so, today i took an unplanned jaunt with a friend up into angeles forest here in southern california, needed a little head clearing and thought a windy mountain road in the clear afternoon sun would be just the thing. had a lovely drive and the car handled beautifully as expected. got to the top and turned the turn off to mount wilson hoping against hope that maybe the observatory would be open to visitors.. and this is where this story begins.
for those of you unfamiliar with mt. wilson, the 5700' peak is not only home to a world class astro/solar observatory, it is also the relay point through the san gabriel mountains for a good portion of the los angeles basin's telecommunications. television, radio, private microwave, cell relay, municipal services like fire, police and forest, all use facilities on this peak to get their signals across the valleys; there are over 300 separate antennas on mt. wilson.
as we wended our way onto the flat at the peak, we passed a car parked on the side of the road surrounded by a group of mostly asian guys who seemed very focused on some equipment on the hood. the car they were gathered around was blacked out with show card and black wrap, all logos and identifying panels covered from prying eyes... hmmm. we parked at a turnout right at the peak and after looking out at the vistas and exhaling for a while decided to go back and see what those guys were up to. as it turns out they were studying RFID* signal behavior for the car manufacturer whose identity was hidden under the blackout (later saw a little corner of something that id'd it as a lexus). as the guy operating the receiver scope and antenna was explaining what they were up to i said, 'oh yeah, i have one of those', he said 'what brand?', 'tesla' i say and walk up. he prompted me to hold my fob in the air and press the buttons. the signal showed up on his scope sure enough. he nodded and said, yep, not our frequency. good. i said can you grab this signal and rebroadcast it to get into the car? he said no, it's a rolling code system. i said, yes, i believe it is. also good.
now the bad. the reason they were up there amongst all the myriad frequencies and antennas is to ensure their system was robust enough to function in such an RF polluted environment. oh. huh. uh... upon walking back to my car i discovered, almost as my spidey sense was tingling, that the car would not open. didn't recognize the fob. yeah. um. ok. that makes sense. so.. where do i put it when the battery is low.. the base of the passenger wiper blade. no dice. press buttons. no dice. left it there for a minute, still nothing. ugh. ok. friend, please call tesla roadside assistance while i walk around and try buttons at every spot around this car. no cell service. she started walking to see if she could find service while i tried every nook and cranny around the car, wheel wells, undercarriage, every window, etc... nothing. we did also walk to the RFID guys and ask if they were by chance broadcasting a strong signal on our freq and maybe the source of the trouble. no dice. they were only receiving. yeah, they said, LOTS of serious RF up here. why do you think we're testing here? right.
they were nice enough to come check out the cool tesla that was now a dark brick on the side of the road. no manual key?, they ask. nope. where do you put it to get in when the battery dies, they ask. oh, right here, i point, but it's not working. they start clicking around the car too. my friend has gotten weak cell service and i walk over to her to try to get on with roadside assist and give them my vin, hoping again against hope that their unlock signal might make it through all the noise and make our day. just as i'm about to get connected with them i hear a shout and turn to see the lights on my car blink. wahoo! i run over and open the door, hanging up on roadside assist as i do (sorry guys).
the sweet spot in this scenario turned out to be the top center of the rear windshield. about as far from the passenger wiper as you can get. don't know why. maybe it was a fluke, but i'd sure like a map of the antennas in the car at this point. i thanked the RFID guys and we all shared relieved chuckles in the fading sun. sitting in the car it did take a minute to get it to turn on, putting the fob in the cup holder right away of course--didn't take right away but eventually it did and we high-tailed it off that peak soon as i got it in gear, didn't want to chance any other mishap.
so. short story long... (sorry), the dead fob sweet spot may not be where the manual says, and stay off mount wilson or anything like it. cars without manual keys are soft-bellied creatures in those rare environments. sorry to say anyone working at mt. wilson observatory needs to rule out getting a model s. at this point anyway.
all's well that ends well however. on the way down we had a bunch of good laughs and headshakes just marveling at the coincidence of running into a group of guys testing exactly what ended up being our downfall on this outing.
