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Radar Detectors Zap Credit Card Transactions at Pump

Date: MAY 13, 2002
Author: BOB BREWIN

ChevronTexaco Corp. has determined that radar detectors are interfering with
the satellite system it uses to transmit credit card information from gas
stations to back-end corporate systems.

ChevronTexaco, which operates a nationwide network of 6,600 very small
aperture satellite terminals (VSAT) at its gas stations, documented the
problem last month in a filing to the Federal Communications Commission.

The interference from radar detectors "frequently causes a disruption in the
data flow, which can result in lost or incorrect sales and/or verification
information," David Heck, manager of marketing, legislative and regulatory
affairs at San Francisco-based ChevronTexaco, wrote in the filing.

Heck added that ChevronTexaco is also concerned that "thieves could use
these devices to steal motor fuel by simply activating a radar detector
while fueling" to knock out a credit card transaction.

David Zatloukal, vice president of Direcway VSAT service at Germantown,
Md.-based Hughes Network Systems Inc. (HNS), said the interference from the
25 million radar detectors in the U.S. has rendered "unusable" the lower
portions of the 11-GHz spectrum used by the satellites that transmit VSAT
data.

Even though they are receivers, radar detectors contain oscillators that can
knock out VSAT transmissions to the extent that "we don't know if we can
provide satisfactory service," Zatloukal said. HNS, which supplies VSAT
services to ChevronTexaco, has tried to buy satellite service in a higher
portion of the 11-GHz band but has had difficulty acquiring that limited
capacity.

Consequently, ChevronTexaco, HNS and satellite companies such as PanAmSat
Corp. in Wilton, Conn., have endorsed an FCC plan to restrict radar detector
emissions. Greg Blair, president of Escort Inc., a radar detector
manufacturer in West Chester, Ohio, said his industry can't afford
regulation of a $39 product and is willing to move to lower frequencies in
the 11-GHz band. HNS, in a filing with the FCC, said this would just result
in interference with other satellite bands.

The FCC is expected to rule on the issue late this summer or early fall.

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

Awww sweet!! Next I'm filling up at texaco and make sure my V1 is ON and facing the pump

DW