READ THIS! SKS system... cops almost hauled me off

[abq sfr]

There was a bank robbery across the street this morning, police have been swarming all around my federal office building all day. A co-worker came up and said the cops were in a circle around my Prius and wanted to know who owns it, they said they would send me down. I went down (nervously) and there were 3 cop cars blocking in my Prius, 10 police officers: plain clothes, County, City, FBI, Homeland Security (federal bldg), etc around my poor car, two of them had direction finder devices pointed at my Prius. After some awkward questions and answers, we began troubleshooting. They thought maybe it was the Ham Radio equipment inside, but none of it was turned on. Apparently the wireless lock/unlock system on the Prius was sending signals at the same frequency as the homing device in the dye-pack in the stolen money. I unlocked the car, their devices quit clicking. I locked it again, their devices started clicking again, you could hear it. Apparently their new stolen money tracking system is also tracking Prii! I think they said the frequency was 216.5 mhz, but I can't be sure, I was a little nervous. Anybody know what the actual frequency is of the SKS system is? Lesson.... if you rob banks, don't drive a Prius with SKS!!

[efusco]

Wow!! That must've been pretty anxiety provoking at the time, but how funny/cool/interesting now! Who would've guessed?!

[Patrick Wong]

Originally Posted by abq sfr

... I unlocked the car, their devices quit clicking. I locked it again, their devices started clicking again, you could hear it. Apparently their new stolen money tracking system is also tracking Prii! I think they said the frequency was 216.5 mhz, but I can't be sure, I was a little nervous. Anybody know what the actual frequency is of the SKS system is? Lesson.... if you rob banks, don't drive a Prius with SKS!!

The Smart Entry/Smart Start system has the following operating frequencies; see attached TSB file:

• Fob to vehicle: 312 - 315 mHz
• Vehicle to fob: 134.2 kHz

Given these frequencies, I see no reason why their system should be pointing to the Prius. Instead, the system should have been pointing to you - if you had a nearby FM station operating at ~100 mHz, and there was mixing of the signals due to rectification.

If the fob to vehicle and vehicle to fob frequencies were reversed then I could understand their system pointing to the Prius.

[priusenvy]

Nice thinking on your feet to throw them off the scent.

How much did you get away with?

[abq sfr]

Originally Posted by priusenvy

Nice thinking on your feet to throw them off the scent.

How much did you get away with?

Yeah, I always go back to work whenever I rob a bank! Actually, I'd take Annual Leave!

[MagneticGrayIndy]

Hey, at least you have a great story! I have a good one about Zagreb, armed soldiers, a train at 3am and the bullet pock-marked police station.. .but it's actually NOT as interesting as yours!

[galaxee]

crap. there goes the bank robber gig.

[zenMachine]

Another cool test would have been to turn off the SKS system and see what the police equipment picked up...

[briansabeans]

Yet another way technology is harming our civil liberties. I hope they didn't illegally search your car while they were at it.

[rsforkner]

Originally Posted by Patrick Wong

The Smart Entry/Smart Start system has the following operating frequencies;

• Fob to vehicle: 312 - 315 mHz
• Vehicle to fob: 134.2 kHz

I wonder if some strange harmonic was involved. I've seen some weird stuff over the years.

Originally Posted by briansabeans

Yet another way technology is harming our civil liberties. I hope they didn't illegally search your car while they were at it.

Since I have nothing to hide, I don't care if they want to search my car in a situation like this, as long as they don't break anything. I want to do what ever I can to help them catch the bad guys. The sooner they eliminate me and my car the sooner they can get on with the hunt.

Bob