Link: Skrentablog.
February 10, 2007
Boost RF range with your head
Here's a weird tip I learned way back from a hardcore Sun engineer, Ben Stoltz... You can use your head as an antenna to boost the range for little RF devices like car key fobs, garage door openers, etc.
It sounds crazy and I didn't believe it until I tried it myself. Stick the device under your chin and hit the key... I can double the range on my car RF key this way. It really helps to find your car in a garage when you've forgotten where you parked. Or to hit the garage door signal when you're slightly out of range.Of course you have to not worry about what this is doing to your head. Is it just something about the shape of your skull, or is it the quasi-electrical circuitry of your neural mass that is serving as the antenna to amplify the signal? I don't know. Jeezus. I tried to swear it off but then I was looking for my car once, and it just works so well... Don't think about it, I tell myself.
I tried to use this trick to get my blackberry to sync to the ground from the 6 hour flight I was on today, but no luck. I would get partial signal for a few seconds but then it would fade out. I guess if you're going 500 miles an hour it's not just the 35,000 feet keeping you from hitting the towers. Where's our in-air wifi?
