Build Your Own HERF Gun 512
James writes "Rostislav Persion from Voltage Labs has successfully constructed a HERF gun (a device like EMP but directional) in his home that is capable of stalling cars at a distance and crashing computers as well. He has videos of the device in action as it lights up LED's at a distance and triggers motion detectors. Theres also a bunch of other security stuff and science stuff which is quite interesting and controversial, such as cell phone tracking, mood altering audio signals, gyro guns, and other things of this nature. The site owner was also featured in US News Magazine and MTV for some of his work."
Unfortunately (Score:5, Funny)
Not true... (Score:5, Funny)
Dont you mean... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Unfortunately (Score:2, Insightful)
Explains the Quake II "Big Gun" (Score:2)
No More High Speed Pursuits (Score:4, Insightful)
What will fox air....guess they will have to resort to hardcore porn
Comment removed (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:No More High Speed Pursuits (Score:3, Informative)
Re:No More High Speed Pursuits (Score:5, Funny)
The hardcore porn will have a little time before it gets plastered over Fox.
Re:No More High Speed Pursuits (Score:5, Funny)
In the brief remake series of Knight Rider, Knight Rider 2000 I think it was called, Kit could disable cars from a distance presumably with a similar device. I beleive the bad guys then did something to their Porsche Carerra 911's which made them impervious to this attack.
David Hasselhof's hair was similarly insulated from the radiation.
Re:No More High Speed Pursuits (Score:2)
Re:No More High Speed Pursuits (Score:3, Informative)
Re:No More High Speed Pursuits (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:No More High Speed Pursuits (Score:3, Interesting)
This isn't a flaw in your logic, just a change in the way car manufacturers are putting together the braking system. In the old days, ABS was just slapped on top of a normal, mechanical braking system. If ABS failed, you'd have normal brake pressure, in fact, just a normal braking system.
These days, however, they have changed to a completely electronic braking system. In this case, the brake pressure applied to _each_ wheel is different when breaking. It
Re:No More High Speed Pursuits (Score:5, Funny)
Re:No More High Speed Pursuits (Score:3, Insightful)
Other than the loss of power steering there is no danger to just stopping the engine in a high speed persuit
You also forgot the fact that the power brake booster in your car is likely powered by engine vacuum. In some exotic cars, it's hydraulically powered. In either case, it requires a running engine. At low speeds, failure of these components isn't dangerous because under federal law they're required to have enough boost stored in them to provide for stopping in case of failure. However, at higher
Re:No More High Speed Pursuits (Score:3, Interesting)
Hmm, let's see- a 500V harpoon that, if it misses, impales some hapless bastard on the sidewalk, or takes out a bus or something. Can you imagine the fallout the first time they used something like that and missed? :-)
It's probably doable, but it would only be able to be used if there were no pedestrians/buildings/other cars about.
Re:No More High Speed Pursuits (Score:2)
Re:No More High Speed Pursuits (Score:4, Funny)
Exactly! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:No More High Speed Pursuits (Score:3, Insightful)
i wonder if they consider it riskier than the strips of little hollow tubes that puncture and slowly deflate your tires.
without your electrical system and your engine spinning down you could lose power steering, power brakes, your lights would go out (at night at high speed most probably), various automatic transmission problems, etc.
i guess its still safer than the PIT maneuver.
No, you have it backwards. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:No More High Speed Pursuits (Score:5, Funny)
So would this [www.saab.se] (scroll down to Carl Gustaf). Probably much more fun to watch, too.
Re:No More High Speed Pursuits (Score:2)
Those crafty Swedes.
Re:No More High Speed Pursuits (Score:3, Interesting)
Heh. Yeah, as I recall from my Army time, when we trained on a new weapon/radio/etc the phrase we most hated to hear was "man-portable". All that meant was that some damn fool put a shoulder strap on it or squeezed it into a box small enough to jam into a ruck or strap to a pack frame. Of course, nothing compares to the sinking feeling that comes with the realization that "light infantry" means "no vehicles-- y
Re:No More High Speed Pursuits (Score:5, Funny)
This Could Improve My Driving Record... (Score:3, Funny)
Couple this with my radar detector and have it stall the police car as he pulls out to nab me. Hmmm, time to dust off the old lab bench.
