Oregon TV emits distress signal, triggers search

[media]

Oregon TV emits distress signal, triggers search
EUGENE, Oregon (Reuters) - TV hardly gets much
better than this.
An Oregon man discovered earlier this month that his
year-old Toshiba Corp. flat-screen TV was emitting an
international distress signal picked up by a satellite, leading
a search and rescue operation to his apartment in Corvallis,
Oregon, 70 miles south of Portland.
The signal from Chris van Rossmann's TV was routed by
satellite to the Air Force Rescue Center at Langley Air Base in
Virginia.
On Oct. 2, the 20 year-old college student was visited at
his apartment in the small university town by a contingent of
local police, civil air patrol and search and rescue
personnel.
"They'd never seen signal come that strong from a home
appliance," said van Rossmann. "They were quite surprised. I
think we all were."
Authorities had expected to find a boat or small plane with
a malfunctioning transponder, the usual culprit in such
incidents, emitting the 121.5 MHz frequency of the distress
signal used internationally.
Van Rossmann said he was told to keep his TV off to avoid
paying a $10,000 fine for "willingly broadcasting a false
distress signal."
Toshiba contacted Rossmann and offered to provide him with
a replacement set for free, he said.
REUTERS

[Aegis]

Oregon TV emits distress signal, triggers search
EUGENE, Oregon (Reuters) - TV hardly gets much
better than this.
An Oregon man discovered earlier this month that his
year-old Toshiba Corp. flat-screen TV was emitting an
international distress signal picked up by a satellite, leading
a search and rescue operation to his apartment in Corvallis,
Oregon, 70 miles south of Portland.
The signal from Chris van Rossmann's TV was routed by
satellite to the Air Force Rescue Center at Langley Air Base in
Virginia.
On Oct. 2, the 20 year-old college student was visited at
his apartment in the small university town by a contingent of
local police, civil air patrol and search and rescue
personnel.
"They'd never seen signal come that strong from a home
appliance," said van Rossmann. "They were quite surprised. I
think we all were."
Authorities had expected to find a boat or small plane with
a malfunctioning transponder, the usual culprit in such
incidents, emitting the 121.5 MHz frequency of the distress
signal used internationally.
Van Rossmann said he was told to keep his TV off to avoid
paying a $10,000 fine for "willingly broadcasting a false
distress signal."
Toshiba contacted Rossmann and offered to provide him with
a replacement set for free, he said.
REUTERS

Well, I guess its good whenever my state makes it into the news. But since when is Eugene a "small town"?