When good toys go bad VI: baby monitor swipes NASA shuttle feed

Looks like Summer Infant has a whole lot of explaining to do after one of its baby monitors has reportedly been able to "pick up black-and-white video from inside the space shuttle Atlantis." A Chicago-based mother probably had uncomfortable flashbacks to Signs after her newly purchased monitoring system chose to broadcast video of the mission right on the screen, but a NASA spokeswoman has already deflated hope that it was somehow coming directly from the shuttle. Apparently, a live feed is also available on NASA's website, which is leading investigators to focus on more earthly origins -- the mom, however, will probably just cancel her cable and keep on watching intently "to see what happens next."

[Thanks, Joe]

[Rob @ Jun 15th 2007 2:52AM]

Good going BAD??? I'd say this is a case of "when good toys go better"!

[RijilV @ Jun 15th 2007 3:22AM]

I also don't see why this was bad / unexpected. it isn't like there is some sekret krypt0 or spread-spectrum-mixed-with-white-noise goofyness to the NASA transmissions - no secret here that they've had a long history of armature radio involvement. They're probably using one of the standard video frequencies and its probably not uncommon for other devices to pick it up.

[LordPaul @ Jun 15th 2007 5:05AM]

I suppose if you're busy watching the Atlantis mission whilst your baby is dying in a cot, it's pretty bad.

[Bill @ Jun 15th 2007 8:58AM]

Come on people. This is so obvious.

Baby monitors and wireless video devices all use the same limited set of frequencies. It is extremly likely that a neighbor of this family probably has a C band satellite receiver to get NASA TV (since most US cable companies don't want to carry this free channel). He then is probably using the wireless video link to send the NASA TV to his TV in another room of his house. The family should be lucky he wasn't watching porn.

[Josh Lankford @ Jun 15th 2007 10:07AM]

Easy explaination:

NASA has a TV program (that is, they syndicate their material on public access channels throughout the country). Very frequently, they have things like the crew in the cabin doing work at 0g, and it's very boring. Sometimes it's better, but not usually. It's likely that a public access broadcast was transmitted nearby on a UHF/VHF (i don't know the dif. but OLD SCHOOL) that was somehow picked up on a 900mhz (or 1.2 or 2.4 ghz) wireless receiver...WHICH IS POSSIBLE TO DO.