I found 2 solar powered and automated CB boxes in some woods

[Squirrel 14]

So i was walking through some woods nearby and spotted a reflection up in a oak tree. I walked up to it and saw a solar panel and black box, zip tied to a limb, 20 feet up. See picture gallery in link [Please login or register to view this link] .
I manage to get them down and open the case. I am somewhat technically minded and figured out the function of everything:
The solar panel trickle charges the battery.
The battery is wired to the white programmable time switch.
The switch is wired to a standard DC power plug, which plugs into the radio.
The PTT is held down / open with zip ties.

A set of soldered batteries are wired directly to the motherboard of a small mp3 player, including a 2gb SD card.
Plugged into the audio jack is a tiny speaker.
This tiny speaker was duck taped over the microphone piece.

On the SD card was audio recordings of threats and name calling to some rival backwoods group. There was also the 80's song that goes "it always feels like somebody's watching me" as well as Mexican polka music.

A few weeks later i found another one less than 200 yards from the other. Exact same build and audio files.

I know I stole someone else's equipment,and that's not a thing i ever do, FYI.

Question: Have y'all ever seen or heard or thought of any kind of device like this? Are there feuds between CB groups? Is the only purpose of it to **Censored** someone off?

Edit: I'm not allowed to post an imgur link to show you the photos, can anyone help that?

[MDYoungblood]

Hello Squirrel 14,
Welcome to the forum. First let me say I would like to see pics of your find but as a new member you can't, but it will come in time and post count, with a post like this it won't be long. Second, you could post an intro in the "Welcome to the Forum" topic, [Please login or register to view this link] , so others can say "Hi", thanks.
Now this thing you found and you say a second one sounds quite elaborate, undoubtedly it's is to plug someone's ears. Back in the 23 channel days we would just tape an AM transistor radio to an old walkie talkie and plant it close to the persons house, batteries would die in a day or too. This jammer was built by someone with some skills. What channel were the radios set to? What kind of antenna do they have?
Finding these on private property would make it stealing, public property not so much as a person would have to admit ownership.

3's

Greg

[Squirrel 14]

Hello Squirrel 14,
Welcome to the forum. First let me say I would like to see pics of your find but as a new member you can't, but it will come in time and post count, with a post like this it won't be long. Second, you could post an intro in the "Welcome to the Forum" topic, , so others can say "Hi", thanks.
Now this thing you found and you say a second one sounds quite elaborate, undoubtedly it's is to plug someone's ears. Back in the 23 channel days we would just tape an AM transistor radio to an old walkie talkie and plant it close to the persons house, batteries would die in a day or too. This jammer was built by someone with some skills. What channel were the radios set to? What kind of antenna do they have?
Finding these on private property would make it stealing, public property not so much as a person would have to admit ownership.

3's

Greg

Hi Greg, thanks for replying.
Both radios were set to Channel 32.
The antennas were the most crude part of the setup. These radios have an RCA style antenna port, so there was an RCA plug somewhat soldered to a stripped coaxial cable. This cable ran a few feet, then on the other stripped end was attached 2 - 8ft pieces of thin gauge speaker wire running up and down (one piece connected to negative, and the other to positive. Whoever set this must have had climbing gear and skills because the antenna was strung vertically in the tree, with the top nearly 30 ft up.

I have posted multiple photos to an Imgur album, including shots in the tree, showing the setup and also closeups of the equip in the box.
I would PM you the link, but I'm not allowed to do that.
I'm obviously not a PornBot or SpamBot, I posted to the Welcome page.
Is there any easier way to be able to share this?

[MDYoungblood]

I'm obviously not a PornBot or SpamBot, I posted to the Welcome page.
Is there any easier way to be able to share this?

No, this is a safety factor programed into the forum format, like I said it will not be long.
I would be curious to see who's on channel 32 (could be a couple channels either way too) in your area to have someone want to do this, they would have to be close, say a mile or so for it to interfere. I would stroll the area and look for antennas, probably a beam.

3's

Greg

[Radar-DLDN]

First, welcome to CBRT!

It really isn't spam that we are trying to avoid with the probationary measures, most of that is caught automatically and easy to stop. As you have learned yourself, there are people in our hobby that want to cause trouble. Whether it is in retribution or just to troll they find joy in causing some misery.

