Northern Ireland Gym owner Wendy MacBean reported her customer concern to Ofcom in relation to customers being unable to use their key-fob locking properly.

“For the most part, these devices are only used in short bursts. The problem comes when one of these becomes faulty and they remain on permanently. When that happens, they can interfere with other nearby devices, like car key fobs, using those same radio waves, which is what happened here.”

— Ofcom Engineer Robert Barfoo

Ofcom despatched engineers from the Spectrum Management Centre to investigate, and on the second visit, using spectrum analyser equipment, identified interference on 433.92 MHz, part of the licence exempt Ultra High Frequency (UHF) band not only used by the Amateur Radio community, but also for short range devices like car key fobs.

The Ofcom engineer team traced the problem to premises nearby. Once inside, they quickly found the cause of the problem – a faulty wireless doorbell. It was switched off and normal service was resumed for motorists out on the street.

Vehicle theft without keys - https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/how-crooks-can-steal-your-car-without-key

Ofcom - https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/features-and-news/doorbell-investigation