is it legal for someone to have a drone jammer.

[one-eyed hobo]

i just googled drone jammers and jammers4u popped up. Totally selling jammers for private use. I read the first page and saw nothing about them being illegal..

I can't say with respect to these sites, if they are in the US or not, but my guess is they are not.

 

[chadrob30]

The jammers are being sold out of Taiwan. Not sure they are covered by any kind of US law until a US customer uses one.

 

[dji-buraq]

The messed up thing is this guy is a friend. I have no idea why he is doing this. It will be a no fun conversation for sure. I wanted to make sure it was illegal before I said anything. How much would it suck for some kid (or guy) to put down a big chunk of change on a drone and then have it drop out of the sky because somebody had a jammer. I wonder how many people that post their drone "dropping" are actually getting hit by jammers. It's easy to find a site to buy them, just google drone jammer. Messed up.

Maybe engage with his son who has a Mavic and fly with him, give tips and be helpful. Then he might reconsider. Put out fire with water, no play with fire with fire.

 

[Rich B]

Hello, sorry to have abandoned this post. I have read everything thats been going on and i was pleased to see so many people passionate about this subject. I did talk briefly to my friend. He has one. I explained to him all the trouble he could get into and he let me know why he purchased one. I mentioned he is in a beautiful subdivision and they have an incredible house. he has been having an extended argument with another neighbor in the subdivision that has a drone. The other guy has repeatedly flown his drone right up to his house. Front door, back door up the driveway. After the last argument he decided to get the jammer. There is alot of space at lease 200 to 300 feet in between his house and his neighbors. His jammer is not interfering with anyone else stuff. He is so mad at the other guy he felt this was his best bet. We don't agree, and i told him of the possible consequences. i have done all I am willing to do. I won't be commenting on this one anymore. Again thanks for all of your responses. i love my p4. Happy flying.

 

[Fester]

To the "Civilian" market, I wouldn't think so, but to other "Agencies", I have an unpleasant surprise for you. My posting on this related subject can be found on the Post Can the FAA track your drone and match to you?

 

[CharlieU]

I have a guy that lives about 1/2 a mile away. There is a huge wetlands directly behind his house. It is a very fun place to fly and do range checks. He recently purchased and is using a drone jammer. I asked him why he is using it and he says he dosent want any spying on his ****. I respect his privacy but the jammer extends way beyond his property. I am worried that my drone would land in the middle of the wetlands. Funny thing is he just bought his son a mavic. He says he unplugs it when his son is using his drone. I think thats kind of messed up.
What's your opinion?

Did you see the jammer or is he just messing with your mind.

 

[pomonabill220]

Hello, sorry to have abandoned this post. I have read everything thats been going on and i was pleased to see so many people passionate about this subject. I did talk briefly to my friend. He has one. I explained to him all the trouble he could get into and he let me know why he purchased one. I mentioned he is in a beautiful subdivision and they have an incredible house. he has been having an extended argument with another neighbor in the subdivision that has a drone. The other guy has repeatedly flown his drone right up to his house. Front door, back door up the driveway. After the last argument he decided to get the jammer. There is alot of space at lease 200 to 300 feet in between his house and his neighbors. His jammer is not interfering with anyone else stuff. He is so mad at the other guy he felt this was his best bet. We don't agree, and i told him of the possible consequences. i have done all I am willing to do. I won't be commenting on this one anymore. Again thanks for all of your responses. i love my p4. Happy flying.

Well you did try at least to talk some sense into him. Hopefully he will think about it a little more.
Rather than try and randomly jam all signals, he should take pictures of the offending quad and report it to LE and the FAA, since he know where the offender lives.
Ya can't beat a dead horse!

 

[ScottJD]

Hello, sorry to have abandoned this post. I have read everything thats been going on and i was pleased to see so many people passionate about this subject. I did talk briefly to my friend. He has one. I explained to him all the trouble he could get into and he let me know why he purchased one. I mentioned he is in a beautiful subdivision and they have an incredible house. he has been having an extended argument with another neighbor in the subdivision that has a drone. The other guy has repeatedly flown his drone right up to his house. Front door, back door up the driveway. After the last argument he decided to get the jammer. There is alot of space at lease 200 to 300 feet in between his house and his neighbors. His jammer is not interfering with anyone else stuff. He is so mad at the other guy he felt this was his best bet. We don't agree, and i told him of the possible consequences. i have done all I am willing to do. I won't be commenting on this one anymore. Again thanks for all of your responses. i love my p4. Happy flying.