Now imagine the type of person who would go to the trouble of creating the devices you describe and picture how they might behave online. You can see why the measures we have in place were put there.

Sent with Tapatalk on HTC Ten

[Squirrel 14]

First, welcome to CBRT!

It really isn't spam that we are trying to avoid with the probationary measures, most of that is caught automatically and easy to stop. As you have learned yourself, there are people in our hobby that want to cause trouble. Whether it is in retribution or just to troll they find joy in causing some misery.

Now imagine the type of person who would go to the trouble of creating the devices you describe and picture how they might behave online. You can see why the measures we have in place were put there.

Sent with Tapatalk on HTC Ten

Well said. Will replying to other posts count towards my posts credit to gain priveleges?

[443 Arizona]

welcome squirrel14 and may i ask where you are? alot of guys post their locations in the avatar. its sort of nice to know where the members are.
especially you! hahahah , dont get nervous. it is intriguing about the jammer stuff thou.
heck there are many ways to figure it out, just takes time.
any of your friends having cb's? just start hangin on 32 and see who or whats going on.
maybe there are some secret reasons for it, maybe not.
maybe a locating beacon for a mexican pot farm? geez there could be 1000 reasons. this could be the start of a long thread 4sure.
just start talking about it and soon enough you might find out.
i doubt its anything to worry about, make light of it and laugh at the gizmo, word spreads.
maybe a cat and mouse game by some 4wheeler club,,, maybe ET is phoning home,,,maybe personal pirate radio,,,
but i also agree with previous post, somebody near is using CB's .
a word of caution, if you find a third jammer, it may be boobietrapped.

[MDYoungblood]

a word of caution, if you find a third jammer, it may be boobietrapped.

I'm going to agree with this, smart enough to make he/she will be smart enough to trap it, maybe not something explosive but you do have plenty of poisonous things in your area of the world. I would leave the third one if you run across it for the authorities.
Yes answering any post will go toward the post count but because your a new member they need to be a legitimate post, no one word or smileys etc.

3's

Greg

[Squirrel 14]

I'm going to agree with this, smart enough to make he/she will be smart enough to trap it, maybe not something explosive but you do have plenty of poisonous things in your area of the world. I would leave the third one if you run across it for the authorities.
Yes answering any post will go toward the post count but because your a new member they need to be a legitimate post, no one word or smileys etc.

3's

Greg

Well i have thought about that and will most likely still open a third one (if i find it). I work in an office park and stroll through the woods on my break. There is no security and no else is hitting these woods, so it's a great hiding place for these devices.

To get them down i found a stand of crepe myrtle and cut the longest one down, then dragged it to the site and used it for leverage to pop the zip ties holding everything on.

I will drive around and look for antennas, thanks!

-- Friday, 23 September 2016, 21:39 PM --

welcome squirrel14 and may i ask where you are? alot of guys post their locations in the avatar. its sort of nice to know where the members are.
especially you! hahahah , dont get nervous. it is intriguing about the jammer stuff thou.
heck there are many ways to figure it out, just takes time.
any of your friends having cb's? just start hangin on 32 and see who or whats going on.
maybe there are some secret reasons for it, maybe not.
maybe a locating beacon for a mexican pot farm? geez there could be 1000 reasons. this could be the start of a long thread 4sure.
just start talking about it and soon enough you might find out.
i doubt its anything to worry about, make light of it and laugh at the gizmo, word spreads.
maybe a cat and mouse game by some 4wheeler club,,, maybe ET is phoning home,,,maybe personal pirate radio,,,
but i also agree with previous post, somebody near is using CB's .
a word of caution, if you find a third jammer, it may be boobietrapped.

Howdy, I'm in the Tampa, Florida area.
I want to start listening and maybe even conversing with these people, but i don't have an antenna. I was going to post a separate thread in the antenna section for advice. One is a GE 3-5900 and the other is also GE but slightly older, not sure of the model number at the moment.

[Scipio Kid]

Hey Squirrel,
Welcome to the forum. Although I'm about as new as you, not a veteran with privileges or anything. Since they don't allow you to post smiley faces or one word responses to fill the quota, they ought to give me extra points because I'm always so long winded or keyboarded, as the case may be. I should get credit for 5 or 6 every time I post based on word count. Although, content is probably a factor too and once everyone gets to know me, well, they'll probably kick me out anyway.

