Car locks disabled at hospital as signal interference sparks security concern

Visitors to the hospital campus have reported issues with car locks failing to engage when parked at the site. (ABC South West: Chela Williams) Mysterious interference stopping visitors and patients at Bunbury Hospital from locking their cars is raising concerns about safety and security. Testing has identified radio interference from cranes currently operating at the hospital as the cause of the problem. Crane operator Multiplex says it is investigating possible construction-related causes. Link copiedShareShare articleThe cause of mysterious interference stopping visitors to a West Australian regional hospital from locking their cars has been identified, with radio frequencies from nearby cranes to blame. Visitors parking at Bunbury Regional Hospital (BRH) have reported problems trying to use their key fobs to lock their cars for a number of weeks. Construction work to upgrade the hospital started in February last year, with many large cranes installed on site. Interference from construction-based radio frequencies have been identified as the root cause of cars failing to lock at the site. (ABC South West: Chela Williams) Recent testing identified construction-based radio frequencies as the most likely cause of the interference. Bunbury resident Natalie Spooner noticed the odd phenomenon while visiting a friend in hospital last month. "I went to lock the car and noticed it didn't do its little trigger noise, so I went back to try it again and it still didn't work," Ms Spooner said. "I thought, 'Something's happening with the battery on my remote', so we went and got the battery replaced and then had to go back there a couple of weeks later, and it happened again. Rhys Newman runs a security business in the South West and studying radio frequencies is his hobby. When he heard about Ms Spooner's experience at the hospital, he decided to investigate. Major upgrades to Bunbury Regional Hospital mean multiple cranes are located near the car park. (ABC South West: Madigan Landry) "I went to the hospital and found that my car didn't lock," Mr Newman said. "I've done some testing and I picked up a frequency that was right on the same frequency as your remote central locking on your car. Wind speed meters are placed on cranes to ensure machinery is only operated when conditions are safe. While the interference from construction equipment was not a major security concern, Mr Newman said more awareness was needed about frequency interference and personal safety. "[There are] devices that can capture and mimic radio frequencies, especially for things like garage doors, there are devices that can quite literally copy the same signal and unlock people's doors," he said. "In Australia [signal] jammers are strictly illegal for obvious reasons, but they are easily obtainable off the internet. Rhys Newman warns signal jamming could become more dangerous as technology becomes more sophisticated. (ABC South West: Chela Williams) Builders Multiplex and Perkins are the contractors for the hospital upgrades, and said they were aware of the interference issues. "[We are] currently investigating the reports to rule out any construction-related causes," a Multiplex spokesperson said. "This is not a common issue and is not something Multiplex has previously experienced in relation to tower crane operations." Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology telecommunications expert Mark Gregory said interference from construction equipment was a well-known issue. "It's the impact of what we call transmission spreading between bands in the spectrum," Associate Professor Gregory said. "Where we have problems is when we have systems that are in adjacent spectrum bands like we might have car fobs operating and we might have another system operating nearby. Crane operator Multiplex say it is investigating the interference. (ABC South West: Chela Williams) He said interference was not a concern for radios used by first responders at the site, because the spectrum bands they used for communication were typically further away from those used by construction and car fobs. Copy linkFacebookX (formerly Twitter)Top StoriesArrests planned when ISIS-linked families land in AustraliaTopic:Federal Government

Car locks disabled at hospital as signal interference sparks security concern

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