Would that be legal?

[Milly]

New technology could blast drones out of the sky

Three UK company's have developed a system to jam your drone and render it useless!

 

[Ehsan]

New technology could blast drones out of the sky

Three UK company's have developed a system to jam your drone and render it useless!

I highly doubt that would be legal. Imagine them blasting drones out of the sky, only to land on the people below. That wouldn't work out well for anyone.

 

[RoyVa]

Not legal by any means. They just can't do that without justification and legally having authority.

 

[RF Guy]

I saw it... and anybody can build it for about $300. No big whup. In fact, most of the parts are available on Ebay. The receivers in a Phantom don't have any ability to resist being swamped by a large analog noise signal. Easiest way would be to buy a 5 band GSM/CDMA/GPS/WIFI jammer from China (available all over the net) and a 1 watt broadband amp ($50 Ebay). Then build three helical antennas (like the UK jammer) from dowels and wire (Lowes)...and I'll bet a Phantom would stop working - if hit from a range of within about 2 miles. I'd give the links, but that would make it too easy! Dam!

 

[Milly]

If my drone fell out of the sky, how would I know if was by "hook or by crook"/

 

[Milly]

I saw it... and anybody can build it for about $300. No big whup. In fact, most of the parts are available on Ebay. The receivers in a Phantom don't have any ability to resist being swamped by a large analog noise signal. Easiest way would be to buy a 5 band GSM/CDMA/GPS/WIFI jammer from China (available all over the net) and a 1 watt broadband amp ($50 Ebay). Then build three helical antennas (like the UK jammer) from dowels and wire (Lowes)...and I'll bet a Phantom would stop working - if hit from a range of within about 2 miles. I'd give the links, but that would make it too easy! Dam!

That's written in English, but to a simple person like me that just wants his drone to go up, take a few pictures and come down again, it may have as well been in Chinese, but I appreciate your input RFguy.

 

[Ehsan]

If my drone fell out of the sky, how would I know if was by "hook or by crook"/

You know, that's actually a great question. I've been flying my fixed wing planes in the same area for about 10 years. About 2 years ago, I started getting a lock between the Tx and the Rx... and since I've lost every single plane I've flown in that area. Needless to say, I don't fly there anymore. I first tried changing the Rx, and got the same results. Then I changed the Tx, and same old results again. I'm pretty sure someone is jamming my signals... but I have no way to prove that.

 

[Fyod]

Not only would they be jamming the Phantom Rx/Tx, but also a ton of other signals in the area. In most countries, this is highly illegal activity due to the inability to contact emergency services and/or jamming emergency frequencies.

 

[RF Guy]

Yup, Jamming is illegal and takes effort. Unless you have a real crackpot hacker hellbent on zapping RC planes...it is more likely a big legal signal is coming through that area. One way to "See" exactly what is happening is to use a SDR receiver. A Software Defined Radio digitizes a huge amount of radio spectrum and delivers it to your PC. The PC then does all the decoding and display of the signals in real time. The SDRplay is about $150 and covers up to 2ghz. There are LOTS of sources in that range that could cause trouble. Then there is just a RF field strength meter. People use these to sniff bugs. The RF spectrum is VERY congested these days. Generally, the further from people you are, the lower all RF is. Stay away from radio towers!