Gadget Changes Red Lights To Green

[k4kyv]

A Longmont man has been ticketed $50 for suspicion of interfering with a traffic signal but says he really enjoyed using it.

Jason Niccum told The Longmont Times-Call that he bought a device, called an Opticon, on eBay for $100 that let him change traffic lights from red to green. He told the newspaper the device "paid for itself" in the two years he had it, helping him cut his time driving to work.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/8761620/detail.html

[Ed-VA3ES]

Our fire trucks  and ambulances use that all the time.

[W3SLK]

Some of the older traffic lights work off of changing you headlights from low-beam to hi-beam. These look like a big optical sensor on top of the traffic light, (kind of reminds me of the automatic low beam gadget that sat on the dashboards of 50's Cadillacs, but larger). The trick was knowing at what distance was optimum for proper actuation.

[K3ZS]

This is an Opticom produced by 3M.  A hacker internet site has schematics to build one for about $20 in parts.  It is just infrared LED's AM modulated at a low audio frequency.  Newer modules use a digital code modulation.  I once thought that it would be interesting to build one as it is used around here.  However, it is a federal crime now to even possess a device, so I wouldn't even think about it.

[k4kyv]

  However, it is a federal crime now to even possess a device, so I wouldn't even think about it.

Since when have "illegal possession" laws crept beyond controlled substances and automatic firearms, to include electronic devices?

[K3ZS]

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,68507,00.html?tw=rss.PRV

Here is an article on the web.  The federal law prohibits the use or sale except to "authorized government users".  Some states prohibit possession.   I guess it is like cell phone jammers.  They can be purchased in other countries to prevent cell phone use in places like concert halls, restaurants and secure government areas.  They are illegal to use and purchase here,  although many times I wish I had a portable jammer when in a restaurant around this area.  It seems that the local college girls just can't do without using them everywhere they go, but that is another topic..

[K3ZS]

Here is more info on the laws for the red light device and how to build one:

http://www.i-hacked.com/content/view/176/44/

[wavebourn]

I heard a man got a ticket after he by mistake hit several times far-beam switch instead of a sprincle switch to clean a windscreen. Police officer insisted he did that on purpose while the driver said he knew nothing about the way to switch the traffic light.

[W1RKW]

I could understand the prohibition if it were a radio transmitter as the FCC regulates RF energy but light energy I don't believe the FCC has juristiction to regulate.  Can you imagine all the light bulbs that would have part 15 stickers on them if they did regulate light. 

[wavebourn]

I could understand the prohibition if it were a radio transmitter as the FCC regulates RF energy but light energy I don't believe the FCC has juristiction to regulate.  Can you imagine all the light bulbs that would have part 15 stickers on them if they did regulate light. 

What about gas discharge bulbs with electronic starters?

[John Holotko]

  However, it is a federal crime now to even possess a device, so I wouldn't even think about it.

Since when have "illegal possession" laws crept beyond controlled substances and automatic firearms, to include electronic devices?

Very simple, one you allow them to tell you what you can or cannot posses with respect to one thing they extend it into other things as well. That's why I am against gun-control and (most)  drug laws.

[John Holotko]

I could understand the prohibition if it were a radio transmitter as the FCC regulates RF energy but light energy I don't believe the FCC has juristiction to regulate.  Can you imagine all the light bulbs that would have part 15 stickers on them if they did regulate light. 

What about gas discharge bulbs with electronic starters?

Actuaqlly looking at the  circuit for this device it's nothing much morethan an infrared strobe. I don;t see how such a device could be illegal. There could be numerous purposes for such devices.

[wavebourn]

Actuaqlly looking at the  circuit for this device it's nothing much morethan an infrared strobe. I don;t see how such a device could be illegal. There could be numerous purposes for such devices.

Sure;

remote control for a car stereo, for example, or a garage opener.

[KA8WTK]

They are illegal to use and purchase here,  although many times I wish I had a portable jammer when in a restaurant around this area.

I wish I had one for 2.4 gHz portable phones. We have a couple of folks at work who use headset phones. The jerks are on the phone and walk into the coffee room where others are talking. Then they give evryone there dirty looks if they don't stop talking because THEY are on the phone. One person actually goes into the crapper when on the phone.

[W1UJR]

What are traffic lights?




Loving life on the coast of Maine!
Don't need no stinkin' traffic lights here.

-BRuce W1UJR

[W9GT]

I used to know a ham in Erie, PA that discovered that the traffic lights there were controlled by a radio device and all the police and fire vehicles were equipped with a little transmitter to activate the controller to switch the lights when they were on emergency runs, I believe this was in late 1970's.  He built his own little transmitter   (seems like it was tone-modulated VHF-FM).  He switched lights descretely for awhile and thought he was real smart......I don't know if he ever got caught, but it didn't seem like a real smart thing to do, especially in the presence of the cops or fire dept.  Apparently more modern versions of this system use infra red / optical devices.

