SAN ANTONIO – Garage doors are once again going on the fritz, causing problems for homeowners in Northwest San Antonio.
The problem, which started a couple of months ago, is caused interference from a radio transmitter at the National Security Agency.
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It affects homes roughly within a five mile radius from the agency headquarters, near Loop 410 and West Military Drive.
"It's definitely an inconvenience when you have kids, getting them in and out of the car and you have to go around the front, around the back or through the side door," homeowner Chris Martinez said. "It definitely becomes an inconvenience."
The NSA recently turned off the transmitter, giving homeowners time to retrofit garages and warned it would be turned back on March 1. But the problem returned March 9.
"One day it works, the next day it doesn't," Martinez said. "Turn it off. Turn it on."
In similar cases in other cities, government agencies eventually changed their frequency.
"Right now, it's really too early to know what the problems going to be and how long it's going to take," Randy Oliver, with Hollywood Crawford Garage Doors, said.
Right now it appears consumers will be responsible for taking care of the problem, which means they'll have to pay between $35 to more than $100 to retrofit their garage doors.
Garage door manufacturers have used the same frequency for more than 15 years.
"The government would say it's the manufacturers fault," Oliver said. "The manufacturer would say it's the government's fault."
Rather than place blame or being resigned to just wait and see, Martinez is taking action.
"I'm going to have to bite the bullet, pay the money and get my frequency reprogrammed," he said.
KSAT 12 attempted to contact the NSA, but as of Thursday night, they haven't returned any calls.
Genie and Overhead Door garage door manufacturers are offering discounts on retrofitting to those affected. For information call 1-800-ok-genie.