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Legalities and signal jamming

J

James Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Does anyone here know about the legalities of building small signal jammers
for say the 2.4gig small camera transmitters.
What I was meaning is if someone asked you to design and build them a
personal signal jammer, ( them being parranoid they may have a hidden camera
somewhere ), Would one step into legallity areas to build a jammer for them?

Yes, I understand that the hidden camera itself is illegal but can't justify
( 2 wrongs ), if the jammer is also illegal. These days one must tread
lightly :)
Also if making a jammer, be it low power, would not cross the line - has
anyone allready been there, done that, got the teeshirt :) --evil grin! ....
Thanks for any help guys... JTT
 
James said:
Does anyone here know about the legalities of building small signal jammers
for say the 2.4gig small camera transmitters.
What I was meaning is if someone asked you to design and build them a
personal signal jammer, ( them being parranoid they may have a hidden camera
somewhere ), Would one step into legallity areas to build a jammer for them?

Yes, I understand that the hidden camera itself is illegal but can't justify
( 2 wrongs ), if the jammer is also illegal. These days one must tread
lightly :)
Also if making a jammer, be it low power, would not cross the line - has
anyone allready been there, done that, got the teeshirt :) --evil grin! ....
Thanks for any help guys... JTT

Wouldn't it make more sense to build a field strength meter?

A band selectable tuned circuit could be nice, but the instrument would
still cover a greater range of possibilites than a jammer would.
 
L

Luhan

Jan 1, 1970
0
James said:
Does anyone here know about the legalities of building small signal jammers
for say the 2.4gig small camera transmitters.
What I was meaning is if someone asked you to design and build them a
personal signal jammer, ( them being parranoid they may have a hidden camera
somewhere ), Would one step into legallity areas to build a jammer for them?

Yes, I understand that the hidden camera itself is illegal but can't justify
( 2 wrongs ), if the jammer is also illegal. These days one must tread
lightly :)
Also if making a jammer, be it low power, would not cross the line - has
anyone allready been there, done that, got the teeshirt :) --evil grin! ....
Thanks for any help guys... JTT

I deny ever making a similar device for jamming a neighbors TV
reception.

Luhan Monat (luhanxmonat-at-yahoo^dot^com)
http://members.cox.net/berniekm/
"Reality: what a concept!"
 
R

Rich Grise

Jan 1, 1970
0
Does anyone here know about the legalities of building small signal jammers
for say the 2.4gig small camera transmitters.
What I was meaning is if someone asked you to design and build them a
personal signal jammer, ( them being parranoid they may have a hidden camera
somewhere ), Would one step into legallity areas to build a jammer for them?

Yes, I understand that the hidden camera itself is illegal but can't justify
( 2 wrongs ), if the jammer is also illegal. These days one must tread
lightly :)
Also if making a jammer, be it low power, would not cross the line - has
anyone allready been there, done that, got the teeshirt :) --evil grin! ....
Thanks for any help guys... JTT

If it's on a license-free band, then there's no problem from the FCC - the
band is license-free, so you can do whatever you want. You would only have
to contend with the guy whose signal you're jamming.

If it's in one of the bands that needs a license, then you need to comply
with the licensing requirements, and not cause any interference to any
other equipment. I believe that there are certain very low signal levels
that don't need a license, but I'd look very carefully at the regulations
on that. And even so, you'd still have to contend with the guy whose
signal you're jamming.

http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Engineering_Technology/Documents/cfr/1998/47cfr15.pdf

Good Luck!
Rich
 
J

John Fields

Jan 1, 1970
0
Does anyone here know about the legalities of building small signal jammers
for say the 2.4gig small camera transmitters.
What I was meaning is if someone asked you to design and build them a
personal signal jammer, ( them being parranoid they may have a hidden camera
somewhere ), Would one step into legallity areas to build a jammer for them?
 
Rich said:
If it's on a license-free band, then there's no problem from the FCC - the
band is license-free, so you can do whatever you want. You would only have
to contend with the guy whose signal you're jamming.

I think that 'license free' bands are actually not quite that simple.
Usually the rule is two part - the unlicensed device must accept any
interference from other sources, and must not cause any interference to
other services. As such, license free only means free to (attempt to)
use, not free to jam other users.

What's unlcear is if the must not cause interefernce applies only to
licensed services or to other unlicensed services as well - my guess is
that if the intent to cause interference is intentional, then the
prohibition probably would apply.

You may be able to find a legitimate non-communications device which
cases the desired interference though. I had a very nice microwave
link running the lab until someone turned on the microwave oven in the
kitchenette...
 
J

John Fields

Jan 1, 1970
0
Wouldn't it make more sense to build a field strength meter?

---
A greater range of possibilities???
What's that supposed to mean?

The easy way to find the transmitter is with a spectrum analyzer and
a directional antenna.
 
John said:
A greater range of possibilities???
What's that supposed to mean?

It's easier to build a broadband or multiband field strength meter than
a broadband jammer. Who says the hidden camera is 2.4 GHz? There are
many possibilities, and detecting them all is easier than jamming them
all, at least for continuously transmitting devices.

Store and burst is another issue.
The easy way to find the transmitter is with a spectrum analyzer and
a directional antenna.

Easy if you have a spectrum analyzer.
 
J

James Thompson

Jan 1, 1970
0
Wouldn't it make more sense to build a field strength meter?

A band selectable tuned circuit could be nice, but the instrument would
still cover a greater range of possibilites than a jammer would.
Yes, it would be better. But then if you find it and hammer it to pieces,
you wont catch the spy. logic is, if you can jam the signal and setup your
own camera to record area. You then catch the spy trying to fix what went
wrong with his camera.
JTT.
 
J

John Fields

Jan 1, 1970
0
It's easier to build a broadband or multiband field strength meter than
a broadband jammer. Who says the hidden camera is 2.4 GHz?

---
The OP.

"James Thompson wrote:
Does anyone here know about the legalities of building small signal
jammers for say the 2.4gig small camera transmitters."
---
There are
many possibilities, and detecting them all is easier than jamming them
all, at least for continuously transmitting devices.

---
I think instead of "possibilities" you mean "frequencies".
---
Easy if you have a spectrum analyzer.

---
Easier to rent one than to build a 2.6GHz field strength meter, I
think. There _are_ inexpensive (~$300) field strength meters
available out there, but if the intent is to jam rather than to
destroy, then you'd also need to know the frequency of the emitter,
so a spectrum analyzer still looks like the preferred solution.
 
J

John Fields

Jan 1, 1970
0
If it's on a license-free band, then there's no problem from the FCC - the
band is license-free, so you can do whatever you want. You would only have
to contend with the guy whose signal you're jamming.
 
J

John Fields

Jan 1, 1970
0
Yes, it would be better. But then if you find it and hammer it to pieces,
you wont catch the spy. logic is, if you can jam the signal and setup your
own camera to record area. You then catch the spy trying to fix what went
wrong with his camera.
 
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