Riddle Me This...

[Peter W.]

Last evening, at approximately 9:15 pm Eastern Daylight Time, three (3) remote control devices came on, or changed in our house, not quite sequentially - about over 10 seconds or so. My wife and I - the only humans in the house - were together in the library. The cats were also scattered about in the library.

The gas-log in the library came on. The remote is an RF device, not IR, and it did not respond to the remote to turn off, so I cut off the gas.

The (Panasonic Plasma c. 2009) TV, also in the library, changed channels. The remote is a Comcast IR-type. The TV did respond to the remote.

The Insignia (cheap LED c. 2021) TV in the kitchen (50 feet and three rooms away as the crow flies) came on. It also did respond to the IR remote.

The house is a three-story center-hall colonial, built in 1890, with substantial additions in 1928, totally about 4,200 net-square-feet as measured by the county (does not include bathrooms, and space under the eaves).

Thoughts? I would like to think we had ghosts - or at least poltergeists, but why now, after 14 years?

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

 

[ohg...@gmail.com]

On Tuesday, May 24, 2022 at 7:47:36 AM UTC-4, Peter W. wrote:

Last evening, at approximately 9:15 pm Eastern Daylight Time, three (3) remote control devices came on, or changed in our house, not quite sequentially - about over 10 seconds or so. My wife and I - the only humans in the house - were together in the library. The cats were also scattered about in the library.

The gas-log in the library came on. The remote is an RF device, not IR, and it did not respond to the remote to turn off, so I cut off the gas.

The (Panasonic Plasma c. 2009) TV, also in the library, changed channels. The remote is a Comcast IR-type. The TV did respond to the remote.

The Insignia (cheap LED c. 2021) TV in the kitchen (50 feet and three rooms away as the crow flies) came on. It also did respond to the IR remote.

The house is a three-story center-hall colonial, built in 1890, with substantial additions in 1928, totally about 4,200 net-square-feet as measured by the county (does not include bathrooms, and space under the eaves).

Thoughts? I would like to think we had ghosts - or at least poltergeists, but why now, after 14 years?

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

Ghosts. They were probably out on holiday for the past 14 years. Ever watch Beetlejuice? Time moves differently for spooks.

 

[Jeff Layman]

On 24/05/2022 12:47, Peter W. wrote:

Last evening, at approximately 9:15 pm Eastern Daylight Time, three (3) remote control devices came on, or changed in our house, not quite sequentially - about over 10 seconds or so. My wife and I - the only humans in the house - were together in the library. The cats were also scattered about in the library.

The gas-log in the library came on. The remote is an RF device, not IR, and it did not respond to the remote to turn off, so I cut off the gas.

The (Panasonic Plasma c. 2009) TV, also in the library, changed channels. The remote is a Comcast IR-type. The TV did respond to the remote.

The Insignia (cheap LED c. 2021) TV in the kitchen (50 feet and three rooms away as the crow flies) came on. It also did respond to the IR remote.

The house is a three-story center-hall colonial, built in 1890, with substantial additions in 1928, totally about 4,200 net-square-feet as measured by the county (does not include bathrooms, and space under the eaves).

Thoughts? I would like to think we had ghosts - or at least poltergeists, but why now, after 14 years?

Does the gas-log now work in that it responds to the remote? If not, is
it possible there was a spike over the power supply to your house which
affected just those three devices, and it damaged the gas-log
electronics? The Insignia could have come on slightly later - does it
usually take about 10 seconds to come on?

Have you checked with any of your neighbours to see if any of their
devices behaved strangely at the same time?

--

Jeff

 

[Peter W.]

The gas-log now works fine with a change-of-battery in both the remote and the receiver - again note this is an RF device, not an IR device.
Forgot to mention: The mini-split went down two (2) degrees (in \'cool\' mode) at the same time. That is an IR remote. None of the other splits (total of six (6)) came on.
The insignia does take a few seconds to show a picture from turn-on.
The neighbor to the west had no symptoms. The neighbor to the right had no R/C devices on at the time, and none came on. We did not ask across the street or behind. There were no *discernable* power-surges.

I suppose time might move differently for spooks... And the cats do seem oblivious should they be there. I suppose having European parents, one of which was Irish makes me more open to the unusual than most.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

 

[Jeff Layman]

On 24/05/2022 14:59, Peter W. wrote:

The gas-log now works fine with a change-of-battery in both the remote and the receiver - again note this is an RF device, not an IR device.
Forgot to mention: The mini-split went down two (2) degrees (in \'cool\' mode) at the same time. That is an IR remote. None of the other splits (total of six (6)) came on.
The insignia does take a few seconds to show a picture from turn-on.
The neighbor to the west had no symptoms. The neighbor to the right had no R/C devices on at the time, and none came on. We did not ask across the street or behind. There were no *discernable* power-surges.