I know you said you want be responding anymore, but you may still get this in an email.
My suggestion is that the neighbor take a rope, hose, sheet and knock the drone down if the pilot of flying that close to his house. Then call the cops. It pilots like this that give us all a bad reputation with the public.
If the owner asks for the drone back, he should give it back or it could be grand theft because of how much some of the drones cost, but tell him to remove the SD card first for evidence. The cost of an SD card might be theft also, but I'm sure a judge will agree that you neighbor is just taking back the video of his house, maybe inside his house that the operator didn't have permission to record. SD cards are cheap also, he could copy it and still give it back, maybe delete the video on the operators SD card first but that could be destroying evidence depending on local laws.

Either way the operator is basically a modern day peeping Tom, or stalker. He can push for the local PD to file charges in those lines. It might set a new president for your area but won't affect people that fly responsibly anyway.

As for the distance the jammer affects that is debatable, I used to set up wifi for a world wide company and one task to romensire our signals didn't exit the buildings to be hacked or sniffed. Special window coating helps with this task, but you would be surprised how far his signal probably is travleing. Just because your signal from your controller is stronger doesn't not mean this isn't interfering with other things, devices, medical stuff. Other things that transmit low power unlike your controller.
Let's say the jammer signal doesn't go past the property line, what about guests, the mailman, the gas meter reader, the ups driver delivering a package. You get the point, he still not thinking about everyone that would come on his property that it could affect with a medical device, even a laced maker in some cases.

I would urge him to call the local PD to handle this, seems he knows who the pilot is. They might only issue a warning, but once the warning is broke then they can fine him and the PD has the permission to report to the FAA for further investigation and action to be taken.

 

[alexytony]

I tried to search for drone jammers and perfectjammer, in addition to the disruptions used by government agencies, civil disrupters have also been found. I read the introduction carefully and found that I did not write it illegally.
Honestly, I hate double standards. Maybe his son's aircraft is not simple.
However, I respect his privacy, but the premise that he can control the scope of interference, does not affect others.

 

[wa5tef]

From my knowledge as being a Ham Radio Operator, it is illegal for anyone to "jam" a public frequency. The public frequency could be further defined as the wifi frequencies we use to fly our drones along with other wifi in house networks. I'd say no to your question though there may be situations where different areas of the country could allow "jamming" of cell phones and such disturbances to prevent interference to other patrons, as in a restaurant or other public establishment but I doubt it would be found legal if pursued through the court system. Normally jamming a frequency is determined as willful interference thus banned.

If someone was intentionally jamming a frequency of one drone, would the possibility not exist to also jam someone else on the same band/frequency?

Good question though, thanks for posting.
Jim
WA5TEF

 

[Providian623]

From my knowledge as being a Ham Radio Operator, it is illegal for anyone to "jam" a public frequency. The public frequency could be further defined as the wifi frequencies we use to fly our drones along with other wifi in house networks. I'd say no to your question though there may be situations where different areas of the country could allow "jamming" of cell phones and such disturbances to prevent interference to other patrons, as in a restaurant or other public establishment but I doubt it would be found legal if pursued through the court system. Normally jamming a frequency is determined as willful interference thus banned.

If someone was intentionally jamming a frequency of one drone, would the possibility not exist to also jam someone else on the same band/frequency?

Good question though, thanks for posting.
Jim
WA5TEF

Totally agree. However, as I understand it, there have been some restaurants, theaters, & other establishments, served notice of violation, by the FCC, for operating unlicensed jammers.

Greg
KC9WNZ

 

[wa5tef]

Interesting! I just realized how long this topic has been going on! From what all I've read, it seems that the two main people involved are "close" friends that should not even be on the same social level, with the other's fine house and arrangements! No matter how well off he may be, he still does not have the authority to jam someone's control frequency. Or for that matter, any other type of frequency. There are several other loose ends here that are not concluded, including the son's Mavic flying. The other neighbor and his antics are a totally separate topic, hopefully for some other forum. This one has seen enough of this one! My last suggestion would be to select a different friend, one or a more social level, and advise the former friend that appropriate reports will be filed with the FAA and the FCC if needed to stop the unlawful use of this supposed jammer. Seriously I doubt that this guy (neighbor) actually has one all things disclosed here. Anyway, this whole topic could have been handled quickly and without several pages of postings and readings and repostings. I think it is time to forget, fly a drone, and get along with life. If the issue appears again, then the aforementioned topics should be employed, immediately! No amount of friendship, or discussions with this "neighbor" will ever solve the dispute. So, fly and forget and if bothered, take action and find a new friend!

