News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Mystery Frequency Disrupted Car Fobs in an Ohio City, and... by riskable on Sunday May 05, 2019 @11:27AM (#19833260)
Also don't rule out an incredibly poorly made 315Mhz transmitter. Chinese companies will see lots of bad reviews on their 315Mhz breakout board like, "Terrible product! Only works from within like 3 feet from the transmitter."

So management gets mad at the engineer (who likely has no formal training or knowledge of FCC regulations) and says, "fix it!"

"OK OK I'll just crank up the power!"

Version 1.1 of the board is released on AliExpress a week later ("New version of board. We fixed weak signal!").

End users start getting the new board and like magic they can pick up a signal from like a mile away!

Re:Mystery Frequency Disrupted Car Fobs in an Ohio City, and... by Cyph0n on Sunday May 05, 2019 @11:47AM (#19833365)
Then the FCC comes knocking?
Re:Mystery Frequency Disrupted Car Fobs in an Ohio City, and... by colejohnson66 on Sunday May 05, 2019 @11:49AM (#19833377)
FCC can’t really do anything about a Chinese person selling from China
Re:Mystery Frequency Disrupted Car Fobs in an Ohio City, and... by azhenley on Sunday May 05, 2019 @12:04PM (#19833446)
They can if someone is importing it.
Re:Mystery Frequency Disrupted Car Fobs in an Ohio City, and... by ajuc on Sunday May 05, 2019 @12:07PM (#19833459)
Most hobbyst (at least where I live) order directly from China on ebay or aliexpress. It's cheapest this way.
Re:Mystery Frequency Disrupted Car Fobs in an Ohio City, and... by Freak_NL on Sunday May 05, 2019 @02:05PM (#19834059)
Customs services worldwide probably won't even come close to inspecting even 1% of that unending stream of tiny plastic envelopes containing some sort of electronics heading for thousands of local hobbyists. It's a logistical impossibility.
Re:Mystery Frequency Disrupted Car Fobs in an Ohio City, and... by ajuc on Sunday May 05, 2019 @03:30PM (#19834511)
They could blacklist everything and only pass-through stuff sent by trusted exporters I guess. Check 1% of the packages, if some exporter lied revoke his trusted status.

But I highly doubt they will do it :)

Re:Mystery Frequency Disrupted Car Fobs in an Ohio City, and... by amingilani on Sunday May 05, 2019 @12:17PM (#19833506)
That's what I do it almost all my equipment (not US, though)
Re:Mystery Frequency Disrupted Car Fobs in an Ohio City, and... by morpheuskafka on Sunday May 05, 2019 @12:35PM (#19833589)
They can send a BOLO to CBP and have the devices seized on import.
Re:Mystery Frequency Disrupted Car Fobs in an Ohio City, and... by myself248 on Sunday May 05, 2019 @12:48PM (#19833649)
HAHAHahahahaa.

An entire bucket of Chinese electronic components in my living room begs to disagree.

Re:Mystery Frequency Disrupted Car Fobs in an Ohio City, and... by sokoloff on Sunday May 05, 2019 @12:50PM (#19833664)
Modules and components do not need FCC certification to be imported. CBP isn't going to do anything.

Finished goods need FCC certification to be sold.