GPS jammers are not any more illegal than other jammers. There's nobody actively monitoring for or searching for jammers... the FCC has the ability to do that, but it's generally only deployed when a known problem is identified, ie somebody has to complain about it.

The small jammers in question only affect a small area, ie they'd be enough to keep a car from using GPS to locate itself but not enough to disrupt navigation in a significant area (start messing with air navigation, and that would get you some attention for sure).

But GPS jamming might not even be enough, a car with a cell-based on board system can locate itself via cell towers, although less precisely than GPS.

Thieves are using sophisticated technology, because that's the only way to actually steal modern cars in most cases. Jammers are not a stretch...

https://www.ksat.com/news/2019/03/12...teal-vehicles/

https://www.forbes.com/uk/advisor/ca...ess-car-crime/

Once they use tech to steal the car, they probably have to do something to keep it from phoning home with it's location.

 

Get caught using one, even a "personal" one, anywhere near an airport and find out what happens after they lock you up. Ever heard of something called a "GPS approach"?

That's wrong. EVERY AIRCRAFT in the sky (commercial or private) using required ADS-B is doing just that, by monitoring and reporting of GPS signal quality, and there are tools onlline to make the locations of the jamming signals by triangulation.

 

I'm a pilot for a US legacy airline, so yeah. I'm also retired military, with relevant experience in the actual use of actual jammers, and the mitigation thereof.

Those small jammers would not affect an aircraft, too far from the ground. Small personal jammers only jam GPS devices in near proximity to your person, so it would prevent your iphone or possibly the nav system in your car from knowing your location.

Unlike in the case of ground based radio navaids, a GPS jammer is not physically between the aircraft receiver and the satellites.


If you deployed a powerful jammer in near proximity to instrument approach paths and left it there, then yes that would get noticed. Like I said before. A small portable jammer, used intermittently in different locations will not get noticed.

 

This is pointless. I'm out, got better things to do.

 

What kind of payment arrangement do you have for your $5/mo SpeedTalk card? I'm leary of providing my bank account for auto-pay, or my SSN to activate a prepaid credit card. Do you have concerns around this?

 

I generated a phantom disposable CC number on PayPal. I also get cash back. I pay once a year and do not allow them to store any financial info.

 

I see. I would probably get a $60 disposable Visa Gift Card and just swap it out with a new one every year. Similar to your solution.

 

That will work just as well, but I am considering switching to a data-only sim card on my Google Fi account.