Keyless Entry/Car Alarm Won't Work in One Place

Factual Questions
1

I recently got a new car that was pre-wired for a car alarm but didn’t have an alarm factory-installed. When I got the car, I asked for an alarm to be installed.

Now I have the car with the alarm and it works fine almost all of the time (no, it doesn’t accidentally go off at 3 a.m. to the annoyance of me and my neighbors). The alarm will arm and the doors will lock when I hit the lock button. In addition, the alarm will disarm and the doors will unlock when I hit the unlock button. The problem is that there is one place where nothing will happen when I hit the buttons.

There is a parking lot near my office where I often park (3-5 days per week) and when I am in that parking lot, the car and alarm have no reaction when any button on the keyless device pressed.

Does anyone have an explanation for this? It seems odd to me.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you might have.

2

My WAG is that there is something in the vicinity which is emitting large amounts of RF on or around the frequency the remote uses. This will effectively “jam” the signal of the remote–in essence the car alarm can’t “see” the signal because there is too much noise.

3

That was my guess too Q.E.D., but I didn’t really see anything nearby which would suggest a large radio-wave discharge. Do you (or does anyone) have any suggestions as to the source of of such “noise?” I don’t see any antenae or sattelite dishes nearby.

Thanks.

db

4

It need not be something which is intended to emit RF. Mercury and sodium vapor disharge lamps can sometimes emit RF. Electrical equipment with motors can emit RF, too. Run the vacuum cleaner near the TV and you’ll see that plainly. It could be just about anything.

5

Over head power lines, also lots of business have a satelite transmitter on the roof. Did you try it from different areas of the lot? Different angles of aproach?

6

I once had the same problem once when I was parked in Chicago. It was near the Chicago PD headquarters. As QED said, the signals from their radio system were probably overloading, or desensing, the alarm’s receiver so it couldn’t detect the signal from your transmitter.