Mobile 'phone stop

[Cornish Jack]

Any Ppruners operating regularly into Japan?
It seems that the clever chaps there have started to produce a small device which, when operated in proximity to a mobile 'phone, cuts off the signal - completely. Now, that particular bit of high 'tech would seem to represent a very good business opportunity :) It featured in a short broadcast item by Julian Pettifer on the 'Beeb'. Anyone know any more - particularly, where I can obtain one? The thought of being able to stop the ubiquitous blather brigade in mid flow seems too good to be true. :)

[G-INGER Roger]

Wonder what that does to your instruments......!

------------------
Just keep it Ginger!

[ExSimGuy]

Yes, they really do exist, and if anyone wants one then email me and I'll dig out the brochure for the company (from SIN if I remember correctly) that had them at the recent Bahrein security exhibition.

But, as G-Inger suggests, they work by jamming the mobile bands with their own transmissions. Great idea for aircraft use - not :)

------------------
What goes around . . .
. . often lands better!

[Cornish Jack]

Many thanks ESG
Will send you my e-mail address. It sounds fascinating - my interest was generated more by the technology than anything else. Perhaps my near 50 years in the industry would have stopped me considering their use in aircraft !! :) :) The prime mover was the constant exposure to the increasingly prevalent blabbermouths who appear unable to exist without broadcasting their inane drivel to the passing world. A pocket borne device to stop their rabbiting appeals to my Victor Meldrew side !! :)

[Sensible]

Brilliant idea, do they work in restaurants too? :)

[The Nr Fairy]

If they work, they'll work anywhere, except in an environment where RF is shielded, but they're rare in the outdoors world.

The only caveat is that in the UK the Telecommunications Act makes it illegal to block transmissions without lawful authority, so if you're caught . . .

However, being able to have a definitively mobile phone free carriage on the train is a definite positive factor . . .

[FreshPrinceofBA]

I've read about it somewhere I think Sony make them.

Matt

[ExSimGuy]

I have received a couple of emails on the subject, so I'll post info here.

The first one of these units I saw was Far-East made, at an exhibition on Bahrein, but I can't find the company now. However, there's a company in Manchester (UK) who make a range of these and, yes, it will keep you "mobile free" in a restaurant :)

http://www.sesp.co.uk/21.htm

The "UK-compatible" version for "securing" a small area is under a hundred quid (until you add the 17% Victimise All Transactions tax :mad: )

But note NrFairy's comment - they are a radio jamming device and also a radio transmitter and as such come under the Radio Regulatory body.

Also consider that somebody in the vicinity may be a doctor or other emergency personnel (or air-crew on stand-by!) and the jammer is going to stop reception of any emergency call on the cell-phone ! ! !

edited to get my UBB codes right!

[This message has been edited by ExSimGuy (edited 10 March 2001).]

[Sensible]

Just a thought, mobile phones transmit on different frequencies, there's the 900 & 1800 bands in the UK and 1900 in the USA. The chances are that you would need three different jammers to ensure peace wherever you went.

[ExSimGuy]

A Sensible comment!!

Yes, check out the web site I posted above, the "UK unit" blocks both 900 and 1800MHz, other units are available for USA bands and Far East bands etc.

But I'd like to re-iterate the bit about responsible use. If you install one in a meeting room, or a church, or your own office, you need to make sure that everyone entering realises that their phone is not going to work.

If you are sitting in a restaurant and switch on this litle "pocket device", there is a doctor on call on the next table one side, and a flight crew member on standby on the other side. These are not the "mobile phone pests" that chat all the time but they need their phones, and may not realise you have just blocked out the local hospital and their crewing department!

I really like my UK mobile phone - I live in the Middle East and it costs somebody here about one pound-fifty to call me - it NEVER rings unless it's a real emergency :)

------------------
What goes around . . .
. . often lands better!

[Sensible]

ExSimGuy, I hadn't seen your posting before writing my post - yours was posted whilst I was writing mine!!

Useful little device, not sure if any well balanced person would actually go buy one though!

[Cornish Jack]

ESG
Again thanks for the e-mail. Now have the details and they are as you gave them, One point, by the way, apart from the OBVIOUS no use in aircraft caveat, it's worth noting for the argument re restaurants/trains etc that they DO NOT affect pagers. Any medic or Emergency service personnel out and about SHOULD be on a pager, NOT relying on a mobile 'phone for contact. Anything which can reduce the ever increasing, and generally unnecessary, babble in public has to be a good thing. Its now just a question of whether my IQ (irritation quotient) has reached the £100.00 level !! :)

[Pdub]

I'm not sure exactly how these jammers work, but I would think there are two options on how you go about it.

1. Output a strong signal on the appropiate bands, thus blanking out any reception. Advantages would be that it would be relatively straightforward to produce, but it would consume a comparitively large amount of power, and would be prone to causing interferance in unrelated systems (ie aircraft sysems)

2. Output a weak signal more closely targeted to the frequency the mobiles operate on, to insert a pulse into the "handshake" between mobiles and the base station. This signal would only need to as weak as the signal recieved on the aircraft from existing mobile base stations. You would therefore have no problems for the avionics on board as the signal would be so weak.

If you have call waiting on your phone line with internet access you will have seen the effects of this, the call waiting "tone" stops the connection dead, as the computers cannot establish reliable connection, as your computer is reporting recieving a piece of data that was not sent, eventually this results in a dropped connection, then your phone rings :rolleyes:


The futre for aircraft if mobiles become a larger problem would be something on the lines of the second system, unfortunatley it doesn't stop the phones interfering with avionics, as mobiles will tend to increase their output when faced with a weak / unreliable signal (ever noticed how the battery doesn't last as long where you have a weak signal). But what it would do is discourage passengers from trying to use their mobiles at all, as they would not work.

[eeper]

I was just wondering if there is a device that, rather than blocking mobile phone signals, actually sets the mobile phone ringing.

You could install these in departure lounges or on the jetty as a reminder to people who forget to turn their phones off.

Prevention is the best from of cure...

[solari]

ExSimGuy
Fantastic!!!!
Now, while we're at it, do you by any chance know of a device to disable the (curiously named) "personal" CD/cassette players which inconsiderate morons blast out at full volume regardless of the effect on people around them?
I have in mind something a little more subtle than a pair of scissors! ;)

[ExSimGuy]

. . . sorry Solaris, I would have suggested a .45 Magnum http://www.pprune.org/ubb/NonCGI/eek.gif