Road pricing scuppered by car cloaking

[sleep envy]

read in this morning's rag that the Govt's plan to introduce road pricing could be scuppered by a car cloaking device which blocks GPS signals

it's a small box with 3 aerials and when pluged into the cigarette lighter shows the car being as stationary - apparently if you are found with one of these devices you could face up to a 2 stretch, what for I am unsure of seeing as at present it can't be used for much other than blocking Trackers

has anyone heard of such a device or who makes them?

[Plotloss]

You can get GSM blockers in Europe bet they're just an extension of this.

[sleep envy]

will it block GPS?

how many euros would such a device cost?

[cptsideways]

A simple device, put your GPS unit next to an eleccy substation & it does the same thing


There was a system in Germany that blocked sveral hundered square KM at any one time too


For every poke the government give there will be a stick to bash them with

[djohnson]

Simply wiring the GPS to a handy street light would achieve the same.

[sleep envy]

djohnson said:

Simply wiring the GPS to a handy street light would achieve the same.

pretty handy seeing as it will be fitted to the car...

[Plotloss]

sleep envy said:

will it block GPS?

how many euros would such a device cost?

GSM blockers are cheap, about £20

I've just read the article on AutoExpress and I'm not sure about it.

GPS is a one way system, the machine works out where it is from satellite data, its not like the satellites are up there recording our movements.

The boxes themselves report where they are via GSM, which is what leads me to believe its a straight GSM blocker.

[DannyR]

Possibly thieves are using them to block trackers on high end cars? Get the car into a truck with one of these in and it might be on a boat before tracker knows its moved, how it all ties in with an alarm going off and possibly alerting tracker i dont know....just musing.

A prison sentence for a non violent traffic offense......im glad i was sitting down for that

[sleep envy]

Plotloss said:

The boxes themselves report where they are via GSM, which is what leads me to believe its a straight GSM blocker.

are they legal to own?

[Plotloss]

sleep envy said:

Plotloss said:

The boxes themselves report where they are via GSM, which is what leads me to believe its a straight GSM blocker.

are they legal to own?

I think its one of those legal anachronisms that they are legal to own in the UK but not to use.

Its illegal to sell them.

But who would know?

[sleep envy]

very interesting...

[Plotloss]

Handy for cinemas too.

[sleep envy]

does it run on AAA?

[plasticpig]

Plotloss said:

sleep envy said:

will it block GPS?

how many euros would such a device cost?

GSM blockers are cheap, about £20

I've just read the article on AutoExpress and I'm not sure about it.

GPS is a one way system, the machine works out where it is from satellite data, its not like the satellites are up there recording our movements.

The boxes themselves report where they are via GSM, which is what leads me to believe its a straight GSM blocker.

I have a GSM blocker and it works within a 30ft radius. I have never seen a commercialy available GPS blocker but there is lots of stuff on the internet about a cigarette lighter powered one (due for release soon). Neither are particularly complex devices they just create random noise on the frequencies used by GSM or GPS.

[Apache]

Plotloss said:

You can get GSM blockers in Europe bet they're just an extension of this.

That's not good news for the rail operators as GSM seems to be the way forward for track signalling. Sit up front, switch on your blocker and all of a sudden 350 tons of train travelling at 120mph suddenly vanishes

[Conian]

Apache said:

Plotloss said:

You can get GSM blockers in Europe bet they're just an extension of this.

That's not good news for the rail operators as GSM seems to be the way forward for track signalling. Sit up front, switch on your blocker and all of a sudden 350 tons of train travelling at 120mph suddenly vanishes

So THATS how David Copperfield did it?
Now if only I could work out how he got to shag that Elle MacPherson for so long? (was it her or some other clothes horse?)

[plasticpig]

Apache said:

Plotloss said:

You can get GSM blockers in Europe bet they're just an extension of this.

That's not good news for the rail operators as GSM seems to be the way forward for track signalling. Sit up front, switch on your blocker and all of a sudden 350 tons of train travelling at 120mph suddenly vanishes

Better not use mine anymore then. I used to use it to shut up obnoxius fuers who insisted on using their mobiles in the quiet carriage or the ones who insisted on broadcasting a loud as voice as possible that they are the most important tw*t in the world.

[Apache]

plasticpig said:

Apache said:

Plotloss said:

You can get GSM blockers in Europe bet they're just an extension of this.

That's not good news for the rail operators as GSM seems to be the way forward for track signalling. Sit up front, switch on your blocker and all of a sudden 350 tons of train travelling at 120mph suddenly vanishes

Better not use mine anymore then. I used to use it to shut up obnoxius fuers who insisted on using their mobiles in the quiet carriage or the ones who insisted on broadcasting a loud as voice as possible that they are the most important tw*t in the world.

if you've ever been stuck outside Paddington because the doors won't work, you could be right

[Don]

A quick Google search finds products for sale for a few hundred quid that jam both GPS (positioning) and GSM (signallying) frequencies. In fact I found one that runs of the cigarette lighter socket "for in-car use only to stop GPS/GSM tracking systems".

I can see why using one of these would be highly illegal. That's a car theif's guarantee against "Tracker" and the like. Just keep it switched on until you've found the unit...

Nasty.

I simply cannot see why you'd need to own one of those devices for any legal purpose. As for using it to scupper road pricing? Blimey - some silver foil will do that. Cheaper, easier and legal!

[mackie1]

I thought any pricing scheme would be done via ANPR cameras and not GPS devices.