Re:This Could Improve My Driving Record... (Score:2)
Re:This Could Improve My Driving Record... (Score:2)
Re:This Could Improve My Driving Record... (Score:3, Insightful)
Having it on privately owned guns would lessen the value of the gund for criminals and make it harde
Re:This Could Improve My Driving Record... (Score:3, Funny)
Pre-emptively disable any cars that enter your path/line of site within say, 300 yards. That'll show em.
Otherwise just have a switch that you can flip that will disable all cars behind you in a large swath when you feel you ability to drive at a comfortable speed is under direct - or perceived threat.
Can someone check the server.... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Can someone check the server.... (Score:5, Funny)
We've just slashdoted some guy with an EMP weapon...
Similar sweet page (Score:5, Informative)
The answer to my prayers! (Score:4, Funny)
Cut me off will you you asshole!!!
Re:The answer to my prayers! (Score:2)
Re:The answer to my prayers! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:The answer to my prayers! (Score:4, Insightful)
Bullshit. It would be totally stupid to design the system that way. If it fails while you were going down the road at 70MPH you'd have a very good chance of dying. I can't even imagine what would make you think it works this way.
From http://www.abs-education.org/faqs/faqindex.htm [abs-education.org]:
What if the ABS fails? Anti-lock brake systems are designed to be fail-safe. Nevertheless, they are equipped with a diagnostic feature that automatically activates and tests the major components each time the car is started and monitors them throughout the journey.
In the rare event of a failure, the ABS would be deactivated by its own safety circuit. A warning light goes on indicating to the driver that the vehicle is now in conventional base-brake mode.
Logging. (Score:5, Funny)
Erm... (Score:2)
Best contraceptive (Score:5, Funny)
Cataracts (Score:2, Insightful)
MTV?? (Score:2, Funny)
mirror (google cache) (Score:4, Informative)
weapons (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:weapons (Score:5, Funny)
Re:weapons (Score:3, Informative)
Re:weapons (Score:3, Informative)
Re:weapons (Score:3, Funny)
Re:weapons (Score:2, Funny)
Re:weapons (Score:3, Informative)
Having said that, I doubt EMP unless it was *really* powerful would have a noticeable effect on the mags.
More on actuators (Score:3, Informative)
Even hydraulic actuators have electromechanical servo valves...
Close, but not always true. Having worked with several kinds of aircraft, both old and older (F-16, F-5, Dassult Jetfalcon and C-130 to mention the fixedwings), I know for a fact that while a fly-by-wire system, ie; a system where the controllsignals are transmitted via electric signals, have electromechanical servo valves. Every fly-by-real-wire (aka fly-by-steelrope) system I've worked on however, have purely mechanical servovalves, operat
Re:weapons (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:weapons (Score:5, Funny)
Re:weapons (Score:3, Funny)
-Ev
Re:weapons (Score:4, Insightful)
I would never forgive anybody who tried it outside a lab, though.
This is already used by Police in Europe. (Score:5, Interesting)
The HERF004.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah, you can use a microwave oven but putting tires inside the oven is kind of hard.
This would probably work on those automatic traffic controller systems with digital cameras that take pictures of speeding to...
Re:The HERF004.. (Score:3, Interesting)
With the right design, electronics can survive an EMP. Most of the crud that goes into consumer-grade electrinics is not designed to survive much more than its warrenty.
FCC Notice (Score:5, Funny)
This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions:
1. This device may not cause harmful interference.
2. This device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation.
Re:FCC Notice (Score:2)
Re:FCC Notice (Score:3, Interesting)
Its designed to keep dicksize wars off of the airwaves.
You can shield your device all you want.
From the site, moments before the Slashdot effect (Score:2, Funny)
67.118.175.173> bah
64.216.0.81> surviving slashdot very well
Good to see progress (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Good to see progress (Score:2)
funny funny funny.
(ok. so i should have finished that entire bottle of wine for dinner... i'm sure i'll still find that funny in the morning tho.)
rf can do strange things to cars (Score:5, Interesting)
Just a little history repeating itself.
Another tool, that when in the hands of the wrong people could be very dangerous! However to end a high speed chase, before someone gets killed?
