# TV switches on by itself

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-switches-on-by-itself/1014213>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Tags:** trump\
**Created:** [February 12, 2025, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-switches-on-by-itself/1014213 "2025-02-12T02:27:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2025, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-switches-on-by-itself/1014213/41 "2025-02-15T03:03:13Z")

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Jiggling keys definitely produce a lot of ultrasonic noise. I have a bat detector, which shifts ultrasonic sounds down to audible frequencies. Jiggling keys in front of the bat detector produces an enormous amount of noise.

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**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\
**Post date:** [February 16, 2025, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-switches-on-by-itself/1014213/42 "2025-02-16T16:26:22Z")

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I remember back in the 70s my parents had their bedroom TV plugged into something called a “whistle switch”. The “remote” was a little plastic thing you squeezed to make a whistling noise that activated the switch and turned the TV on or off. Sometimes my mom would go back in the bedroom during the day and the TV would be on. It turned out that our dog’s bark was at the right frequency to activate the switch.

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