Free Republic

Uh-oh, Amazon. Looks like the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is not playing around when it comes to selling illegal signal jammers. The agency just went public with an investigation into Amazon and other major retailers for allegedly pushing these dodgy devices that can block your cell signal, GPS, and more. Typically advertised as “drone deterrents” or “privacy tools”, these nefarious gadgets are specifically designed to block radio frequencies. This has serious ramifications, cutting off cellular devices and GPS units and impacting emergency communication channels.

Do any of you have knowledge or experience with voice jammers (not cell phone jammers which are illegal) to block recording of conversations? What about microphone detectors; do they work? What kind of covert microphones do undercover agents use and where do they wear them?

A Florida man is facing a $48,000 fine for using a "jammer" in his SUV to keep people around him off of the phone while he was driving. The Federal Communications Commission says that Jason R. Humphreys used a phone jammer in his vehicle during his daily commute on I-4 between Seffner and Tampa for about two years before he was caught. Metro PCS alerted the Feds of an issue in April of 2013. The company noticed that its cell phone tower sites had been experiencing interference during the morning and evening commutes. Agents from the FCC used direction finding...

Electronic and computer attack—the futuristic segment of the Pentagon’s arsenal—will benefit from the proposed 2011 military spending plan, but identifying all the key pieces is difficult without close scrutiny. Electronic attack (EA) includes invading networks and releasing beams of energy against improvised explosive devices (IEDs). These blasts of energy are sometimes generated by U.S. Navy EA-6B Prowlers and Air Force EC-130 Compass Call aircraft to prematurely detonate or disable bombs. In addition, an EA-6B Prowler—and its EA-18G Growler successor— can drop a “cone of ­silence” on emitters within a given tactical area to prevent enemy communications. Computer invasion and network...

Attack, not defense, will reshape electronic warfare. A magazine filled with electron pulses, information scrambling data streams and invasive algorithms may arm the Next-Generation Jammer (NGJ). By 2018, variants of the U.S. Navy’s NGJ likely will be carried by a half-dozen manned and unmanned aircraft—perhaps more. The service’s EP-X signals and communications intelligence aircraft—still without a final design or completed requirements—will be replacing the long-serving EP-3E. “EP-X is going to be the eyes and ears that find the signals” that NGJ will jam and manipulate, says Christopher Carlson, director of U.S. business development for ITT’s integrated EW systems. “Precisely identifying...

Jan. 24, 2008 Equipment Stolen from Charleston Could Jam Emergency Communications By Tony Rutherford Huntingtonnews.net Reporter Huntington, WV (HNN) – The FBI has joined an investigation into the theft of electronic equipment after break-ins at several transmitting towers in Charleston. According to a Huntington TV station, ten break-ins at three separate sites (Garfield, North Charleston, North Gate Business Park) resulted in the loss of a radio receiver/transmitter (repeater) and frequency counter. Charleston police asked the FBI to enter the investigation after they learned the stolen equipment could possibly be used to jam emergency frequencies. Thieves took only the specified equipment...

Mysteries still surround Israel’s air strike against Syria. Where was the attack, what was struck and how did Israel’s non-stealthy warplanes fly undetected through the Russian-made air defense radars in Syria? There also are clues that while the U.S. and Israel are struggling in the broader information war with Islamic fundamentalists, Tel Aviv’s air attack against a “construction site” in northern Syria may mean the two countries are beginning to win some cyberwar battles. U.S. officials say that close examination of the few details of the mission offers a glimpse of what’s new in the world of sophisticated electronic sleight-of-hand....

Laser missile jammmers to protect Marine Corps helicopters in Iraq US Marine Corps helicopters in Iraq are to be equipped with laser jammers to defeat shoulder-launched missile attacks after a series of shoot-downs by insurgents. Northrop Grumman has been awarded a $10.8 million contract to design and proof a kit to equip first Sikorsky CH-53s then Boeing CH-46s, and potentially Bell Boeing MV-22 tiltrotors, with directed infrared countermeasures comprising two-colour missile warning systems (MWS) and dual laser jam heads. The work is to be completed in 12 months. Northrop says the US Marine Corps selected its third-generation infrared MWS and...

Marines award contract for IED jammers WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- The Marine Corps has awarded a $289 million contract to General Dynamics for a system to foil roadside bombs and other improvised explosive devices. Known by the acronym IED, such bombs have vexed U.S. troops in Iraq and have accounted for the lion's share of U.S. casualties. The contract awarded by the Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico calls for the design production and installation of General Dynamic's Remote Controlled Explosive Improvised Device (RCEID) Electronic Counter Measure systems, a technology that will basically jam the signals used to trigger...

The US has created electronic-warfare squads capable of jamming enemy satellite transmissions. Fearful of losing its advantage of superior technology resources over its potential enemies, the US has established mobile teams equipped with electronic jamming gear capable of disrupting attempts to interfere with its satellite resources, The Washington Times reports. "You can't go to war and win without space," Gen. Lance Lord, the four-star general in charge of the Colorado-based Air Force Space Command, told the paper. Air Force Space Command is tasked with both protecting Us satellites from attack or disruption and maintaining an offensive capability against "enemy" space...