Do we need more weapon ? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Do we need more weapon ? (Score:5, Funny)
I meant a PACEmaker :P silly me. (Score:2)
Re:Do we need more weapon ? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Is this really news? (Score:3, Interesting)
You would think that, wouldn't you?
In modern cars an electronics failure means that the car will stall, power assissted steering and brakeing will revert to manual, the ECU will fail (not exactly critical that one), traction control will drop out, ABS will stop working and several other problems. If you have an automatic the gears will stop shifting.
If you are used to driving a power assisted car, then the termination
Road rage. (Score:3, Interesting)
I am certain that a lot of things affect moods. Audio is one of them. But I also believe that visual characteristics have a lot to do with mood. What's that Chinese art of interior decorating that is supposed to bring harmony? I forgot the name.
Mexico City (for those of you who don't know what D.F. stands for) is a heavily populated place. I've heard different accounts that it is the biggest city (or the third biggest) in the world, and I don't know if this means by population or by physical size. In any case, there is a LOT of traffic here. I have found that I am quite affected by "road rage," or let's just call it frustration behind the wheel, when I'm driving around town: Traffic moves along slowly. Going ten miles can take between 30 minutes and an hour, depending on the circumstances. It's just such a pain, and it is frustrating. Now, in my case, my frustration behind the wheel is caused by a number of factors:
Now all of this might sound totally psycho to you but I'm serious... people can't explain why they are the nicest people but turn into total bastards when they get in a car. It's not just sound waves that can piss you off... it's everything that your brain has to assign resources to, like motion and shape. I think this is why we associate certain feelings with certain faces, colors, shapes, body language, etc.
P.d., the worst road rage I've ever had was yelling profanities at the top of my lungs, and that only happened once when I was three hours late to work because I slept too long at my girlfriend's house and couldn't get to work fast enough. But that's how life is in the big city... I just go home in the evening and have some tequila. Because Denial is a river in Egypt.
something like this: (Score:2, Informative)
The $64 million question. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The $64 million question. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The $64 million question. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The $64 million question. (Score:5, Funny)
Hey, if *I* am taking the trouble to evesdrop, I want the full monty, dammit!!
Re:The $64 million question. (Score:5, Interesting)
DennyK
Mood altering audio signals (Score:2, Funny)
And his website was taken out by a HREF gun (Score:2, Funny)
"This Account Has Been Suspended" (Score:2, Funny)
"This Account Has Been Suspended" (Score:5, Interesting)
Fortunately for the owner, it looks like his host cuts off traffic after 30GB. A lot of them will simply keep jacking up the bill. Maybe Slashdot should direct some of the money from their banner ads to the owners of the sites they link to?
Re:"This Account Has Been Suspended" (Score:3, Insightful)
What I used to do Philly2Nite's website I had a Tcl script that downloaded the first 3 levels of their lotus notes system to static pages under Apache. The apache system could deliver millions of page hits, the 1998 era NT system running Notes on the other hand...
My program would also transparently rewrite the links to look at a cached version when appropriate. The cache software would update the static content every 15 minutes or so. It worked well for years
The obligatory (Score:5, Funny)
My god... (Score:5, Funny)
Where I live, streets that contain straight stretches of longer than about 10m are a target for the local petrol heads with their turbos. The only thing is, that in order to get the turbo to fire (which they like - it lets people know they can afford turbo - even if they only have a hatchback and they work in the local supermarket), they need to over-rev the engine even when they're taking they're mum to the shops. The sonic effect is something like;
"BRRRMMM!! (phssh) BRRRRRMMM phsssshhh BRMMRMRM phssh"
I would like to hear something like;
"BRRRMMM!! (phssh) BRRRRRMMM ph...ZAP! SHAZAM! phsszzzppt. put...put......put."
Show those suckers.
Re:My god... (Score:3, Funny)
"BRRRMMM!! (phssh) BRRRRRMMM ph...ZAP! SHAZAM! phss
Anyone else think Slashdotting is criminal? (Score:4, Insightful)
Now, does anyone else think that the Slashdot Effect is getting to be criminal? C'mon, people, we GAVE IT A NAME. It's not like we don't know what posting to
Editors of Slashdot: you guys are getting criminally negligent. If no one has sued you so far, you better start getting the lawyers ready.
