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4/23/2008 9:19:00 AM Email this article • Print this article
Navy frequencies may be snagging automatic garage door openers

By Patrick Sullivan

It's not the batteries.

It's not your imagination.

If your automatic garage door opener hasn't been functioning properly, it could be that the frequency is being used by the U.S. Navy.

"It's kind of like a crap shoot, not knowing if your garage door will open," laughed Joy Qualey of Port Townsend. "It's an exciting way to live."

Qualey said her first problem appeared three weeks ago. She changed the remote control's batteries, but that wasn't a solution. Then she heard from neighbors, and even a friend across town in the Uptown area, that they were having garage door problems too.

She reported the problem to The Leader on April 16 after learning that her question to Admiralty Overhead Door Co. was not the first.

"Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, and because my driveway is sloping, that's an issue," said Qualey, who lives in Port Townsend on the hill above Safeway.

Qualey's automatic garage door was still working sporadically yesterday, April 22. "Sometimes I have to be 3 feet in front of it before it opens."

According to Sheila Murray, Navy environmental public affairs officer who works with Naval Magazine Indian Island, the problem could involve radio frequencies. Murray said that land mobile radio (LMR) systems are being used on Indian Island and military bases around the country, as well as by local fire/rescue and other first responders.

"They are using frequencies in the 380-399.9 MHz band," Murray said. "This is very often the same frequency range at which some unlicensed consumer devices, such as garage door openers, operate. The use of this frequency on military bases complies with a 1992 Congressional law, a subsequent 1993 National Telecommunications and Information Administration Industry (NTIA) mandate, and a 2001 Department of Defense policy, which requires DoD land mobile radio systems to operate more efficiently."

There isn't much that the military or other emergency response officials using the licensed frequencies can do for the general public.

"We understand and sympathize with consumers who have purchased these unlicensed devices that operate within this allocated radio frequency spectrum," Murray said. "It is recommended that homeowners contact the manufacturer of their wireless device and request their device be retrofitted."

A Kala Point resident with garage door problems told The Leader on April 16 that he talked with his supplier from Kitsap County and was told that business had gotten hundreds of calls from Kitsap and Jefferson county customers.

The businessman's advice? Wait it out, and if it doesn't get any better in a few days, make a service appointment to see what can be done.