Mysterious SOS signals from cordless phone baffle coast guard


CHOSHI, Chiba -- Japan Coast Guard officials investigating nearly 280
false emergency signals they received in June and July tracked the
source to a cordless phone in a house here, but remain baffled over what
caused the signals to be sent.

Officials said a total of 279 SOS signals, usually sent by ships or
planes via satellite when they become stranded, were detected off the
coast of Choshi in June and July this year. Japan Coast Guard officials
sent out rescue workers more than 20 times but they found nothing,
leading them to consider the possibility of pranks or terrorism.

It was realized on June 25 that a signal was continuously being sent
out, but searches at sea turned up nothing unusual. The signal continued
to be emitted during the day and at night, and on July 9 the coast guard
received a total of 17 SOS signals.

Officials said that when an emergency button on vessels is pressed, a
243-megahertz signal is sent out and relayed via satellite to the Japan
Coast Guard. To investigate the mystery SOS signals, the coast guard
sent out a total of 18 patrol vessels and 19 aircraft.

Since nothing unusual was happening at sea, officials presumed that the
signals were coming from the coastline. They used direction-finding
equipment on a sophisticated jet to track the signal down to a house
along the coast of Choshi.

The Kanto Bureau of Telecommunications, which monitors illegal radio
signals, conducted an inspection with the Japan Coast Guard on July 20,
with the homeowner's permission. They found that strong signals matching
the SOS signals were being sent from a cordless phone produced in 1991.
To the owner's surprise, when the phone was switched off, the signals
ceased.

The reason the signals were being sent, however, remains a mystery. The
telecommunications bureau asked the phone's manufacturer to investigate
the reason, but, perhaps because the phone was reset when it was
switched off, the false signals stopped being sent.

"If we can't reproduce the signals, we'll never know the reason," a
perplexed official said.

(Mainichi)