Re:Anyone else think Slashdotting is criminal? (Score:3, Informative)
Hmmm (Score:5, Funny)
Slashdotted already...
I'd say
Cached Page (Score:5, Informative)
SITE URL 02: www.VoltageLabs.com
SITE URL 03: www.SVBxLABS.com
Purpose:
This project is a continuation of the HERF003 project. It will be just like the HERF001 but many times more compact and efficient due to optimization and better calculated design. The actual device (excluding the horn antenna) will be about 50 times smaller in volume than HERF001 while having the same output power yet even better antenna efficiency and low VSWR. I hope to get much more detailed tests done on the effects and range of this device. Results and test images/videos will be posted allong with data sheets, radiation patterns and videos of test shots on dummy PC's.
Materials:
- 800W 2.458GHz Magnetron
- MOT
- 2kV @ 1.2uF capacitor
- 12kV piv microwave oven diode
- Sheet metal
- Sheet copper
- Other small parts
Details:
This is the basic magnetron coupling design. It is designed after the WR340 waveguide and can allow 1.70GHz to 2.60GHz to pass through with low attenuation. Of course my RF output will be within this range being 2.458GHz. The full dimentions of the waveguide are 4.318cm x 9.147cm x 8.636cm. The horn antenna is not as small as pictured. The magnetron feed will be inserted 1/4 the wavelength from the back of the waveguide.
a = 86.36mm
b = 43.18mm
c = 91.47mm
For a 15dB horn antenna:
p = 152.5mm
a1 = 320.6mm
b1 = 237.5mm
For a 18dB horn antenna:
p = 365.9mm
a1 = 452.9mm
b1 = 335.5mm
These are the dimentions of the plates that must be cut out in order to form a 15dB horn antenna.
These are the dimentions of the plates that must be cut out in order to form a 18dB horn antenna. Of course two of each plate must be made in order to make a complete horn antenna. The back end is then welded to the waveguide.
This is the circular waveguide and conical horn and its dimentions. The distance between the magnetron feed and the back waveguide wall should be fine tuned and adjusted as needed. The waveguide diameter is 3/4 the 2.458GHz wavelength and the distance from the magnetron feed and the base of the horn is 1/2 the wavelength.
This is the schematic of the HERF004 if powered from a 120VAC (or 240VAC) source. The circuit consists of a transformer and a voltage doubler cap/diode setup. A filiment heater is also needed.
This is the schematic of the HERF004 if powered from a 12VDC battery source. This design will provide less average RMS output power but will provide the same if not higher pulse peak power. Most magnetrons have the markings F, FA, C, or K next to the leads of which F, C and K are the magnetron cathode. Most microwave oven magnetrons will be marked with FA and F while radar magnetrons will only have one lead marked with either a K or a C. Since the magnetron I am planning to use is not a pulsed magnetron I will not construct a pulse forming network although it would help.
Videos:
herf004-test001.mpg (8.03MB)
This clip shows a series of herf004 shots at different distances. The video clip contains both video and audio. In the audio you can hear the 60Hz hum as it was induced into the camera via 2.458GHz carier wave.
herflight01.mpeg (0.98MB)
This clip shows HERF004 exciting the gas within a flourecent light tube causing it to glow.
herfmotion01.mpeg (0.97MB)
This clip shows HERF004 triggering the driveway motion detector of my home and the house next door.
Images:
This is the horn right after its construction. I cut it out of sheet copper and then welded each sheet together. My welding skills weren't that great so the plates may be misaligned by upto 4mm. The horn was designed to be 17dB since my sheet copper wasn't large enough to make an 18dB horn. I will probably make a conical horn after this one though and use it instead since this one turned out to be quite large.
First HERF004 victim, me. As I was drilling a hole for the magnetron feed the
CNN (Score:3, Funny)
CNN is reporting that there have been a huge number of HERF gun attacks on telecom and financial systems installations in the United States in the past two days. The attacks have seriously impacted the ability of Americans to conduct day-to-day life, knocking out many telephone, TV, and radio stations and forming large lineups at banks where customers desperately try to withdraw money from stressed teller staff.
CNN has learned that the attacks were performed by the Linux fraction of al Queada which is referred to as "al Tux" in CIA circles. Apparently the group learned of concise plans to make HERF guns from a story on the geek website "Slashdot.org".