Also, in my 55 years of being a Ham Radio Operator, I have never encountered a situation where merely having a Ham License enabled someone to transmit a higher power through a 2.4 GHz signal than someone else who has no license! The type of license, or license or no license has no bearing on the transmitter power! Now in the ham bands, there are restrictions to the amount of power allowed for different classes of licenses, but not out in the unregulated frequencies, such as wifi, 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz. This type of information is what we get when so much of this information is not researched before comments about it are made.

Let's hope this topic dies quickly and does not return until better, unverified information is obtained, hopefully along with HD Video!

73,
Jim
WA5TEF

 

[Ravenbuck13]

It's simple, jamming is illegal in the US.
Regulations are put in place by the FCC for a reason to not conflict or cause issues with other wireless devices.
Wifi is limited to 1Watt, or 1000mW max. And no, your drone won't come home if GPS is jammed also, it will land in his yard and he will probably keep it so now it's grand theft for the cost of some drones. FAA makes it clear, he owns the property, not the airspace on the property.

He is not just affecting wifi, cordless phones, and several other things that use 2.4Ghz but also medical devices. He can kill someone, he would kill me!
A lot of drones use the ISM bands. (industrial, scientific and medical radio bands that are radio bands reserved internationally for the use of radio frequency (RF) energy for industrial, scientific and medical purposes)
My CGM (constant glucose monitor) operators on this ISM band in the 2.4Ghz frequencies. This is my life line to know my sugar level as a insulin dependent type 1 diabetic. Last month I had to wear a heart monitor known as a holter monitor that also operates on these frequencies and was reporting live data to a monitoring company tha would dispatch emergency help if they detected something wrong. It reported this data to the monitoring company over my wifi internet also, or Bluetooth to my cell phone (all that would be affected by this jammer)
My insulin pump uses Bluetooth to communicate to a central box and send messages to my doctors, family, friends and even emergency medical response if needed if the data between my CGM and pump, and or holter monitor picked up a pattern showing I was in distress. If any of these frequencies were jammed from a neighbor pushing 20 watts on these channels he could have killed me. I might not have noticed my sugar spiked over night because the alarms didn't go off to wake me if it was jammed, and then slipped into a coma.

I'm not over exaggerating this, this is affecting more then he realizes and not just drones. He can not stop the power of this unit from leaving just his property and it does and will affect other homes or people on the area. This is a ignorant selfish blatant disregard to thinking about how he is affecting anyone else. A risk to people's health, interfering with people's internet, and even TV, blocking radars for tornadoe warning alerts.Some Drone Defence jammer Guns are being made that are not for public sales, but these are using directional antennas and not just a wide net broadcast like the jammer you are claiming your neighbor has. Things that just broadcast like this are much more dangerous to everyone else then something you can control the direction of the frequencies and point at a drone that might be invading military slace like the 133 locations the FAA just ruled on that will soon be illegal to fly around in the US starting on April 14th.

All newer cell phones have a emergency broadcast system alert built into it. It uses GPS to determine if you are in a location that is affected and alerts you of the emergency. Two weeks ago our phone went off 4 minutes before the sirens did to take shelter In the basement. If he blocked GPS then my alert on our phones wouldn't have gone off.

Did you know that most drone operators are already breaking the law and they don't even know it. Almost all FPV transmits higher then the allowed power and is in channels that require a HAM radio license in the US. So these 250mW, 600mW and higher FatShark FPV transmitters are illegal in the US to operate unless you have a ham radio license. But no one will tell you this because they want to sell them. And some are illegal even if you have a license because they are over powered. More power is not the answer to cleaner video when flying with multiple people. This needs to go digital like cordless phones did back in the day.

In addition, the frequencies this guy is jamming is not just over the max transmition legal limits, but also affecting a lot more then just drones. Not to mention because of the power he is pushing and it's probably not a clean signal so the harmonics of these frequencies are probably affecting a lot of other channels outside of what the jammer claims.

