Car alarms and wireless networks

This is an interesting article:

http://www.newswireless.net/index.cfm/article/2783

It describes the problem caused to a wireless network by a nearby car alarm! A good example of the need to be aware of other devices that generate wireless noise near and around your buildings. Car alarms causing a problem is obviously rare, or there would be more examples of the same problem. However, this article does highlight the difficulty in tracking down the root cause of a signal problem on a wireless network, and the sort of off the wall thinking you need to use to find the culprit.

 

Not in the least related, but in a similar vein ...

I came home one evening recently to find that my TrippLite UPS (battery backup) was beeping periodically, even though the computer was turned off, and the only load on the UPS was my cordless phone. The very loud beeps came one at a time, exactly five minutes apart.

The beeping continued through the night, so the next morning I called TrippLite's tech support. The techie was mystified, saying that the UPS shouldn't be doing that, and that the only conclusion he and his supervisor could come to was that a weak battery might be at fault (even though I had told him that there were no warning indications on the UPS panel).

Not wanting to take chances, and because it could take a week or more to obtain a replacement battery, I bought another UPS that afternoon. After the old one was completely disconnected and turned off, and the new one installed, I heard the beeps again. Totally baffled, I thought "What the devil is going on!!?? "

To make a long story short, I finally traced the beeping to my cellphone, which was lying directly above the UPS, less than two feet from it.

Needless to say, that particular cellphone signal (indicating a missed call) is now turned off!

After I related this story to a friend, he responded with the following:

Yesterday, sitting at the computer, I heard one of my hard drives making a squeaking noise, so I figured I had a failure coming. I opened the case, put my ear to the drives, ran mobo S.M.A.R.T. and the manufacturer's diagnostics, but everything came up negative. While thinking about the possibilities, I decided to get to get another cup of coffee. Walking through the dining room on my way to the kitchen, I discovered that the noise wasn't coming from the computer at all, but from a cricket by the dining room door.​

 

You guys jogged my memory...

Two years ago, I went to my customer's place and setup their computers. When I plugged speakers into one computer and turned it on, I could clearly hear the voice of one local radio station.