Editors at Slashdot could not be reached for comment as they had suffered malnutrition from not being able to eat microwave burritos or pizza pockets for the past 48hrs.
Great for Noise Pollution (Score:3, Funny)
Too bad the site is toast.. slashdot effect or 'homeland security' ???
The Gentle Soldiers Shopping Cart (Score:3, Informative)
http://liun.hektik.org/hightech/herf/shopping.h
Most of these ideas need a feedback system and highly intellegent processing to work, especially the ones that work on live humans.
The 'sticky' stuff would need to be 'intellegent' as well so as not to suffocate the victim.
The various pulse and sound weapons would need some sort of life sensor as feed back so that they would 'know' enough is enough.
That's been the problem with non-lethal wepons, as an aside a simple net doesn not generate federal funding.
Damn, I'm wrong about the net, here's a gov't shopping cart:
http://www.govexec.com/features/0501/0501s
Some comparisons of non lethal weapons between Hollydood (includes the news spews) and reality:
http://www.aele.org/technology2-01.html
Re:magnetron? (Score:2, Informative)
-Chas
Re:magnetron? (Score:5, Informative)
Magnetrons are the main component of microwave ovens. Beware -- unshielded units are dangerous. You can end up sterile, or dead... or both.
Oh my god.
Before the dot-com meltdown, I used to design radar equipment for a major defense contractor. Radar systems use microwave energy - which is just radio waves within an arbitrary range that we call "microwave", like we call some radio waves "VHF" and others "UHF".
A microwave oven is simply a ~500W unmodulated carrier wave at ~2.4GHz. Neither the power nor the frequency is terribly precise.
A magnetron is a vacuum tube used to generate microwave-frequency RF. It's a special kind of directly-heated diode surrounded by a very strong magnet, hence the term "magnetron".
It is utterly and completely harmless (except to magnetic media and the magnetic stripe on your security pass, from personal experience) until you apply power. Typically, a microwave oven magnetron wants about 6V to light the filament and about 6kV anode; in pulsed navigational radar, it's usually 6V to light the filament and about 10kV to pulse the magnetron in 25kW 12GHz pulses at 3kHz (think of AM modulation).
If you take a direct blast from a radar, it's unlikely to make you sterile, or to cause cancer. Those are caused by ionizing radiation (ie. nuclear and X-Ray). This is non-ionizing; essentially just a radio wave. In the S and X band radar ranges - and presumably everything in between - the primary damage would be to the corneas of the eyes. And it burns - I got it to my torso once, no permanent damage, just like a bad sunburn.
In other words, don't operate your microwave oven with the door open, and don't look into the waveguide.
Oh, and don't play with the power supply which runs the magnetron. Anything capable of supplying enough current to make 500W at 6kV (ie. power supply of a home microwave oven) is capable of setting fire to your skin. And the capacitors in a microwave oven hold a charge for a while - don't play with them.
Re:magnetron? (Score:3, Informative)
I do not understand how you can get radiation cataract (like from UV) - by time you start microwaving your eyes, your brain will probably have problem too. But testicles are extremely sensitive to heat damage, so the old myths about radar crews getting infertile from the exposure may have some basis.
Re:not 6 KV, more like 2 KV (Score:3, Informative)
The output voltage of a microwave oven transformer (MOT) is more in the range of 2KV than 6 KV. Just as lethal (500mA) but a bit cheaper to manufacture. Otherwise BigBlockMopar told a good story.
I think I was talking about the A/K potential applied to a magnetron, not the output of the transformer itself. And indeed, that is in the range of 6kV.
How?
First off, notice that the diode and capacitor in most microwave ovens are not set up as a typical half-wave rectifier? They're actually configured as a vol
Re:magnetron? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:magnetron? (Score:3, Informative)
I saw something about this on Discovery or something. It was a joint effort. The Brits invented it, but it was too labor intensive to manufacture in sufficient volume. They took a unit to MIT, and a top engineer there made the military types very nervous taking this top secret device home to study it. He came up with a way to make them using laminated metal. In retrospect that seems like a simple idea. Maybe there was more to it than that. So, the Brits invented it, but the Yanks figured out how to m
Re:gyro guns? (Score:2, Funny)
I'd love to shoot people with Greek food.