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View Full Version : Mystery of Windermere street where gadgets go haywire - Any thoughts?

Ashles
9th February 2010, 04:42 AM
From the BBC:

A street in Windermere is causing motorists grief because for some unexplained reason car remote controls and similar devices will not work when they park there.

News item about the mysterious street. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8505314.stm)

Anyone got any ideas what it might be?

(I can't listen to sound due to being at work so apologies if the mystery is explained in the video.)
AgeGap
9th February 2010, 05:14 AM
From video it's radio waves. "Almost certainly not a ghost."

I used to park near an ambulance station and the range of my key-fob for my car's alarm was reduced to a few meters.
Lanzy
9th February 2010, 06:34 AM
Yeah, not a ghost. Why would they throw this in anyway, the first part of the video shows what it is.
The Atheist
9th February 2010, 09:24 AM
From the BBC:

Dear Auntie Beeb; things just ain't what they was. What is it that causes a once-bastion of truth to turn out **** from The Sun?

Did they take any kind of measuring device to pick up stray enormously powerful signals that might be coming from nearby?

Taking a look at the "related articles" on that page:

Did a spaceman land in Westminster?(00.42)
Factory ghost spooks crystal staff(02.53)
The headless horseman of Belfast(01.43)

...I somehow doubt it.
Ashles
9th February 2010, 09:49 AM
Dear Auntie Beeb; things just ain't what they was. What is it that causes a once-bastion of truth to turn out **** from The Sun?

Did they take any kind of measuring device to pick up stray enormously powerful signals that might be coming from nearby?

Taking a look at the "related articles" on that page:

Did a spaceman land in Westminster?(00.42)
Factory ghost spooks crystal staff(02.53)
The headless horseman of Belfast(01.43)

...I somehow doubt it.


The BBC is going down-market and sensationalist so rapidly these days I am wondering if it is some kind of bet with Sky.
AgeGap
3rd March 2010, 12:29 PM
In a further report it seems that a local cafe had electronic note pads that transmitted at a similar frequency as car fobs. They changed their frequency and problems stopped.
Gord_in_Toronto
3rd March 2010, 07:22 PM
In a further report it seems that a local cafe had electronic note pads that transmitted at a similar frequency as car fobs. They changed their frequency and problems stopped.

Spoil sport! ;)
luchog
5th March 2010, 05:48 AM
In a further report it seems that a local cafe had electronic note pads that transmitted at a similar frequency as car fobs. They changed their frequency and problems stopped.

The frequency change must have scared off all the ghostses.
zerospeaks
5th March 2010, 12:35 PM
I want to know why holding your FOB up to your head increases it's range.
And yes it works, I have tried it myself, and top gear did it.
GreyICE
5th March 2010, 01:32 PM
Hell, I went to a trade show the other week which must have been haunted because everyone who came back from the trade show had their room keys demagnitized! And cell phones didn't work pretty much at all in there!

Check for high voltage equipment that's poorly insulated.
blutoski
5th March 2010, 01:39 PM
I want to know why holding your FOB up to your head increases it's range.
And yes it works, I have tried it myself, and top gear did it.

I haven't seen the top gear episode, but did they distinguish between holding the FOB up higher vs specifically holding it to your head. ie: could the increased range be explained by elevation alone?