I suppose time might move differently for spooks... And the cats do seem oblivious should they be there. I suppose having European parents, one of which was Irish makes me more open to the unusual than most.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

Ah! Not ghosts or poltergeists...leprechauns!

--

Jeff

 

[Peter W.]

On Tuesday, May 24, 2022 at 10:08:39 AM UTC-4, Jeff Layman wrote:

On 24/05/2022 14:59, Peter W. wrote:
The gas-log now works fine with a change-of-battery in both the remote and the receiver - again note this is an RF device, not an IR device.
Forgot to mention: The mini-split went down two (2) degrees (in \'cool\' mode) at the same time. That is an IR remote. None of the other splits (total of six (6)) came on.
The insignia does take a few seconds to show a picture from turn-on.
The neighbor to the west had no symptoms. The neighbor to the right had no R/C devices on at the time, and none came on. We did not ask across the street or behind. There were no *discernable* power-surges.

I suppose time might move differently for spooks... And the cats do seem oblivious should they be there. I suppose having European parents, one of which was Irish makes me more open to the unusual than most.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA
Ah! Not ghosts or poltergeists...leprechauns!

--

Jeff
Better them than gremlins!

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Tue, 24 May 2022 04:47:33 -0700 (PDT), \"Peter W.\"
<peterwieck33@gmail.com> wrote:

>Last evening, at approximately 9:15 pm Eastern Daylight Time, three (3) remote control devices came on, or changed in our house, not quite sequentially - about over 10 seconds or so. My wife and I - the only humans in the house - were together in the library. The cats were also scattered about in the library.

I\'ve seen such weirdness caused by nearby high power transmitters. It
doesn\'t matter what frequency they operate at. The driver circuitry
that actuates the devices just rectifies the RF and closes the relay,
circuit, or whatever. I know of one such problem where a room full of
electronics would go nuts at approximately the same time each evening.
It turned out to be a service vehicle that was still using some really
old 30-50MHz VHF FM mobile radios with about 100 watts output. They
were asked not to key their transmitters near the building and the
problem went away. At home, some of my growing collection of gizmos
go insane or hang when I\'m transmitting either at high power or into a
high VSWR antenna.

Such problems are common enough that devices are now tested for EMC
(Electromagnetic Compatibility), which is fundamentally their ability
to function in an RFI/EMI polluted environment:
<https://www.electronics-notes.com/articles/analogue_circuits/emc-emi-electromagnetic-interference-compatibility/what-is-emc-basics-tutorial.php>
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_compatibility>


--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[Tom Biasi]

On 5/24/2022 7:47 AM, Peter W. wrote:

Last evening, at approximately 9:15 pm Eastern Daylight Time, three (3) remote control devices came on, or changed in our house, not quite sequentially - about over 10 seconds or so. My wife and I - the only humans in the house - were together in the library. The cats were also scattered about in the library.

The gas-log in the library came on. The remote is an RF device, not IR, and it did not respond to the remote to turn off, so I cut off the gas.

The (Panasonic Plasma c. 2009) TV, also in the library, changed channels. The remote is a Comcast IR-type. The TV did respond to the remote.

The Insignia (cheap LED c. 2021) TV in the kitchen (50 feet and three rooms away as the crow flies) came on. It also did respond to the IR remote.

The house is a three-story center-hall colonial, built in 1890, with substantial additions in 1928, totally about 4,200 net-square-feet as measured by the county (does not include bathrooms, and space under the eaves).

Thoughts? I would like to think we had ghosts - or at least poltergeists, but why now, after 14 years?

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

Drive around the neighborhood looking for new HAM antennas.

 

[Peter W.]

> Drive around the neighborhood looking for new HAM antennas.

Last antenna of that nature I saw was roughly 1.3 miles (2km) away to the northwest. It disappeared nearly 20 years ago. Could be another one, but unlikely. Might have been the paving company office-truck that is working nearby, but that late at night also seems unlikely. It could also be the Smart Meter polling pulse (??)? Some are wired (via the mains), some are wireless.

Thank you for all your thoughts!

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

 

[G.H. Lang]

On Tuesday, May 24, 2022 at 7:47:36 AM UTC-4, Peter W. wrote:

Last evening, at approximately 9:15 pm Eastern Daylight Time, three (3) remote control devices came on, or changed in our house, not quite sequentially - about over 10 seconds or so. My wife and I - the only humans in the house - were together in the library. The cats were also scattered about in the library.

The gas-log in the library came on. The remote is an RF device, not IR, and it did not respond to the remote to turn off, so I cut off the gas.

The (Panasonic Plasma c. 2009) TV, also in the library, changed channels. The remote is a Comcast IR-type. The TV did respond to the remote.