73,  Jack, W9GT

[John Holotko]

I used to know a ham in Erie, PA that discovered that the traffic lights there were controlled by a radio device and all the police and fire vehicles were equipped with a little transmitter to activate the controller to switch the lights when they were on emergency runs, I believe this was in late 1970's.  He built his own little transmitter   (seems like it was tone-modulated VHF-FM).  He switched lights descretely for awhile and thought he was real smart......I don't know if he ever got caught, but it didn't seem like a real smart thing to do, especially in the presence of the cops or fire dept.  Apparently more modern versions of this system use infra red / optical devices.

73,  Jack, W9GT

I know this guy who discovered that using a little red laser pointer aimed at the photoelectric switch he could shut off at  least 3 street lights on his block that were within range of his window. Apparently, by aiming the coherent beam directly at the photocell it would switch the light off.  It would take about 2 or 3 minutes before the light would go back on again,

Incidentally many pocket laser pointers are relatively powerful light sources. Particularly the lower frequency (red-orange) ones are very visioble to the human eye. Even brighter to the human eye are the green laser pointers. Under  ideal circumstances the reflected beam of a green pointer can be visioble for over a mile and can even be visible  via reflection from low level cloud cover. Pretty amazing for a tiny pocket size battery operated device.

[Bill, KD0HG]

Incidentally many pocket laser pointers are relatively powerful light sources. Particularly the lower frequency (red-orange) ones are very visioble to the human eye. Even brighter to the human eye are the green laser pointers. Under  ideal circumstances the reflected beam of a green pointer can be visioble for over a mile and can even be visible  via reflection from low level cloud cover. Pretty amazing for a tiny pocket size battery operated device.

What happens if you look directly at one? (Never wanted to personally try it myself)

Couldn't they be used for a personal defense device?

[k4kyv]

What happens if you look directly at one? (Never wanted to personally try it myself)

Couldn't they be used for a personal defense device?

I have accidentally looked directly at red laser pointers.  No worse than glancing at the sun.  I suppose you could harm your retina if you turned the laser on and stared at it for a prolonged period, but your natural reflex is to look away or close your eyes.  I don't think an ordinary pocket laser pointer like the ones used for instructional presentations are particularly dangerous, even though at night I can see the red spot reflected off objects over a half mile away.

I have heard of some kind of much more powerful green lasers that can be dangerous to aircraft when someone on the ground points the beam at the cockpit, in which case they may temporarily blind the pilot.  I could imagine someone with one of those things pointing them at small planes as they approach the runway for landing.  I  think with the bigger airliners much of the operation is automated, so it would be less of a threat. I seem to recall that they are considered weapons in some localities.

Wouldn't surprise me if the Iraqis used them against US helicopters.

[John Holotko]

As with anypowerfullight source the laser pointer can be dangerous if you stare into the beam for prolonged periods. If you use a laser pointer use the same common sense you would use with the sun, or a moview projector or and bright light source...don;t stare at it.

[John Holotko]

As with anypowerfullight source the laser pointer can be dangerous if you stare into the beam for prolonged periods. If you use a laser pointer use the same common sense you would use with the sun, or a moview projector or and bright light source...don;t stare at it.

Incorrect.   Laser pointers going through a corrective lens may not require  a "prolonged" time for retnal damage to occur.   You don't want to take the chance;  thinking otherwise is plain folly.   

Common sense isn't common.   On more than one occasion when I've been in a meeting and the presenter is freely waving his laser pointer around.   I've had to request he keep it pointed at the screen area.  Never had anyone give me any trouble with the request. 

So you are saying that someone wearing glasses might glance at a  laser pointer for just a fraction of a second might cause eye damage ? That's pretty  scary. Keep in mind I consider "stating" at a laser to be looking at the beam anything more than a fraction of a second. Abyone who would deliberatelylook into the barrel of  an activated laser pointer or point it into a crowd is  acting foolishly and irresponsibly.

I've never seen a laser pointer used at a presentation. When they first  hit the market a lot of people were curious and they seemed to catch on fast. Then there were a few instances where kids pointed them at police officers and the cops were afraid they might mistake the red dot of a lasrer pointer to be the laser sight of a gun. At that point a lot  of local jurisdictions passed laws which ranged from banning the sale and/or possession of laser pointers to anyone to declaring them deadly weapons,  to laws which resticted the sale to persons 18 years of age or above. In my area you  have to be at least 18 or  older to purchase a laser pointer at the store. Of course that doesn't  address the problem of getting them by mail order. These days it seems like the novelty wore off.Laser pointers are not the rage they were a decade ago. I have at least 4 of them and I hardly  ever use them. I'd love to get a green laser pointer  but I can hardly justify spending over 100 bucks for a device thatI really have no use for. Maybe if they come down in price someday...

