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In the US, is it legal to jam radio/cell communications if such jamming is entirely confined to your own private property? And does it matter whether you are in a building or not?

Imagine now that you have constructed a Faraday cage on your property so that external radio/cell signals cannot enter and internal radio/cell signals cannot exit. If you are inside the Faraday cage, is it legal or illegal to operate a radio/cell jammer?

These questions are intended to ask about the legality of a private citizen doing this without knowledge or approval by any governmental authority. If the jurisdiction typically matters let's say New York, New York, USA.

BlueDogRanch
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Patrick87
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3 Answers3

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Yes, if it works. FCC regulations allow operation of interfering equipment (for tests and experiment) provided the interference is fully contained in a Faraday cage. You must still "comply with the general prohibition against causing harmful interference to other spectrum users".

user6726
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No. It is a criminal offense, punishable by up to 1 year in jail or up to a $10,000 fine (plus forfeitures) for a first offense, and up to two years in prison or up to a $10,000 fine (plus forfeitures) for a second or subsequent offense.

cpast
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I am not a lawyer, but probably. Many companies (antenna makers, test equipment makers, etc) effectively do exactly that in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anechoic_chamber. As long as your anechoic chamber has no leakage, you can probably do anything you want in it from an RF perspective.

Sam
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