GPS Jamming North Scotland 4 Oct - 13 Oct

[Malo37]

since it the military that own it ,they can do what they want.

But its the taxpayer wot paid for it

 

[st599]

But its the taxpayer wot paid for it

The US taxpayer.

The GNSS system we paid for is called Galileo - and still doesn't work properly.

 

[vallie05]

The GPS jammer is a powerful device that is specially designed for blocking the GPS interception signal. It applies a code interference technology to disorder the Satellite signal and jam the Satellite tracking communication. So it has the ability to disable all kinds of GPS tracking devices for your security. It is important to note that this magic power will not interfere with the signal of mobile phone or other appliance. Compact and easy for carry, it uses a car power supply, plug and play. You can use external battery as power supply.

 

[Sandy]

The GPS jammer is a powerful device that is specially designed for blocking the GPS interception signal. It applies a code interference technology to disorder the Satellite signal and jam the Satellite tracking communication. So it has the ability to disable all kinds of GPS tracking devices for your security. It is important to note that this magic power will not interfere with the signal of mobile phone or other appliance. Compact and easy for carry, it uses a car power supply, plug and play. You can use external battery as power supply.

Somehow I can't see the need for the military to use these. Do I detect the rich smell of spam?

 

[Seajet]

During the 1st Gulf War, boat owners were intrigued to find that according to their GPS, they were at 35,000 feet doing 500 knots.

The U.S. later promised not to send spoof signals again and allowed public access to the more accurate location stuff, so what's going on here then ?

 

[maby]

Quite a few years ago, I was working with a team of GPS specialists from a major defence contractor. One night while I was with them, the television broadcast that James Bond movie which revolves around GPS jamming - was it "The World is Not Enough"?

I went into the office the next day chuckling about the plot and asked if anyone else had seen that stupid film the night before? The project manager laughed and remarked something along the lines of "Yes, silly wasn't it? All that complex electronics - you can fit our jammer into your pocket!"

 

[DaveS]

The GPS jammer is a powerful device that is specially designed for blocking the GPS interception signal. It applies a code interference technology to disorder the Satellite signal and jam the Satellite tracking communication. So it has the ability to disable all kinds of GPS tracking devices for your security. It is important to note that this magic power will not interfere with the signal of mobile phone or other appliance. Compact and easy for carry, it uses a car power supply, plug and play. You can use external battery as power supply.

Certainly smells like spam. The English in the advert is terrible and the prices are in dollars. I presume the most likely customers for these gadgets would be car thieves.

 

[maby]

During the 1st Gulf War, boat owners were intrigued to find that according to their GPS, they were at 35,000 feet doing 500 knots.

The U.S. later promised not to send spoof signals again and allowed public access to the more accurate location stuff, so what's going on here then ?

According to my MOD friends, the story was actually the other way round. Prior to the first Gulf War, the Americans had "Selective Availability" turned on which meant that anyone using a non-military grade GPS receiver saw a significant error in the accuracy of the fix. The trouble was that, although all the US forces had military grade gear that could remove the SA error, most of their allies didn't, and they were not willing to give out the military grade gear across the board. This meant that, in the early days of the war, whenever they were mounting an attack that included help from allied forces, they had to temporarily switch off Selective Availability - and the Iraqis soon cottened onto this. All they had to do was sit with a cheap Garmin switched on, looking at the reported location and comparing it with the map - as soon as it became accurate, they knew they were about to be attacked. Shortly afterwards they turned off SA.

 

[Sandy]

Certainly smells like spam. The English in the advert is terrible and the prices are in dollars. I presume the most likely customers for these gadgets would be car thieves.

And they have only one post!

 

[Hoolie]

Certainly smells like spam. The English in the advert is terrible and the prices are in dollars. I presume the most likely customers for these gadgets would be car thieves.

Probably is spam as the "code interference technology" is rubbish.
At the risk of being apprehended by the authorities; GPS uses a type of spread spectrum technology and the most effective jamming waveform is a single frequency CW signal.
Now spoofing is a different issue altogether and is likely to be what the above trials are about.

 

[maby]

Probably is spam as the "code interference technology" is rubbish.
At the risk of being apprehended by the authorities; GPS uses a type of spread spectrum technology and the most effective jamming waveform is a single frequency CW signal.
Now spoofing is a different issue altogether and is likely to be what the above trials are about.