The U.S. military is the toughest and most professional in the world, but one force it usually can't beat is the bureaucracy back in Washington. The Defense Department has 200,000 acquisition personnel, whose insistence on doing everything "by the numbers" slows to a crawl efforts to get vital equipment such as armor into the field. But the bureaucracy can be defeated, as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld demonstrated last week when he invoked his new "Rapid Acquisition Authority," allowing him to cut through the red tape to meet urgent battlefield needs. By invoking this power, Mr. Rumsfeld has given the Secretary...

Can you hear me now? Unsuspecting cellphone users may find themselves saying that more often now that cellphone jammers — illegal gizmos that interfere with signals and cut off reception — are selling like hotcakes on the streets of New York. "I bought one online, and I love it," said one jammer owner fed up with the din of dumb conversations and rock-and-roll ringtones.

WASHINGTON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. Air Force quietly has put into service a new weapon designed to jam enemy satellite communications, a significant step toward U.S. control of space. The so-called Counter Communications System was declared operational late last month at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, the Air Force Space Command said on Friday in e-mailed replies to questions from Reuters. The ground-based jammer uses electromagnetic radio frequency energy to knock out transmissions on a temporary and reversible basis, without frying components, the command said. "A reversible effect ensures that during the time of need, the...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 15, 2004 — As the Air Force prepares to observe its 57th birthday Sept. 18, the nation's youngest military service continues to keep a sharp eye on the future. When anti-coalition forces in Iraq used jammers last year to thwart global positioning system precision-guided munitions in that theater, it represented a new but not unexpected challenge for the U.S. military: the first time an adversary challenged its dominance in space. Air Force Secretary James G. Roche said the threat — which the Air Force quickly squelched using GPS-guided munitions — didn't come out of the blue. "We had...

The Washington Timeswww.washingtontimes.com Signal jamming a factor in future wars, general saysBy Bill GertzTHE WASHINGTON TIMESPublished July 16, 2004 Saddam Hussein's failed attempt to jam U.S. Global Positioning System navigation signals during the Iraq war is an example of the growing danger of space warfare, the Air Force's top space commander said yesterday.     "We certainly knew it was occurring, and we also attacked GPS jammers with GPS-aided direct attack munitions and killed them," said Air Force Gen. Lance W. Lord, chief of the Colorado-based Air Force Space Command.     Saddam's government obtained special electronic jamming equipment from Russia that was set...

WASHINGTON - U.S. soldiers riding in convoys in Iraq are relying on electronic "jammers" to help protect against the roadside bombs insurgents have used to deadly effect. The anti-bomb technology isn't perfect, however. In some cases it only delays a bomb from detonating, so it can still explode and kill bystanders. It's unclear how widely the jammers — the same technology that saved Pakistan's leader from a recent assassination attempt — are being used in Iraq. Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, the Army's chief of staff, acknowledged their use in testimony this week before the House Armed Services Committee, but he...

Musharraf saved by radio jammer PAKISTANI President Pervez Musharraf probably owes his life to a high-tech radio jamming device. The gadget delayed by a few crucial seconds the detonation of a bomb that targeted his motorcade as it was crossing a bridge in the city of Rawalpindi last Sunday. The bomb exploded just after he crossed the bridge. Intelligence officials reportedly said the sophisticated bomb - initially estimated to contain 250kg of explosives - was believed to include both a remote control and a timing device to trigger it. According to wire reports, President Musharraf's motorcade included a vehicle with...

Cuba Blows the Whistle on Iranian Jamming August 21, 2003 Asia Times Safa Haeri The Islamic Republic of Iran might lose one of its very few friends in the world, Cuba, which, according to American officials, has officially informed them that the Iranian embassy in Havana was the source of jamming programs send out by US-based Iranian radio and television stations aimed at mainland Iran. The jamming related to Telestar-12, a commercial communications satellite orbiting at 15 degrees west, 22,000 miles above the Atlantic, which carries programs by the American government as well as by Iranian radio and television stations...

I am posting this in response to concerns raised in regards to the Russian-made GPS jammers the military recently came up against in Iraq. Hopefully, with will dispell some of the myths regarding how they work, how them ilitary works against them, and just how effective they are under ideal circumstances. First, a word on GPS. Since GPS went public, circa 1995, their have been two signal broadcasts. The original signal, broadcast at approximately 1500 MHz, which is now used for civilian localaization. So I will now refer to this as the Civilian signal. Finally, the bloc two (or L2)...

U.S. satellite feeds to Iran jammed Jamming signals are coming from Cuba, sources say NEW YORK, July 11 — U.S. government officials as well as Iranian Americans and communications satellite operators confirm that all U.S.-based satellite broadcasts to Iran are being jammed out of Cuba, one of Iran’s major allies and a major source of oil for the beleaguered Caribbean nation. “WE ARE well aware of the jamming,” said one senior U.S. official familiar with intelligence on the matter. He said that it was almost certainly done as part of an effort by the Iranian government to eliminate dissent during...