Military Signals May Jam Garage Door Openers

The Department of Defense is in the process of activating its Motorola "Smart Zone LMR" radio system which has been designed for use in national security and military communications throughout the continental United States. Additionally, this communication system will be used by all police and fire departments throughout the U.S.. The system, which utilizes the 390 MHz frequency band, may conflict with the operation of garage door openers operating at this MHz band. More than 90 percent of the current remotely operated openers use this frequency band.The government is not accepting any financial responsibility for garage door openers made potentially inoperable by the national rollout of this system. Already there have been instances where the switch by the government has taken place with corresponding problems of performance of 390MHz garage door openers.

Upgrade Kits

Upgrade kits are available to change the radio frequency that your operator uses. It is correct that the current standard for residential garage door openers is 390 MHz frequency, but again, radio control kits that are easily installed on any garage opener can change your frequency to a lower band such as our 315MHz systems. Such kits are very affordable. They usually include a receiver and remote(s). The receiver is attached externally via the use of 3 terminals on the back of the garage door openers, no need to call an installer for that, the only tool required is a screw driver. No need to open the machine; all garage door openers made in the past 20 years have an internal 24 volt transformer that will power the external receiver so no extra wiring is needed. Other conversion kits have a built-in 24 volt transformer and have 2 wires that can be spliced directly into the wall button wiring or connected on the machine where the wall button wires connect to the machine. Since the voltage for these receivers is so low, there is no danger of burning out the machine's circuit board, motor, or receiver if you make a mistake connecting it.