[WA3VJB]

FCC lab keeps radio signals in check
Federal Workers: Melissa Harris



April 21, 2006

If children could watch the tests conducted here, inside this bland, boxy building in Columbia surrounded by an unattractive chain-link fence, they would think the place was haunted. An engineer clicks on a small lamp and the picture on the nearby television set immediately contorts into abstract art. Another engineer flips on military radar, and the video being played on a nearby laptop freezes.

The magic wands in both cases are invisible signals that travel through the air and make BlackBerrys, radios, satellite TV, pagers, walkie-talkies, garage-door openers and a lot of other gadgets work. A small group of federal engineers in Columbia ensures that the waves powering these everyday devices do not interfere with each other and that the radiation emitting from them does not harm users.

The efforts of these approximately 30 Federal Communications Commission workers will become even more important during the next few years. Congress eventually will decide whether to stick to its plan to complete the switch to digital television in 2009 - rendering old sets still living on bunny ears useless - and turn over more of the crowded, public-owned spectrum to private companies.

The spectrum is like real estate. A broadcaster's spot on it, for instance, decides whether a TV station airs on Channel 11 or Channel 7, or a radio station is tuned at 88.7 or 101.9. Some spots on the spectrum are like living on Park Avenue, others are like living in the Sahara Desert. If devices do not stick to their assigned spots, radio communications can crackle, television pictures can turn to snow or, more dangerous, hospital equipment can stop and military radars can go blank.

"We ensure that these devices are safe and avoid interference," said Rashmi Doshi, chief of the FCC's lab on Oakland Mills Road next to Guilford Elementary. "But we also want to avoid undue burdens on companies. ... We want them to meet our rules, but not create a bottleneck."

Doshi's staff oversaw the certification of about 9,000 new devices last year. He said that if the FCC does not move quickly, a new, faster gadget could be invented by the time the agency finishes approving the sale.

When the FCC opened this facility inside a World War II-era Columbia farmhouse, the surrounding landscape was rural. Doshi said that the sky was so free of "electromagnetic chatter" - signals - that the staff did most of its testing outside. Today, much of the work is done inside a two-year-old anechoic chamber, a sealed, echoproof box housed inside the current lab, built in 1972 directly in front of the farmhouse.

This week, Steve Jones, a senior electrical engineer, tested what looked to be nothing more than a red, plastic box in the chamber. However, this device, ground-penetrating radar, can do some amazing things. As it is carried over land - either dragged or strapped to a vehicle - it sends a signal into the earth that can detect where potholes might emerge, where bridges might have flaws or even where criminals have buried bodies.

Because of FCC regulations, these devices do not work very well unless they travel at slow speeds. Companies want to be able to drive them faster, so that they do not impede traffic. However, for the radar to work at normal traveling speeds, it needs to emit its signal more frequently. Jones is trying to discover whether doing so would cause interference with other devices.

Doshi and his staff know that it is very difficult for nonengineers to understand their work. So to make the problems that they solve easier to understand, they tell the story of the small lamp.

The lamp's post is a baby monitor wrapped in a teddy bear. Sold in the late 1980s on commissaries at military air bases, the FCC approved the monitor, but the manufacturer made a severe error during production.

Soon after its release, "pilots would report that as the aircraft was coming in, instead of hearing the air traffic control tower, they'd hear babies crying," said Raymond LaForge, chief of the lab's auditing and compliance division. The monitor's signal even interfered with WBAL-TV in Baltimore.

Today, however, the FCC's research focuses on far more high-tech devices, such as Bluetooth earpieces, which wirelessly link up with cell phones.

One such cutting-edge technology is called smart networking. Andy Leimer and Richard Tseng, both electrical engineers, are testing one example of this. The government takes up about half - some would argue hoards - of the spectrum. Consumer groups and private companies are increasingly pressuring the government to share that space.

The way to do that is to build devices that use the spectrum when it is empty, and then move aside when the government needs it. Demonstrating one such device, Leimer has a wireless Internet site - called a hot spot - streaming video to a laptop in the lab. When Leimer turns on military radar sitting on a nearby table, the video stops streaming. If the hot spot were installed in a home or neighborhood, it would automatically move to a different frequency when the military device activated, without the video skipping a beat or the user noticing.

"It gets out of the way," said Bruce Romano, associate chief of the Office of Engineering and Technology. "It gives us the ability to share."

The writer can be reached at melissa.harris@baltsun.com or 410-715-2885. Back issues can be read at baltimoresun.com/federal.

Copyright © 2006, The Baltimore Sun |

[John Holotko]

Well, one thingt in the article is definately a given. The part about turning more publically owned airspace to private  corporation. I highly doubt the FCC will have any problem doing that.