Mischief: theory and practice. Part One; Jamming

“Surrealism is destructive, but it destroys only what it considers to be shackles limiting our vision”

Salvador Dali

Mischief: ‘playfulness that is intended to tease, mock, or create trouble’ is an effective disruptive tactic. Use freely as a technique to reclaim your surroundings, neutralise the constant assault of the banal and eliminate unwanted messages from broadcasters, advertisers and corporations. In short mischief is an ongoing method of attrition, the low resolution cousin of direct action.

Mischief introduces doubt into a world of certainty, a playful way of introducing unexpected surrealism to the commonplace; a creative therapeutic act that confirms life and maintains sanity, civil disobedience in miniature, granular sabotage.

A Mischief Toolbox

Jamming

RX9000 Cell phone jammer

Phones in general are unpleasant devices and seem to generate a twitter like craving to be constantly ‘in touch’ . Induce phone withdrawal symptoms with this handy (but expensive and highly illegal) portable device. The RX9000 “Still a top performer in a class of its own and highly recommended” is a handheld mobile/cell phone jammer, which will disrupt any mobile phone signal from all global system within a 30metre radius. Perfect for public transport, office etc.

Personal cellphone jammer

This cheaper version is available here on Amazon.com – of all places. “Cellock-brand time-proven build quality and reliability – Creates enough interference to block all cell phone signals around you (GSM 930Mhz~960Mhz/CDMA 870Mhz~880Mhz/DCS 1805Mhz~1920Mhz) – Fully metal construction – creates a solid and techie feel – Creates a 0.5M ~ 15M (about 2 to 40 feet) radius of cell phone signal black out area – Built-in 1500mAh battery lasts 3 to 4 hours, also works and charges on AC and Car 12V power with including adaptors – Light (6oz) weight, fits-in-a-pocket size”

The TV; a notorious instrument of mass control, why not turn it off? The TV-B-Gone “Make every day a “TV-free” day!” will turn of pretty much every TV from a range of up to 150 ft. Great for annoying the family but especially useful in turning of advertising displays, street LCDs and so-on

TV jammer circuit board

Go one step further and help your neighbours de-programme by jamming their signal! Here is a guide to building your own TV Jammer or even better, here’s an ascii art circuit diagram:

Art Materials:

TTL Hex Inverter 7404 I.C.

14-pin Wire Wrap DIP I.C. Socket

Trimmer Capacitor, 3.5-20 picofarad

3′ of flexible wire (half of a lamp cord is fine)

2-3″ of stiff wire (with insulation)

9-volt battery

9-volt battery clip

Mercury tilt-switch

“As I recall, so long ago, when it seemed okay to play with radiation spewed upon us by ten thousand TV & radio transmitters, this device got a little warm — since it was made to work on 5 volts, and could burn out after several weeks of continuous operation.  But the I.C. only cost 50 cents, so no big deal.  You had to tune the capacitor (with your thumb nail) for each target-channel, and actual operating range was only about 30-40 feet — but that was spectacular enough.”

Similar techniques can be used to jam radio frequencies and WIFI signals. Here is a link to an ultra low cost DIY FM signal jammer that swamps out FM radios  with a 100Mhz signal; “…So yeah a crystal hooked up to a piece of wire will silence a radio for a surprisingly good distance, and through thick walls. The interesting thing is that although it is supposed to be a crystal accurate to 100.000etc Mhz it blanked out the entire FM band! Btw this is illegal to do so don’t do it. I didn’t.”

…or this device from Wave Bubble, a self-tuning, wide-bandwidth portable RF jammer disguised as a pack of fags will enforce radio silence within a 20 metre radius

Similarly WIFI and Bluetooth signals and wireless security cameras can also be blocked or disrupted. Among many products available online, The WBj01 is yet another portable small black box with an aerial that “…helps you cut off wifi bluetooth connections in defined working area and avoid leak out security data” within a 5metre range. Or consider the ‘High powered 4 watt video camera jammer’ a “professional high powered video camera jammer. It produces a powerful 4 watts of jamming power to disable just about all video cameras up to a distance of 70 metres and covers all frequencies between 900Mhz – 2.5Ghz. This device will jam the signal for any wireless video camera, wireless lans and bluetooth”

Coming soon: Part Two; Deconstruction

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Links

Part Two “Deconstruction”

Part Three “Work”

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Cell phone jammers: http://www.globalgadgetuk.com/rx9000.htm

http://www.cacophony.org/

hackers catalogue: http://www.hackerscatalog.com/Products/PlanPackage/CellularGPSJammers/Index.html

TV-B-Gone http://www.ladyada.net/make/tvbgone/

video jammers: http://www.spymodex.com/video.htm