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Simple circuit to find lost passport

O

OBones

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hello all,

My passport is somewhere inside my apartment but for the life of I can't
remember where. I have looked at all the obvious places and I could not
find it.
Now, this is a new "biometric" passport with the RFID chip inside.
So I'm looking for a simple and most of all cheap circuit that could
activate the RFID chip and so tell where (roughly) that little bugger is
hiding.
At least that would narrow down the area to search for, especially if
the detection cone is not too wide.
I don't actually want to read its serial number nor any data inside,
just want to have a circuit that tells me "hey, there's a RFID chip in
the vicinity".
Then I go look for it and if it's not the passport, well, I look
somewhere else.

Do you know of anything that could do this?
Maybe something that plugs to a PC under windows or linux?

I have had a look at dedicated RFID readers but on top of being very
expensive, they seem to have a reading range of only a few centimeters
which is a bit too little for the kind of search I'm looking at.

Many thanks for your help.
Olivier
 
S

Spehro Pefhany

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hello all,

My passport is somewhere inside my apartment but for the life of I can't
remember where. I have looked at all the obvious places and I could not
find it.
Now, this is a new "biometric" passport with the RFID chip inside.
So I'm looking for a simple and most of all cheap circuit that could
activate the RFID chip and so tell where (roughly) that little bugger is
hiding.
At least that would narrow down the area to search for, especially if
the detection cone is not too wide.
I don't actually want to read its serial number nor any data inside,
just want to have a circuit that tells me "hey, there's a RFID chip in
the vicinity".
Then I go look for it and if it's not the passport, well, I look
somewhere else.

Do you know of anything that could do this?
Maybe something that plugs to a PC under windows or linux?

I have had a look at dedicated RFID readers but on top of being very
expensive, they seem to have a reading range of only a few centimeters
which is a bit too little for the kind of search I'm looking at.

Many thanks for your help.
Olivier

US passports are supposed to have a shield that prevents them from
being read unless the cover is open, also AFAICT they are not supposed
to respond until they receive an encrypted key. Maybe you should stop
procrastinating and find that passport. ;-)
 
O

OBones

Jan 1, 1970
0
Spehro said:
US passports are supposed to have a shield that prevents them from
being read unless the cover is open, also AFAICT they are not supposed
to respond until they receive an encrypted key. Maybe you should stop
procrastinating and find that passport. ;-)

Yeah, I've read that, but also read that it just needs to be barely
opened to respond.
And well, I did not procrastinate, I scourged through all the files in
my cabinets, could not find anything. Well, I found an old 5 euros bill,
but not my passport.
 
S

Spehro Pefhany

Jan 1, 1970
0
Mine all involve showing up somewhere without pants.

No, wait. Those are fantasies. Never mind. ;-)

One man's fantasy is another's nightmare. ;-)


Best regards,
Spehro Pefhany
 
S

Sylvia Else

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hello all,

My passport is somewhere inside my apartment but for the life of I can't
remember where. I have looked at all the obvious places and I could not
find it.
Now, this is a new "biometric" passport with the RFID chip inside.
So I'm looking for a simple and most of all cheap circuit that could
activate the RFID chip and so tell where (roughly) that little bugger is
hiding.

The chips are powered by a varying magnetic field generated by the
reader, so something capable of activating it from a distance is going
to have to produce a massive field.

Somehow I don't think this is a viable development path.

Sylvia.
 
N

Nemo

Jan 1, 1970
0
OBones said:
Hello all,

My passport is somewhere inside my apartment but for the life of I can't
remember where. I have looked at all the obvious places and I could not
find it.
Now, this is a new "biometric" passport with the RFID chip inside.
So I'm looking for a simple and most of all cheap circuit that could
activate the RFID chip and so tell where (roughly) that little bugger is
hiding.
At least that would narrow down the area to search for, especially if
the detection cone is not too wide.
I don't actually want to read its serial number nor any data inside,
just want to have a circuit that tells me "hey, there's a RFID chip in
the vicinity".
Then I go look for it and if it's not the passport, well, I look
somewhere else.

Do you know of anything that could do this?

A wife
Maybe something that plugs to a PC under windows or linux?

Yep, definitely a wife

It probably slipped into another object, like inside a magazine, in the
bag you put it in last time you went through customs.
 
