Remote Key - Dead Zone ?

I ran an errand today and after parking I tried locking the car using the remote key and nothing happened and I was with a few feet of the car. Several attempts and still nothing happened. I manually locked the car with the key ran my errand and upon returning the remote still wouldn't work, nothing, trunk, lock, open, etc. The manual opening worked fine. Two weeks ago at this very same location the same thing happened and I didn't give it much thought but having it happen again in the same area I wonder if there may be something in the area that jams the signals. For any DC/VA people it's near the Intersection of George Mason Dr. & Lee Hwy in Arlington.
The remote has worked perfectly everywhere else I've gone.
Anybody else have anything like this?

If there's something transmitting nearby at 315MHz this is entirely possible. What's the FCC have assigned to this area?

Originally posted by Kaz
If there's something transmitting nearby at 315MHz this is entirely possible. What's the FCC have assigned to this area?

That's a good question, is there a FCC site that lists this type of thing? I do know if you get near the CIA here almost everything wireless goes kaflooey but the location I had the problem is quite a ways from there.

My key doesn't work in the Tenleytown area. It's annoying, but normal.

Originally posted by Nick325xiT 5spd
My key doesn't work in the Tenleytown area. It's annoying, but normal.

Well while this is a bit annoying, it's good to hear that it's a variation of normal. I've wanted to get one of the key cover's that replaces the key cylinder but having this happen makes me wonder if that's a good idea.

Originally posted by beauport


Well while this is a bit annoying, it's good to hear that it's a variation of normal. I've wanted to get one of the key cover's that replaces the key cylinder but having this happen makes me wonder if that's a good idea.

That would be why I haven't done that.

Well, offhand I can't find any info on what's allocated at 315MHz, though that general range seems pretty open. Though in that part of the country I wouldn't be surprised if some government facility has some 'special' stuff broadcasting out there.

Touch your key to your chin while pressing the unlock, it works realllllllllly far away!

Originally posted by johnlew
Touch your key to your chin while pressing the unlock, it works realllllllllly far away!

Doesn't make a difference in these spots. I've found that my best chance comes when I touch the key to the cell antenna, or whatver the littl edinky thing is. That works 99% of the time.

Considering the ZKW antenna is in the rear glass, that interference must be really strong if you need to be right on it for it to work.

Try holding the key right on next to the recieving antenna, and see if that works.

In the sedan and coupe, it's the defroster striping on the back window. In the convertible, it's the rearview mirror.

The likely problem is radio interference from some microwave transmitter that is transmitting in the 300Mhz range. This is pretty low for microwave, but it isn't completely out of question. Another possibility is some sort of NSA gear or something that is emitting interference in that frequency band. Lots of stuff has been deployed in the Washington area over the last year after 9/11.

In any case, getting your transmitter right next to the antenna, within a few cm, has a pretty good shot at overwhelming whatever is interfering. Give it a try and report back on success/failure.

300 MHz is UHF (Ultra High Frequency). The term comes from a LONG time ago when AM radio was considered Medium Frequency.

The 300 MHz spectrum includes Military aviation communicaions. The military uses about 240 - 400 MHz for talking from aircraft to aircraft or aircraft to gournd (including towers and other air traffic control).

If it is an RF interference problem, then likely there is an RCO (Remote Communications O??) nearby. These are outlying radio transmitter recevier sites that extend the range of communications for air traffic control. I don't have any charts handy, but likely one of hte DC area ATC frequencies is in that range.

You can buy a big spectrum chart from the FCC that shows what use is allocated from way down around 10 KHz up to 300 GHz (above that is considered light). Some ham radio stores also carry it.

If you are interested the various names for bands are 30 KHz to 300 KHz is Low Frequency, 300 KHz to 3 MHz is Medium Frequency, 3MHz to 30 MHz is High Frequency, 30 MHZ to 300 MHz is Ultra High Frequency, 300 MHz to 3 GHz is Extremely High Frequency. In the 1 GHz and up range there are also sub bands that have letter designations, like X band, K band, Ka band (important to us ) and others such as S band, etc.