Digi-TV box bid to signal alien invasion? - Techwatch Support Forums: Digital & Satellite TV, FTA, Cable, Computers, Mobile Phones, Apple and General Tech Forums

SatelliteHelp · 19-01-06, 01:41 AM

A two hour RAF rescue operation in the Portsmouth area earlier this month finally traced the source of a distress call to a "faulty" digital TV set-top box.

Think about it - Freeview set-top boxes do not broadcast, they receive broadcasts. Yet this box, an RAF spokesman told the BBC, was broadcasting a distress signal strong enough to be picked up by satellite, then forwarded to the RAF rescue HQ in Kinloss.

Ofcom, which now has the box in custody, estimates that there were 5.78 million Freeview boxes in the UK by Q3 2005, and suggested that "the chances of sending out a signal from a digibox and sending out precisely and exactly on a major emergency channel are far more than 14 million to one." But Freeview penetration has been growing at a rate of 1 million a quarter, meaning that even without an increase in adoption rates, even if Sky and cable TV boxes are not part of the plot, we'll hit 14 million in 2007. So, Ofcom, how much more than 14 million is "much more"? This could be important.

19-01-06, 01:41 AM	#1 (permalink)
SatelliteHelp Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 199 Thanks: 0 Thanked 60 Times in 7 Posts	Digi-TV box bid to signal alien invasion? A two hour RAF rescue operation in the Portsmouth area earlier this month finally traced the source of a distress call to a "faulty" digital TV set-top box. Think about it - Freeview set-top boxes do not broadcast, they receive broadcasts. Yet this box, an RAF spokesman told the BBC, was broadcasting a distress signal strong enough to be picked up by satellite, then forwarded to the RAF rescue HQ in Kinloss. Ofcom, which now has the box in custody, estimates that there were 5.78 million Freeview boxes in the UK by Q3 2005, and suggested that "the chances of sending out a signal from a digibox and sending out precisely and exactly on a major emergency channel are far more than 14 million to one." But Freeview penetration has been growing at a rate of 1 million a quarter, meaning that even without an increase in adoption rates, even if Sky and cable TV boxes are not part of the plot, we'll hit 14 million in 2007. So, Ofcom, how much more than 14 million is "much more"? This could be important.