A car remote is taken just slightly out of range where it now does not work. The person holding it points it into their head and presses the button. The remote works now.
I’ve heard this a few times and even seen a demonstration on Top Gear. Still I remain a skeptic. Is there any scientific basis to it? I don’t think that the human body conducts RF or would help it in any way. My own thought is that it must be the angle of the remote, or the height of the remote being changed that makes this work. Otherwise the remote could be in a gray area where it works 50% of the time.
So, I’m not looking for opinions (‘Mine works/doesn’t work’ etc). Does anyone have any scientific information on this? Is it real or just a coincidence?
If you’ve ever used a shortwave radio, you’d know this is an incorrect conclusion. Grabbing the antenna with a bare hand can increase the reception of the radio massively.
Car Talk explored this awhile back. I don’t remember their conclusion, but I think it was boooooogus.
I suspect that your body is being capacitively coupled to the remote, and acting as a much larger antenna, thereby increasing the range.
I have been doing this for years. When my car is out of range, I put the end of the remote on my chin pointing up, and it works. You can tell me it’s bogus til you’re blue in the face…I know it works.
Someone needs to assemble all these anecdotes into data. For the record, I’ve found it to work too - 50 yards from my car (the distance from house to parking space), and no response to repeated presses of the button when the remote is held at arm’s length, but it works first time when the remote is held under my chin. I’ve done this countless times and it always works - if that’s just a coincidence, then it’s a truly abnormal one.
I think really all that’s happening is that your body is reflecting some signal from the remote, which would otherwise radiated in some rando direction away from the car’s receiver, towards the car. It would likely work as well holding up to your chest, instead, as long as you’re facing the car.