But, to the point ... this really sounds intriguing, and who doesn't love a mystery? I'd love to head down to Florida and help solve it. If you could pay my way, room and board and a few 3 day passes to Disneyworld, well, I'll be there in a flash, and we'll solve this thing together.

My take is someone is just up to no good, causing a little mayhem and using his radio & electronics know-how to mess with someone. But then, I re-read your post, particularly the part about "Mexican Polka" and, having listened to way to much Mexican Skip, I'm now convinced we're likely dealing with a clinically insane terrorist with visions of world domination and the enslavement of mankind. (Edited by Bombero)

[443 Arizona]

mexican mafia isnt known to do this except for drug fields.
there may also be a game camera near so they could find out who is messing with their jammers.
you know you could do the same to see who is in them woods, maybe even see who's putting them up.
if it gets serious,,, ? better be very cautious. got a bloodhound? they can track and find stuff your missing.
so get on the CB and start blabbin about how you found them jammers and such.
probably scare them away or make new friends,,,, who knows.
definate possibility that ch 32 has some mexican hunting vigilantes trying to scare off some mex/mix illegals or illegal activity.
or ,,,polish mafia, the music sounds similar.
maybe the "Big Joe Polka show" is scouting a new location ....
ok i got 995 more possibilties to go.

[Scipio Kid]

O.K. not political jabs here guys. Even though I took shots at both Hillary and Donald.

Hey, I'm from Utah and have a ton of Mitt Romney jokes ...

-- Saturday, 24 September 2016, 12:09 PM --

And Arizona, you and I think alike! (No offense intended.)

[Squirrel 14]

mexican mafia isnt known to do this except for drug fields.
there may also be a game camera near so they could find out who is messing with their jammers.
you know you could do the same to see who is in them woods, maybe even see who's putting them up.
if it gets serious,,, ? better be very cautious. got a bloodhound? they can track and find stuff your missing.
so get on the CB and start blabbin about how you found them jammers and such.
probably scare them away or make new friends,,,, who knows.
definate possibility that ch 32 has some mexican hunting vigilantes trying to scare off some mex/mix illegals or illegal activity.
or ,,,polish mafia, the music sounds similar.
maybe the "Big Joe Polka show" is scouting a new location ....
ok i got 995 more possibilties to go.

Lol, well maybe i shouldn't reach out to them. I'm looking to get one of those magnetic antennas for the roof of my car, cause I'm not wanting to mount a long whip. Then i can at least listen.
No dogs, but i like your trail cam idea, i will lookout for some.

[443 Arizona]

so lets get some more specifics, we're all ears>
is it on ch.32(got a freq. counter?)
what length is the ant and lead? what side of the tree was it on? both of them?
what plane of direction were they in relation to each other? use a 360* number in relation to magnetic N.
what do you think the actual wattage was?

-- Tue Sep 27, 2016 10:02 pm --

waiting on ya Squirrel, what happened? did you get off'd? hope not.
i would get on 32 and talk to whoever is there. tell them you've been affected by a bogus carrier, maybe they will tell you a story, maybe not.
they will be just as excited to find out what you know.

[Squirrel 14]

so lets get some more specifics, we're all ears>
is it on ch.32(got a freq. counter?)
what length is the ant and lead? what side of the tree was it on? both of them?
what plane of direction were they in relation to each other? use a 360* number in relation to magnetic N.
what do you think the actual wattage was?

-- Tue Sep 27, 2016 10:02 pm --

waiting on ya Squirrel, what happened? did you get off'd? hope not.
i would get on 32 and talk to whoever is there. tell them you've been affected by a bogus carrier, maybe they will tell you a story, maybe not.
they will be just as excited to find out what you know.

Hey there Arizona, been a busy week for me. They were both set to channel 32. The wire antennas were strung vertically, just one per unit. So a wire lead would be spliced, and one connected length of wire would go up in the canopy, and the other would hang below, but still not at ground level. I didn't think about it before, but the antennas were strung on the east side of the trees, and the solar panels were facing south.

