Build your own Klingon disruptor

The Register ^ | 10/09/1999 at 11:12 GMT | ?

[glorgau]

An ex-US Navy engineer has done just that for the bargain price of $500. The gadget fiend has built a 'gun', using readily available hardware that can disable almost any piece of electronic equipment from 20 feet away.

It consists of a parabolic reflector, a horn antenna and two ignition coils and is powered by a car battery. When the inventor, David Schriner demonstrated his new toy at the Infowar 99 conference in Washington DC, it disrupted the PA system and two nearby PCs, which needed to be reset even after the 'gun' was switched off.

The principle it exploits dates back to Tesla. In essence, the gun shoves a 20 megawatt burst of radio noise through the antenna, which then interferes with nearby electrical equipment, according to US newswire reports.

Schriner said the demonstration was intended as a wake up call to the electronics industry. He said he wanted to show that even low-budget saboteurs could inflict serious damage. He claims to have built another machine capable of crashing computers, and cars from a distance of 100 feet. That one cost him less than $300.

Permanent damage is rare, Schriner says, but that is not the point. The computers at the conference worked after re-booting. "But if that happens to be a computer in a tank, or in a piece of medical equipment, how long does it take to reboot?" he asks. "By that time you could be dead." ®

[glorgau]

I want one!!

[shaggy eel]

,,, we have the technology. Let's go hunting!

[michigander]

Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam

[scouse]

Two questions
1. Can it be programmed to make the $5.00 slots in Vegas continually hit the jackpot? and
2. Is it small enough to fit inside my girlfriend's bra'?

[jonascord]

Raises an interesting question. Does Klingon qualify as a "code-talker" language? I can't see your average Afgan or Iraqi or PRK soldier being able to listen and understand it, but we've got thousands of fluent draft-age men, who still live with Mommy...

[midwestmidnight]

I thought it was going to be instructions for a toilet paper dispenser!?!

[Ramius]

Just lovely... now I gotta run out and buy a Faraday cage for my data center.

[michigander]

we've got thousands of fluent draft-age men, who still live with Mommy...

verengan Ha'DIbaH

[Consort]

[1john2 3and4]

Is it small enough to fit inside my girlfriend's bra'? send pictures WE'LL decide

[steve-b]

Build your own Klingon disruptor

Is that anything like a DU disruptor?

[Glenn]

Big damn deal.

[zeugma]

I heard that the Klingon High Council has already filed a patent infringement lawsuits in federal court to block the sale of these cheap knockoffs and imitations of Genuine Klingon Disruptors(TM)

[gcruse]

2. Is it small enough to fit inside my girlfriend's bra'?

It would be better to have the gun BE her bra.
Using one cup as the parabolic deflecter, and
her nipple as the collector, a massive radio wave
could be fired out the back of her shoulder
blade.  Make sure you're in front of her
at the time in case there are microwave
cooking effects.

[anymouse]

Wow, this guy built a crude jammer. BFD. By his own admission it has limited range and effectiveness.

This urban legend of a $200 EMI weapon has been floating around the Internet news bins for about a year now. Basic physics seems to mystify journalists.

[Axenolith]

2. Is it small enough to fit inside my girlfriend's bra'?

---

That depends... We'll probably need to see several photographs of her, at various angles, in the bra, to make the calculations necessary to determine this... ;)

[John Jamieson]

Now if this thing was only fuelcell powered!!!

This guy built a really dirty RF transmitter. CB hackers have doing it for years.

[apillar]

In other news Chuck Schumer has just introduced legislation to ban the "Klingon Disrupter".

[RightOnline]

"Is it small enough to fit inside my girlfriend's bra'?"

Well, um.........kinda depends on the size of what God gave 'er..........

[Terriergal]

Ooooh! Coooooool!

wambe'chugh wamwI' tlhuHbe' wamwI'

(If a hunter does not hunt, he does not breathe)