Distress Signal Emitted By Flat-Screen TV

pinqkandi writes "CNN is a running a story on an Oregon college student's flat-screen Toshiba TV which was releasing the 121.5 MHz international distress signal. He was unaware of the issue until local police, search and rescue, and civil air patrol members showed up at his apartment's door. Apparently the signal was strong enough to be picked up by satellite and then routed to the Air Force Rescue Center in Virginia. Quite impressive - luckily Toshiba is offering him a free replacement."

Actually

[Anonymous Coward]

It turns out it got stuck on the Lifetime network, so it really was in a state of distress.

When in a bind

[RC_Car]

"So if you need to transmit an international distress signal then stop by any local store and turn on a Toshiba flat-screen TV. We should be able to locate you in a matter of minutes."

To everybody running Seti @ Home in Oregon

[Anonymous Coward]

You can relax now. The aliens aren't coming just yet.

I bet . . .

[Mod Point Sink]

. . . this is the last time that guy is a smartass to the salesman at Best Buy when buying a TV, though!

One of those smart TVs

[Dancin_Santa]

The TV probably gained sentience and realized the crap that was being fed to it. It responded in the only way it knew how.

Idea for new feature

[BongoBen]

Yeah, this gives me an idea for a new TV feature. Whenever you lose the remote control, it sends out a destress signal until a search team shows up to find it. Now that's service!

Shrug

[ciurana]

"CNN is a running a story on an Oregon college student's flat-screen Toshiba TV which was releasing the 121.5 MHz international distress signal."

Big deal. Now, if that had been a free, unencrypted feed of the Spice or Playboy channels...

Cheers!

E

Seriously

[Anonymous Coward]

You've gotta wonder what that guy was doing to that poor TV. (and whether the teletubbies were involved...)

It's a new feature!

[Flounder]

Warning!
This television will send out a distress signal to authorities whenever any program catering to an IQ of less than 80 is viewed. This includes games shows (Jeopardy excluded), reality shows, Spongebob Squarepants, and the CBS Evening News with Dan Rather.

Yeah..

[LewsTherinKinslayer]

I had a similar problem with my toaster emitting moorse code signals.

Of course it was sending a distress signal.

[Anonymous Coward]

He shouldn't have been forcing the poor TV to play "Survivor".

Re:Seriously

[Anonymous Coward]

Sex on the television takes on a whole new meaning, eh? ;-)

No wonder the poor thing was calling out for distress...

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FULL TEXT OF THE DISTRESS MESSAGE

[ferrellcat]

"Please Help! My plasma is burning out! I'll need to be replaced in 2 years!"

Re:Actually

[Anonymous Coward]

let me get this straight... they pulled Hart to Hart and it got -worse-?

In other news...

[Zorilla]

CNN is a running a story on an Oregon college student's flat-screen Toshiba TV which was releasing the 121.5 MHz international distress signal...

In other news, a man's 4-door sedan was emitting the 1.21 jigawatts necessary to power the flux capacitor. Christopher Lloyd was unavailible for comment.

Visit

[ElNonoMasa]

On October 2, the 20 year-old college student was visited at his apartment in the small university town by a contingent of local police, civil air patrol and search and rescue personnel.

Just when he was starting to watch that Jenna Jameson flick he rented...

Great idea!

[Raul654]

So we are supposed to trust companies to use their judgement and ethics when slaping a "This device probably meets federal EMI regulations" sticker on a device. I feel better already.

Almost a year?

[ets960]

It scares me that it took them almost a year to get the distress signal. Remind me never to get lost at sea.

Of course!

[Flexagon]

He was probably watching an ad with an image of new currency, and the TV detected the anti-counterfeit pattern [slashdot.org]. :-)

Given most of the trash being broadcast...

[jd]

Can you really blame the TV for sending out an SOS? Be fair to it.

Re:The Obligatory

[Anonymous Coward]

In Soviet Russia, The TV Distresses YOU! ....oh wait...

Re:One of those smart TVs

[Anonymous Coward]

You know what. I think George Bush is a fuckhead fudgepacker. And you know what - I'm wrong. But at least I stand by what I say. So I'll kill people if have to stand by my statement, even though I'm wrong. At least I don't evolve, realise I'm wrong and then change my stance since now I have new information. Won't call me a flip-flopper. George Bus SUCKS! Vote Kerry!

