mobile phone blockers

[berwyn]

Im sure this will have been asked b'fore, in which case I apologise. Are mobile phone signal blockers legal in a touring theatre setting?

[paulears]

Not even legal in the United Kingdom, anywhere let alone in theatre. In fact, jammers are one of the things OFCOM take a very dim view of. I suspect even having one in your possession is enough to generate a decent fine!

[berwyn]

I suspected as much, strange that they are sold so openly, Ive even seen them used in a couple of schools.

[rossmck]

Completely illegal - have a look at http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/enforcement/spectrum-enforcement/jammers/

 

Maximum penalty two years imprisonment and an unlimited fine, really not worth it..

 

 

[cedd]

Yep, the wireless telegraphy act has some pretty big teeth. They're most definitely illegal and I know of a few cases locally that have resulted in at least equipment confiscation.

 

If it's purely the audience receiving calls mid show that's a problem then I'm afraid nobody's going to find a cure for stupid punters. If you're looking to counteract RF problems (the dreaded dip de dip de dip of mobile phone interference) then I'd suggest that having a reasonable power RF jammer in the building is probably counter-productive!

[pisquee]

Remember that although some people in your audiences are inconsiderate for having their phones on, there are also doctors (etc) on call, who rely on mobile phones/pagers for quite important purposes - using a jammer obviously blocks out these people as well as the inconsiderate ones.

[gyro_gearloose]

Not much use for a tour, but you could always line the auditorium walls with fine metal mesh to prevent the mobile signals from getting in or out. Totally passive, and probably legal. Of course, this still won't stop people from checking their phones every five minutes, but its a start :)

 

On a related note, you could also put a row of infra red LEDs along the front edge of the stage pointing out at the audience. The LEDs would 'blind' most mobile phone cameras so hopefully people would get the message and stop filming and taking photos at every show. Honestly, am I the only one that gets annoyed by the sea of mobiles that seem to appear at every gig?

[bigclive]

Honestly, am I the only one that gets annoyed by the sea of mobiles that seem to appear at every gig?

 

On the basis that the image and sound quality is usually terrible, I don't think the use of mobiles for taking gig snapshots is a major issue. As far as I'm concerned it's all free advertising.

[Pete McCrea]

I've worked on one event where there was jamming and sniffing hardware in use. It was a local venue hired out by a certain local large employer based in a donut shaped building across the town. We were only allowed in to deliver kit before the venue went into a full lock down, even the venue tech staff being bared from their room. I'd hazard a guess that they have certain privilege to use that type of hardware.

[paulears]

Jimmy Carr mentioned that after the first night of his latest tour, the entire show almost was viewable (and most importantly, listenable) by the next morning - meaning many people knew what was coming, and yelling out punchlines before he'd even said it.

 

I note quite a few riders are upping the importance of FoH staff stopping recording, even if it is disruptive - something they hate doing.

[gyro_gearloose]

On the basis that the image and sound quality is usually terrible, I don't think the use of mobiles for taking gig snapshots is a major issue.

If you're a punter and you can't see the stage too well because of the forest of arms holding mobiles in the air, then its a problem. And even if they aren't in your way, the glowing screen is a distraction I could personally live without.

[paulears]

We actually had a woman light up the rear of the auditorium by holding up her ......ipad!

[sleah]

On the basis that the image and sound quality is usually terrible, I don't think the use of mobiles for taking gig snapshots is a major issue.

If you're a punter and you can't see the stage too well because of the forest of arms holding mobiles in the air, then its a problem. And even if they aren't in your way, the glowing screen is a distraction I could personally live without.

 

 

We actually had a woman light up the rear of the auditorium by holding up her ......ipad!

 

 

Well aimed air rifle? :stagecrew:

[kerry davies]

The case that Pete McCrea mentions would be more like a Hechler und Koch. The crazy thing about that bunch is that a nice sensible bloke like Pete would be banned whereas a nutter like myself has had several positive vettings and have been given access to places that officially donot exist.

 

On topic, any messing around with what is still known as "Her Majesty's Posts and Telecommunications" is rather frowned upon and was only recently demoted from a hanging offence like treason or arson in HM dockyards. When PO/BT were addressing the old CB radio problem they could impound vehicles and sell them back at one third list price so a coach company had to find £30,000 because they had fitted three £45 illegal AM CB's back in the eighties.

[rossmck]

On a related note, you could also put a row of infra red LEDs along the front edge of the stage pointing out at the audience. The LEDs would 'blind' most mobile phone cameras so hopefully people would get the message and stop filming and taking photos at every show. Honestly, am I the only one that gets annoyed by the sea of mobiles that seem to appear at every gig?

 

I thought about this a while ago - you'd need decent ones that don't glow when they're on - but I reckon some IR emitters (the type designed for CCTV) placed at various key points with a ramping brightness (not all synchronised either) would successfully confuse most auto exposure on mobile phone cameras .. I wonder if someone's patented that ..... (of course, by publishing it here I've just completely removed the possibility of doing so - damn ;))

 

I've worked on one event where there was jamming and sniffing hardware in use. It was a local venue hired out by a certain local large employer based in a donut shaped building across the town. We were only allowed in to deliver kit before the venue went into a full lock down, even the venue tech staff being bared from their room. I'd hazard a guess that they have certain privilege to use that type of hardware.

 

 

I've been around things like that ... and yes, there are always some exceptions to the rules... I'm willing to bet the kit they're using is very accurate and has no risk of jamming or interfering with other frequencies (many of the cheap off the shelf cellphone jammers can affect things well outside of the band they're trying to block - e.g. emergency services)

 

There are commercial solutions which (still illegal unless you have the appropriate licenses, which you won't get) work in a different way entirely - they appear as pico nodes to the mobile network (e.g. miniature cellphone base stations) and broadcast *all* the appropriate local mobile network codes... end result your punters phones 'roam' onto *your* closed mobile network which the mobile will use in preference to the 'real' network, the phones themselves will all still show a full signal, but won't work. You could even set these up to allow calls to 999/112 to complete as normal.

 

 

Imho whilst it's completely at odds with the law at the moment, there's no reason why technology such as this could not be developed into a low-powered properly licensable product designed purely to prevent INCOMING calls within a certain area.