Articles

Garage Door Remote Control Range

Garage door opener remote control distances and range may vary depending on the part of town you are in. For example, an opener in a coastal area (like Point Loma or La Jolla) will not have the range an opener might get inland.

Why is do garage door openers have better range inland compared with coastal areas? The answer: because of what is floating around in the air. A multitude of frequencies are floating around in the air, even right now, from radio signals to military operations. The more frequencies interfering, the worse range your remote will have.

I live in Santee (Inland) and I typically find the range to be good. Although it does vary from day to day between 80 to 100 feet. Like most of you I’m looking for maximum range in my garage door opener remote. Over time I noticed the range on my gate slowly going down... down... down... until I had to stand right in front of it for it to open.

To fix the problem, I replaced the antenna, since it is exposed to the weather. I took it down and replaced it with an old TV antenna I had. The repair worked, and now my range is roughly 300-400 feet! Problem solved!

The need for better reception

Now that doesn’t mean that you can do the same thing to increase your remote's range. My antenna wire for my gate is coax cable…your antenna is simply a wire. Many opener manufacturers acknowledge the need for better reception in and around the coastal areas. In response, these manufacturers started producing garage door openers that run on dual frequencies.

This means that the transmitter or remote control will emit two frequencies at the same time. Then, the receiver built into the opener will grab the strongest signal. These transmitters make the signal at least twice as good as before, offering a nearly perfect solution.

Military Frequencies and Interference

The military owns the frequencies that our garage door openers run on, something that most people don't realize. When they decide to jam those frequencies, there is nothing you or I can do about it. We simply must be patient and wait it out. Thankfully, as single frequency machines are replaced by newer models, these problems will start to go away.

New Opener Technology

The Liftmaster Rep told me last month that they have tested the dual freq machines near a military base in Florida and it worked flawlessly. Genie’s system is basically the same. Both are great options to replace existing systems.

How can I increase my remote's range?

You have two logical choices to improve remote range when living on the coast…

1- Replace the opener you currently have, regardless of how old it is, with one of the newer dual freq machines. Replacing your current opener almost guarantees an increase in range.

2- Wait until the manufacturers comes out with an external receiver that you can attach to your existing machine. If manufacturers come out with an external dual freq receiver that could be a good option. However, remember you should not spend lots of money to amplify a system that is already over 10 years old. In that case we recommend you just buy a new system.

Many people try to find cheaper solutions to “help” increase their range on an old garage door opener remote. One method is installing an external antenna outside with coax cable. However, there are no guarantees that it will work and it can be quite expensive.

I have tried that in the past with limited success. Not to mention, by the time all is said and done you will be just a few dollars short of a brand new machine.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, where you live impacts your garage door remote's range, especially in coastal areas. This is because of interference from various frequencies, especially military frequencies. Manufacturers now offer dual-frequency garage door openers for better reception in coastal spots, minimizing interference issues, even near military bases.

If you're after a stronger signal, consider upgrading to one of these newer models. If you have the time, you can also wait for manufacturers to release external dual-frequency receivers for existing machines. However, be cautious about investing in costly solutions for older systems; sometimes, buying a new system makes more sense. Cheaper alternatives, like external antennas, might not guarantee success and could end up costing nearly as much as a new machine.

So, weigh your options wisely! Make sure you consider cost and effectiveness when deciding how to improve your garage door remote control's range.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6731398
http://www.ideamarketers.com/?articleid=2780613
http://goarticles.com/article/Garage-door-opener-remote-control-range/5744099/
http://www.amazines.com/article_detail_new.cfm/3610520?articleid=3610520

