Well, here goes another dumb question. I have a Sangean ATS 818 radio, which is the same as a Realistic DX 390. It is a high dollar radio I bought prior to Y2K and have used a LOT. It has a digital tuner and a light that is supposed to be turned on separately from the tuner if and when you need it. Having insomnia, I've used the light a lot when I am lying in bed hoping to go back to sleep and listening to the radio while I wait. For 3 years, the light has worked just fine. No problems whatsoever. About a week ago, I discovered the light had come on all by itself. I fiddled with it for over an hour, trying to get it to turn off, and finally pulled the batteries from it and went back to sleep. I've been having the same problem off and on. Yesterday I discovered the light comes on whenever the toaster oven or refrigerator cycles. When they turn on, the light turns on. I guess it has something to do with the electromagnetic field. Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? And does anyone know how to make it stop? It keeps draining down my batteries. Also, does anyone know why all the weird stuff always happen to me? Thanks.

-- Green (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), December 04, 2001

Answers

QUICK! Wrap your head in tinfoil to keep them from reading your thoughts and controlling you! Since I've been doing this I feel a LOT better. ;-) All seriousness aside, I have no idea. That's pretty wierd.

-- John in S. IN (jsmengel@doofus.com), December 04, 2001.

My Sangean is an ATS 909 so I took a look at it. The light switch is just a button, push-on, push-off but I doubt it really is a switch. Just the crudest push button that can me made with the actual switching being made by the 'computer' that runs the multitude of radio functions. I would suggest cleaning around the button as best you can as just a little finger crud may be enough to spook the 'computer'.

-- john hill (john@cnd.co.nz), December 04, 2001.

What type of switch does it use? A slide or "touchpad" (like a slimline calculator). If it has a touchpad switch, the circuitry uses scr or logical switching to apply the power to the light and could be experiencing intermittant component failure.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), December 04, 2001.

It's just a little red button (bar actually) that you press. It goes in and then comes back out. The button seems to be working fine. The light comes on when I press it in. It usually goes back off a few seconds after I depress the button, which is what it is supposed to do. When it comes on by itself, it may or may not go off by itself.

Maybe I should wrap my head and the radio both in tinfoil?

-- Green (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), December 07, 2001.

Green, I don't know what to tell you about your radio. I think it is something you need to decide for yourself. Just don't do the tinfoil hat thing, it doesn't work! :)

The following is a TRUE STORY. I will leave it to each individual to form their own opinion about what this story means.

About 5 years ago before we moved to our current location, my Dear Spouse really wanted a sattelite tv system, so we forked out the money and got free installation and mega channels of garbage.....this system also is connected to the phone lines, I guess so you can change programming or purchase pay per view by phone? I am not real sure why.

One day, we were talking about electronic eavesdropping technology. We both had read separate articles about home electronics having eavesdropping capablilities so we were talking about how it works, who would be listening and that kind of stuff.

Hubby got up and pushed the OFF button on the sattelite box, the little red light went off, then walked out out of the room. When he walked back into the room he pointed and says, "Hey! I just turned that thing off!" I looked up and the sattelite box was indeed on again, but as soon as he said that, it turned off again, all by itself, with 3 of us looking at it.

We immediately disconnected the phone line from it, unscrewed the dish cable and uplugged it from the wall and only connected the power and cable when we wanted to watch something. When we moved, we did not take it with us.

Hey, ya'll can draw your own conclusions about our experience but I am convinced that having any electronics or phones in your home means you probably do not have secure rights of privacy.

-- Laura (LadybugWrangler@hotmail.com), December 07, 2001.