Indeed - the GPS signal is extremely weak and it's easy to completely disable the receiver. Spoofing (as in the plot of the James Bond movie) is far harder...

 

[AntarcticPilot]

According to my MOD friends, the story was actually the other way round. Prior to the first Gulf War, the Americans had "Selective Availability" turned on which meant that anyone using a non-military grade GPS receiver saw a significant error in the accuracy of the fix. The trouble was that, although all the US forces had military grade gear that could remove the SA error, most of their allies didn't, and they were not willing to give out the military grade gear across the board. This meant that, in the early days of the war, whenever they were mounting an attack that included help from allied forces, they had to temporarily switch off Selective Availability - and the Iraqis soon cottened onto this. All they had to do was sit with a cheap Garmin switched on, looking at the reported location and comparing it with the map - as soon as it became accurate, they knew they were about to be attacked. Shortly afterwards they turned off SA.

That's close!

The situation is that in GW1, the American military had military GPS units that were accurate in the presence of the Selective Availability being switched on (MGRS, I think). At that time, normal consumer GPS kit had a nominal accuracy of 100m and the nature of the introduced errors were such that it couldn't be filtered to get a more accurate answer - to get a more precise position required very careful sampling and averaging of the location over many hours, or application of differential techniques which at that time weren't broadcast. However, GW1 came along, and suddenly vast numbers of troops - mainly American - found out how useful GPS was when navigating or pointing guns in a featureless desert. But there weren't enough military GPS units available to give one to every GI, much less every Tommy! But there were plenty of non-military units. And Saddam's troops didn't have GPS. So, there was suddenly a military reason for GPS to operate at its nominal accuracy even with non-military kit, so SA was switched off. This proved so useful that Bill Clinton subsequently decided that SA was more of a problem than a solution, so SA was switched off permanently (it did come back for a while after GW1).

SA could, in theory, be switched back on, and I THINK there is a capability to do that on a regional basis. Politically, I doubt that could be done, and of course with the vast improvement in processing power since the 1980s, it is likely that the encryption for the military signal could be overcome in short order anyway. So, SA is basically pretty much obsolete. But GPS is trivially easy to jam, so the military have to be able to operate in the face of GPS jamming.

 

[st599]

Certainly smells like spam. The English in the advert is terrible and the prices are in dollars. I presume the most likely customers for these gadgets would be car thieves.

Nope. US Truckers - it prevents their GPS tachy recording that they've illegally worked too long.

 

[Lucky Duck]

Now suspended

Reportedly following complaints from Fisherman further jamming has been suspended http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-15242835

Apparently is also jammed thier TV reception

 

[Clyde_Wanderer]

Would it not make more sense for the mod to notify us through this forum and notices to mariners sites and have the coastgaurd broadcast it from a few days beforehand along with the weather forecasts
C_W

 

[maby]

Reportedly following complaints from Fisherman further jamming has been suspended...

Apparently is also jammed thier TV reception

Hmmm, surprised by that - the frequencies used are pretty far apart...

 

[electrosys]

What happens if there's a real emergency at sea during the exercise ?
Is it 'tough titty', or is there a procedure for the Coastguard to require the jamming to be suspended while the emergency is dealt with ?

 

[drog1110]

There are devices available that block the GPS tracking capability of the phone or vehicle. I saw several listings when doing a search but one that looked to have the most information was gps jammer . They have the devices, a demo video, and even an article on how the device works.

 

[Lady Campanula]

There are devices available that block the GPS tracking capability of the phone or vehicle. I saw several listings when doing a search but one that looked to have the most information was gps jammer . They have the devices, a demo video, and even an article on how the device works.

It is illegal to operate such devices within the UK. OfCom take very seriously the disruption and real risk-to-life such could engender in the hands of criminals and terrorists, and have a well-resourced small police force engaged in 'prevention'.

Section 1.(2).e of the Terrorism Act applies specifically

A fairly detailed presentation on all this was given a few years ago to the local branch of the RIN at QinetiQ Boscombe Down ( once RAF ), where the membership is mostly defence-related engineers and aerospace boffins.

 

[DaveS]

There are devices available that block the GPS tracking capability of the phone or vehicle. I saw several listings when doing a search but one that looked to have the most information was gps jammer . They have the devices, a demo video, and even an article on how the device works.

Another new user, first post, referring to the same link... The smell of spam becomes stronger...

Both reported.