"Bug" detection

[darin62a]

Hello All,

Occasionally, I am responsible for retaining someone to perform bug sweeps in our offices. I used a local Detective to perform the sweep. The Detective would do a thorough walk through our offices with a device that looked like a handheld scanner.

I assisted on the last sweep which was a couple of years ago and I can remember the manufactures name, but he had walk around the office waving the unit across the walls, floors, desks, bookcases, etc. The device was used like a metal detector, if a bug/transmitter was detected the device would emitted tones along with additional feedback on the display.

The Detective has retired and relocated out of the area.

I have seen some advertisements for devices that claim to detect bug (ie. Alinco DJ-X2000). What type of device is used for this process? Has anyone used these types of devices and if so make a recommendation?

Cheers,
Darin

 

[mancow]

It sounds like a near field receiver or a frequency counter.


I think to truely do it right they need to use a spectrum analyzer. The Avcom model 65 is advertised for this purpose.


mancow

 

[darin62a]

Oops, spotted a typo in original post. I meant to say "I can't remember the manufacturer's name".

 

[Voyager]

Oops, spotted a typo in original post. I meant to say "I can't remember the manufacturer's name".

Probably an Optoelectronics Scout. Don't use the Close Call or Signal Stalker festures on the newer scanners. So far, none of them cover the entire RF spectrum.

Joe M.

 

[darin62a]

Thanks for your help!

Man, that Avcom 65 sounds interesting. The cost is probably more than I can justifiy. My boss would probably recommend finding another "sweeper".

I see the Scout is advertised as covering 10Mhz to 1.4Ghz. Is that a wide enough RF spectrum coverage? Why to manufacturers, like Alinco, call out both frequency counter and bug detection as separate features in some of their products?

 

[frankh]

CHECK OUT WWW.TCSM.COM/BUGFREQ.HTML
CHEERS

 

[darin62a]

I get a 404 error when trying to access link. Is the listed domain correct?

 

[loumaag]

I get a 404 error when trying to access link. Is the listed domain correct?

This is one of the reasons people need to learn to preview their posts before you press Submit.

Additionally, the poster of that link should read this topic on Etiquette and the Forums.
Try this version of the link:
http://www.tscm.com/bugfreq.html

 

[darin62a]

I should have done a little more research before posting. I was able to transpose the the two characters to find the referenced page.

That page was quite helpful, thank you for the info.

I am beginning to wonder how effective the prior office sweeps were... I know nothing like the Avcom 65 was used.

 

[poltergeisty]

Holly crap (yes holly) LOL that detective did not know what he was doing. I would have referred you to this site as well. A real tscm specialist will have an excess of 40,000 dollars or more in radio gear. You think secret service uses a little black box when they protect and serve vip's...Hell no. They have our tax dollars. :lol: 8)

 

[AZScanner]

Holly crap (yes holly) LOL that detective did not know what he was doing. I would have referred you to this site as well. A real tscm specialist will have an excess of 40,000 dollars or more in radio gear. You think secret service uses a little black box when they protect and serve vip's...Hell no. They have our tax dollars. :lol: 8)

Not to mention that if I were to park out front of your office with a laser mic all the freq counters in the world would not detect it. There are numerous other ways too. Hire a professional sweeper. You'll be glad you did. There are some things you shouldn't trust to the do-it-yourself mentality.

-AZ

 

[flyingwolf]

Now I know everyone has heard of the laser mics and whatnot but has anyone ever used one.

You see you cannot just sit outside the building and expect to here the convo by hitting the widow.

There needs to be two tiny prisms embedded in the window for the laser mic to work.

Remember it relies on the laser hitting the glass at a hard angle and then reflcting back to the user of the laser. Now if you just point the laser at the window chances are you are not going to be at a perfect enough angle to get the reading back from it. This is the reason for the prisms. They allow you to hit at an angle and the two prisms will keep the beam from going off in another direction. Not to mention the amount of irregularities in the glass that will scatter the beam all to heck,

It really is more of an espionage pre-built item to work. Just to let you all know. It is extremly difficult to to just point and shoot those things.

We had to use them a few times but one of the easiest ways to thwart them is to use heavy drapes. They drown the sound out and muffle beyong recognition before it gets to the window.

An easier solution is social engineering. Just deliver the lunch and drop off a transmitter. After the initial sweep is done no one checks again after the luch guy drops off lunch.

I wont go into details but there are tried and true methods for espionage and the laser is really more of a "cool factor" than anything.

Thats just my 2 cents worth. Others may have other sides.

Oh and there is a website that offers a neat little "bug sweeper" for a good price. Never tried it but hey its an easy price if it works well enough.

http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=1017-N&cat=CON Not bad 20 bucks and its small. this site has somne great deals. Thanks to them I have a full camera setup in my house all hidden and a few visible but all able to be seen from my pc or tv in any room.