RF Bugging Frequencies

The frequencies used for bugging devices vary widely depending on the following factors:

Low frequencies require large and impractical antennas.

Very High frequencies > 3 Ghz do not penetrate building materials very well and generally require 'line of sight' to be effective. This means that the eavesdropper must be able to directly 'see' the point of origin of the bugging device transmission, as it is not capable of travelling through buildings.

It would be very foolish, however, to ignore devices operating at frequencies in excess of 3 Ghz. Commercial microwave transmitters are freely available at 10.5 Ghz and 22 Ghz which are small, use little power and can be deadly effective.

Due to their high frequencies, microwave transmitters are capable of high bandwidths i.e. they are capable of carrying a great deal of data in the from of audio or even video.

Frequency Plot of a Wireless LAN (Local Area Network)

TSCM inspection teams need to be able to distinguish between legitimate signals and those that are being used for covert eavesdropping.

Unlike many other TSCM companies we do not believe that the bugging threat ends at 5 Ghz, the limit of the Scanlock M2. We sweep up to 18 GHz, which involves the use of sophisticated and expensive spectrum analysers.

Most other TSCM companies are reluctant to make this sort of investment.