TV Beams Distress Signal to Rescuers
A man discovered earlier this month that his year-old Toshiba flat-screen TV was emitting an international distress signal picked up by a satellite, leading a search-and-rescue operation to his apartment in Corvallis, 70 miles south of Portland.
The signal from Chris van Rossmann’s TV was routed by satellite to the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.
“They’d never seen signal come that strong from a home appliance,” Van Rossmann said.
He said he was told to keep his TV off to avoid paying a $10,000 fine for “willingly broadcasting a false distress signal.” Toshiba offered to provide him with a replacement set for free, Van Rossmann said.
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