<story><title>Something mysterious is blocking car key fobs from working in an Alberta town</title><url>https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/carstairs-westview-co-op-grocery-car-key-fob-1.4999558</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>rbritton</author><text>Failing transformers can cause an incredible amount of RF noise. A couple years ago a failing fluorescent light ballast prevented my garage door opener remote from working until it finally gave out (this was when I discovered it as the cause), and it had enough residual power to maintain the interference for a while even after being turned off.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Tiki</author><text>(On a much smaller scale) - I had a plasma ball toy as a kid, the kind you put your finger on and the electricity arcs to your finger. One day I broke the glass housing. Curious what would happen, I plugged it in - the radio in the kitchen AND the TV in the living room both simultaneously wouldn&amp;#x27;t run when the broken plasma bulb was plugged in. I did this several times as a prank on unsuspecting family members and then the unit burned out&amp;#x2F;wouldn&amp;#x27;t turn on. I still don&amp;#x27;t know how dangerous this was to do(if at all).</text></comment>
<story><title>Something mysterious is blocking car key fobs from working in an Alberta town</title><url>https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/carstairs-westview-co-op-grocery-car-key-fob-1.4999558</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>rbritton</author><text>Failing transformers can cause an incredible amount of RF noise. A couple years ago a failing fluorescent light ballast prevented my garage door opener remote from working until it finally gave out (this was when I discovered it as the cause), and it had enough residual power to maintain the interference for a while even after being turned off.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>patcheudor</author><text>Neon sign transformers are routinely the cause of such interference as well:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.schneier.com&amp;#x2F;blog&amp;#x2F;archives&amp;#x2F;2016&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;unintentional_d.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.schneier.com&amp;#x2F;blog&amp;#x2F;archives&amp;#x2F;2016&amp;#x2F;08&amp;#x2F;unintentional...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>