The Insignia (cheap LED c. 2021) TV in the kitchen (50 feet and three rooms away as the crow flies) came on. It also did respond to the IR remote.

The house is a three-story center-hall colonial, built in 1890, with substantial additions in 1928, totally about 4,200 net-square-feet as measured by the county (does not include bathrooms, and space under the eaves).

Thoughts? I would like to think we had ghosts - or at least poltergeists, but why now, after 14 years?

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA
Hi Peter; you do not say what your home network setup is like; however, many devices nowdays support networking either via bluethooth, wifi, or dedicate 2.4 Ghz band (like a mouse dongle).

So, does any of your equipment support networking?

If you do not, then I have no idea; however, if you do, then I might have an answer.

 

[Peter W.]

> So, does any of your equipment support networking?

The Splits (Fujitsu) have that as an option - however, we did not pick that option.
The Panasonic plasma TV is not \'smart\', but relies on the cable-box for all streaming functions. That box is \'smart\'.
The Insignia TV is \'smart\', but we have not synched it to the house WiFi as we do not have the need at its location.
The gas-log is a dumb device, not connected to the mains (battery-only), and is RF based, not IR based. https://www.amazon.com/Peterson-1001-A-Skytech-remote-control/dp/B003KXCCIW?ref_=ast_slp_dp
The home network is 1-gig Comcast, providing internet, phone and cable functions. We do have a repeater to serve the west side of the house (MSRM).

Hope that helps.

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA

 

[Jeff Liebermann]

On Wed, 25 May 2022 11:50:22 -0700 (PDT), \"Peter W.\"
<peterwieck33@gmail.com> wrote:

>The gas-log is a dumb device, not connected to the mains (battery-only), and is RF based, not IR based. https://www.amazon.com/Peterson-1001-A-Skytech-remote-control/dp/B003KXCCIW?ref_=ast_slp_dp

Looks like the Skytech 1001-A users 303.8 MHz.
<https://www.grainger.com/product/SKYTECH-Fireplace-Remote-Control-Universal-61TM16>

Looks like it might be FCC certified:
<https://fccid.io/frequency-explorer.php?lower=303.8&upper=303.8>
<https://www.grainger.com/ec/pdf/61TM15_2.pdf>
There are a number of Skytech models listed but not the 61TM16. Not
much info but it looks like it has a 65,536 security codes, which is
more than enough to prevent random activation. However, as I
mentioned, a sufficiently strong RF signal will bypass the decoder and
directly trigger the relay or switch to your fireplace. To get that
kind of signal level, the transmitter needs to be fairly close. My
guess(tm) would be a fairly high power mobile radio (CB, commercial,
public safety, ham radio, etc) that happened to be near your house
when it briefly transmitted, and then drove away.


--
Jeff Liebermann jeffl@cruzio.com
PO Box 272 http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Ben Lomond CA 95005-0272
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

 

[Three Jeeps]

On Tuesday, May 24, 2022 at 3:47:24 PM UTC-4, Tom Biasi wrote:

On 5/24/2022 7:47 AM, Peter W. wrote:
Last evening, at approximately 9:15 pm Eastern Daylight Time, three (3) remote control devices came on, or changed in our house, not quite sequentially - about over 10 seconds or so. My wife and I - the only humans in the house - were together in the library. The cats were also scattered about in the library.

The gas-log in the library came on. The remote is an RF device, not IR, and it did not respond to the remote to turn off, so I cut off the gas.

The (Panasonic Plasma c. 2009) TV, also in the library, changed channels. The remote is a Comcast IR-type. The TV did respond to the remote.

The Insignia (cheap LED c. 2021) TV in the kitchen (50 feet and three rooms away as the crow flies) came on. It also did respond to the IR remote.

The house is a three-story center-hall colonial, built in 1890, with substantial additions in 1928, totally about 4,200 net-square-feet as measured by the county (does not include bathrooms, and space under the eaves).

Thoughts? I would like to think we had ghosts - or at least poltergeists, but why now, after 14 years?

Peter Wieck
Melrose Park, PA
Drive around the neighborhood looking for new HAM antennas.

I will echo this. Coincidentally, I was in the den playing with my new yaesu HT when I keyed up to signal a repeater, my samsung LCD TV turned off at the same time. I was not able to reproduce this so I was left scratching my head if the two were really related.

Also, we recently got some Chinesium LED pole lamps with capacitive touch switches to vary the brightness. They have an annoying problem that if power is interrupted while they are off, when power is re-established, the light turn on. What a stupid design. I\'ve notice this behavior is initiated by both power outtages and brown outs.
It is amazing to me how once \'normal\' and logical behavior for some devices have been redefined by junk....but I digress.