*i'm calling it RFID even though it's not exactly.. keyless entry radio fob systems. doesn't make a good acronym. kerfs. no.
**and that's neither me nor my friend in that picture, before anyone starts making pot belly comments...
for those of you unfamiliar with mt. wilson, the 5700' peak is not only home to a world class astro/solar observatory, it is also the relay point through the san gabriel mountains for a good portion of the los angeles basin's telecommunications. television, radio, private microwave, cell relay, municipal services like fire, police and forest, all use facilities on this peak to get their signals across the valleys; there are over 300 separate antennas on mt. wilson.
as we wended our way onto the flat at the peak, we passed a car parked on the side of the road surrounded by a group of mostly asian guys who seemed very focused on some equipment on the hood. the car they were gathered around was blacked out with show card and black wrap, all logos and identifying panels covered from prying eyes... hmmm. we parked at a turnout right at the peak and after looking out at the vistas and exhaling for a while decided to go back and see what those guys were up to. as it turns out they were studying RFID* signal behavior for the car manufacturer whose identity was hidden under the blackout (later saw a little corner of something that id'd it as a lexus). as the guy operating the receiver scope and antenna was explaining what they were up to i said, 'oh yeah, i have one of those', he said 'what brand?', 'tesla' i say and walk up. he prompted me to hold my fob in the air and press the buttons. the signal showed up on his scope sure enough. he nodded and said, yep, not our frequency. good. i said can you grab this signal and rebroadcast it to get into the car? he said no, it's a rolling code system. i said, yes, i believe it is. also good.
now the bad. the reason they were up there amongst all the myriad frequencies and antennas is to ensure their system was robust enough to function in such an RF polluted environment. oh. huh. uh... upon walking back to my car i discovered, almost as my spidey sense was tingling, that the car would not open. didn't recognize the fob. yeah. um. ok. that makes sense. so.. where do i put it when the battery is low.. the base of the passenger wiper blade. no dice. press buttons. no dice. left it there for a minute, still nothing. ugh. ok. friend, please call tesla roadside assistance while i walk around and try buttons at every spot around this car. no cell service. she started walking to see if she could find service while i tried every nook and cranny around the car, wheel wells, undercarriage, every window, etc... nothing. we did also walk to the RFID guys and ask if they were by chance broadcasting a strong signal on our freq and maybe the source of the trouble. no dice. they were only receiving. yeah, they said, LOTS of serious RF up here. why do you think we're testing here? right.
they were nice enough to come check out the cool tesla that was now a dark brick on the side of the road. no manual key?, they ask. nope. where do you put it to get in when the battery dies, they ask. oh, right here, i point, but it's not working. they start clicking around the car too. my friend has gotten weak cell service and i walk over to her to try to get on with roadside assist and give them my vin, hoping again against hope that their unlock signal might make it through all the noise and make our day. just as i'm about to get connected with them i hear a shout and turn to see the lights on my car blink. wahoo! i run over and open the door, hanging up on roadside assist as i do (sorry guys).
the sweet spot in this scenario turned out to be the top center of the rear windshield. about as far from the passenger wiper as you can get. don't know why. maybe it was a fluke, but i'd sure like a map of the antennas in the car at this point. i thanked the RFID guys and we all shared relieved chuckles in the fading sun. sitting in the car it did take a minute to get it to turn on, putting the fob in the cup holder right away of course--didn't take right away but eventually it did and we high-tailed it off that peak soon as i got it in gear, didn't want to chance any other mishap.
so. short story long... (sorry), the dead fob sweet spot may not be where the manual says, and stay off mount wilson or anything like it. cars without manual keys are soft-bellied creatures in those rare environments. sorry to say anyone working at mt. wilson observatory needs to rule out getting a model s. at this point anyway.
all's well that ends well however. on the way down we had a bunch of good laughs and headshakes just marveling at the coincidence of running into a group of guys testing exactly what ended up being our downfall on this outing.
*i'm calling it RFID even though it's not exactly.. keyless entry radio fob systems. doesn't make a good acronym. kerfs. no.
**and that's neither me nor my friend in that picture, before anyone starts making pot belly comments...
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