I knew this back in the 80's. Works on the same principle as the old analog cell phones. Iron in your skull acts like a repeater antenna probably.

I suspect it's more like your head acting as a ground plane or near-field reflector. It's probably sensitive to the correct orientation of the key's internal antenna relative to your head. I've never done this experiment myself, however.

wtf? Clarkson? A Mercedes? Strange.

Whoa.

That was the day Clarkson discovered he had the power of telekenesis

I think it wasnt his head, but the orientation of the remote. In short, the shape of the waves the remote emited when turned side ways was favorable for the cars receiver to pickup under such weak signal conditions.

TV antennas havn't been movable for all these years for no reason, one position does not pickup all signals.

^ Actually, it's a well-guarded secret that part of the ritual toward becoming a Jedi Knight is that they surgically implant a remote in your skull.

I hate to say it but it is the head, or rather some effect of the head. I've done this on multiple cars and at different angles and it works...

I'll have to experiment with it myself. Call Mythbusters!

I have tested this on a single car in multiple locations on numerous occasions and have found that head contact, or indeed any skin or near skin contact (top of head, arm, body, etc) increases the range 20-50%. This does not seem to be affected by orientation of the remote, with the exception that a specific end of the remote must be near the body. Getting good line of sight is important, and blocking the remote with my hand or body seemed reduce the range considerably.

The reflector hypothesis is an interesting one, rich_magnet. The body being composed heavily of water would help to create an impedance mismatch which would reflect some frequencies. If so, I would think the chest area would be the largest, most effective reflector. In my experience, if the remote is more than a quarter-inch away from the body, it will not noticeably affect the range.

The best way to use this effect without looking like a fool is under the chin.

I don't know about the reflector thing. What about induced current in the body turns the body into and antenna?

>> ^Payback:
The best way to use this effect without looking like a fool is under the chin.


I used to do that with my old remote and it does work. My current remote has decent range to begin with so I haven't had the need. I'm still curious as to how exactly it works tho...

i have a clock radio next to my bed. Sometimes it get's a bit of static in the signal and when i go to adjust the tuner, it clears up on touch alone. so i have to lay there and touch the thing or turn it off. Seems like the same principal to me. I have no idea why it works, but i suspect the human antenna theory.

To understand why this makes sense you have to know how secure RF verification works.

Most people assume one step:

remote: hey open the doors
-- car unlocks doors

This would allow anybody with a digital recorder and a properly tuned radio transceiver to unlock your car, so instead we do this:

remote: hey car #29837485, I want the doors open
car: okay, just send me the password scrambled with this code: 3943847283
remote: the scrambled password is 2938277437
-- car unlocks doors

For this to work, the remote must be able to hear the car, that is your limiting factor. The car has a big antenna relative to the remote, it can easily hear the remote. If the remote does not get the scramble code ( called a nonce) then it can't send the right response, and the car will not get the right code, and will refuse to unlock the doors.

The human body is a pretty good antenna, especially for receiving purposes, and so we give the little remote the RF antenna it needs to hear the car, and complete the conversation.

ITS BECAUSE CLARKSON HAS A BIG HEAD

Why would you need this feature?

It works!

I call FAKE. There is a guy in the car with the extra remote listening on when to push it. (Every good thread needs a Fake comment).