Cell-phone "scrambler"?

Hello everyone.

I tried to post this some weeks ago when the news were more fresh, but the post didn't get through. So, now that my rage over loosing all that I wrote has finally subsided, I will make my second try.

I am currently operating in St. Petersburg (Russia). Some time ago there was some demonstrations, almost roits, taking place here. This organisation called "The Other Russia" had called to the streets, like many times before, to show their disgust and dissidence towards the russian goverment.

The "police" (accually, there is no police in Russia; it's called "Militia" because that is what it is) responded with brute force, beating young and old, men and women. There has been a lot of controversy over this, especially as the interior ministry refuses to admit to the fact that the militia used excessive violence even though there are plenty of proof (this is pretty far from the first time it happened).

Anyhow, the demonstrators got surrounded by an iron ring of militiamen at a square not far from where I live. There, it was reported, cell-phones did not work. How do they do this? All cell-phone traffic was blocked out, but only in that limited area (give or take a few blocks), but militia could communicate via walkie-talkies (not confirmed but plausible). In the remaining city, all was normal. I mean, it would not matter if they just shut down some local antennas, then the cell-phone just connects to the next one (like if you are out in the wilderness, or where-ever, the phone will just search for a signal as far as it could possibly reach).

Could there have been some sort of "miniature-HAARP"-manoeuver? Like placing an electronic lid over that square? Anyone heard of anything like this happening before?

Fishing for an qualified guess at least.





Keep the flame burning.

My guess is that some kind of radio jammer could have been used

Wikipedia

Jammers block cell phone use by sending out radio waves along the same frequencies that cellular phones use. This causes enough interference with the communication of cell phones and the towers to render the phones unusable. On most retail phones, the network would simply appear out of range. Most cell phones use different bands to send and receive communications from towers. Thus jammers can work by either disrupting phone to tower frequencies or tower to phone frequencies. Smaller handheld models block all bands from 800MHz to 1900MHz within a 30 foot range. Small devices tend to use the former method, while larger more expensive models may interfere directly with the tower. The radius of cell phone jammers can range from a dozen feet for pocket models to kilometers for more dedicated units. The TRJ-89 jammer can block cellular communications for a 5-mile (8 km) radius. [1]

Older jammers sometimes were limited to working on phones using only analog or older digital mobile phone standards. Newer models such as the double and triple band jammers can block all widely used systems (AMPS, iDEN, GSM, et al) and are even very effective against newer phones which hop to different frequencies and systems when interfered with. As the dominant network technology and frequencies used for mobile phones vary worldwide, some work only in specific regions such as Europe or North America.

Here's a couple of wanna-be hackers playing with one such device

Makes sense.

Thank you!

Very intresting device. I understand how it would interfere with the duplexing signal ..either to or from the towers.

What I want to see is a device which will shut down a car with a loud stereo..either by shutting off the car or burning out the finals on a stereo system. I tire of being assaulted by loud stereos at stop points on the roads. It would be great to have silence or at least some relief from this assault by others.

Thanks,
Orangetom

Most hospitals have at least one area where cell phone use is blocked. I don't know the specifics, but I don't think it's hard to do.

Originally posted by orangetom1999

Very intresting device. I understand how it would interfere with the duplexing signal ..either to or from the towers.

What I want to see is a device which will shut down a car with a loud stereo..either by shutting off the car or burning out the finals on a stereo system. I tire of being assaulted by loud stereos at stop points on the roads. It would be great to have silence or at least some relief from this assault by others.

Thanks,
Orangetom

Fo that matter i would use a directional microwave emitter(for example an altered microwave oven).
It would toast any electronic device by building up charge on the circuits.

These devices block cellphone use within a certain area. The police use cellphone jammers to prevent detained people from using cellphones. They often find ways to smuggle cellphones into jail. With these jammers in place, they can't call out. Also theatres and cinemas can find these devices useful. Ordinary people are not allowed to use these jammers without a special permission.


edit to add:
These devices have been around for many years. There are many different ones, but here's an example: GSM Jammer With White Noise Generator

[edit on 2007/4/30 by Hellmutt]

Cell Jammers are big business in the private sector now.

Many many hotels use them to force patrons to use the hotel phones rather than making calls on there mobiles. It is illegal in the UK for hotels to use these but they do.

Raud, I suspect that there is nothing sinister in what happened in St. Petersburg.

It would be really simple for your Militia to enter the phone system (transmitters) and demand for them to be switched off or even switch them off themselves. Nothing hitech or secret about that.

Your Militia, like so many police forces around the world, are equipped with Radios and not mobile phones. Hence why they worked.

So really my friend, you answered your own question. Well kind of.

Hey, hey, hey!
I'm sure as hell not russian! I'm just currently operating from here. But no offence taken, you couldn't possible know where I hail from (or can you?).

The militia here is something of it's own unique phenomenon. Something like 80% military, 20% sub-policemen, recruited from the core of the low-educated, low-class part of the population. Quite depressing to see acctually, but the russians have a long history of prefering quantity before quality.

I don't say it's anything secret or sinister about it, more like some sort of "dirty trick" that I just wanted to gain more knowledge about. And now when I've got all these nice answers, I redefine my question as pretty stupid.

What is more sinister though is what is happening over here. You guys complain about the way the U.S. goverment is acting...puh! You should see this place! Ay caramba!

Peace.

Why cell phone jammer is illegal in some countries? How about wifi signal jammer? Illegal too?

zeetroyman
Cell Jammers are big business in the private sector now.

Many many hotels use them to force patrons to use the hotel phones rather than making calls on there mobiles. It is illegal in the UK for hotels to use these but they do.

Don't forget prisons, which are implementing them widely now too (although many claim the contrary). They're big with the military, but civilian use is still a bit +/- depending on the country. The signal jammer website has a lot of information about their uses.