Getting phone quotes when you need your garage door or garage door opener repaired.
Many garage door companies offer free quotes or estimates for a “New” garage door but not many will offer the same for a repair or an opener…It’s just not cost efficient for a garage door company to come out for a “free quote” on a minor repair that can just be done right then and there in one trip and the same goes if you want an opener. So how do you get a ballpark price for garage door and opener repairs without a company coming out and charging you for a repair quote?
The answer is simple… you just call around and give the most accurate description of the problem that you can, in other words if your garage door opener runs but doesn’t lift the door then get the make and model of the garage door opener and the type of door you have and based on that most legit companies would know what the problem is, garage door openers are like cars in that certain models have certain (specific to them) problems and when you call a local garage door company they should have encountered this problem many thousands of times and be able to narrow the phone quote to be fairly accurate on cost.
If you have a company that refuses to give you a ballpark quote on a repair it usually means they plan to “sell” and “upgrade” you which they can’t easily do if you already have an idea of what your specific problem should run.
Now keep in mind that there can always be unforeseen problems with costs on a repair, for example if we arrive at your house based on what you tell us and it turns out the root cause is a broken spring then that spring will need to be replaced before repairing the garage door opener or the opener will break again, so it does do you justice to take a good look at your garage door and garage door opener before you pick up the phone, sometimes you can spot the obvious and bring that into the conversation as well when trying to get a fairly accurate quote on a repair.
If you call a garage door company that doesn’t even care to attempt a quote on what your repair could potentially run based on some decent information provided by you then hang up and call someone else!

Starting out on YouTube
A few years ago, a friend had mentioned that I should check out this new website he’d found called YouTube. He told me how easy it was for him to waste hour after hour watching funny video’s posted on the internet by regular folks with a video camera. Well I didn’t pay much attention to this because I didn’t want to get caught up watching video’s on my computer all day. Eventually… as with all of the latest and greatest things on the world wide web, I found myself succumbing to the temptation, and taking a peek at this new marvel of digital time fast forwarding, (bad idea) and I soon found myself going through the normal fascination with animal attacks and convenience store robberies and bloopers and before long I was losing hours doing exactly what I was afraid of…wasting time watching video’s all day!

Youtube for fun… but what else?
As with everything else in life there is a learning curve and YouTube was no different, but you can’t learn from what’s not there and as it turns out, we were all learning how to utilize this new medium to our various needs. As YouTube grew, it became much more than just a place to watch funny video’s. The film makers and artists within YouTube were also expanding their horizons with better editing and adding music as well as special effects, in an effort to draw more viewers to their channel but the single biggest advancement in all of this to me is the “tutorial” style of video!
Someone with a specialized skill or talent that can video tape that particular skill set so others can learn as well, sometimes it’s just an improvement on an existing idea and sometimes it’s an altogether new idea..

A video instruction manual…how cool is that?
Have you ever tried to assemble that complex Christmas toy by using the manual? or are you like me and throw the manual away and put it together based on the picture of it on the box. I like the visual aspect of seeing instead of reading and I have used tutorials almost every day since discovering this fantastic method of learning, the only hitch to it all… is not limiting yourself. In other words, if you need to fix something that has broken on your vehicle for example, but have no idea on how, the last thing on most peoples mind is Youtube! But there are thousands of mechanics on Youtube that are fixing the exact problem you have and doing it on video for all to see…FREE, and that is just one example.
Now open your mind to the endless possibilities from computer repairs and upgrades (which I have personally done watching tutorials) to plumbing, carpentry, and yes even garage door and opener repairs. I have done it all at some point, and with a great deal of success just by watching Youtube! I am 100% positive that I have saved thousands and thousands of dollars by fixing things myself and my video editing skills have improved by leaps and bounds, all through “tutorials” I am absolutely hooked on them and you should be too!

Paying it forward.
Everyone likes “free” and between you and me, is anything ever really free? I guess it really depends on how you look at it, but for me Youtube is about as chock full of free as it gets. Everyone has something that they specialize in and I’m no different, so it didn’t take much convincing that it was time to “pay it forward”. Doing this (making tutorials) has many other benefits, especially if you run a business…you can throw in your contact number, website and Facebook info into your video’s, just in case someone local decides they can’t tackle this project (whatever it may be) and quite possibly gain yourself some future business! So I would like to invite all of you into what could be the most overlooked resource on the web, the resources of Youtube!