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Coastguard scrambled as digital television box sends SOS
When Mary Donaldson arrived home from the cinema she found two officials outside her door. One was holding a large antenna. They told the pensioner and her friend that distress signals from ships at sea had been traced to her house. Lifeboats and air-sea rescue helicopters had been launched on several occasions but coastguards had drawn a blank. Nothing was found ... except that her house was the source of the signals. The two officials identified the source of the radioed SOS calls as Mrs Donaldsons digital television box. The military in distress mayday signals were picked up by satellite and intercepted by the RAF Aeronautical Rescue Co-ordination Centre at Kinloss, Scotland. They immediately alerted coastguards in the area from which the distress call was coming. Twice in recent weeks the coastguard at Lee-on-the-Solent launched fullscale search and rescue operations. Two lifeboats and a helicopter were scrambled and for three hours combed 20 miles of coastline around Portsmouth harbour, at a cost of more than £20,000. Then it happened again and a two-hour search was launched. Twice they found nothing amiss and all the rescue crews returned to base. Last night the cause of all the distress was revealed as Mrs Donaldsons Freeview digital television receiver. The frequency used by the digital Freeview set-top box was identical to that dedicated to emergency distress beacons. Michael Mulford, an RAF spokesman, said: This is very unusual. Its a complete freak, and the odds of a digibox sending out a 121.5 signal must be astronomical. A spokesman for Ofcom, the broadcasting regulator, said that digital boxes were designed only to receive signals, not to transmit them. They shouldnt be sending out signals at all, let alone maydays, he said. There are more than ten million Freeview boxes in the country, costing as little as £30 each, but Ofcom officials believe that it may be only a small batch that are faulty and can send out the mayday signals. At home Mrs Donaldson said: I still cant believe that little box sparked all this. I came back from watching a film to find two men holding a massive antenna. My friend thought I hadnt paid my television licence or something. It was incredible, like a dream. She added: I dont think Ill be getting a new one. Id hate to cause any more bother. Posted by: Pappy 2006-02-14 |
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