US Marines stomp suburbia

Remote-controlled operated garage doors, a basic freedom held dear by every home-owning American, have become the latest innocent victims of the War on Terror.

According to a report in the Washington Post, efforts by the Marines to reclaim narrow band spectrum for national security reasons has meant that garage owners around Quantico, Virginia have had to install new remote control systems. Now the jarheads have added their might to the USAF's 2004 swoop on garage door spectrum.

A Quantico base spokesman said: "Marine Corps Base Quantico transitioned to a new bandwidth for land mobile radios in 2005 as part of a government-mandated, Department of Defense-wide conversion to narrow-band systems from wide-band systems in military bases around the country. The transition was made to foster more efficient spectrum use, allowing a variety of military and government organizations to better protect national security."

A national program to use reserve spectrum was enacted after September 11. Clickers near other installations died too and resulted in a 21st century epidemic of slight inconvenience for suburbanites.

Garage door firms are laughing all the way to the bank of course, with owners around Quantico reporting a big increase in inquiries as soon as the Marines turned on their radio kit in back in December. Since the Marines own the spectrum, electronic garage door devotees have no option but to fork out for a new control. ®