Release Date: March 5, 2010
Office of District 6 Councilman Ray Lopez: 207-7065
In the past month, the District 6 Office of Councilman Ray Lopez
received a number of inquiries from citizens near Potranco and Military
Drive that their garage door opening systems were not functioning properly.
It was determined that the cause of this problem is a new Land Mobile Radio
(LMR) system being operated by the Federal Government to communicate with
emergency services personnel (i.e., fire, police, EMS, etc.)
The LMR system operates in the same frequency range as many unlicensed
low-powered garage door openers. Consumers across the country located near
Federal Agencies with a LMR system have experienced interference to their
garage door opener controls that may reduce the operating distance or cause
the device to stop operating.
From January 29 to February 28, the LMR system was temporarily turned off to
allow residents and vendors the opportunity to rectify garage door opener
issues. As of March 1, the LMR system at the site has been turned back on.
The National Security Agency (NSA) has been in contact with the City of San
Antonio and the FCC. A public statement has been released by NSA on its
website: http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/press_room/index.shtml.