O

OBones

Jan 1, 1970
0
Nemo said:
A wife


Yep, definitely a wife

It probably slipped into another object, like inside a magazine, in the
bag you put it in last time you went through customs.

Well, I just had it renewed, so I remember coming back to home and when
about to put it in the usual place, I distinctly remember telling my
wife "I'll put it over there, it's gonna be a better place".
Stupid idea that was, cause now I can't remember where that better place
is. And my wife, how nice she may be, tells me that it's my problem, I
should have put it in the usual place to begin with...
 
O

OBones

Jan 1, 1970
0
hamilton said:
PS: Google "hacking US passports" will bring up lots of ideas.


Yes, thanks, but the solutions don't seem all that cheap. I mean, the
first hit is a 250$ system, when the passport merely costs 100$ to be
done again (provided one declares it as lost)
 
S

Sylvia Else

Jan 1, 1970
0
Too restrictive of an assumption.
One does not have to activate it, give it any code or expect any code to
be radiated.
Just assume that, at a distance, is a "tuned" energy absorber - makes
the solution far easier.

Perhaps.

The devices that are inserted into pets obtain their energy from the
varying magnetic field generated by the reader, and return their signal
by modulating the power being absorbed.

For a device that is only intended to be read from a short distance,
that technology seems the obvious to use, and it would be difficult to
read the device from a greater distance.

I can imagine a device that aborbs energy at one frequency, and
transmits a signal on a different frequency. It would be easier to power
and read such a device from a distance, but why bother making it that way?

Sylvia.
 
OBones said:
[snip]

Well, I just had it renewed, so I remember coming back to home and when
about to put it in the usual place, I distinctly remember telling my
wife "I'll put it over there, it's gonna be a better place".
Stupid idea that was, cause now I can't remember where that better place
is. And my wife, how nice she may be, tells me that it's my problem, I
should have put it in the usual place to begin with...

Mention that you may have misplaced some love letters from your mistress
in a new but forgotten hiding place. The passport will be located within
minutes.

Won't do you any good because you'll be dead in seconds. Maybe if you were
also missing a Franklin, or two, that you had at the same time...
 
When I lose something, I just ask my wife where it is.

So do I. A couple of weeks ago I lost my round-the-house glasses. She
eventually found them, in the laundry. They're not too badly scratched. :-(
 
S

Sylvia Else

Jan 1, 1970
0
Think antenna size and available power to transmit, thus "reader"
transmitting at 130kHz and "tag" transmitting at 1-2GHz are quite
common.

...Jim Thompson

The pet implants are not transmitting. As far as I can see, it's all
inductive coupling.

Leaving aside any privacy issues, making a device for a passport that's
capable of being read from a distance seems just asking for trouble. Any
official system for reading them then risks reading the wrong one.

Sylvia.
 
S

Sylvia Else

Jan 1, 1970
0
You do not understand.
The longer the distance, the more likely incorrect data is received -
thereby triggering a de-facto Terrorist Alert and an excuse to terrorize
anyone standing in line..
..and charging them guilty without benefit of redress, etc...

While I hold some sympathy for the view that the authorities just want
to make our lives miserable, there being abundant empirical evidence of
this, I think one has to accept the harsh truth, which is that they're
actually doing so as the result of stupidity and incompetence, not by
design.

Sylvia.
 
While I hold some sympathy for the view that the authorities just want
to make our lives miserable, there being abundant empirical evidence of
this, I think one has to accept the harsh truth, which is that they're
actually doing so as the result of stupidity and incompetence, not by
design.

Bureaucrats have no incentive to make your life easier. Their only allegiance
is to their job (their superior) and that can't be taken away. Stupidity and
incompetence are just byproducts.
 
B

Boris Mohar

Jan 1, 1970
0
Yeah, I've read that, but also read that it just needs to be barely
opened to respond.
And well, I did not procrastinate, I scourged through all the files in
my cabinets, could not find anything. Well, I found an old 5 euros bill,
but not my passport.

Maybe a metal detector?
 
O

OBones

Jan 1, 1970
0
Well, as some suggested, the passport was eventually found by my wife
this morning.
Bugger, one less occasion to fiddle with electronic gadgets...

Thanks for your help
 
B

Boris Mohar

Jan 1, 1970
0
Wouldn't that detect the metal rings in the binders that are in the
cabinets?

Of course. It is a metal detector. I assumed that you hid your passport in
less obvious place. Check you luggage.
 
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