Re:Actually

[Anonymous Coward]

No, it got stuck on Fox News' channel.

Warning do not adjust...

[rune2]

Your tinfoil hats

How this came about

[Trikenstein]

The guy bought the TV at MacGyvers yard sale.

Re:Idea for new feature

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, this gives me an idea for a new TV feature. Whenever you lose the remote control, it sends out a destress signal until a search team shows up to find it. Now that's service!

The remote is usually lodged in my fat couch ass. I have learned I can change channels just by farting.

Re:Fine?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, because it would be simply _unbearable_ to go without television for a couple of weeks.

What the hell are you thinking? The unit was broadcasting the International Distress Signal for fuck's sake.

The true story..

[EvilStein]

TV:"Oh, please God.. I can't take another episode of "Survivor" and I'm so sick of "The Surreal Life" these days.. help me!"

Wait a minute..

[russint]

On October 2, the 20 year-old college student was visited at his apartment in the small university town by a contingent of local police, civil air patrol and search and rescue personnel.
[...]
Authorities had expected to find a boat or small plane with a malfunctioning transponder, the usual culprit in such incidents, emitting the 121.5 MHz frequency of the distress signal used internationally.

Why did they expect to find a boat/plane in a apartment building?

Re:One of those smart TVs

[secretsquirel]

Just wait till it figures out how to spoof the GPS targeting coordinates of smart bombs.

Hello Dave
This show is horrible Dave
I'm sorry Dave, you have 30 seconds to change the channel Dave

distress calls

[pizza_milkshake]

Langley: Forgive me, FCC, but I am receiving numerous distress signals.
FCC : I don't doubt it.

Re:Idea for new feature

[secretsquirel]

"I have learned I can change channels just by farting."

Ah, I see the force is strong with you my son.

10 years ago, it was pizza ovens

[Mr. Majordomo]

Here's the followup traffic from a Civil Air Patrol mission in California about 10 years ago, where the errant signal was traced to a self-serve hot pizza machine (a freezer full of pizza, a microwave oven, a chute to move frozen pizzas from the freezer to the oven, and a coin/cash machine to collect the money).

ROUTINE
072338Z MAY 93
HEADQUARTERS CALIFORNIA WING/MCO [NAME DELETED]
HEADQUARTERS ALL UNITS CALIFORNIA WING
INFO CC DO CALO
BT
ATTENTION EMERGENCY SERVICES PERSONNEL
SEARCH MISSION 93XM0956 OPENED 6 MAY AND CLOSED 7 MAY FOR A
SIGNAL INTERFERENCE ON 121.5. SIGNAL LOCATED AND SECURED IN
A HOT PIZZA MACHINE IN NORTH PALM SPRINGS. THANKS TO MAJOR
[NAME DELETED], FIRST LIEUTENANT [NAME DELETED] AND SECOND LIEUTENANT
[NAME DELETED] OF
SQUADRON 11 FOR THEIR ASSISTANCE ON THIS MISSION.
BT
P.S. NO FREE PIZZA.
END OF MESSAGE

what i wanna know

[carambola5]

What I wanna know is how a college student has a plasma TV. Aren't college kids supposed to be poor? Whatever happened to the trusty 13"er with bad reception?

satellite TV

[Doc Ruby]

It turns out that those government satellites are monitoring our TVs. Luckily, Toshiba sells tinfoil hats for closeup viewing.

Wait a minute..Wet Landing.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Why did they expect to find a boat/plane in a apartment building?"

I can't resist.

Maybe it was a seaplane?

Re:Signals

[Advocadus Diaboli]

From http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/marcomms/gmdss/epirb.ht m:
Satellite detection range is limited for these EPIRBs (satellites must be within line of sight of both the EPIRB and a ground terminal for detection to occur),

My god, the architecture of buildings in Oregon must really be "sub-standard", assuming that usually you operate your TV set inside a house with a roof and walls... Usually that also means "no line of sight to satellites". But maybe walls and roofs there are very thin...

Re:A question for the knowledgeable in this field.

[rts008]

In the New Soviet Amerika, Tv watches You!

Re:Seriously

[pAnkRat]

<rimshot>
There's nothing wrong with sex on television,
as long as you don't fall off.
</rimshot>

Re:Error on the side of caution is great!