In a suburb area people would be complaining about loosing internet, or TV boxes not working. Hours of tech and man power would be waisted with troubleshooting trying to figure out why these devices are failing. I would have been sending my $6,000 insulin pump in for another, and same with the CGM and these items are over night shipping just to find out I would have the same problem while my health is spiraling out of control and probably would end up in the emergency room, slipped into a coma or worse and could suffer a heart attack. If I found out this was all from a neighbors paranoia and frequency jammer I wouldn't only be reporting him to the FCC, I would inform all the companies that he caused problems with, called the police, and then start a lawsuit on him in the end to recover any medical costs. But it doesn't matter, one day out of minor control takes one week off my life and I wouldn't get that back. If it caused a hypo-glycemic low then permanent damage is done to my organs and I can't get that back either.

He needs to be reported before someone dies, friend/neighbor or not, it doesn't matter. Or maybe you need to explain this all to him before something does happen and a life is lost and he is charged with involuntary manslaughter and get him to destroy that unit!

The only reason electronic companies are using these frequencies is becuase they don't have to pay for a license or pay for the frequencies, it's just to save a dollar. I personally think all drones and FPV need moved to another frequency that's not already overcrowded and then they can use more power if needed also. If all manufactures get together to buy a band for flying only then they can share the cost and have better flying drones with better signals and control. But that's a whole different topic I guess.

Example of additional wifi restrictions on 5Ghz AC:
Wireless AC has frequencies available in the US that most routers won't use because of additional restrictions. The router needs to know if its near a radar station or be able to detect if something else is on that channel, of something is then it has to be able to switch the transmitter and host in under a second to an alternate channel. This is to prevent radars interfearance, not just limitations radars but weather radars like Doppler radars for weather and emergency weather alerts that save lives from tornadoes. The only devices I've seen able to do this is wireless cable boxes.

P.S. Version 1 firmware on the Mavic Pro killed my 2.4Ghz wifi. They had a fast release for a new firmware version and claimed it was to improve signals. I think the truth is they released the first version putting out to much power by mistake.

Also my neighbor gave me two radios he bought because he didn't know how to program them. They can transmit on the emergency broadcast channels and many others they shouldn't be allowed to. I programmed them so he could listen only on those frequencies.
But manufacturers in China don't care and don't need to follow US laws and will still sell them to you for cheap. That doesn't mean they are safe to use. During the last tornado we had Columbus emergency weather take over the Ohio repeater network. At one point we lost the radar for a few minutes and all we had was people with radios to report the locations of these storms. During this time some kids keying up and clowning around on the repeater network because they probably bought one of those cheap radios.
I don't have my HAM but I listen because it's a faster way to get updates then the guy on TV and more accurate when the radar fails.

What do I do then when you have sick retards who does not go by any laws and films you constantly and hurts you with whatever kind of frigging lights on that **** thing for two years?
I think it is a DJ4 but not sure. They have the little bastards thst track me.

 

[Skybear I]

my opinion? this dude isn't being reasonable. Take the friendly approach as fore-mentioned. Side story; I live and fly on a farm and heard some locals talking about shooting mine down with a shotgun. it's only a felony charge to shoot an aircraft UAS or otherwise. he's in the same category.

 

[Lefterim]

Jammers are designed to disrupt a drone by blasting electromagnetic noise at radio frequencies that drones operate and transmit video at, and at a power level high enough to drown out any effective communication between the drone and its pilot. Generally, this is either 2.4Ghz or 5.8Ghz (“RF-jamming”), which are “non-assigned” public frequencies meaning that drone jammers will not interfere with manned aircraft, cell phones, public broadcasts, or other dedicated radio bands. In addition to RF-jamming, where legal for the customer (which depending on the jurisdiction, may include military, law enforcement, first responders and private users), GPS jamming may also be utilized, as a large number of drones rely on GPS either to balance against wind, or to go between pre-determined way-points.

 

[N017RW]

Jammers are designed to disrupt a drone by blasting electromagnetic noise at radio frequencies that drones operate and transmit video at, and at a power level high enough to drown out any effective communication between the drone and its pilot. Generally, this is either 2.4Ghz or 5.8Ghz (“RF-jamming”), which are “non-assigned” public frequencies meaning that drone jammers will not interfere with manned aircraft, cell phones, public broadcasts, or other dedicated radio bands. In addition to RF-jamming, where legal for the customer (which depending on the jurisdiction, may include military, law enforcement, first responders and private users), GPS jamming may also be utilized, as a large number of drones rely on GPS either to balance against wind, or to go between pre-determined way-points.

If you are referring to the USA...

You should read earlier and similar posts. You’re wrong on about 99% of what you wrote.

Please review the pertinent federal laws and stop posting such ignorance.