Slashdot Mirror

This is very off-topic, but please hear me out before you reflexively down-mod this post:

There's been a few articles on here recently regarding "Stingray"-type devices (IRS usage, etc). Arstechnica has done some pretty thorough reporting regarding these devices, but their photography may not be indicative of the current state-of-the-art. These articles portray these devices as a large industrial/rackmount-type radio device, and while this many be perfectly valid, there is a version of this (or a very similar) device that is a hand-held unit resembling something very much like the old Fluke DSP-2000 testers (without the knob) or an Optoelectronics X-Sweeper. It might not be called a "Stingray", but both devices share a common purpose. I'm pretty sure the origin of these devices can be traced back to cell-site test equipment.

The X-Swepper frequency counter mentioned above is actually a *really* good approximation of what these devices look like.

Just keep in mind these things don't need to be mounted in the back of a surveillance van. They can be hand-carried and easily concealed by the operator in a bag or even in loosely-fit clothing.

You already have one of these: Optoelectronics Scout

Now, if your communications were encrypted end-end with hard encryption with keys you control, this would be a moot point. Coming soon to a VOIP / programmable cell phone near you.

If you're getting interference with a keyless entry device at very short range, the interference source is probably nearby. Very nearby, like tens of meters. There's an inverse square law, remember. Somebody in that parking lot has something that's emitting.

Sure, an Aegis battlecruser could point its phased array radar in your direction, hold the beam stationary. and send a few megawatts down a narrow beam out to the horizon, but that's unlikely. Few smaller radars have that kind of power, directionality, and steerability. You still have to have near line of sight, anyway.

Get a directional antenna and a signal strength meter, and you'll find the source.

A frequency counter is a standard bit of test equipment for people who have to test radio transmitters, be they these little very low power things like garage door openers, or big TV transmitters. What a frequency counter does is that it tells you what frequency your transmitter is ACTUALLY transmitting at (not what is being claimed). There are firms that sell frequency counters and building a frequncy counter is well with in the range of someone with reasonable construction skills, such as here or here.

Now for investigating aroung what you suspect may be a transmitter, well, a portable frequency counter will tell you if your dealing with a working transmitter, and if it is transmitting, what frequency the transmitter is using. That information can then lead you other places, like who is legally allowed to transmit on the frequency you are detecting...

And why is it necessarily Nextel at fault

It's funny, I always wondered why cellphones had always been banned in RF-sensitive areas. Back when I had a Verizon cellphone on CDMA, my frequency sniffer never reported any activity coming out of my cellphone, being spread spectrum (aka "We live under the noise"). Then I got a Nextel, and when I walk in the room, my sniffer chirps to indicate that it's capturing freqs off my phone. Totally different beast. My Nextel phone puts noise bursts on my tv from 8 feet away. It also does it in the car but from less than 6 inches. Still, my CDMA phones *never* did that sort of thing, and I suddenly realized why cellphones were historically banned from Intensive Care Units and airplanes. Scary stuff. I don't even like putting it next to my head or carrying it on my hip too much.

Neato - they do exist. That's gotta violate some privacy laws in most countries. I may be purchasing some more toys and a building a faraday cage into my backpack before the next Comdex though.

Shows signal strength too so you can do the James Bond homing-in-on-the-signal-with-gun-drawn type stuff.

-n