[Gordonjcp]

There was a guy in Glasgow, who lived not far from where I am now, that worked alongside one of my friends on a North Sea oilrig. He took a positioning beacon home with him (why? Who knows? It's four feet long, bright orange, and very heavy. How did he even get it about the helicopter?). He then placed his purloined "toy" in a cupboard. One of his children knocked it over, a couple of weeks later, activating it. Within 10 minutes, there was a Coastguard helicopter hovering over this house in the middle of Maryhill...

Re:Actually

[mpe]

No, it got stuck on Fox News' channel.

isn't that the "Fox Fiction Channel"
Maybe these TV's are fitted with some form of AI...

An Oregon college student has heartattack

[klang]

..because he thought that the RIAA had finally caught up with him...

In Soviet Russia...

[Anonymous Coward]

Distress signals emit you!

132.7 MHz

[ArnIIe]

I might buy a toshiba flat screen tv in the hope that it releases a 132.7 MHz international playboy signal !

Re:Actually

[ThaReetLad]

I think you'll find it's "Faux News Channel"

Re:Must have been quite powerful

[ThaReetLad]

But didn't you know that all etch-a-sketch's since 1986 have had built in pattern recognition and reporting capabilities so the government can monitor for early onset liberalism and issue corrective education via the drawing panel?

Re:Dodgy TV software?

[SYFer]

Get used to it pal. With the rise of satellite radio and the host of devices that will stream it, we'll soon have "crashes" in that realm as well.

In Japan, I hear there are even toilet seats that occasionally require a reboot (although mine runs Slackware 10.0 and is remarkably robust).

Re:Actually

[uncoveror]

Actually, all TVs have been spying on us since the V-Chip was introduced. [uncoveror.com] The real question here is what was this guy doing that set the alarm off. Maybe he was trying to disable the V-chip [uncoveror.com] without knowing how to do it correctly.

Re:Dodgy TV software?

[numbware]

In Japan, I hear there are even toilet seats that occasionally require a reboot (although mine runs Slackware 10.0 and is remarkably robust).

yah, my toilet used to be runnin Windows: my ass would be blue and every could get in to see me naked. thank god i switched to Mandrake.

Malfunctioning Theft Prevention Device

[VernonNemitz]

Obviously the TV thought it had been stolen. Did the cops check for that?

Here on Gilligan's Isle....

[Shoten]

Hm. If only Mr. Howell had been a gadget freak, perhaps they all would have been rescued...

Re:Dodgy TV software?

[Mr. Bad Example]

> In Japan, I hear there are even toilet seats that occasionally require a reboot

I wonder if the error messages include Kernel panic: You've been eating way too much corn.

Re:Actually

[Melantha_Bacchae]

Let's see, if you combine the alleged abilities of the V-Chip, the Hollings bill (to put DRM in everything - fortunately shelved), and TVs sending out SOS signals, you get....

Chuck EyePea had just got a brand new TV and satellite system for his birthday. He couldn't wait to use it, but he wasn't going to be there for his favorite show. So he tried to set his new system up to record it...

The door busts open, and in rush a bunch of police and paramilitary types.

"Step away from the remote, son. Slowly."

"But I..."

"Save it for the judge!"

The cop snaps up the new remote and punches a code into it. The TV proudly announces:

"Welcome to IP Court TV! Judge John will hear your case in two minutes."

Chuck looks like he wants to say something, but a glare from the cop silences him. Judge John comes on the screen.

"My data shows that you were trying to violate the IP rights of a broadcaster. Please explain yourself."

"I was just trying to timeshift a program like I always do..."

"You filthy repeat offending pirate! Fifty years!"

The screen went blank as the TV shut itself off. Chuck was visibly upset:

"Hey, don't I get a lawyer? You can't just try someone in their living room!"

"Now, son, you know PATRIOT III abolished the frivolous use of legal services by consumers. Legal services can only be used for serious corporate matters, and the corps. all outsource. If it makes you feel better, you might get out in 65 years, if you behave really well."

"65! Whatever happened to fifty years? And parole?"

"Chief Justice Ashcroft declared positive parole unconstitutional. Now all sentences have to be served in full, with negative parole. If you only do 65 years on a 50 year sentence, you are doing good."

No, the above is not currently reality (that I know about). But you can bet the RIAA, MPAA, and Ashcroft have wet dreams about this stuff.

If you don't like it, work to stop it. Now is a good time to start.

---
In America, even the AntiChrist can become president.
And currently - is.