Radio engineer Naumov called improvised means to protect the dacha from drones

Massive metal objects and meshes successfully jam the radio signal

Against the backdrop of increasing sabotage in Russia, which today cannot do without digital communications and communications, not only the special services, but also ordinary Russians have thought about at least a basic level of electronic warfare (EW) to counter terrorists and hackers. And if at the disposal of law enforcement agencies is the ability to “jam” all types of radio communications in case of a threat of terrorist attacks, then the rest can be helped, for example, by ordinary weights. How Russians protect themselves from drones and hackers with improvised means, MK found out.

The easiest, at the same time expensive and uninteresting way is to purchase a household “radio jammer” (many types of them are illegal in civilian circulation!) Or an anti-drone gun. However, to protect in this way, conditionally, an ordinary citizen’s own dacha is frankly unnecessary. This is where some quite ordinary objects come to the rescue – which can isolate from electromagnetic fields.

“Once upon a time, my boss set me the task of equipping a radio-insulating cabinet for the meeting room in order to put all the phones in it before confidential negotiations,” says radio engineer Oleg Naumov. – Such cabinets are sold ready-made, but they cost absolutely unreasonable money. But, having learned on what principle the operation of this device is based, I got out of the situation simply: I installed an ordinary microwave oven in the meeting room – of course, a decent office look. This was enough: the signal was jammed quite reliably. Of course, this stove has never been plugged into an outlet.

The main household material that prevents the penetration of radio waves is almost any metal, ferrous or non-ferrous. The fact is, the interlocutor of MK told, that the structure of metal atoms is distinguished by free electrons on the periphery; which means that the vibrations of other electrons excite their own electromagnetic waves in the metal – the resulting “chaos” interrupts any meaningful radio signal.

From time to time, “radio-absorbing” objects give themselves away in the house. So, recently, The Sun newspaper told the story of a correspondent for the publication who discovered an obstacle to home WiFi in the form of old metal weights under the bed. As soon as the sports equipment was removed, the net began to “catch” on the bed, which could not be achieved in other ways.

– A similar scheme can be used for good, – says Oleg Naumov. – For example, your neighbors’ Wi-Fi interferes with you, blocking your router’s frequency range. This is generally a common thing: up to two or three dozen nets can be caught in each apartment, they clog each other. You can isolate yourself from the lower neighbors by placing massive metal objects or a sheet of stainless steel at the right point.

But to protect yourself from possible digital leaks quite thoroughly – you may need to clad the walls with metal. “The most convenient thing, if you are building a house and thinking about digital security, is to simply provide a frequent metal mesh in the wall cladding – then the room will be completely radio-tight,” the expert advises.