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GCN Home > 05/15/06 issue

First responders in a jam?

One vendor launches a challenge of FCC rules that keep cell-jamming equipment from state and local agencies

By William Jackson, GCN Staff

A Florida company that sells cellular-jamming equipment is challenging Federal Communications Commission rules prohibiting state and local governments from using the devices.

“We only market to the federal government, because that’s what the law allows,” said Howard Melamed, president of Cell- Antenna Corp. in Coral Springs.

But state and local police departments are also interested in the technology as a way to block the remote detonation of bombs and to control communications in sensitive areas. Unfortunately, the Federal Communications Act of 1934 and FCC rules make such jamming devices illegal except for feds. So CellAntenna in April filed suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, asking to have the law declared unconstitutional.

Melamed said he is all in favor of FCC enforcement for keeping cellular jammers out of the hands of the general public. But, he said, they are a legitimate tool for fighting terrorism that should be entrusted to the state and local police.

“If we trust them with bullets, I think we can trust them with jamming equipment,” he said.

FCC would not comment on the suit or on the rules excluding state and local agencies from the technology.

CellAntenna’s primary business is antennas and repeaters for boosting and extending cellular signals. But it also sells three products intended to block cellular signals. The CJAM 100 is a low-power, portable personal jamming device that blocks signals within a 15-meter radius, but is particularly effective at distances up to 12 feet. The CJAM 500 is an adjustable model with a range of up to 30 meters, intended to block signals in room-sized areas. The CJAM 1000 is a high-powered device that can block up to three microwave frequencies within a half-mile radius.

The devices block only the downlink from the cell site to the phone and do not interfere with the phone’s uplink. They are intended to prevent remote detonation of bombs, to block communications in hostage negotiations and raids, and to ensure against data leakage, the company says.

More news on related topics: Communications / Networks, IT Management, State & Local



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