I just bought and installed a radio shack 2100164 cb radio in my vehicle, with a 3 foot mag mount antenna. I know it's a lower end unit, but I'm only at novice level. I'm gonna listen to channel 32 and maybe reach out to them.

[443 Arizona]

hey i like RS stuff, i have the most basic radio in my pickup, fit right into the ashtray slide, tuff little radio and i got it putting out almost 8 watts.
so have you got a friend in CB's that you know, can yak with on 32?
start breaking for a comback on 32, ask for radio checks constantly, that'll get whoever is monitoring it to answer you if not purely an effort to get you to shut up. sorta works that way with someone who is annoyed.
maybe that is the local home channel?
your gonna have fun.

[Squirrel 14]

hey i like RS stuff, i have the most basic radio in my pickup, fit right into the ashtray slide, tuff little radio and i got it putting out almost 8 watts.
so have you got a friend in CB's that you know, can yak with on 32?
start breaking for a comback on 32, ask for radio checks constantly, that'll get whoever is monitoring it to answer you if not purely an effort to get you to shut up. sorta works that way with someone who is annoyed.
maybe that is the local home channel?
your gonna have fun.

Well i don't have any friends with cb's.
I pick up traffic local to my home and work and travel the interstate everyday.
I'm not up on the lingo, only what I've learned from smokey and the bandit,lol. Any tips on how to break and comeback are appreciated.

[443 Arizona]

you'll be fine talking to them good ol boys out dare in dem woods,,,just talk normal. i dont know what your local channel is so get friendly with any person you see with a CB.

[Squirrel 14]

Okay everyone, here's the link with the pictures.

Maryland, can you put the link in the top post as an edit?

[Bluerunner]

Sounds like that is a low power rig. Maybe it is someones idea of a CB beacon station. I often wished there was such a thing in my area when tuning antennas for gain & rejection or working on receivers.
No such thing as a legitimate CB beacon station and if there were any the low power of CB would demand a lot of them scattered around the country to be useful like the ham operators get to use.

I have set a small 1/4 watt walky talky with an audio oscillator up about 1/2 mile from home at a shack on some property we own and still do when I get bitten by the antenna building bug. Low power, short antenna (almost a dummy load) puts about an S3 on me at home. I use it briefly to avoid complaints and it is tedious to run back & forth to turn it off and on. I studied on remote controlling it for a while, even wanted to get return info when it is transmitted to. No internet at the shack and I'm way too lazy to build what I really need to do it otherwise. There are very, very few CB operators in my area to bother anyway.

There is probably a DIY beacon device on the market that could be adapted to a CB that does it all, but I have never seen one.

Just a thought about the possible purpose other than malicious intent.

[jon6667]

be careful you might get shot. if they see you out there.. messing with their **Censored**.

[Radar-DLDN]

Those CBs are old emergency style, designed in the 70's and 80's to keep in your car. The idea was for people who didn't want a CB but if the car broke down you could throw the mag mount on and plug it in to the cigarette lighter and hopefully get to a REACT station for help. Since it was people who didn't want to regularly use a CB there are plenty of them to be found on auction sites still in the original cases. They aren't worth much outside of collector radios either since they were about as good a quality as hand held radios but without the benefit of a battery so they are not expensive. The price and case make for a good choice in this situation.

I agree with everyone above, I would avoid that area for a while and not mess with anything else you see.

Just a thought about the possible purpose other than malicious intent.

You don't record threats and name calling on a beacon experiment. These were put up there to harass. Hopefully they just assume the targets of the harassment found them and leave it at that.

[Bluerunner]

I forgot about the threats & name calling. That is a pretty good clue they are up to no good.

[443 Arizona]

so squirrel, have you been trying for "radio checks" on 32?
got a truckstop within a few miles? some times you'll find a portable radio shop parked there for a day or 3. tell them what "your buddy found" and see what they say. find somebody local on ch 19. and ask them to pick another ch. to go to,,, (coincidently)see if they go to 32 .
have you been back to that area and listened on 32. or other ch for same kinda thing?
are you sure that is not private property?
go out there and start blabbing that you want to give the radios back, or just put one back.
are there any homing pigeons in the area?
any other signs of activity?

[sonoma]

were the radios in TX mode or RX mode. just curious if they were talking on the or listening for a SIGNAL