Twenty-year old college student Chris van Rossmann probably had experienced the joy of having lots of new friends when you buy a big TV. You hear from them around Super Bowl Sunday and other days of high TV-watching interest.

Well, on October 2nd, he got more than he expected when his visitors included local police, civil air patrol and search and rescue personnel. Apparently something in his apartment was transmitting on the international distress frequency of 121.5 MHz. After a tour of his apartment, it turned out to be his year-old flat screen TV.

Apparently the signal from his TV was picked up by a satellite which looks for emergency beacons. The satellite routed the report to the US Air Force Rescue Center at Langley Air Base in Virginia.

False alarms are fairly common, but generally the come from malfunctioning or accidently triggered transponders in boats or planes.

He was ordered to keep his TV off or face a $10,000 fine for sending a false distress signal. Fortunately, the manufacturer of the TV, stepped to the plate and is giving him a free replacement.

See the CNN story for the rest of the details.