  
be allowed to be built in a residential neighaborhood.  After  
listening to him rant, rave and swear at me for a long time, I asked  
if he thought we put the tower there because of the name of the  
street, or when the street was named it was named after that big,  
four sided red and white LANDMARK.

--chip

On Jan 28, 2008, at 6:01 AM, broadcast-request at radiolists.net wrote:

> Message: 16
> Date: Sun, 27 Jan 2008 19:37:02 -0800 (PST)
> From: "Harold Hallikainen" <harold at hallikainen.com>
> Subject: Re: [BC] RFI stalls cars near Empire State Building
> To: "Broadcasters' Mailing List" <broadcast at radiolists.net>
> Message-ID:
> 	<50630.192.168.1.1.1201491422.squirrel at sujan.hallikainen.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1
>
>
>> The high RF field surrounding the Empire State Building is allegedly
>> causing many mysterious breakdowns of motor vehicles on the  
>> streets below:
>>
>> http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ 
>> 2008/01/27/2008-01-27_empire_state_building_car_zap_mystery.html
>>
>> or, if that link gets split up, try:
>>
>> http://tinyurl.com/2pdf6m
>>
>
> Sure is a lack of info in that article! I could definitely see RKE
> receivers being overloaded by all the RF in the area. But, isn't  
> RKE used
> ONLY as a convenience? On our brand new 2008 Honda Fit, the RKE is  
> handy,
> but door still has a key lock and the ignition switch uses a key.
>
> It seems that any EMI cause other than RKE would require quite high RF
> fields.
>
> So, ideas?
>
> Harold