Strange fob/blipper problems.

[Don1]

No idea where to put this, so thought I'd stick it here, as it a car problem!

The remote lock on my cars is refusing to work, as well as the 'blipper' for the gates. Not a problem thinks I - some strange radio frequency blocking it. So I 'darken' the house - and it's still going! We're very isolated (no neighbours), so it has to be coming from somewhere. Any ideas?

[Morningside]

Checked the obvious ones?

Depending on frequency:
Remote wireless weather monitors.
Wireless doorbells.

[Don1]

Yep - killed the weather sensors, and we don't have the doorbell. Killed the sure signal Vodafone, the wifi, all laptop/portable device wifi, any device that might broadcast a signal.

This has happened since last night, so not a clue.

[Morningside]

Not in-line of some water/sewage telemetry outpost are you?

[motco]

H G Wells - almost said:

No one would have believed in the first years of the twenty-first century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water.

[Bill]

Erm, have you replaced the batteries? It'd be a coincidence for them to go together, but not impossible.

[Ozzie Osmond]

New mobile phone mast nearby?

[Don1]

Shouldn't be new masts online without me knowing, and the fob worked fine away from the house. It's a strange one...

[willis1337]

Hold the blipper up against the side of your head, look at the car with eyes wide open, blip the blipper.

Your skull should amplify the signal.....thus proving another theory ;-)

[Superhoop]

Are you sure somebody hasn't deliberately planted a signal blocker near your house?

Seems to be one of the latest methods for car theft - See the BMW thefts thread

[Smiler.]

I now experience the same thing with a garage door fob. Sometimes, I need to be standing directly below the internal unit before it will work.

I have noticed a large box about 20m away at the top of a lamp post. The box has antennas on the top so I suspect this may be the culprit. What make/model of fob are you using?

[motco]

Anything with a mark should be tested for resistance to external interference and for being a source of such interference.

[aizvara]

I experience this on my drive from time to time. Started a thread on it ages ago.

Probably isn't your issue, but one suggestion I received was that it was the powerline ethernet adaptors I'm using. Haven't conclusively proven that these are the cause, as I've only experienced a full on failure to open two or three times in two years.

[myles1972]

The Police TETRA radio network uses towers which, if parked under or near, seems to put your car in an ECM bubble where your plipper no longer works. It is well known amongst Impreza owners.

[Don1]

Finally nailed it - watchman sensor on the oil tank.

Many thank to all who have contributed.

Now, how to get rid of earache from setting off all the car alarms trying to fault find...